Poker News and Poker Gossip

The odds of hitting a royal flush in Texas Holdem are 1 in 649,740. The odds of doing this in a WSOP event in a hand where you get all your chips in play must be way higher!

At the 2007 WSOP Dag Martin Mikkelsen did just that when he shoved his AK suited diamonds into Mike Lovelaces raise (who held pocket 8s).

Here is the video of the hand:

For more videos like this, check our poker videos section.

Here is a great video of Daniel Negreanu making some incredible reads at the WSOP:

Since the 2007 World Series of Poker has come to its end, I have updated our previous 2007 WSOP Bracelet Winners list to include all the players that won bracelets in this year’s events:

2007 WSOP Bracelet Winners List

1) June 1, Friday –$5,000 World Championship Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No-Limit) — Steve Billrakis — $536,287

2) June 1, Friday — $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em — Frederick Narciso — $104,701

3) June 2, Saturday — $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em — Ciaran O’Leary — $727,012

4) June 3, Sunday — $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em (3 day event) — Mike Spegal — $252,290

5) June 3, Sunday — $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo-8 or Better — Tom Schneider — $214,347

6) June 4, Monday — $1,500 Limit Hold’em — Gary Styczynski — $280,715

7) June 4, Monday — $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha W/Rebuys — Burt Boutin — $825,956

June 5, Tuesday — $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em w/Rebuys — Michael Chu — $575,774

9) June 5, Tuesday — $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split-8 or Better — Alex Kravchenko — $228,466

10) June 6, Wednesday — $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em (3 day event) — Will Durkee — $566,916

11) June 6, Wednesday– $5,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud — Chris Reslock — $258,453

12) June 7, Thursday — $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em / Six Handed — Jason Warner — $481,698

13) June 8, Friday — $5,000 World Championship Pot Limit Hold’em (3 day event) — Allen Cunningham — $487,287

14) June 8, Friday — $1,500 Seven Card Stud — Michael Keiner — $146,987

15) June 9, Saturday — $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em — Phil Hellmuth

16) June 9, Saturday — $2,500 H.O.R.S.E. — James Richburg — $239,503

17) June 10, Sunday — $1,000 World Championship Ladies Event No-Limit Hold’em — Sally Anne Boyer — $262,077

18) June 10, Sunday — $5,000 World Championship Limit Hold’em — Saro Getzoyan — $333,379

19) June 11, Monday — $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em — Francois Safieddine — $521,785

20) June 11, Monday — $2,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-lo — Ryan Hughes — $176,358

21) June 12, Tuesday — $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout — Don Baruch — $264,107

22) June 13, Wednesday — $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em — James Mackey — $730,740

23) June 14, Thursday — $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha — Scott Clements — $194,206

24) June 14, Thursday — $3,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo — Eli Elezra — $198,984

25) June 15, Friday — $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em — Ben Ponzio — $599,467

26) June 15, Friday — $5,000 H.O.R.S.E. — Ralph Schwartz — $275,683

27) June 16, Saturday — $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em — Dave Stucke — $603,069

28) June 17, Sunday — $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em — Shankar Pillai — $527,829

29) June 17, Sunday — $1,500 Seven Card Razz — Katja Thater — $132,653

30) June 18, Monday — $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em / Six Handed — Hoyt Corkins — $515,065

31) June 19, Tuesday — $5,000 World Championship Heads Up No-Limit Hold’em — Dan Schreiber — $425,594

32) June 19, Tuesday — $2,000 Seven Card Stud — Jeffrey Lisandro — $118,426

33) June 20, Wednesday 12 noon — $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha W/Re-Buys — Alan Smurfit — $464,867

34) June 20, Wednesday — $3,000 Limit Hold’em — Alex Borteh — $225,483

35) June 21, Thursday — $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em — Ryan Young — $615,955

36) June 21, Thursday — $5,000 World Championship Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better — John Guth — $363,216

37) June 22, Friday — $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em — Greg Hopkins — $269,707

38) June 23, Saturday — $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em — Robert Cheung — $673,628

39) June 24, Sunday — $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E. — Freddy Deeb — $2,276,832

40) June 24, Sunday — $1,500 Mixed Hold’em (limit/no-limit) — Fred Goldberg — $204,935

41) June 25, Monday — $1,000 World Championship Seniors No-Limit Hold’em — Ernest Bennett — $348,423

42) June 25, Monday — $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-lo — Lukasz Dumanski — $227,454

43) June 26, Tuesday — $2,000 Limit Hold’em — Saif Ahmad — $217,329

44) June 27, Wednesday — $2,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split — Frankie O’Dell — $240,057

45) June 28, Thursday — $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em / Six Handed — Bill Edler — $904,672

46) June 28, Thursday — $1,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo — Tom Schneider — $147,713

47) June 29, Friday — $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em — Blair Rodman — $707,898

48) June 29, Friday — $1,000 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit) W/Rebuys — Rafi Amit — $227,005

49) June 30, Saturday — $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em (3 day event) — Chandrasekhar Billavara — $722,914

50) July 1, Sunday — $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha — Robert Mizrachi — $768,889

51) July 1, Sunday — $1,000 S.H.O.E — Dao Bac — $157,975

52) July 2, Monday — $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em w/Re-Buys — Michael Graves — $742,121

53) July 3, Tuesday — $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout — Ram Vaswani — $217,438

54) July 4, Wednesday — $5,000 World Championship No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball w/Re-Buys — Erik Seidel — $538,835

55) $10,000 World Championship No-Limit Texas Holdem – Jerry Yang — $8,250,000

Stay tuned for the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe this September in London, England.  Start qualifying now online at the event’s sponsor, Betfair (Bonus Code: BRB300 gets you a $300 Bonus!).

It took about 16 hours, but at the end of the day a virtually unknown in the poker world, Jerry Yang (not to be confused with Yahoo founder Jerry Yang) went on to win the biggest tournament in poker - The 2007 WSOP (World Series of Poker).

Yang made many questionable calls to eliminate 8/9 of the players at the final table of this year’s WSOP, but he had luck on his side.  Everyone thought he was playing like a maniac, but his play held out.

In the final hand, Jerry Yang and Tuan Lam pushed all their chips in preflop. Yang showed pocket eights and Lam showed Ad-Qd. After a flop of Q-5-9, Lam took the lead and pumped his fist, assuming he was en route to doubling up. The turn was a 7, giving Yang a gutshot straight draw, in addition to a possible set with one of the two remaining eights in the deck. Yang had six outs, and one of them, the 6 of hearts fell on the river to knock out Lam and give Yang the victory.Lam earned $4,840,981 for his second-place finish. Yang has earned instant celebrity status, the most coveted bracelet of the year and $8.25 million.

Who is Jerry Yang?

Yang is a 39-year-old psychologist and social worker from
southern California. He holds a Masters Degree in health psychology.

Yang was born in Laos. He is married with six children. Yang
started playing poker only two years ago. He won a seat into the main event through a $225 live satellite at the Pechanga Resort and Casino.

Here are the final results/winnings of the final table at the 2007 WSOP:

Congrats Jerry!

Today 9 players will be battling it out for their chance to win $8.25 Million dollars at the final table in the final event of this year’s World Series of Poker.  Here are the players, the chip counts and what is on the line:

Seat 1 - Jon Kalmar - 20.32 million
Seat 2 - Lee Childs - 13.24 million
Seat 3 - Philip Hilm - 22.07 million
Seat 4 - Jerry Yang - 8.45 million
Seat 5 - Raymond Rahme - 16.32 million
Seat 6 - Tuan Lam - 21.315 million
Seat 7 - Alex Kravchenko - 6.57 million
Seat 8 - Lee Watkinson - 9.925 million
Seat 9 - Hevad ‘Rain’ Khan - 9.205 million

And the prizepool they’re playing for:

1st - $8,250,000
2nd - $4,840,981
3rd - $3,048,025
4th - $1,852,721
5th - $1,255,069
6th - $956,243
7th - $705,229
8th - $585,934
9th - $525,934

Worse case someone is leaving with over half a million dollars, which isn’t bad for a few days work.

Eyes are on Lee Watkinson, who qualiified through a Full Tilt Poker qualifier.  If Lee wins the event, Full Tilt Poker will pay him an additional $10 Million Dollars!!!

July 9, 2007 (PRWEB) – The poker world is holding its breath today after a freak accident on the Las Vegas strip in which poker legend Phil Hellmuth lost control of his high-speed racecar.

Hellmuth had spent the day testing the 200 mph racecar in the Nevada desert. Upon approaching his hotel, the 11-time WSOP bracelet winner lost control of the vehicle and crashed head-on into a pole.

While the racecar was totaled, witnesses report that Hellmuth was conscious as he left the vehicle unscathed but visibly shaken. According to one onlooker, Hellmuth quipped, “Well, you can’t win every race.”

With the Main Event of the World Series just hours away, it’s still unknown whether the UltimateBet pro will recover in time to vie for the Main Event title and a 12th WSOP bracelet.

“I’d be amazed if he was able to play poker today after such a high-speed
collision,” stated eyewitness Brian Balsburgh of Poker Royalty. “He had severe whiplash.”

Hellmuth’s Main Event start time was scheduled for 12pm on Monday, July 9th. While friends are no doubt praying for a quick recovery, foes are likely relishing in his misfortune. After all, Hellmuth’s absence from the floor at the Rio Hotel & Casino definitely makes the playing field a lot less fierce.