World Series of Poker under way

Philadelphia Daily News ^

[frogjerk]

LAS VEGAS - The World Series of Poker kicked off the first of 45 events yesterday at the Rio casino-hotel, as defending champ Joseph Hachem faced 26 other elite players for a 2-day, $2 million prize pool Tournament of Champions.

Thousands of players from around the world are expected to come to Las Vegas over the next 2 months before the final table in the $10,000-buy-in main event plays down for the grand prize Aug. 10.

Hachem, a 40-year-old mortgage broker, beat 5,618 players to win the main event last year. This year, organizers say seating will accommodate up to 9,000.

[frogjerk]

Poker Ping!

Freepmail me if you want on the Poker Ping List.

[Red Badger]

How's the US team doin'?..........any goals or riots yet?........

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

I wish we had a casino close!

[rightinthemiddle]

Wish I was there, playing.

[rightinthemiddle]

Does anyone know when TV coverage will air? I'd like to avoid knowing the winners if it's going to be delayed by days/weeks.

[Tanniker Smith]

I checkraise on the turn with a nut flush.

[ErnBatavia]

I know nothing about poker, never having played it...but there's a gal who works in Human Resources for the local paper who last year got to write a "guest essay" about her very first poker tournament.

Since then, she's apparently gotten better and now has her own weekly column, and it's very entertaining even to us ignoramuses.

Her name is Jill Cohen, and I'm sure she's on the women's roster for this tourney.

[theDentist]

I wish we had a casino close!

Are you saying you wish you had a casino nearby, or shut it's doors permanently? :-)

[rightinthemiddle]

I'm All In!

[IamConservative]

So it's a $10K buyin. Forgive my naivete', when you see these events on TV. It is not uncommon for them to have $1M or more in chips on the table. Are this common folk - a mortgage broker - actually playing these stakes with their own money? Or, are they just playing with chips as a means of keeping "score" to see who stands for the final prize money?

It's hard for me to envision regular Joe's playing no limit poker with hundreds of thousands of dollars. Quite obvious by my questions, this Joe hasn't done it before.

[ErnBatavia]

http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060620/UPDATE/60620021/-1/NEWS0101

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Seems the Germans have gotten into the Grolsch and are looking for "Guiness swillers".

Stand by!

[Hammerhead]

I would love to see The Sheik, Mattesow, Hellmuth, and Arieh all bust on the first table.

Can't stand those jerks.

[Just another Joe]

I'm all in with a high str8 flush, spades, to the ace.

[FReepaholic]

...It is not uncommon for them to have $1M or more in chips on the table....

Those are chips given to each player for the tourney.

The only "real" money is the 10K they fork over at first and the prize money they win.

Lots of people don't even have to pony up the 10 grand, they win seats by winning tournaments online.

Others have sponsers pay the fee.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

I play on party poker on line, play money.

I still have 2 bad habits. Getting bored and playing junk and falling in love with a hand that can be beat too easily.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

Everyone has to buy in. However, some people win contests on on-line poker sites or other card clubs / casinos and get their entry fees payed that way.

The million dollars they are playing with at the end is 10,000 X the 100's of players that have folded before them.

[Just another Joe]

It's a one time buy-in and everyone starts with the same amount of chips.

The amount of chips is not necessarily, but can be, the same as the amount of money put up.

[JamesWilson]

Each player starts with $10,000 in chips representing their buy-in. As a player runs out of chips, that player is out of the tourney, but the $10,000 remains in the game. Thus, as winning players keep winning, they accumulate a great deal of chips representing actual buy-in Dollars. The winner of the tourney is the one who wins all the chips. Prize amounts are awarded based on final placement and equal a certain percentage of the total buy-in amount, or pot.