I recently
attended the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at the Caesars in Atlantic City, New
Jersey. There were 277 entrants for the
$5150.00 buy in event; the first place was $431,136.00, a $10k buy in for the World
Series of Poker 2008 main event in Las
Vegas and a great gold ring to commemorate the event.
The total prize pool for the tournament was $1,357,000.00, enough to call for
the attention of several professional poker players. I saw several familiar
faces including Hevad “Rain Khan” Khan, Cindy Violette and Young Pham. Cindy
was knocked out on the first day, however Khan finished 14th and
Young Phan finished 13th. At the end, Eric Haber a not very famous
online poker player won the first place and the chance to play against the best
poker pros in the world at the WSOP main event.
Caesars Casino
held the event in its largest ballroom due the amount of participants and
railers and on day 1 the place was completely packed with players and railers
who came to Atlantic City
to support their favorite players. A lot of the players were pleased with the
location chosen and actually made some positive comments about the settings and
room capacity. A funny notable detail from day 2 was that during a dinner break
Young Pham made some negative comment about the dinner and accommodations vouchers
at the Borgata, another player pointed out that Hevad Khan may need more
vouchers just for being a big guy. The Poker Host kindly replied that “If it
was up to him it would first class all the way.”
If you
haven’t had the opportunity to watch an event like this, then I strongly suggest
making plans to do so, if you can't be on the felt at least try to rail
one. Many casinos now are hosting events in particular the World Series of
Poker and the World Poker Tour and anyone can enjoy them and take part in them.
Most events hold several qualification satellites events and rounds for players
who simply can’t afford to buy a seat at major poker tournaments and events. Overall I had a great time
and it was a well organized event , It was the first time my wife got to
actually see some professionals in action and Khan was a real gentleman, he shook my hand
right when he came on his way to the dinner break and to me that really was 1st
class all the way.
Articles | 