Most Suprising and Disappointing 2007 WSOP Moments
MOST SURPRISING AND DISAPPOINTING 2007 WSOP MOMENTS
After six looooooong weeks, the 2007 WSOP is finally over. Thank God. We were there for the entire thing. Saw it all. Every event. Played one as well. And while some of the buzz and excitement from the previous couple of years was missing, there were still some good storylines to follow. Here’s our most surprising and disappointing moments of the 2007 WSOP.
Most Surprising WSOP Moments:
1) Vinnie Vinh’s chair cashes twice and makes it to Day 2 of the Main Event. In a year mostly void of attention-starved crazies looking for ESPN face time, all of us in the poker media were thankful for Vinnie Vinh. His disappearing act in three events was the talk of WSOP. His chair subsequently cashing twice was the stuff of legend. Ultimately Vinh confided in us that his disappearing had nothing to do with any addictions he was rumored to be fighting, but instead it was an issue with him and his “backer” (rumored to be Tommy Vu). Whether or not that’s true, who cares? Vinnie shocked us when he failed to show up for two Day 2’s after ending the previous day as chip leader, then build a healthy stack in the Main Event only to disappear during dinner break. Vinnie and his chair provided the biggest on-going surprise at the 2007 WSOP and without doubt our best story.
2) Katja Thater, a woman, wins WSOP bracelet in non-women’s event. In last month’s article, we discussed how Thater would be inducted as an honorary member of the Robert Varkonyi Apocalypse Club for her winning of a non-women’s only WSOP event. We eventually decided that since the event was Razz, we’d let it slide. That still doesn’t diminish the fact that Katja Thater, who is a woman, won a non-women’s only event. The only thing that would shock us more than this is if, say, someone won the Main Event and decided to give some of their money to poor people or something. Oh that’s funny. That’s a good one. Like anyone would ever do that. That’s grand.
3) Jerry Yang wins the Main Event. We’re not going to say that people were saying that Yang was the worst player remaining in the field when we were down to 25-30 players, but people were saying that Yang was the worst player remaining in the field when we were down to 25-30 players. So actually, I guess we’re saying it. Having said “it,” Yang played a masterful final table (or at least what we watched of it until we got bored halfway through). And he seems like the type who will represent poker well. He even announced he’d be giving up 10% of his winnings to Charity. We guess that must be some stripper he’s banging. Honorable Mention: Robert Varkonyi cashes in the Main Event. We’ve been a little hard on the 2002 WSOP ME champ in the past. So we’ll give him his due for making a deep run (177th place, to be exact) in this year’s championship event. Unless you’re Michael Vick’s dog, every dog has his day, so let’s give Varkonyi his day. OK, glad that’s over.
Most Disappointing WSOP Moments:
1) Jerry Yang gives 10% of his earnings to charity. Wait a minute. We’re not very philanthropic, so we didn’t even realize that “charity” could be something other than a “stripper’s name.” Apparently “charity” also means giving money to poor people. People actually do this? Holy crap we always assumed our “charity-giving” friends were kidding. No wonder they looked at us funny when we fell down on the floor laughing, saying, “Good one. No seriously, that’s hilarious.”
2) Scotty Nguyen doesn’t make the final table. Major let-down for poker. Nguyen’s presence at the WSOP Main Event final table would’ve had everyone in the poker world excited. A Scotty Nguyen table is always more entertaining than a non-Scotty Nguyen table. But Nguyen’s aggressive style coupled with some unfortunate flops had him going from one of the chip leaders to out in 11th place within an hour. Major loss for ESPN and poker. Nguyen’s pursuit of a second championship bracelet would’ve made a great story, and his presence would’ve added some star power to what was probably the most lackluster final table in WSOP Main Event history.
3) Joanna Krupa doesn’t show up. In June, we had caught wind that 2006 Wicked Chops Poker Girl of the Year Joanna Krupa would be playing in the WSOP Main Event for the second year in a row. We immediately began coordinating a Beckham-Posh style “Welcome to
Honorable Mention: Tobey Maguire being camera shy, again. We’ve beaten this one to death, but in a year when poker could use some positive shots in the arm, Tobey Maguire refusing to do interviews— or simply have his photograph taken—while making a deep run in the WSOP Main Event is inexcusable for someone who supposedly loves the game. Maguire’s A-List star power would’ve gotten pokera magnitude of positive ink by mainstream media that it hasn’t had in a long, long time.
