DTD Road Trip – WSOP Las Vegas
The Las Vegas DTD Crew consisted of 22 people made up of Las Vegas Satellite Winners, guests and friends of DTD. A total of 7 people played the event from the group…
Simon Trumper, Patryk Slusarek, Dwayne Quinn, Tony Salmon, Keith Johnson, Chris Wood and Ray Brookeshaw
Although 3 of them made it to day 3, there were no cashing players in the Main Event. We did have a couple of success stories, besides the group all making it back in one piece. John Grice won a couple of big tournaments and came back with around $10k and Simon Trumper won a total of 3 WSOP Main Event satellites!
What started with 7,319 entrants, nearly 1000 up from last year, the WSOP 2010 is now down to the final 9 players who will return to play out the final table in November.
After 78 hours of grind, the final 9 players (all non UK) are as follows:
Jason Senti (USA) Age: 28
Profession: Poker Pro
Joseph Cheong (USA) Age: 24
Profession: Poker Pro
John Dolan (USA) Age: 24
Profession: Poker Pro
Jonathan Duhamel (Canada) Age: 22
Profession: Poker Pro
Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (USA) Age: 29
Profession: Poker Pro
Matthew Jarvis (Canada) Age: 25
Profession: Poker Pro/Student
John Racener (USA) Age: 24
Profession: Poker Pro
Filippo Candio (Italy) Age: 26
Profession: Poker Pro
Cuong "Soi" Nguyen (USA) Age: 36
Profession: Sales (Medical Supplies)
The players above have all been paid out the minimum guaranteed prize money of $811,823 (each) for 9th place. 8th place and above will be topped up in November as their WSOP 2010 fate is sealed. The final table cash prizes are as follows…
1st place – $8,944,138
2nd place – $5,545,855
3rd place – $4,129,979
4th place – $3,092,497
5th place – $2,442,960
6th place – $1,772,939
7th place – $1,356,708
8th place – $1,045,738
9th place – $811,823
Although we have no British flag flying above the final table, all in all, the UK are 3rd in WSOP rankings this year. The USA have managed 5509 cashing players, 39 bracelets and total earnings of $107,857,457. Following in 2nd place, are Canada with 511 cashing players, 5 bracelets and $12,820,047 in total earnings. With the same amount of bracelets are the Brits which is a great result. We’ve had 275 cashing players and earnings of $8,679,918.
Rumour has it that this is the last year the Rio will be hosting the WSOP. Next year we have been told it will be held on the strip, and the likelihood is Caesars Palace.
Each year, the organisation improves more and more. Apart from small delays in the STT area, Jack Effel and his team got it right – especially as they utilised the additional space provided by the Pavilion Conference Suite, which has previously housed the annual Poker Expo. The external toilet blocks helped relieve the pressure at break times, and the dedicated tournament buy in and cash out areas were very efficiently ran.
The Pavilion Suite is 1.5 times the size of the Amazon, which itself holds 200 tables. Half was used for tournament tables with 3 roped off areas accommodating cash games, STTs and super satellites - up to 3 simultaneously! Another nice addition this year was the Bracelet Winner Stage in the Pavilion Suite. The huge stage was made up of pictures of all this years bracelet winners, who each day were also awarded with their national anthem played aloud.
All tournaments, STTs, Super Satellites and Cash Games were contained within the Pavillion and Amazon suites. Running parallel to them, was The Poker Kitchen and shop, where Main Event players could use their $10 Off vouchers received with each buy in.
The food selection, and quality, especially the hot stuff, could have been improved. What was impressive was the sushi selection, which was wider than the pizza one. Being a sushi lover, I was very happy. We ended up on several ‘Good Cuppa’ runs, after the main event players tried several times to order a traditional English breakfast tea with milk. Although it ended up being a bit of a mission, our ‘DTD Teas on Wheels’ were greatly appreciated!
One thing that still seems to be missing with the growth of the WSOP, is the ‘Buzz’; romanticism and being part of poker history that Binions always seemed to have. Ultimately though, the continued expansion of the events and size of the fields can only be good for the game, and most events including the Main Event exceeded last years figures.
Overall the organisation and staging has to be applauded, but it would be nice if somehow that exciting atmosphere that the WSOP is capable of invoking, could one day be recreated. Perhaps if the move goes ahead next year, it will help to restore the magic!
Either way, DTD plan to return next year along with 1000's of other passionate poker players from across the globe.
Check out our pictures on the Dusk Till Dawn Club Facebook page or on our website
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=187844&id=76385811664&ref=mf
Alex Ottewell
VIP Manager