Those who are true poker fans are no doubt excited since the World Series of Poker is off and running once again. And already there are some great stories with just a couple of events being in the books right now. The much-hyped $40,000 event is now over and definitely has to be considered a success since over 200 people decided to pay the $40k buy-in to create a prize pool of over $7.7 million.
Vitaly Lunkin proved that his WSOP win last year was no fluke as he came back to win the first World Series of Poker tournament this year (unless you count the casino employees tourney as the first). But the real feel-good story may be the return of 2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer. Raymer, who has not had a win of any significance in the last few years, was able to take third place in the $40k tourney and cash for almost $775k. Even if he does nothing during the rest of the WSOP, he’ll still have had a good WSOP after this finish.
The only other event to be completed is the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better where 918 people bought into. Thang Luu performed a near impossible feat after defending his title from last year in the same event and taking the $263,190 that came along with the victory. Freddy Deeb was the only big-time notable in this tournament to score a high finish as he placed 8th.
With just two events down and a great story already in Greg Raymer I can’t wait to see what else will happen this year at the WSOP. The thing I’m most interested in is whether or not Phil Hellmuth can win his 12th bracelet.