WSOP First Week Recap

The first week of the 48th World Series of Poker has just ended. Here's what happened so far.

The most prestigious poker tournament series kicked off on May 31st at their usual venue at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV with the $565 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em tourney - so far 7 of the coveted bracelets have been awarded.

Kurganov and Boeree wins $10,000 Tag Team NLHE

Igor Kurganov, the Russian high stakes pro and his girlfriend, the British Liv Boeree topped the field in the first team tournament in the WSOP. In these tag team events more players manage one stack, taking over for each other. The couple celebrated their $273,964 win with a kiss for the cameras.

Upeshka De Silva came in first at the $3,000 Shootout 

In this tournament, the winners of individual tables advance to successive rounds - unlike in regular tournaments where the tables get rearranged as people get eliminated, across all tables. Upeshka De Silva managed to finish first under these unusual circumstances - this was the American card player's second bracelet.

Doug Polk wins $111,111 One Drop High Roller

One of the biggest events at the WSOP, perhaps just behind the Main Event ended with Doug Polk's victory. At the heads-up stage of the tournament he may have felt some deja vu: he had to face Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier, someone he had played thousands of high stakes heads-up hands online before. On top of the solid poker he played and the $3.6 million he won he also showed off some of his trolling skills when he got drawn right next to Daniel Negreanu at the table - you can take a look at it here [3].

Joseph "UL_GG" Mitchell wins $333 Little Grind online bracelet

The first of the online WSOP bracelets this year went to Joseph "UL_GG" Mitchell, giving him his first in his career, and his third ITM finish at the series. Two more online events are on the schedule for the rest of the WSOP. 

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Benjamin Zamani won the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better tournament; Jesse Martin finished first at the $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball event - these are the bracelets that have been awarded so far.

What's next to come

Daniel Negreanu is only one player away to complete one third of his ambitious 3-bracelet prop bet [5]: he's about to battle Abe Mosseri for the Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship title. The Canadian starts the last day with about half the stack his opponent has. 

Meanwhile, the biggest field at the WSOP, THE COLUSSUS III's immense 18,000 players has narrowed down to the 10-handed final table. The large field is due to the fact the buy-in is very low compared to WSOP standards, a mere $565 - in return, most big names stayed away from the event, however.