A new event on the 2008 World Series of Poker schedule, this was a highly-anticipated tournament by the pros, most of whom enjoy mixing it up and showing their proficiency at the numerous poker variations. The $10,000 World Championship Mixed event, the eighth one on the schedule, was well-attended by an elite field of 192 players.
When the calculations were completed, it was determined that the prize pool was $1,804,800, and the top 24 players would be paid. By the end of play during the early morning hours of Friday, June 6th, David Oppenheim was the final table bubble, and the final eight players were determined as follows:
Matt Glantz
1,150,000
James Mackey
742,000
Tom Dwan
642,000
Mike DeMichele
434,000
Sam Farha
374,500
Anthony Rivera
274,000
Jeff Madsen
149,000
Eli Elezra
76,000
Action got underway at 4pm with pot-limit Omaha. And for whatever reason, the doubling up began. Anthony Rivera began the trend by doubling through Tom Dwan, which cut Dwan’s stack nearly in half. Next, it was Eli Elezra who doubled through Tom Dwan, twice in a row. Dwan was subsequently left with only 150,000.
When the game switched to 2-7 triple draw, Jeff Madsen took his turn to double up through chipleader Matt Glantz. Going into the limit hold’em round, he had about 200,000, then got into a hand with Dwan. With betting on every street, including Dwan’s all-in bet after the river, the board read K-J-3-6-4. Dwan turned over K-5 for top pair, and Madsen mucked with only 29K left.
Still in the limit hold’em portion of the game, Madsen put it all in pre-flop, Glantz called from the small blind, Sam Farha raised from the big blind, and Glantz called. The two latter players checked to the river on a 
board. Farha showed 
for the low pair, Madsen showed 
for the losing hand, and Glantz mucked. Madsen was out in 8th place with $54,144.
With Dwan fluctuating quite a bit from the start, he got involved in a hand of limit hold’em with Glantz, who won, putting Dwan down to a mere 35K. At his next opportunity, he went all-in after an initial raise from Michael DeMichele, and Anthony Rivera and DeMichele called. After the flop of 10-9-3, Rivera bet and DeMichele called. The turn of a 5 prompted another bet from Rivera, this time DeMichele folded. Dwan turned over pocket deuces, and Rivera showed 3-2 for a slightly higher pair. The river was a 6 and eliminated Dwan in 7th place for $67,680.
In the razz round, Rivera brought it in with a Jack, James Mackey completed with a 5, Farha raised with a 5, and Eli Elezra raised all-in with a 7 after figuring out that he had Farha covered by 1,000. Rivera folded, and Mackey and Farha called. The cards were turned over and Mackey had A-2-5-4-A-A, Farha had 4-6-5-Q-K-Q, and Elezra took it down with 5-8-7-6-4-9-8. Farha was gone in 6th place with $85,728 to buy more Italian suits.
Despite eliminating Farha, Elezra couldn’t get much going. In the stud-8 round, Rivera brought it in with 
, DeMichele completed with 
, and Elezra raised with 
. Rivera folded, but DeMichele reraised, and Elezra called all-in. Elezra showed two Kings, but DeMichele had threes. After the board came, DeMichele had made a full house, and Elezra was out in 5th place with $108,288.
DeMichele doubled up during the Omaha-8 round through Glantz, but even after eliminating Elezra, he was the low stack at the table. He was then crippled on a 2-7 triple draw hand with Rivera and sat with only 40K.
In the same game, DeMichele pushed all-in right away, and Rivera and Mackey called. The latter two drew three cards, and DeMichele drew two. Rivera bet, and Mackey called. Each player drew one on the second draw, Rivera bet again, and Mackey called again. Rivera and Mackey chose nothing on the third draw and both checked, and DeMichele drew one. Rivera showed 8-7-6-4-2, Mackey mucked, and DeMichele showed a 10 and mucked the rest. He left to start the dinner break early – and permanently – with $139,872, which would cover a nice dinner.
The three players returned from dinner break with Rivera as the serious chipleader with nearly 1.9 million, Glantz sat with just over 1 million, and Mackey wasn’t far behind with just under 1 million.
Glantz started to leak chips almost immediately. Mackey seemed to get most of them when he doubled through Glantz in a no-limit hold’em hand. Glantz was down to about 650K, then moved all-in on a 7-6-3 NLHE hand holding 5-6, and Mackey called with J-7. The turn and river were Q-3, and Mackey’s higher pair won. Matt Glantz took third place and $184,992.
As soon as heads-up play began, still in the no-limit hold’em round, the following hand went down: Mackey raised pre-flop, Rivera raised, and Mackey moved all-in. Rivera gladly called with 
, and Mackey showed 
. The board came 
, and Mackey was covered. James Mackey took second place and the $297,792 prize money.
Anthony Rivera won the first ever $10K World Championship Mixed Event, $483,688 in cash, and a World Series of Poker bracelet. Congrats!