International
One of my favorite events has always been the rebuy events. I knew coming into this World Series of Poker that they had done away with them, but it wasn't until today when they had the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event that it sunk in that there were no more rebuy events. Now they have this lame ass concept where you get two “rebuy” chips where you can either turn them all in at once and get a starting stack of 4,500 or you can wait until you lose the initial 1,500 you start with and turn the chip in for another 1,500 in chips. If you don't use the “rebuy” chips by the end of the “rebuy” period they automatically will use them for you and add the chips to your stack. I hate to tell the WSOP staff this because they do such a good job on so many levels, but it's not a “rebuy” unless you actually have to pay more money for the chips. Some people were calling them “add on” chips as well – same concept, it's not an “add on” unless you have to pay more.
I am not really sure why they did away with the rebuy tournaments. Perhaps because the accounting of the rebuys was difficult to do and there had been rumors of improprieties by tournament personnel. I had talked about these rumors briefly at the end of the last World Series of Poker and I wonder if they had come to fruition. Maybe they felt it didn't represent a good image of poker players as they carelessly threw thousands upon thousands of dollars into the middle. Umm hello? These are poker players we're talking about. They'll lose $12,000 on the flip of a coin. The rebuy events were always some of the most fun ones to watch and the majority of people playing in them really had a good time. I'm kind of sad to see them go. Hopefully they come back some day.
Before the bracelet presentation to Vitaly Lunkin for his 40K NLHE win today, I walked over to grab a quick interview with him. I'd heard that Vitaly didn't speak English so I start asking “who speaks English?” Ivan Demidov does, that's who. So yea, my translator ended up being the young, great Russian player. Funny thing happened as I was interviewing Lunkin. I had asked him if he felt going under the radar had helped him at the final table. Demidov translated and as Lunkin was speaking I heard him say in English in the middle of a long string of Russian, “crazy Russians.” I laughed, and the two of them laughed along with me.
When Lunkin was presented his bracelet, they played the Russian national anthem and the Russian contingent that had gathered there started singing it very loudly and proudly. It was kind of cool to watch. Why don't Americans break out into song when our anthem is played? Speaking of our anthem, after Lunkin was presented his bracelet, Omaha 8 winner Thang Luu was given his and the American anthem was played. It was about 5 times as loud as the Russian anthem. Maybe I'm just hearing things though but it sure seemed that way.
The 1K NLHE tournament had made it into the money and I was walking around getting a feel for what was going on when I saw the following go down. One player, short stacked, was all in and had been called. The short stack had A-8 and the other guy had Q-J. The flop came A-J-5 putting the short stack firmly in the lead. The turn was a Q and the short stack said “it's that dealer” and points at the dealer, who promptly proceeds to burn a card and turn over another ace. Yep buddy, it's that dealer. All her fault!
One of the weird things they do at the WSOP that I'm not sure I'm a fan of is announce “Winner at table xxx” after a player has busted out in the money. As a poker player I can tell you when I bust out, even if it is in the money, the last thing I feel I am is a winner. I know they are trying to be nice and congratulatory but it's a small slap in the face to say something like that.
The $10,000 7 stud field kicked off at 5 p.m. and as you would expect it was a small field with just over 100 participants. There were the same old elite group of professionals that I'm used to seeing in events like this. Players like Negreanu, Elezra, and Harmon, but a good number of players were these old, grizzled veterans who looked like they had just rode up on their horse, hitched them, and strolled in to get in on the action.
One thing not having rebuys in the Pot Limit Omaha did was seriously thin the field rather quickly. At the end of level 5, 2/3 of the initial field was already gone. Yep, Pot Limit Omaha is definitely an action game.
It was a busy day at the WSOP with the Champions Event final table, the kick off of the $1,500 PLO and $10,000 Stud, and the 2nd day of the $1,000 NLHE event. Things will be like this from here on out and as always I'll be here to tell you what's going on. Until then...
PokerStars Americas Cup of Poker
Get ready to represent your country and do it in fabulous Argentina, compliments of PokerStars. But you need to get started, April 15 is the final day to make the team. 
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