SEARCH NEWS:

 

WSOP round-up - Corkins wins second bracelet

Corkins grabs second gold

Hoyt Corkins ended his 15-year World Series of Poker bracelet drought by winning his second title Wednesday night in the six-handed $2,500 No Limit Hold'em Event (#30). His last bracelet came in 1992.

The 47-year old professional, known as the Alabama Cowboy, quit playing poker tournaments in the mid-90s, only to reenter the game after the so-called poker boom. Since his reemergence, Corkins has won a World Poker Tour title, more than $2.5 million in cash, and now, a second bracelet.

Corkins dominated this event, leading from the first day forward. He owned the final table, going in as the leader, amassing a 4-1 chip lead when play was four-handed.

He beat 847 players to win the title, earning $515,065 for his effort. Corkins only had to defeat 87 opponents to earn a $96,000 in 1992.

Other notable finishers – Event # 1 champ Steve Billirakis (16), Mimi Tran (17), Eric Lindgren (20) and Vinny Vinh (22). Vinh made the money on day two, but never showed up on day three of the tournament, according to an ESPN report.

Heads-Up Championship (Event #31)

Eight players remain in the $5,000 Heads-up World Championship with play scheduled to begin today at 2 p.m. PST.

The elite-eight players needed to win six matches to get to this point, with three more wins necessary to secure the bracelet. Sixty-four players received prize money. Here are the quarter-final matches:

Alfredo "Toto" Leonidas vs. Daniel Schrieber
Jared Davis vs. Mark Muchnik
Shannon Shorr vs. Vanessa Selbst
Steve Sarrafzadeh vs. Keith Black

Leonidas and Shorr headline this mix of WSOP veterans and newcomers. Leonidas is the only bracelet winner in the group.

Shorr is a popular tournament poker newcomer, winning $1.7 million in major tournaments over the last two years. He is the only player remaining with a major heads-up cash on his resume, placing ninth in the 2006 World Heads-up Championship in Barcelona.

Selbst, the only woman remaining, was featured in an ESPN WSOP broadcast last year. She finished seventh in the 2006 $2,000 No Limit Hold'em event. She had three cashes in 2006, but has not cashed in a major tournament since.

Seven Card Stud Final Table (Event #32)

Stud events are drawing most of the big name players, resulting in many star-studded final tables. This one is no different.

Daniel Negreanu is making his second 2007 WSOP final table appearance and is joined by Jeffrey Lisandro, a well-known professional made more famous last year during the Main Event television broadcast, when he got in a lengthy and heated verbal disagreement with Prahlad Friedman.

Negreanu is still searching for his fourth gold bracelet. This will be Lisandro's seventh WSOP final table, but he has never been able to win a title.

Rebuy Mania (Event #33)

The WSOP rebuy tournaments are always a zoo, but the animals in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha with rebuys tournament represent some of the best poker players in the jungle.

Jeff Madsen, Humberto Brenes, David Williams, Michael Binger, Erick Lindgren, Ram Vaswani, Eli Elezra, Mike Sexton, Allen Cunningham, David Ulliot and Johnny Chan are all still alive with 50 players remaining and a $464,867 top prize on the line.

Storylines are plentiful.

Madsen is looking for his first major finish since his amazing WSOP rookie year in 2006. Brenes and Binger are continuing their 2007 WSOP success, battling neck and neck for the Casino City Player of the Year honor. Elezra and Williams are looking to capture their second WSOP titles. And Lindgren and Vaswani are trying to erase their names from the best-player-to-never-win-a-bracelet list.

And that Chan fellow would like to capture bracelet #11.

< Gaming News