2005 World Series of Poker - Week #1 Recap

The first week of the 2005 World Series of Poker is complete. History is being made almost every single day as players from all over the world are competing in the most prestigious poker tournament of all time. The field of players in every single event has reached new highs. The prize pools are larger than they have ever been. And lastly, the action is so fast and intense, that if you blink you are liable to miss something.

This year Harrah’s Entertainment moved all of the WSOP events to the Rio Casino. Only the final three tables of the main event will be held downtown at the Horseshoe Casino. The Rio’s set up is spectacular. The poker room is the size of an airplane hangar with cash games, satellites, and WSOP tournaments running 24 hours a day. Everywhere you look you can see your favorite pros. The Rio is poker’s Mecca over the next five weeks.

Here’s a quick rundown of WSOP bracelet winners this past week:

• Event #1 $500 NL Casino Employee’s World Championship: Andy Nguyen, Las Vegas, NV $83,390
• Event #2 $1500 NL Hold’em: Allen Cunningham, Las Vegas, NV $725,405
• Event #3 $1500 Pot-Limit Hold’em: Thomas Werthman, Bloomfield Hills, MI $369,535
• Event #4 $1500 Limit Hold’em: Eric “Efro” Froehlich, Los Angeles, CA $361,910
• Event #5 $1500 Omaha Hi/Lo: Pat Poels, Mesa, AZ $270,100
• Event #6 $2500 Short-handed NL (6-max): Isaac Galazan, Bangkok, Thailand $315,125
• Event #7 $1000 NL w/ Rebuys: Mike Gracz, Raleigh, NC $594,460
• Event #8 $1500 Seven-card Stud: Cliff ‘Johnny Bax’ Josephy, Syosset, NY $192,150

There have been some amazing stories regarding the winners. The Casino Employee’s World Champion is a dealer from the Horseshoe. How about that for irony?

Allen Cunningham picked up his third WSOP bracelet in the $1500 NL event. Scott Fischman nearly made history in the same event where he placed second. He almost pulled off an amazing feat when he came very close to winning the same event in consecutive years.

Thomas Werthamn won the largest ever Pot-Limit Hold’em tournament in the history of the WSOP. He had an incredible run at the final table and overcame a 3 to 1 chiplead, held by Layne Flack, who was seeking his 6th World Series of Poker bracelet.

Eric “Efro” Froehlich predicted that when he turned 21 years old, that he would win a WSOP bracelet. He was right and became the youngest player ever to win a WSOP event. Efro is friends with last year’s main event runner up David Williams, who sat on the rail cheering him on and offering words of advice when he needed it. Efro dropped out of college to play poker full time and looks like he will become a solid player in the next couple of years.

Pat Poels from Arizona quit his job to become a professional poker player at the encouragement of his wife. How many wives would let you do that? He came from behind to win it all. Pat was down to just $300 in chips on Day 1 and mounted a huge comeback. He hung in there and beat out excellent final table players including "Minneapolis Jim" Meehan, Jim Heimiller, Minh, Nguyen, and John Lukas.

Isaac Galazan was not even supposed to play in the $2500 Short-Handed NL event. He originally planned on entering the $2000 NL event on Friday. Since he arrived late Monday night, he couldn’t wait three days to play in a WSOP event. He quickly registered for the Short-Handed event and won it all! He’s a nightclub owner in Bangkok and since gambling is illegal in Thailand, his only action was limited to home games. He knew he had a legitimate chance after he knocked out the 2004 WSOP main event champion, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer.

Mike Gracz actually stayed in college to get his degree before he decided to play poker full time. He recently won $1.5 million on the last Party Poker Million cruise and continued his stellar play at the WSOP. He beat out a tough final table that included tournament veteran Chuck Thompson, Celebrity Poker Showdown host Phil Gordon, and David Pham, the former Card Player Magazine “Player of the Year”. He was cheered on by his friends Chip and Karina Jett.

Cliff “Johnny Bax” Josephy admitted he never played Seven-card Stud before he entered the $1500 WSOP event. Seriously. Scott Fischman gave him a five-minute crash course before the tournament began. It must have worked because Cliff went onto win his first WSOP bracelet. He outlasted an excellent pool of final table players which included Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the Russian tennis pro who earned over $26 million in prize money during his pro career. “Johnny Bax” beat out another young Russian, Kirill Gerasimov heads up to win a bracelet in one of the weirdest events of this year’s World Series of Poker.

That’s it for now. It’s been one wild week. This upcoming week promises more interesting stories where legends will continue to be made. Stay tuned.