Complete 2007 WSOP stats at the Poker Prof’s World Series of Poker 2007 Information Page. Poker from behind the WSOP Curtain only available from Dr Pauly of Tao of Poker.
Aside from the final table, the day before the final table is often the most exciting at the main event. That’s when we find out which nine players are going to make the final table. Plus the decisions that the players make become more and more crucial as the money payouts start increasing. 36 players started and when the dust settled there were nine. Those nine will be immortalized forever.
The Buzz
The big story was that the final table was set. After six days of action, the starting field 6,358 had finally dwindled down to nine. One of those men will become the next WSOP champion.
Here’s the final table:
Seat 1 – Raymond Rahme
Seat 2 – Alex Kravchenko
Seat 3 – Lee Childs
Seat 4 – Jerry Yang
Seat 5 – Lee Watkinson
Seat 6 – Tuan Lam
Seat 7 – Philip Hilm
Seat 8 – Jon Kalmar
Seat 9 – Hevad “Rain” Khan
The Backstory
Could Scotty Nguyen make it? That’s what was on the mind of everyone at the Rio including all of the old school pros. ESPN was hoping that a popular player like Scotty Nguyen could help boost ratings and PPV sales, while the old school grinders were hoping that one of them would go deep and take down the WSOP instead of one of those internet hotshots or an unknown player. Sadly, Nguyen bustded out in 11th place. But Lee Watkinson made the final table and is the most well known pro left in the mix.
Sight of the Day
The sight of the day had to be the final four tables. The once packed Amazon Ballroom (including the poker tent) was slimmed down to just four tables, which slowly broke until the final ten players were condensed to the ESPN feature table.
Quote of the Day
“I play this game to win, not to lose!” screamed Hevad “Rain” Khan after he doubled up against Jerry Yang in a monster pot that was worth over 7 million.
Hand of the Day
Scotty Nguyen’s downfall began when he lost a big hand to Philip Hilm. Nguyen raised to 530K and Hilm called. The flop was Qc-6h-5d. Nguyen bet 600K and Hilm called. The turn was the Kd. Nguyen checked and Hilm fired out 1.2M. Nguyen moved all in and Hilm called with 5s-5c. Nguyen flipped over Ah-Qd. He was drawing dead to Hilm’s set. Nguyen slipped to 2.35M and was out less than ten minutes later.
Noteworthy Stacks
Lee Childs jumped out to 12M in chips during early play. William Spadea joined him by mid-afternoon. Jon Kalmar jumped past the 15M mark shortly after dinner break when he took over the chiplead. When the final ten players were seated, Jon Kalmar led the pack with over 20M. Philip Hilm ended the day as the chipleader with over 23M.
Day 6 Eliminations
The following players busted out on Day 6… Steven Garfinkle, Scotty Nguyen, David Tran, Bill Spadea, Ray Henson, Kevin Farry, Bob Slezak, John Armbrust, Kenny Tran, Mikkel Madsen, Scott Freeman, Jason Welch, Stefan Mattsson, Bill Edler, Ryan Elson, Daniel Alaei, Roy Winston, Jeff Bryan, Paulo Loureiro, Ron Kluber, Jason Koshi, Peter Darvill, Kevin Kim, Christian Togsverd, Hoa Nguyen, Allan W. King, and Robin Bergren.