MORE 2005 WORLD SERIES OF POKER

[More photos are now in the 2005 WSOP Photo Gallery. Complete World Series of poker tournament results can be found at Poker Player Newspaper.]

Poker celebrated the crowning event of the sport with the just completed World Series of Poker at the Rio here in Las Vegas. The forty plus days of events provided plenty of excitement and drama for players and fans alike. I was there every day and remained at the final table until the final hand was dealt and a WSOP champion’s bracelet was awarded to another event winner. Many of the players receiving bracelets this year were well known professionals that have taken the past year to adjust their game to include surviving the very large fields, then employing their skills during the end game to take the prize. Doyle Brunson came through a large field of players to make the final table; then played heads-up with Minh Ly, one of the toughest ultrahigh-limit players, to get his tenth bracelet. A few days earlier Johnny Chan outlasted a field of more than four hundred and then did a textbook perfect disassembly job of the Unabomber in heads-up play to take home his tenth bracelet.

Who will forget the excitement of watching the Unabomber’s girlfriend, Jennifer Tilly, win the Ladies event. The actress beat out a blue ribbon field of contenders to become the 2005 WSOP Ladies champion. She entered the $10K main event and played well enough to outlast many well known professionals.

The oldest player to ever win a bracelet was octogenarian Paul McKinney. He took the top prize in the senior’s event at the age of eighty to receive one of the bracelets and a place in the records. Professional Allen Cunningham became the first player to win more than a million dollars at this year’s meet, he also won a bracelet in event #2. Barry Greenstein won event #19 then dedicated his win to cancer victim, Charlie Tuttle. Charlie lost his battle with the disease the following day.

Phil Ivey once again proved his ability to play superior tournament poker when he won event #27, a Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys affair. Eric Seidel continued his strong showing by winning event #9, No-Limit Hold’em. Josh Arieh won event #12, Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys, at one of the toughest final tables of the meet. Eric Seidel, Max Pescatori, Doug Lee and Chris Ferguson had to be eliminated before Josh could receive the coveted bracelet.

T.J. Cloutier won event #13, No-Limit Hold’em, and received another bracelet for his collection along with a little over six hundred thousand dollars. During the winner’s interview following his victory he was asked how much poker he had learned from his sometimes business partner and player of the year, Daniel Negreanu. T.J. quickly replied, “Nothing.”

Mark Seif became the only player to win multiple bracelets at the 2005 WSOP. He picked up the first one for his victory in event #15, Limit Hold’em Shootout. A few days later Mark was again in the winners circle collecting another bracelet after winning event #22, No-Limit Hold’em. Todd Brunson, the son of Doyle Brunson, won his first WSOP bracelet when he finished on top in the Omaha 8 or Better event #21.

Check out all the events and players making the money at Poker Player Newspaper’s 2005 WSOP complete results. We will continue to add photos to our 2005 World Series of Poker Photo Gallery as we sort through the thousands of images we have from the tournament. The gallery already tops a thousand photos so you can relive the “Big Show” through our photographs.

The 2006 World Series of Poker is already in the planning stages and the officials are busy collecting opinions and suggestions to make next year’s tournament even bigger and better. We are already at work on our plans for the upcoming year of reporting poker tournaments. We will improve existing features and add a few new ones. We are thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this growing industry and we are especially thankful for all of the people that take the time to read our offerings. We strive to offer our readers accurate and timely information coupled with our trademark ‘In Your Face’ photographs so those people that can’t be there still have the opportunity to experience big time tournament poker.

Now’s probably the time to thank many of those that helped make the 2005 World Series of Poker a great success for LasVegasVegas. First, we thank our partners, Stanley Sludikoff of Poker Player Newspaper and FOXSports for all of their support and confidence in our ability to provide comprehensive coverage of the WSOP. Next, we thank Dr. Pauly of Tao of Poker fame, who traveled from his home in New York City and lived here in Las Vegas writing his articles and recaps of all the WSOP action. He was there every minute of every event live blogging the final tables. And finally, the last but certainly not the least thank you goes to all of the poker blogging community for their time and consideration in helping us to become a highly placed authority in the world of poker tournaments. Without the bloggers help and cooperation we would have never enjoyed the incredible success of our endeavors.

Some of the bloggers that helped us make this effort work include April at This is Not a Poker Blog for the long converstaions and the Week in Review’s. We especially thank Wil Wheaton, Maudie at Poker Perspectives, CJ and crew at Up for Poker and BG/Oddjack for their support. To those that didn’t get a personal mention I thank you and will try to include more in a future post.

Finally, the understatement of the meet came during the first day of the main event when the room was crowded with two thousand players and probably that many more workers, media and spectators. Thousands of people crowded into a large but full space with a typical Las Vegas 110 degree July day outside. The air conditioner was definitely laboring. I was in the middle of the room chatting with Norm Clarke, Las Vegas Review-Journal feature writer, when he looked around and declared, “It’s a little gamey in here.”

More photos are in the continue reading section.