Both the winner and the runner-up in the World Series of Poker's main event came to their respective North American homes from Asia, and both have vowed to help others with their new riches.

New champion Jerry Yang, 39, from California, is an ethnic Hmong who grew up in Laos. Second-place finisher Tuan Lam, 40, now a Canadian, is from Vietnam. Five countries were represented at the final table -- the U.S., Canada, Russia, South Africa and England.

Of the nine players at the final table, seven were either practicing or aspiring poker professionals.  Yang (left) was not. He had won his seat for a $225 entry fee in a satellite tournament at the Pechanga Casino in Temecula, Calif., where he lives. Still, he plowed through the final table, which lasted about 16 hours, even though he was eighth in the chip count (under 8.5 million) when the day started. He knocked out seven of his eight opponents, including the best known pro at the table, Lee Watkinson.

Yang's win earned him $8.25 million (he has pledged 10 percent to charity) and certain poker celebrity for at least the next year. Lam collected $4.84 million and has said he wants to return to his village in his native country to provide help.

Photo credit: Jae C. Hong/AP

Posted by Bill Ordine at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

The final table is set at the World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas. After a week-and-a-half of play in the No-limit Texas Hold 'em World Championship, the remaining nine players have a day off today before tomorrow's showdown. Two big-name players still left (and they may not even be big names to most casual fans) are American Lee Watkinson and Russian Alex Kravchenko. Former world champ Scotty Nguyen was eliminated in 11th. The winner gets $8.25 million, and every one at the final table earns at least $525,000.

One of the last Maryland players in the 6,358-player field was Catonsville's Andrew Brokos. The 24-year-old Brokos, who finished 361st and won $34,664, finished in the money for the second straight year. In 2006, he was 279th (in a field of more than 8,700) and pocketed about $38,000.

Like a lot of poker players, there's an interesting back story to Brokos (left). He was a math whiz at Catonsville High and has always been involved in debate. He went to undergraduate school at the University of Chicago, where he majored in philosophy ("which is why I'm unemployed at the moment," he explained).

He works in Boston these days running the Boston Debate League for public school students, an endeavor that pays only a stipend. In fact, Brokos uses his poker winnings to help fund the debate effort. He has been playing about three years and does most of it online. He's known somewhat for his rather cerebral Internet postings on poker and has his own Web site, www.thinkingpoker.net. "I like poker in that it gives me the flexibility to do what I want to do," he said.

However, he has no ambition to make poker a full-time pursuit.

"In the long run, do you really want to say that you dedicated your life to a card game?" Brokos said.

You know, super smart and level-headed don't always necessarily go together. It's refreshing to see when it does.

Photo credit:  Courtesy of thinkingpoker.net.

Posted by Bill Ordine at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

After the third round of play at the World Series of Poker main event, Brock Parker of Silver Spring is No. 7 in the chip count.  I haven't had an opportunity to track down Parker yet, but an Internet search on him indicates that he's a poker regular who has had a number of cash-ins in tournament play.

The field for the No-limit Texas Hold 'em World Championship is now down to 337 players after starting with 6,358 on July 6.  The current leader is from Rome, Italy, with nearly 2.4 million chips.  Silver Spring's Parker has just under 1.1 million.  There are several more rounds left, though, and the final table is scheduled for July 17.  The winner of the tournament gets $8.2 million and the top 15 finishers are guaranteed at least $429,000.

The only other Maryland player who appeared to cash-in at the main event was Andrew Brokos who was listed as from Baltimore but actually went to high school in Catonsville and is currently living in Boston.  Brokos was a late Round Three bust-out at 384th and had a $34,664 payday.  This is his second cash-in in a row at the main event.  Last year, he finished 279th and collected almost $39,000.

Among the big poker names in the top 100 or so are Gus Hansen (1.04 million), Lee Watkinson (737,000) and Huck Seed (544,000).

Posted by Bill Ordine at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Steve Dannenmann, the local poker player who won $4.25 million at the World Series of Poker two years ago when he finished second in the Main Event, was eliminated in today's second round. Dannenmann, a Severn accountant, went into action today with just under 40,000 chips.

Another player who was eliminated today never showed up. That was Rick Tocchet, former NHL player and assistant coach with the Phoenix Coyotes. Tocchet has pleaded guilty to charges related to an illegal sports bookmaking operation in New Jersey and is still awaiting sentencing. Tocchet survived the first round of the World Series Main Event  but today, he failed to appear. When that happens, each time it's the missing player's turn to bet, his chips are automatically tossed into the pot and his hand is folded. Eventually, his stack does what Tocchet himself did -- it disappears.

Considering the spot Tocchet finds himself, it may have been wiser not to even play in the thing.

Posted by Bill Ordine at 5:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Rhett Butler, the Rockville insurance broker who finished fifth and won $3.2 million last year in the World Series of Poker main event, busted out yesterday in the second round of this year's tournament. The second flight of the second round plays today and in that group is Severn accountant Steve Dannemann, who was the runner-up two years ago and won $4.25 million.

Among the famous pros who were eliminated in the four-day first round were Phil Hellmuth Jr., Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan. Last year's winner, Jamie Gold, also busted out. This year, 6,358 competitors started playing on July 6 and the winner will get $8.2 million. A celebrity that finished strong yesterday was actor Tobey "Spider-Man" Maguire (left), who has 150,000 chips. Yesterday's chip leader ended with more than 570,00.

Photo credit:  Associated Press

Posted by Bill Ordine at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

LAS VEGAS (July 10) -- The World Series of Poker No-limit Texas Hold 'em World Championship heads into its second round today after a four-day first round eliminated about two-thirds of the original field of 6,358 players.  There are about 2,235 players left and that remaining field will play in two flights today and tomorrow.

The two Marylanders who went to Main Event final tables over the last two years made it into the second round.  Rhett Butler, the 2006 fifth-place finisher from Rockville, plays today.  Steve Dannenmann, the 2005 runner-up, plays tomorrow.

Here's the numbers on the WSOP so far:

*  6,358 players started the Main Event and about 2,235 are still left.

*  The winner will get $8.25 million and the total prize pool is about $59.8 million. 621 players will cash in.  The final table is July 17.

* Overall, there were 55 events since June 1 with a prize pool of about $159.8 million.  There were 54,288 players.

Bill Ordine is blogging from the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Posted by Bill Ordine at 1:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

LAS VEGAS (July 9) -- There was some World Series of Poker-related news outside the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino yesterday as well as inside the huge poker room where they were playing the third flight of the first round of the Main Event.

In a parking lot, poker pro Phil Hellmuth was driving a race car as part of a promotion for UltimateBet -- a Web site with which he's associated -- when the whiny Poker Brat plowed into a rather sturdy post along the way. At the bottom here, there's a video of Hellmuth's misadventure that was posted by the Web site RawVegas. Hellmuth, who has his first round today, emerged relatively unscathed. The car looks like it's going to need some fresh paint, though.

On the tables:

* Severn accountant Steve Dannenmann was one of the few members of the local New Cut Crew to survive yesterday. The runner-up in the 2005 Main Event, Dannenmann came through his first round with 39,500 chips after being in the 60,000 range earlier.

* The highest Maryland finisher from yesterday was Paul Ihrie of Baltimore with just over 73,000 (to give some perspective, the top chip guy yesterday had 281,000).

* There were a couple of players wearing Ravens jerseys in the room. Ken McKusick of Towson, wearing a Haloti Ngata shirt made it through the first round with 32,200 chips.

* Baltimore native and talk show host Montel Williams just barely made it out of the first round a couple of days ago.

* A reader noted that Mark Borowy of Fallston came through his first round a few days ago with 46,500 chips.

* I was talking to Brian Hollywood, from Pasadena, who also advanced out of the first round earlier, and he said he qualified for the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold 'em World Championship in an online satellite that cost him less than $9 to enter. Hollywood plays with the New Cut crew as well.

* And on TV, ESPN begins its telecast of earlier events from this year's World Series of Poker tomorrow night (July 10) with two hours of action. At 8 p.m., there's the $5,000 World Championship Mixed Hold 'em event. And at 9 p.m., it's a $1,500 No-limit Texas Hold 'em event.

And here's daredevil Phil Hellmuth.

Bill Ordine is blogging from the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Posted by Administrator at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

LAS VEGAS (July 8) -- The New Cut Crew -- the band of Baltimore-area poker players led by 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up Steve Dannenmann -- started play at this year's tournament today.

Along with Dannenmann, New Cut veterans (so-named for the street where their local home game was played in Anne Arundel)  Mark Schaech, David Silverman and Jerry Ditzel were among the day's 1,750 starters for the third flight of the first round.  Ditzel shared in Dannenman's $4.25 million prize two years ago because he had put up half of the Severn accountant's $10,000 tournament buy-in.

By early in the evening, Dannenmann had increased his starting 20,000 chip stack to about 30,000 but there were still several levels of play remaining.  The round is expected to go until past midnight (PDT).

Yesterday, another Maryland player who cashed in big at the poker World Series, Rhett Butler, made it through his first round day with 36,900 chips.  The day's leader, a Norwegian player, had 236,000.  Butler, a Rockville insurance broker, finished fifth in the Main Event last year and won $3.2 million.  While back in the pack, Butler still had more chips than 2005 world champion Joe Hachem who finished Saturday with 35,300.  Hachem, an Australian who has single-handedly sparked a surge in interest in poker Down Under, beat Dannenmann for the world title.

So far, nealy 4,600 players have started in the Main Event with another first-round day scheduled for tomorrow. Another 1,000 or so players on Monday, would make this year's Main Event the second largest in history.  Last year, more than 8,700 players started but a crackdown on Internet poker play was expected to reduce the field since so many players had qualified online in previous years.  This year's event is scheduled to run through July 17.

One disappointment this year has been the treatment given to average poker fans who would like to get into the massive poker room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino to watch the tournament. In years past, although the room was certainly crowded at times, spectators generally had a good chance to see some poker eventually.  Last night at 11:30 p.m., people were still lined up at the door of the Amazon Room where the tournament is being played hoping to catch a glimpse of the famous card tournament.

Several factors, including space taken up by a cocktail lounge and stricter enforcement of occupancy limits, have tournament officials barring spectators in an unpredictable way.  Fans, some who have come to watch family members particpate, have been left waiting in long lines with security unable to explain when or if they'll get into the poker room.

Nolan Dalla, a spokesman for the tournament, expressed sympathy for the fans but said there was no easy resolution.

"The World Series of Poker is like a popular restaurant at 8:30 on a Saturday night.  Hundreds if not thousands, want the best seat but they obviously can't have it," Dalla said.  "We try to accommodate as many people as possible but our players come first. Their comfort and the integrity of the tournament are the top priorities. ... We simply don't have enough space to accommodate everyone who wants to see the biggest spectacle in poker."

That may be true but it's little consolation to folks like Joyce Hartman from Fort Worth, Texas, who had hoped to see husband, Frank, play in the event for which they had saved up all year.  She was left in the hotel hallway outside the poker room  biding her time by making restaurant reservations wondering if she'd ever see her husband play a hand.

"I thought I could come down here and watch my husband play," Hartman said. "We paid for the ($10,000) entry fee and now I can't even get in.  It's a chance of a lifetime and it's just a disappointment."

Bill Ordine is blogging from the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Posted by Bill Ordine at 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

It's July 7 in Las Vegas, and it's hard telling who has taken over the town, the poker players or the brides. Every 50 feet, you trip over a wedding party where the obvious sentiment is that getting married on this date (7-7-07) is an omen of marital bliss -- or a way to make sure that the husbands remember their anniversary.

At the same time, the World Series of Poker Main Event got underway yesterday in what can best be described as the first flight of the first round. The field for the No-limit Texas Hold ‘em World Championship is so huge, organizers have to start the tournament over four days.

Yesterday, 1,287 players -- each paying a $10,000 buy-in -- began the week-and-a-half climb to the top of poker’s Everest at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. If projected over four starting days, that would indicate a total field of just under 5,200 (registration continues through Monday).

While 5,200 players seems like a big number for a $10,000 buy-in poker event, it would be the smallest Main Event field in three years. In 2006, more than 8,700 players competed.

The reason, for the drop-off in participation is obvious to poker observers. A federal law that went into effect last year made Internet gambling more difficult (one way was by restricting the movement of money into online casino accounts) and its impact is being felt here. Last year, it was estimated that as many as half of the Main Event players qualified in online poker tournaments.

While Main Event participation will be down, overall attendance at the current World Series of Poker -- actually a series of 55 individual events that began on June 1 -- has been good.  Records were set for participation in lower buy-in tournaments, which routinely attracted 2,500 to 3,000 players.

From yesterday’s starting field, there were just over 440 survivors. I counted at least nine Marylanders in that group. Steve Dannenmann, the Severn accountant who finished second two years ago and won $4.25 million, as well as several players from his now famous home game begin play tomorrow. Rhett Butler, the Rockville insurance broker who finished fifth and won more than $3.2 million last year, starts today.

The chip leader from yesterday was a player from Paris who had more than 270,000 chips, but there’s a long, long way to go. The highest Marylander was Brock Parker of Silver Spring, with 110,500. More locally, a guy with the made-for-TV name of Brian Hollywood from Pasadena has about 42,000.

Bill Ordine is blogging from the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Posted by Bill Ordine at 5:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Hello, folks, this is Bill Ordine, your usual correspondent at this space who is on a short hiatus.  While colleague Milton Kent has been doing a terrific job serving up his insights on all manner of sports, from Kobe (of NBA fame) to Kobayashi (dethroned hot dog eating champion), I have trekked to the desert empire of "Wow, it's hot" -- Las Vegas -- where it was 116 degrees yesterday.

Actually, I'm here keeping track of -- as I have for the last few years -- the Maryland contingent in the World Series of Poker Main Event, more formally known as the Texas Hold 'em No-limit World Championship, that's been popularized on ESPN telecasts.  As a warm-up, on my arrival here yesterday, I participated in the poker World Series media event -- there's no money involved, meaning no buy-in and donations are made to charity on behalf of the top finishers.

Well, folks, I can now say that I've been to a World Series of Poker final table.  From a starting field of 116 media types (many, it seems, of the Internet variety who work for poker Web sites), your Baltimore representative finished fourth. Frankly, I am stunned.  

Great fortune rather than poker acumen accounts for my high finish, I confess. To plow through the field, I managed to rake in a pair of huge pots on two all-in hands where two other players had committed their entire stacks.  In the first major score, my pocket kings held up against an ace-king and a pair of jacks.  By the second occasion, with chips seemingly covering the entire table, I was hyperventilating so much, I can't recall what the cards were.

But along the way, I discovered that one of the toughest things about tournament poker is scooping up that messy pile of chips after a big win and getting it stacked neatly quick enough so you can pay attention to the next hand.

In the end when I was one of just four survivors, a pleasant Irishman with towers of chips eliminated me. He also went on to win the tournament, I found out later.  By my final hand, I was getting low on chips and was forced to commit my dwindling stack with a modest pocket queen-six.  Actually, I was ahead in the hand -- my competitor had just jack-10 -- but the other guy caught another 10 to end my poker run.

Today, the real players get going in a Main Event field that will have thousands of players who are paying $10,000 each to participate. So many poker hopefuls will be entered, it will take four days to complete just the first round.  We'll keep an eye on it.

Posted by Bill Ordine at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Since we were talking about senior citizens on the pitching mound a little earlier, it provides us with a segue into an update on the World Series of Poker, where they just finished the Seniors no-limit hold'em championship.

The interesting news isn't necessarily who won (Ernest Bennett, a 55-year-old former dry cleaning business owner from Encino, Calif.), but rather how many players entered. There were 1,882 starters in the tournament where the minimum age is 50, an increase of 30 percent from the all-time high and a further indication that the lower-limit tournaments (this one was a $1,000 buy-in) are extremely popular. The several $1,500 no-limit hold'em tournaments have been drawing fields in the 2,500 to 3,000 range. Bennett collected more than $348,000.

Amarillo Slim Preston, now 78, finished 96th and made $2,655. It was the first cash-in in several years at the World Series for Preston, who introduced the tournament to the public at-large years ago with his appearances on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.

Posted by Bill Ordine at 8:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

A few weeks ago, we told you about the World Series of Golf being played in Las Vegas. It's a novel approach, combining the game of golf with the betting strategies of poker.

A Marylander, Rockville insurance broker Rhett Butler, finished second in the tournament, which is being televised on NBC tomorrow and Sunday, starting at 3 p.m. Butler finished fifth in last year's World Series of Poker Main event and won $3.2 million. His second-place showing in the World Series of Golf earned him a lot less, but he'll probably get more air time. Anne Arundel accountant and poker player Steve Dannenmann was also in the tournament but was knocked out in the opening round.

Posted by Bill Ordine at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Anne Arundel accountant Steve Dannenmann won $12,554 in the 28th event of the World Series of Poker currently going on in Las Vegas.  Dannenmann finished 35th in the no-limit, hold 'em $3,000 buy-in tournament that started with 827 players. The WSOP has 55 events in all, and the Texas Hold 'em World Championship (the Main Event) begins July 6.

Dannenmann, who won $4.25 million two years ago for finishing second in the Main Event, was knocked out in yesterday's tournament when he went all-in (86,000 chips) with ace-king against a player who had a pair of jacks, and the pair held up. The event is still going on today and with 10 players remaining, colorful pro Phil Hellmuth Jr. was still alive. Hellmuth has already won his 11th WSOP bracelet this year.

Posted by Bill Ordine at 8:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Local poker celebrity Steve Dannenmann recently arrived in Las Vegas, where he'll be playing in a handful of World Series of Poker tournaments before the Texas Hold 'em Championship is held in July. Dannenmann -- the Anne Arundel accountant who won $4.25 million as the runner-up in the 2005 WSOP Main Event -- played in a $2,500 buy-in, no-limit hold 'em tournament early this week that had just over 1,000 entrants. He finished out of the money in the top 15 to 20 percent of the field (about the top 10 percent get paid).

Dannenmann (left), who threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Washington Nationals game a few weeks ago, noted a new wrinkle; the playing cards being used bear the signature of Jeffrey N. Pollack, a Harrah's casino executive whose title is "commissioner" of the World Series of Poker. The Harrah's casino company owns the tournament. The move appears to mimic the practice of the NFL, where the commissioner's signature appears on official footballs. There was one problem, though. Pollack's first name that was printed under his signature was misspelled "Jeffery" rather than Jeffrey.

Dannenmann also complained that the poker World Series -- as it tries to maximize revenue -- appears a little less fan friendly. The WSOP is broadcasting some final tables of the 55 events that make up the WSOP over the Internet on a delay and showing hole cards as part of a paid online subscription, which seems like an OK idea. But in those cases, the players are sequestered (for game security reasons), and that means a very limited number of on-site spectators are permitted to watch.   

 Photo credit:  Imagemasters Photography

Posted by Bill Ordine at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

From the world of maybe it is, maybe it isn't sports, Phil Hellmuth Jr. -- arguably the most recognizable poker player in the world -- just won his record-setting 11th World Series of Poker bracelet in Las Vegas. The tournament, which stretches for a marathon 55 events and ends with the famous Texas Hold 'em World Championship in July, is about a third of way through its seven-week run at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.

Hellmuth's latest win wasn't a cheapy, either. There were 2,628 players in the $1,500 buy-in, no-limit Texas Hold 'em event, and winning against such monster fields really requires almost as much luck as it does skill. The frequently insufferable to the point of being comic Hellmuth now leads both Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan in bracelets; both have 10. After his victory, an uncharacteristically modest Hellmuth actually admitted he "caught a few breaks ... this time around, I was lucky." 

All right, I want to know what they've done with the real Phil Hellmuth.

First place was good for more than $637,000. A guy named Andy Philachack from Garland, Texas can say he finished second to Hellmuth and gets to pocket nearly $395,000.

Photo credit:  Imagemasters Photography

Posted by Bill Ordine at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

The World Series of Poker just got under way in Las Vegas, starting on June 1, and for those unfamiliar, the annual card-playing fest at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino is far more than the famous No-limit Texas Hold 'em championship many people are familiar with.

The poker World Series really is a series. This year it's more than 50 individual tournaments played over about a month-and-a-half with the high-profile, so-called Main Event not scheduled to start for another month.

In the meantime, dozens of tournaments of varying poker styles and stakes will be played at the Rio, and already there have been two noteworthy happenings.

The very first tournament was won by the youngest player ever to earn a WSOP title bracelet, Steve Billirakis, of Chicago. Billirakis (right) was 21 years, 11 days, eclipsing the record set last year by Jeff Madsen, who was 21 years, 1 month, 9 days. Billirakis won $536,287 in a Mixed Hold 'em tournament (where both limit and no-limit poker are played).

Real curious is that this is supposed to be Billirakis' first live tournament but the buy-in for this thing was $5,000. Hmmm.

Also sort of interesting is that the first "low stakes" tournament in the early going, a no-limit hold-'em event with a $1,500 buy-in, attracted 2,998 players. That's the highest number of entrants ever for any live tournament that is not the world championship. Only the field of the last two Main Events were bigger. The participation figures are being watched carefully because they're considered one important indicator of the game's popularity.

Photo credit:  Imagemasters Photography

Posted by Bill Ordine at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Rockville insurance agent Rhett Butler will get another Andy Warhol 15 minutes -- and probably quite a bit longer -- on NBC's broadcast of the World Series of Golf next month.

Butler (below), who finished fifth in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker last year (good for more than $3.2 million), was the runner-up yesterday in the inaugural tournament that combined the game of golf with poker-betting strategy.  The winner, Orange County, Calif., day trader Mark Ewing, picked up $250,000 and Butler collected $60,000.

Butler was eliminated, along with the third-place finisher, Paul Schuller, an electrician from Seattle, when chip-leader Ewing (score is kept with betting chips) went all-in on an approach shot on the par-4 16th hole.  Although Ewing was long on the approach, a chip and three-foot putt was good enough to win the hole. Butler was awarded second because he had the second highest amount of chips when the hole began. The final fivesome also included a retired railroad conductor from Colorado and poker pro Phil Ivey, who finished fourth. 

The tournament, which required a $10,000 buy-in, started with 60 players, including Severn accountant Steve Dannenmann -- the 2005 World Series of Poker runner-up ($4.25 million), who was eliminated on the the 20th hole in the first round.  The event is scheduled to air as a reality TV show on NBC, June 23-24.

Posted by Bill Ordine at 8:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Rockville insurance broker Rhett Butler made it to the final fivesome in the World Series of Golf in Las Vegas when he won his grouping yesterday. Butler, who pocketed more than $3.2 million when he finished fifth in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker last year, dominated his threesome early, lost the lead on No. 17 and closed out his final opponent on the 20th hole. Poker pro Phil Ivey is also still playing.

The tournament, which combines the game of golf with poker-betting strategy, started with 60 competitors and a $10,000 buy-in. Today's winner earns $250,000; second gets $60,000; third, $50,000; fourth, $40,000; and fifth, $30,000. The World Series of Golf is being filmed as a reality TV show and is scheduled for broadcast next month on NBC.

But all you duffers out there, remember -- the downside to all this is that Butler loses his amateur status.

Posted by Bill Ordine at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

In Las Vegas yesterday, two Maryland entrants teed off in the World Series of Golf -- Severn accountant Steve Dannenmann and Rockville insurance broker Rhett Butler.  Both have made the final table at the World Series of Poker over the last two years, becoming millionaires in the process.

The golf World Series combines the game of golf with the betting strategy of poker.  There are 60 players; the buy-in fee was $10,000 and the first-place prize is $250,000.  The tournament is being filmed for broadcast on NBC next month.

The object is to outlast all the players in your group by wagering on each hole and ending up with all the chips. 

Yesterday,  Butler won his foursome and advanced to today's second round but Dannenmann, after holding the lead through some of the match, was eliminated on the 20th hole.

Posted by Bill Ordine at 8:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)