I’ll try not to overdo this as Dan has posted much on this past weekend’s tourney; but I did want to give a quick summary of my tournament and a review of the tournament and casino at large.

First, my tournament. I made it into level 7, a little more than halfway through the day. I had a good starting table, with several players limp-calling and nittily letting there chip stacks dwindle away. The only problem was that through the first break (after level 4) we hadn’t busted a single player at my table; at the same time, almost half the starting field on our day 1 was gone. As a result, there were not as many chips for the taking. Even still, I was at 8400 (average of 6200) and feeling pretty good. I have not played a MTT since the Main Event (subject of a to-be-written post entitled “Supernova, or, how to donk away a money finish in the Big One”), and I was a little loosey-goosey early, but I managed to level it out and felt pretty good with a pretty good table image.

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1st – $230,000
2nd – $120,000
3rd – $70,000
4th – $50,000
5th – $40,000
6th – $35,000
7th – $30,000
8th – $25,000
9th – $22,500

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Hand-for-hand play at the bubble to see who will compete for the big money on Sunday at the WinStar Casino’s signature annual event.

THACKERVILLE, Okla.–Below is the list of Day 1-Day 1 Day 2 qualifiers. Names of those who advanced yesterday aren’t yet available, nor is any info on the 41 39 remaining players today. But hey, no sweat … after all, the entire prize pool for this $1 million tourney was just $50k two years ago … so a lot of this is new to the people running the show here, and I gotta say, speaking as a tournament directorial wonk guy who likes to tell people they are doing things wrong, they seem to be doing a really good job. They may not have figured out whether or not they’re gonna let media take pictures — seriously, dudes, it’s cool … players like it … just be sure to remind us “no flash” — but they’ve for the most part got a smooth-running show going on here, with a player-friendly blind structure to boot. Priorities, right?

(Meanwhile, while the lone person sitting at an unwatched table littered with stray media/player/staff badges, I am getting a lot of curious looks, along with some friendly “hello’s” from WinStar employees moving in a bit closer to size me up. Like why on earth would someone be typing so vigorously at a poker tournament!?! Is that a computer?)

We’ll see if we can’t have a list of the entire field of those who have made the money and are fighting for the $230k first prize up before cards go in the air tomorrow. In the meantime, we know that these 33 people will be there:

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Some of you say that you want to get a breakdown of what Harrah’s takes out of the pot and how much the dealers make. It’s none of your business. Some of you have done some horrendous math which indicates that dealers for the main event only made $10.15 per hour, hogwash. Hey, I’ve never used that word before. That was fun. How can you divide the total tip by 700 people working 11 days? I didn’t notice 700 dealers at the final table.

Do you know how much the person at the Gap makes when you go in to buy your plaid shorts? Do you know how much the guy makes that is changing the oil in your Yugo? How much does the Slot Manager at Caesar’s Palace make? Who cares about any of this, and who cares how much dealers make except for dealers and the people hiring them?

What should a dealer make? I say pay them whatever they need to be paid to attract reasonably talented people. The answer I’m guessing is probably somewhere between $20 and $35 per hour. For a full time employee, that’s an annual salary between $41,600 and $72,800.

Excepting errors, does the dealer have anything to do with me winning or losing a tournament? If you say yes, start collecting stamps not playing poker. Since the answer is no, why should I tip them? Do I want them to make a good wage? Of course I do. So here’s the plan. In this plan I will use the WSOP as the example:

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LAS VEGAS–The WSOP dealers, as mentioned before, were wanting to see Jerry Yang win for the sake of a bigger tip. He couldn’t have had a reputation as a big tipper — because as a guy playing in his first WSOP and with no noted accomplishments high-stakes or otherwise, how could they know? Perhaps they saw him as a mark … an inexperienced player who had already committed 10 percent of his winnings to charity might be easily persuaded to “give a little back,” if you know what I’m sayin’.

Not sure what Yang’s intentions were as he walked into the payouts room … but Chris Ferguson reportedly joined him — not because he was invited, but because he was a Full Tilt guy looking after a Full Tilt player. When the payout ladies asked what he would like to leave for the dealers, Ferguson supposedly informed him that he had already given 2 percent. Nolan Dalla corrected him, saying, “Actually it’s 1.8 percent.” [Ed. Note: Inaccurate as originally reported. We regret/apologize for the error lazy journalism.]

At that point Ferguson pointed out what that came out to — $148,500 by my calculations, but not certain that’s the number he cited — and said, according to a mostly reliable source who was in the payouts room, “So I recommend zero.”

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LAS VEGAS–It all started with a joke from senior floorman Jimmy Sommerfield. But now BJ Nemeth is doing the math and realizing that indeed, a chop might be sensible. He writes on PokerNews:

With 72 Players Left, a Chop Would Be Worth 9th-Place Money

With 72 players left, there is still $37,866,039 left in the prizepool. If everyone agreed to chop the rest of the money, each player would receive $525,917.

By comparison, ninth place is worth $525,934 — just $17 more. The numbers just get more compelling.

And …

An 81-Player Chop?

When there were 81 players left, Assistant Tournament Director Jimmy Sommerfeld announced that they had reached another level in the prizepool, and everyone was guaranteed at least $106,382 — finally breaking the six-figure barrier.

When everyone finished cheering the news, Sommerfeld added, “Unless you’d like to chop it 81 ways.”

Well, we’ve run the numbers here at PokerNews, and with $38,823,477 left in the prizepool, an 81-player chop would give everyone $479,302.19. Almost half a million dollars each for 81 people.

Before you laugh off this idea, keep in mind that 72 of these players will make less than that. To earn more, they’ll need to reach the final table.

If it were me, I’d seriously consider it.

Click here to see the actual payouts for yourself.

I for one, am not a fan of chopping, even though sometimes it makes mathematical sense — as BJ points out that it clearly currently does. I just want to play it out authentically — and see other people do the same. What I definitely don’t mind is redistributing the wealth. So perhaps a better alternative would be to leave $5 million for the winner, $3 million for 2nd, $2 million for 3rd, and $1 million for 4th-9th.

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LAS VEGAS–By the way, one of the things I suspect they’ll rethink for next year … they got rid of the $1,000 bracelet events being held after the main event started. While a good idea not to cheapen the bracelets, it really has sent all the action to Bellagio … and has turned the Amazon Room into 3/4 of a ghost town at what is essentially the most exciting poker being played yet.

Payouts under a new “flattened” prize structure for the main event of the 2007 World Series of Poker … five new millionaire’s:

(You’ll also notice they’ve rounded off the champion’s share, but not the rest of the numbers.)

1st – $8,250,000
2nd – $4,840,981
3rd – $3,048,025
4th – $1,852,721
5th – $1,255,069
6th – $956,243
7th – $705,229
8th – $585,699
9th – $525,934

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LAS VEGAS–If you had the over in any main-event field-size over-under bet … you almost certainly won. Considering the hit poker took as a whole since last year’s WSOP, everybody seems pretty happy about the numbers for 2007. Small dip … Clearly the 2017 WSOP will feature between 25,000 and 250,000 players.

For 2007:

6,358 players
621 spots paid
621st place — $20,320
1st place — $8.26 million

Thanks to Justin from PokerPages for the early info.

LAS VEGAS–Some good discussion going on below about quality poker tourney coverage. And I just found some really good stuff here at Gutshot. They are not the most easily linkable site … but their on-the-floor coverage is solid — and it should be, as they’ve been following the WSOP semi-live since before the poker boom.

Scroll down a bit to see some interesting mystery prop bets going on between Mike Sexton, Doyle Brunson, and Chip Reese … and learn about a big, tournament-stopping controversy involving late buy-ins and artificially shortened chip stacks — complete with comments from players involved:

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LAS VEGAS–This just in, from WSOP officials … mark your calendars accordingly:

World Series of Poker® Expands Start
Of 2007 Main Event To Four Days

LAS VEGAS – June 30, 2007 – The World Series of Poker has added a fourth start day for the WSOP Main Event, which begins July 6, WSOP officials said today.

The Main Event – a $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’Em World Championship – traditionally draws the largest fields in poker. Last year, 8,773 players competed for the $12 million top prize and coveted WSOP gold bracelet.

“We want to ensure that we’re able to provide a comfortable experience for all players who want to enter the Main Event,” said Jack Effel, WSOP tournament director. “Adding a fourth start day will allow us to do that.”

Players who pre-register for the Main Event will be able to choose Day 1A, 1B. 1C or 1D – July 6, 7, 8 and 9 – as their start day. July 9 was originally scheduled as a break day.

Perhaps pre-registration isn’t over after all?

John Harris (dealing to Suzanne Carpenter in the 1-seat) at the WSOP.LAS VEGAS–I was kinda surprised to learn that a few of the Dallas dealers who “auditioned” for the WSOP in May didn’t get the gig. (Like what’s wrong with La? She can deal just fine!) Turns out it was more a matter of timing … early birds got the 2007 WSOP dealin’ worms. But now, a month later — as in like today, in the tent — floor people were put in the box to accommodate a lack depth on the card-pitching bench.

In the tourney directors’ defense, they did break down the tables with floormen-turned-dealers first, since we all know that floor people are at best rusty inside the box, and sometimes downright terrible … misdeals galore.

Before Event #1, the WSOP stocked up with dealers, knowing they would lose a bunch along the way. 250 were fired in the first week for inadequate skills, reliable sources say. Others quit (as they always do) when their first paycheck didn’t live up to expectations. And since then there have been a smattering of pink slips and walk-offs. Floor personnel insist that the need for extra dealers today was not the result of a shortage — just a matter of scheduling problems.

(But aren’t those kinda the same thing?)

LAS VEGAS–TBR in Dallas calls in seeking information about the logistics of buying into the main event. He missed the pre-registration deadline and wants to know if he can still get his money to the WSOP before he gets back to Vegas … and if he can still secure a specific starting day:

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Randy, I spoke with some higher authorities … and you are shit-outta-luck. Kinda. The only way you can buy in is to show up and buy in. You can, of course, wire money to the Rio (or any other casino) and pick it up to carry to the registration desk if you don’t want to carry that much cash through various airports.

As to choosing your starting day, that option is still available — and will be available until a specific day fills up. But, says WSOP guru Nolan Dalla, it is highly unlikely that any specific day will fill up until the day before the main event starts. So if you plan to get here a little early, you’re fine and dandy. But if you wanted to play Day 1c because you weren’t planning on making it out here until the end of Day 1b, then you might run into a few problems.

LAS VEGAS—Michele, I’m wrong? Wanna bet? Steve Wong made, by definition, the final table. There were no other tables that followed the last one he sat at … and there were no other tables running when he was seated there with chips.

But because I think you sometimes know stuff and because I don’t always trust my own hearsay, I consulted higher authorities on the 7-seated 6-handed final table matter. BJ Nemeth covered the event for PokerNews and knows how to explain the intricate details of on-field tournament operations pretty-dern well:

Dan —

In most events, you need to finish in the top 9 to be recognized as “reaching the final table.” This is why Phil Hellmuth didn’t tie T.J. Cloutier for the most final tables until the tenth player busted on ESPN. The final ten players all play at the same table, but the official “final table” doesn’t start until they reach nine players.

The same logic applied to the six-handed event. They combined the final seven players into one table (rather than playing three- and four-handed), and continued play until one more player was eliminated. The remaining six players reached the official “final table.” But the final seven all played at the same table.

So if you’re asking me if the final seven players in the six-handed event played at the same table, that’s true. But play continued on Day 2 until #7 busted. The official final table started on Day 3 with just six players, and only those six players receive “credit” for reaching the final table.

Confusing enough for you? Well, that’s the way the tradition goes.

– BJ

Thanks, BJ. It does make sense. Well I mean not really — but I guess we shouldn’t be surprised to see decision-making poker people not understanding that words should almost always mean what they say, especially when numbers are attached.

ALT HED: Strunk & Poker?

PS — I have decided to stick with Steve Wong through the remainder of the Series. He knows what’s at stake and seems to have the desire necessary to deliver.

LAS VEGAS–Actually, Michele, I think Steve Wong did make the final table in the 6-handed event. (Go Fantasy Team!) There was a lot of tourney directorial hubbub today yesterday about how strange it was to play a 6-handed tournament and then put 7 at the final table.

But hey, they did a 10-handed final table yesterday, too … or at least ESPN started filming one player early — supposedly to make room for Phil Hellmuth.