Greg Raymer busted from the main event of The River @ Winstar yesterday in 11th place. Little clue what Fossilman\’s payout was, nor even where I shoulda been looking. Limited media info was one of many justifiable gripes people had for a tournament of this size … others included player lockouts, bad blind structures, and you should see the vitriol attached to Facebook comments about Toby Keith\’s steakhouse at Winstar!
I\’ll hold some of that for another post, lest we sully the winner\’s accomplishment with analysis of the obstacles certain Indian casinos face in 2010 moving forward. But be sure, as evident in the fifth running of this tournament at WinStar, the paradigms have shifted … particularly for what constitutes a major minor-league event capable of profiting from a national player base.
The River\’s $2.5 million guaranteed main event, with three Day 1s, drew 1,440 players … a much better result for Winstar than last year when they had to cover a $580k overlay on $3 million guaranteed. It coulda been even bigger had the casino not put itself in a position of pissing off players who trekked out to the Oklahoma hinterlands only to be turned away … but regardless, with a $2,100 buy-in and several months of satellites, first prize came to a relatively whopping $647,690.
To put that in perspective, that\’s better than 10th-place money in the WSOP main event. So would it be a stretch to contend winning The River is just a notch below making the November Nine?
Of the 57 WSOP bracelet events so far this year, only eight — the Main, $50k mixed, $5k NLH, $5k NLH-6h, $1.5k NLH, $25k NLH-6h, $10k PLO, and $2.5k NLH — offered 1st-place payouts bigger than what was at stake yesterday in Thackerville, OK. Only seven when you factor in The River\’s $70k overlay (in the form of a Porsche Cayenne) for the overall points winner … which also happened to go to main event winner, Khoueng Souvoravong, even though he had 0 points going into the finale.
FWIW, Souvoravong went into Day 3 as the chip leader among the final 20 … with Raymer on his tail in third. Quite the fending off of attacks, you\’d think. Interesting to see the final table apparently outfitted with hole-card cams, too …
Mr. Sou may have been a total unknown to the Hendon Mob and others prior to his massive Labor Day db-debut. But you could tell from WinStar\’s Facebook page that he was hardly a nobody to many who woulda loved to have been able to follow his win from start to finish.
Kenny Siripanyo
THATS MY GRANDPA!!!@#!@#!@
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Bee Vannasinh Pakdimounivong
Looks like he won with 3-4 off suit! He\’s definitely putting the Asians on the map!!! gamble gamble
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Pauline Siripanyo
Congratulations Daddy!!!
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Deborah Ngamvilay
Goo Grandpa 🙂