WSOP Events 51-54 Recap

Event: 51 Buy in: $1,000 Game: SHOE

SHOE tournaments feature a combination of seven card stud, limit hold 'em, Omaha high-low, and stud eight or better. This year's winner was professional poker player Dao Bac, who took home $157,975 for the victory. Chip Jett finished in 3rd place, while poker author Michael Craig finished in 7th, reaching his 2nd final table at the 2007 WSOP.

Event: 52 Buy in: $1,000 Game: NL Hold'em w/ Re-buys

It was a tournament dominated by the young guns as 23-year-old Michael Graves won a bracelet and $742,121. Young stars David Williams, Daniel Alaei, and Steve Billirakis all went deep, while Jordan Morgan just missed the final table finishing in 12th. Phil Hellmuth just reached the money finishing in 95th. Michael Binger also tied the record for most WSOP cashes in a year as his 56th place finish marked his 8th cash of 2007.

Event: 53 Buy in: $1,500 Game: Limit Hold'em Shootout

Professional player Ram Vaswani has made noise in past WSOP events, but has never managed to the seal the deal. That all changed this year as his victory in the 2007 Limit Hold'em Shootout netted him $217,438. Notably Victor Ramdin finished in 9th place while Brian Haveson got 10th. (The format of shootout tournaments is described in the recap of event #21)

Event: 54 Buy in: $5,000 Game: NL Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball w/ Re-buys

The NL 2-7 Lowball tournament, like the $50,000 HORSE event tends to attract fields filled with pros. This year was no different as 78 of the world's best came out to showcase their skills. In the end, it was Eric Seidel who came away winning his 8th bracelet. Seidel's victory netted him $538,835 and the right to silence the critics who question whether or not he "still has it". In an epic heads up battle that lasted about 90 minutes, Seidel came back from over a 2-1 chip deficit against the extremely talented Chad Brown. Other final table competitors included Shahram "Sheiky" Sheikhan, Andrew Black, $50,000 HORSE winner Freddy Deeb, and Todd Brunson.

-Benjamin Ryan