In contrast to 2005 when the big guns won virtually every bracelet going, it is Mateyboy who reigns supreme at this year’s World Series, taking top honours in almost every event and further justifying his claim as the World’s most consistent player.One of his victories was in Event 10, the $200 No Limit Hold‘Em Freezeout which attracted a field of 1,531. Playing under the pseudonym of Will Durkee, Mateyboy saw off a tough field to take first prize of $566,916. Durkee, a 24-year old grad student at the North Western University in Chicago was elated with his win, adding that this was his 4th WSOP cash thus far – but what a cash it was!
Although the latter stages were infested with less familiar names, there were a few faces for the public to gawp at – David Chui, Clonie Gowan and Phil Hellmuth all cashing, the latter making the money for a record extending 58th time. Also, some of you Internet geeks out there may recall the name of 4th place finisher Justin ‘ZeeJustin’ Bonomo, he shot to fame a year or two back for all the wrong reasons, Party Poker catching him playing multiple accounts and confiscating all the money in his account.
Whilst Christmas came early for Durkee (that was almost my headline simply because it rhymes), Ivey was left to wallow in what might have been as Mateyboy struck yet again, this time donning the body of 58 year-old former taxi driver, Chris Reslock (right).However, at second glance, one might be forced to rethink Reslock’s Mateyboy status, as although he can’t boast of being a regular presence on Poker Superstars, he’s quietly amassed an impressive 1 million in tournament winnings, his titles including becoming 2003 Showdown at the Sands Champ, a victory in a 2006 WSOP Circuit event and a 4th in the Tournament of Champions the same year, all for huge 6-figure sums.
Still, with all those credits to his name, Reslock was up against someone who is considered the best, Sir Phil Ivey, and after the Atlantic City pro had eliminated highly respected cash game player, David Oppenheim, in 3rd, he found himself heads-up with the Tiger Woods of Poker (or perhaps even the Phil Ivey of Golf now after his recent improvement).
The game was Limit 7 Card Stud, and with Chicago born Reslock holding a 1.4 miliion to 350,000 chip advantage, it wasn’t long before he was displaying a shiny new wristband, his Kd-Jh-Tc-Ts-Td-4d-2s (trips) laughing in the face of Ivey’s two pair, Qd-9s-8s-8h-7d-7h, the five-time bracelet winner swiftly mucking his final card.
Onto Event 12 and the first 6-handed tournament of the Series, the $1,500 Freezeout attracting 1,427 poker nuts and creating a near 2 million prize pool. The winner was to emerge as Jason Warner (left) from Vancouver, Canada. Undoubtedly a Mateyboy, 28-year old Jason has no other recorded cashes and only considers himself to be an ‘aspiring poker player’, his job as a sales executive in a hardware store taking up much of his time. Unsurprisingly, he was buoyant in victory: “I came here to win. This (gold bracelet) is really what it is all about, it’s every poker player’s dream.”
And so, whilst the unknown players continue to triumph, the big names in poker are left biting the dust. But the journey is long and time is a friend, so don’t be surprised to see a ‘name’ player take one down soon and threaten the overbearing domination of the Mateyboy. If the grapevine hanging from Event 13 is telling the truth, we won’t have to wait too long…
Bottom two images courtesy of Imagemasters Photography.