Sunday, June 15, 2008

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2008 WSOP Day 17: Limit champs could go far

Chan won the Limit event back in 1985 and went on to win the Main Event in 1987 and 1988.

By Miguel Strother

As the World Series of Poker Championship Series rolls on in Las Vegas this Sunday, Limit Hold'em is the next World Championship title up for grabs.

The Limit title has been a harbinger of good things for the world's best players and may once again be a predictor of which players will do well in the WSOP Main Event.

The first winner of the WSOP Limit Hold'em event was Gene Fisher back in 1980. He went on to finish third in the 1981 Main Event and won another bracelet in the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Split in 1993, adding to his more than $760,000 in career winnings.

Legend Johnny Chan won the Limit event back in 1985, the first of his 10 WSOP bracelets. Chan went on to win the Main Event in both 1987 and 1988 and establish himself as one of the most to-be-feared poker players in the world.

Canadian-born team PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu won a $2k Limit Hold'em event back in the 2004 WSOP, and won another in the same event only three days ago in the 2008 WSOP. Could it be a sign that he's the favorite heading into the Limit Hold'em World Championship?

"I know Limit Hold'em can be really scary with its ups and downs. It's a little different than No-Limit but I love the game. It feels like you start to get on a bit of a roll so bracelet[s] number two, three and four [are] not out of the question in this WSOP," Negreanu surmised.

"I've play so many Limit tournaments in my life, probably more than any other game. I understand the one key thing about it is that patience is a virtue. You are going to have swings. You are not going to go wire to wire. The key is to stay composed, stay focused."

It will be worth tuning in to see if that philosophy and confidence win out for Negreanu in the 2008 Limit World Championship.

Last year Saro Getzoyan, a 28-year-old software engineer and MIT graduate from Lexington, Mass. took down 256 other opponents to win the $333,379 first-place prize. Getzoyan was as worried about missing work as he was about his opponents in the final table.

"Money doesn't change anything. That's just the way I am," said Getzoyan during the event. "It was a great table with great players. I started with a small stack but doubled up right away and got a big stack and here we are."

Those in the mix for the title included two-time bracelet winner Thor Hansen. The full results were as follows:

Place	Name	Prize
1st	Saro Getzoyan	$333,379
2nd	Geoff Sanford	$200,511
3rd	William Thorsson	$136,493
4th	Thor Hansen	$93,008
5th	David Gee	$68,850
6th	Thomas Koral	$54,356
7th	Ray Dekharghani	$41,069
8th	Don Todd	$30,198
9th	Gabriel Nassif	$21,742
10th	Max Casal	$15,009

The 2007 WSOP was the third that Getzoyan played in and he'll likely be back this year to defend his title.

So will Getzoyan win back-to-back? Will Chan re-establish himself as one of the world's greatest poker threats? Or will Negreanu continue to roll?

If history repeats itself, whoever wins will be a force to reckon with in tournaments to come.

The World Championship Series winners and runners-up thus far in the 2008 WSOP are as follows:

• Pot-Limit Hold'em: Nenad Medic (winner), Andy Bloch (runner-up)
• Mixed Event: Anthony Rivera (winner), James Mackey (runner-up)
• Seven-Card Stud: Eric Brooks (winner), Fu Wong (runner-up)

Check out all the action in the Live Tournaments section when the cards hit the air at 5 p.m.

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