Day 6: Hinkle hooks a Hold'em win

A record-setting Event 2 of the 2008 World Series of Poker finally found a winner in the wee morning hours this morning after having to start its final day on Tuesday with 18 players instead of nine.

Today, poker action will continue with the start of Event 7 at noon and Event 8 starting at 5 p.m. Meanwhile Events 4 and 5 will continue into their second days of play and Event 3 will find a winner.

Event 2

And the winner is ... Grant Hinkle! The record-breaking $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event is finally over as of an ungodly hour early this morning, and it was Grant Hinkle, from Kansas City, Mo., who defeated the 3,929-strong playing field to take home an $831,462 payout.

Because of the large playing field for the event, Day 1 had to be split in two with 2,048 players in Day 1a and another 1,881 players signing up for Day 1b.

The tournament was in for some long days with that many people anteing up, and Day 2 on Monday proved to be the longest as the remaining 447 survivors took to their seats to try to play down to the final nine. After a 16-hour day, tournament officials consulted with ESPN and decided to break play at 18 instead of the final table for the day.

When the players returned on Tuesday, Hinkle was below average in the chip count, and probably most of the people in the room wouldn't have picked him as a possible winner. Not with Perry Friedman and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson still in the mix.

But Hinkle, with the support of his mother, poker pro brother and friends who all flew in for the final table, was able to hang on and then when play was down to four-handed he seized the chip lead. The only time that slipped was during heads-up play against James Akenhead, but that interlude was so brief Hinkle didn't appear to be in danger of elimination.

Finally, holding a 2-1 chip lead, Hinkle was dealt T♦ 4♦ and tried to push his opponent out of the pot with an all-in pre-flop reraise. Akenhead called showing A♣ K♥, but the flop dropped T♥ 4♥ T♠, to the delight of Hinkle's cheering section. A T♣ on the turn put the nail in the coffin for Akenhead, and Hinkle had the win.

"My goal coming in was to just go as deep as I could. After Day 1, I was top 10 in chips and once I got there I started to think, 'How much money can I make, and how far can I really go?'" said Hinkle, who is a businessman specializing in high-tech marketing. "I kept going and winning pots and I eventually got here."

Hinkle also got a little advice from his brother Blair Hinkle, who is a pro player and cashed in the 2007 WSOP Main Event.

"I talked to my brother Blair about playing [at the final table]. He told me that early in the day everyone is pretty tight, so just go in there as the short stack and start firing away," Hinkle said. "That helped me build up to over a million in chips."

Hinkle bought into this event, paying cash, and wasn't planning to play any other events. It was his first time ever to play at the WSOP and is his first major tournament cash as well as win.

"Since I won a WSOP gold bracelet before [Blair], I have bragging rights now," Hinkle said.

Check out Hinkle's interview with PokerListings to hear more about his win.

Event 3

The $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em event made its way down to the final nine on Tuesday. Sixty-three players were left when play began for the second day, making for a relatively short day of play.

When play resumes today, the final nine will take to the felt. The final players and their chip counts, courtesy of www.WorldSeriesofPoker.com are:

• Joe Tehan: $458,000
• Jacobo Fernandez: $428,000
• Robert Lipkin: $305,000
• Al Barbieri: $271,000
• Russell Harriman: $206,000
• Gregory Alston: $179,000
• Zachary King: $139,000
• David Singer: $85,000
• Glen Bean: $75,000

The final table is scheduled to begin play at 2 p.m. today.

Event 4

The $5,000 Mixed Hold'em event found its final table as well on Tuesday. Two days of play brought 332 players down to nine, though it took more than 11 hours of play on Tuesday to finish off the 82 players who needed to be cut to get to the final table.

Among the casualties on Day 2 were Anna Wroblewski, Hoyt Corkins, Berry Johnston, David Benyamine and Marcel Luske. They finished outside the money, but a handful of pros also got paid off in the event.

Andy Black squeaked into the money in 35th while Phil Laak, Robert Williamson, Andy Bloch and Chau Giang all walked away with some money as well.

That's Bloch's second cash so far in this series after coming in second during Event 1. He missed the final table of this event in 16th place.

The players sitting at the final table today and their chip counts are:

• David Rheem: $885,000
• David Williams: $678,000
• Justin Bonomo: $517,500
• Erick Lindgren: $345,000
• Howard Lederer: $324,500
• Roland De Wolfe: $194,000
• Andrew Robl: $162,000
• Isaac Haxton: $115,500
• Pat Pezzin: $108,500

David Ream, a relatively unknown player, has a little more than a $200,000 chip lead over his nearest opponent, but that nearest opponent also happens to be Bodog Poker's David Williams.

Just behind Williams is another Bodog Poker pro, Justin Bonomo. To make the table even more menacing for Ream, who doesn't seem to have any other major cashes or wins that we can dig up, the table is also stacked with Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, Roland De Wolfe and Isaac Haxton.

Play will resume at 3 p.m. today with all the action covered by PokerListings.com in the Live Tournaments section.

Event 5

Rebuy king of the day.

The first rebuy event of the 2008 WSOP season kicked off on Tuesday with 766 entrants. The $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event gave players the first few levels to rebuy, creating a flurry of activity at the very start of the tournament.

So who was able to chip up and take full advantage of the rebuys to stay in it? Phil Ivey seems to have made the best of it, ending the first day as the chip leader. Right behind him is Amit Makhija, who has already had a fifth-place finish this year in Event 1.

Other pros who survived to return for a second day of play today include Lee Watkinson, Jeff Madsen, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda, Sorel Mizzi, Michael Binger, Chad Brown, Mark Vos, Nenad Medic, Billy Baxter and Clonie Gowan.

One hundred and six players will resume action today under the watchful eye of the PokerListings tournament reporting team.

Event 6

The $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split Eight-or-Better event drew 833 participants for its first day of play on Tuesday, creating a $1,137,045 prize pool that will pay out to 81 players. The winner will receive $242,343.

There are 202 players left who'll resume play today, with James Van Alstyne leading the way. Some other pros who made it through Day 1 of the tournament are Bryan Devonshire, Jimmy Fricke, Robert Mizrachi, Scott Clements, Allen Kessler and Perry Friedman.

One of the unfortunate casualties of the day was Shannon Elizabeth, decked on in the Doyles Room logo. She was off to a great start early in the day but took a bad beat later, which led her to take a break from the table before returning to try to nurse a short stack back to health.

Unfortunately, it just wasn't to be for the actress-turned-poker-player.

Event 7 and Event 8

The poker action will start at noon today with $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em for Event 7. In 2007 this was Event 10, and it drew in more than 1,500 players. The winner and recipient of more than $560,000 was Will Durkee.

At 5 p.m. Event 8, $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event, gets its start as it challenges players to take on eight different variations of poker. The event is new this year and it's anyone's guess who will show up to play.

Stay tuned to the Live Tournaments section as the tournament team continues to bring you reports, live updates, videos, interviews and more straight from the 2008 World Series of Poker.

Related Articles:

• Day 5: Chip up or chip out
• Day 5: WSOP not just Hold'em anymore