Saturday, March 22, 2008

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World Series of Golf 2008

By Sean Lind

These days, it seems almost every serious poker player has grown an appetite for golf. As a result, it only makes sense that someone would mix the two games. Enter the World Series Of Golf.

For almost as long as people have been playing golf, people have been betting on it. Golf had the image of a somewhat seedy gamblers game until a few bright minds put together the PGA. After a couple seasons of the PGA, golf was no longer considered seedy, or even a means to gamble to most. It was a professional sport, a skill game.

Poker is on the same route as golf. Poker was a seedy game, for seedy people to be played in the back rooms of seedy pubs. In the last decade, the game has grown into itself, and has come a considerably long way along the road to being accepted along with professional sports.

The Word Series of Golf is an annual golf tournament held in Las Vegas Nevada. Like the World Series of Poker, the entrance fee for this event sets each player back $10,000. Each player is given a set amount of chips for their buy-in, and is paired up with a player of similar skill for their first round on their way to the $250,000 first prize.

Unlike the standard forms of golf, where winning the round is 100% dependant on your skill with a club, The WSG allows for players to use poker strategy on the course.

Each pair of players tee off on a hole as per normal. After the tee off, the players are now able to check, bet, raise, call or fold on winning the hole. Same as poker, once you fold or lose the hole the opponent wins all the chips in the pot.

Once you lose all your chips, you're out of the tourney. Unlike in real golf where you can always make up strokes on later holes, there is no way to get back your chips once you go bust. What was a simple putt on the practice green can becomes a battle with nerves once your opponent puts all their chips across the line.

A few of the poker players to enter in last year's WSG include: Phil Ivey, Phil Gordon and Rhett Butler. With the interest other poker players have shown for the event on high stakes poker tables, this year should have the largest count of professional poker players in attendance.

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