Las Vegas Weekly

May 29, 2009 · 12:42 PM

Photo Gallery: Stars are ready for 40th anniversary WSOP

By Robin Leach

Peter Eastgate of Denmark celebrates after winning $9.15 million during the 2008 World Series of Poker at The Rio on Nov. 11.

Photo: Steve Marcus

It’s about one month before the Main Event of the World Series of Poker gets underway, but the players are already hands on with shuffled cards and dealt hands. In fact, when WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack kicked off Day 1 with Jeff Effel, the tournament’s director, and 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, there were 860 players. That will grow big time with 57 events packed into 50 days until Don Cheadle’s star-studded July 2 WSOP Ante Up for Africa charity tournament precedes the Main Event the next day.

Some 9,000 players are expected for the Main Event, and it will take four days to cut them down into one manageable group. By July 15, on the eighth day, the final players will be in place. Then to build the suspense, they’ll wait until Nov. 7 for the start of the final table and giant payoffs. Last year, Danish player Peter Eastgate walked away at 22 as the youngest-ever champion with more than $9 million in prize money. Peter arrived in Las Vegas this week to defend his title, knowing the odds are, ahem, stacked against him to repeat.

It’s all a far cry from when WSOP began. The host casino, Binion’s Horseshoe downtown, didn’t even have a poker room, and there were only 70 poker tables in Nevada, 50 of them here. This year, there will be 295 poker tables in play. Instead of 6,844 players for the Main Event, there were only 30! Legendary names such as Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder, Benny Binion, Rudy “Minnesota Fats” Wanderone and “Amarilla Slim” Preston were heroes, along with one man who’s still playing this year: veteran Doyle Brunson. Last year’s WSOP had 58,720 competitors with $180 million in prize money!

President Obama even left Vegas with a souvenir WSOP jacket with his name embroidered on it. Players Andy Bloch and Susie Lederer joined Commissioner Jeffrey in the donor meet and greet with Obama backstage at Caesars Palace, and Jeffrey presented him with the jacket and an invitation to stop by to play any time. I don’t think he’ll take time out for that, but they did say he loved the jacket.

We can expect Ray Romano, Jason Alexander, Casey Affleck and others in town to join Don and pro poker partner Annie Duke for the July 2 charity tournament. Phil, who donated his winnings, is the record holder of 11 bracelets, the most of any player in the 40-year history. Last year, the tournament raised $500,000 for the survivors of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan, with winner John Hennigan and runner up Michael DeGusta each donating their entire winnings of more than $300,000 to the cause. ESPN will broadcast it as a two-hour special Aug. 11.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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