Poker Players Raking It In!

There have been many new faces at the 2007 WSOP, and a heap of new talent. This years tournament has seen some of the most thrilling poker games been played out, and some of the youngest competitors going the distance to take home the gold. Since event #52 there have been some big wins, and the action is not about to slow down.

Event #52 - The $1,000 No-Limit Hold 'Em tournament saw student Michael Graves take home no less than $742,121 and a coveted gold bracelet, in only 4 hours. Game play was fast paced and intense with over 1040 entrants, many of which young students, all vying for a stake in the $3,226,609 prize pool.

Graves, ages 23, began playing poker at age 20 whilst studying medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern. Prior to competing in the WSOP, he had only ever participated in 2 other tournaments, with winnings totaling no more than $4,621.

Graves had taken a 2 million chip lead over Theo Trans 2.5 million. He was almost knocked out to Trans 5-6 when his 5-4 lost an all-in-on-the-flop. Yet one hand later Graves had drawn a pair of fives and taken the lead. Trans straight draw and 2 over cards just didnt cut it, and he was forced to walk away in second place to 23 year old Graves, with $387,193 in winnings.

Graves said in an interview shortly after that game that he started online in sit-and-go tournaments. Well, I started earlier playing Limit Hold 'Em - I ran good and cashed in one of those PartyPoker.com $200 tournaments for about $1,000 or $2,000I learned how to play a bit better. Well, Graves, all that internet play has paid off therell be no need to worry about how to pay off those student loans anymore.

Ram Vaswani, winner of event #53, has been playing poker successfully since the age of 12, and has since accumulated a range of titles, including the 1999 Dutch Master Classics, 2002 French Championship, and the 2003 Midland Masters No Limit Hold 'Em event. It was a long time coming, but Vaswani can finally wear that new gold bracelet. "I'm feeling great", he said, "I'm glad to get it out of the way".

The final table played out well for Vaswani, as he explained: "I had a great start, actually. I seemed to win every hand I was in and I got a lot of chips together, which I needed because sort of midway through I had about two hours without getting any hands, and I went right down. When there were four players left I was actually the short-stack. But then things started to happen again and I never seemed to lose a pot right at the end!"

Vaswani finally defeated Englishman Andy Ward at the $1,500 Limit Hold 'Em Shootout, to take home a hefty $217,438 in cash. The champion plans on partying and relaxing by the pool before continuing with his next poker tournament.

Erik Seidel on the other hand, was no new face at the WSOP scene. With a whopping 7 gold bracelets already in his pocket, this 8th treasure only added to the excitement he receives from poker playing. As Seidel stated after winning the match, "It's wonderful, it really is. It's so special because it's so hard to win now because the fields are so much tougher; you're fighting against all these young guys. And the fields are so big. So a lot of the time it seems so difficult to win one and to have everything go your way and win it feels great".

Conquering the $5,000 No Limit 2-7 lowball with rebuys, Seidel has gone home with an additional $538,835. Adding this amount to his previous winnings totaling at over $1.6 million, perhaps Seidel, aged 48, can retire early.

Online poker has evidently given these kids a leg up in the tournament, as many have explained. Not only that, but it has become increasingly popular among the youth today, and a global sensation. With more and more people entering the tournaments, we can only expect a higher level of fiercer and truly professional poker playing.