2009 World Series of Poker Unleashed

The long-awaited 2009 World Series of Poker kicked off yesterday with the first event on the schedule, the $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold'em. A total of 867 dealers, floorpeople and other employees entered the tournament, thus generating a prize pool of $389,700 with the first place being awarded $83,778.

The play got underway after a short introduction by Tournament Director Jack Effel, Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack and poker pro Phil Hellmuth. The tournament offered some interesting hands to the spectators, such as a hand during the early stages of play which saw three players moving all-in on the flop of 9-4-6.

The first player showed pocket fours, the second pocket sixes and Adam Drunkwalter revealed pocket nines for top set on a "set-over set-over set" flop. Drunkwalter, a blackjack dealer from California commented, "I've never been involved in a hand like that before."

Day 1 went in a furious pace which left only 81 players in the race for the first bracelet of the 2009 WSOP. This event was won last year by Jonathan Kotula who received $87,929 for the accomplishment.

Today, one of the biggest events of this year's WSOP is taking place.
The $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em special event dedicated to the 40th
Annual WSOP. The Harrah's Sports and Entertainment Director Seth
Palansky commented:

"We wanted a tournament to commemorate the 40th Annual WSOP in
grand style and creating the $40,000 event was a great way to mark the
historical significance. The event was created with only this
year in mind and we expect it to be a similiar field to the H.O.R.S.E.
event: Big names, primarily professionals, but an event spectators and
poker players alike would want to see."

The $40,000 event is expected to attract the biggest sharks in the
poker world, both veterans and the young rising stars, and thrown in
the middle of this stellar pit will be the Team PokerStrategy.com
member pokernoob. Ready to face whatever
challenges this tournament may hold, he will compete against a tough
field of top pros and hopefully get the best of them.

The tournament will take place over a period of 4 days with a slowed down structure and 120,000 in starting chips. Being the second biggest event of the 2009 WSOP, it will also be one of the four filmed tournaments for broadcast by ESPN over the course of the summer.
Many top pros expressed interest in competing in this event, including likes of Phil Hellmuth (pictured left) who commented:

"I'm not sure how many players there will be, but it is just one bracelet at stake. Is it a special one? Yes it is. So I really want to win it, plus I've always wanted to win the first event at the WSOP. I have won the first No Limit Hold'em tournament, and the first Limit Hold'em event, but not the very first one as yet."

Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier perhaps doesn't hold the same desire to break records like Hellmuth, but he is certainly excited about the event:

"I'm definitely looking forward to the $40,000 event. I love slow, deep structures because they enable me to develop my game with more time to pick my spots efficiently. I also like the fact that with such a high buy-in, the field is usually more competitive, and I really enjoy competing against the best players in the game."