"Official" ESPN Coverage of WSOP Main Event: Final Table

[Dynasty]

Spoilers below.

In just a couple hours, ESPN's coverage of the 2005 World Series of Poker comes to an end with Joseph Hachem's victory in the Main Event.

I'm surprised we've seen so little of Hachem so far. Basically, all we've gotten is a couple AA hands and a "aussie!, aussie!, aussie!, oy!, oy!, oy!" chant.

Moneymaker's win a couple years ago was the first ESPN gave big coverage to. They took footage of him early in the event to build him up. They showed him forgetting he still had his cards on one hand to highlight he was "Dead Money". They showed his aggressive and occassionally lucky play when he check-raised all-in with an unimproved 88 hoping Humberto Brenes couldn't call on the King-high flop (which, of course, he did with AA). And, Moneymaker was shown making gutsy reads and plays like the 33 call against Dutch Boyd.

When Raymer won last year, he was built up as well. The first few times we saw him was in his confrontations with Mike Matusow. First, we saw Matusow blowing Raymer off a hand and making the "cajones" comments. Then, we saw Raymer cripple Matusow in a big hand. As the tournament went on, Raymer was portrayed as a classy guy and a great big stack tournament player.

Hachem doesn't seem to have much of an identity yet.

The stacks at the beginning of play will be:

1. Aaron Kanter - $10,700,000 (seat 6)
2. Tex Barch - $9,330,000 (seat 3)
3. Andrew Black - $8,140,000 (seat 2)
4. Mike Matusow - $7,410,000 (seat 5)
5. Steve Dannenmann - $5,460,000 (seat 8)
6. Joseph Hachem - $5,420,000 (seat 1)
7. Daniel Bergsdorf - $5,270,000 (seat 4)
8. Scott Lazar - $3,370,000 (seat 9)
9. Brad Kondracki - $1,180,000 (seat 7)

Blinds will start at T50,000 and T100,000 with antes of T10,000.

Prize money is:

1st - $7,500,000
2nd - $4,250,000
3rd - $2,500,000
4th - $2,000,000
5th - $1,750,000
6th - $1,500,000
7th - $1,300,000
8th - $1,150,000
9th - $1,000,000

ESPN got lucky Moneymaker was on the featured table early in that tourney. Had he not been we wouldn't have seen him much early. Raymer got more airtime beacause he was big stack for most of the last couple of days. While Hachem hasn't been shown much, Danneman definitly has probably because they didn't have much intertesting footage from Hachem.

[cwsiggy]

Only time will tell if we see any more crying.

[Quake1028]

Is tonight's coverage 2 hours?

Yeah

[mblax10]

I think it's actually 3 hours. 7-10 Central.

[Davey]

[ QUOTE ]
I think it's actually 3 hours. 7-10 Central.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think your right

I think ESPN had so many other juicy angles (Raymer's possible repeat, the Matusow-Shiekh confrontations, the Dannenman "average joe goes far" angle, among others) that they can save Hachem and show him prominently on the last episodes.

Plus, there seem to be a lot more, er, flamboyant, personalities. Love them or hate them, they make for good TV.

[Dynasty]

Hand 2 - Mike Matusow has the button in seat 5, Dannenmann raises to $250,000 from under the gun, Lazar reraises to $1,250,000, and Matusow moves all in. The action is coming fast and furious here early, as these players are ready to gamble for first place.

The action is back on Dannenmann, who folds, but then Lazar quickly calls. Matusow shows pocket kings (Kc-Kh), and Lazar has pocket aces (Ah-Ad). Amazing. Matusow is gonna have to improve here.

The flop comes Kd-Qh-6h, and the crowd explodes in a cheer as Matusow makes a set to take a strong lead. Lazar needs to catch an ace or a runner-runner flush to stay alive.

The turn card is the 2h, giving Lazar a heart flush draw.and can now win with any ace or any heart. The crowd oohs and aahs at the turn of events.

The river card is the Jh, and Lazar makes a runner-runner heart flush on the river to pull victory out of the grasp of Mike Matusow, who walks off the stage, wandering around with his hands on his head. He's still alive, but he would have been the chip leader at the final table.

[Dynasty]

That was one hell of a fold by Dannenmann with the JJ.