• 2007 World Poker Finals Champions

Mike Vela Wins the 2007 World Poker Finals

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The world's top poker professionals came to play at the Foxwoods World Poker Finals (WPF) Main Event, making up a large portion of the day-one survivors. Normally, World Poker Tour events are loaded with hopeful amateurs looking to make a name for themselves with a big tournament win, but at the popular Foxwoods event, the professionals are. Elected to the Poker Hall of Fame (#/#) This denotes a bracelet winner. The first number is the number of bracelets won in 2007. The second number is the total number of bracelets won. Both numbers represent totals as of that point during the tournament. Place What place each player at the final table finished Name The player who made it to the. In 2007 the WPT and poker in general was at its highest, creating insane prize pools in the regular events and made the biggest win in WPT history at WPT Championship, which gave Carlos Mortensen almost $4 million in first prize.

Posted: Tue, Nov 13, 07, 11:48 AM

By Ryan Lucchesi

Six players took their seats shortly after 5 p.m. at Foxwoods Resort and Casino for the final table of the 2007 World Poker Tour World Poker Finals. While all six of them had the $1,704,986 first-place prize on their mind, two of them had a little WPT history on their mind as well. Nick Schulman won this event in 2005 and Nenad Medic took down the title in 2006. If either of them prevailed in 2007 it would mark the first time ever that a player has won the same WPT event twice. If Medic were to defend his title and repeat as champion it would mark the first time in history that a player has won back-to-back WPT titles. It would also be the first time since Johnnie Chan won the WSOP main event in 1987 and 1988 that a player has won back-to-back titles in a $10,000 buy-in open field poker tournament. Here is how things looked at the start of play:

Seat 1: Nenad Medic - 555,000
Seat 2: Mike Vela - 4,155,000
Seat 3: Mark Weitzman - 855,000
Seat 4: Mike White - 2,455,000
Seat 5: Nick Schulman - 4,395,000
Seat 6: Tom 'Durrr' Dwan - 4,875,000

Dwan came into play as the chip leader, but the first two hands of the night were very unkind to the young star, and he lost over 1.5 million. This put Schulman in the driver’s seat early as the chip leader, and it also made him the early favorite to make poker history. Medic was one of the players to score a large chunk off Dwan in the first two hands though, and he doubled up to 1.54 million. Medic had some chips and he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. He brought that fight to Mark Weitzman on the fourth hand of the evening: Medic raised to 200,000 from the button and Weitzman moved all in from the big blind for 835,000. Medic went into the tank for more than two minutes before he called with A5. Weitzman showed down A3, and the board came 972J2, which gave Medic a flush on the river. Weitzman was eliminated in sixth place, and he took home $189,142. This hand took Medic above the 2 million mark and reinstated him as a factor at the final table.

The flattening of the field continued when Mike White scored a pot worth 3 million off of Schulman three hands later. White’s cheering section went crazy after the hand (White resides in Hartford, and about 40 friends and family made the trip in a charter bus to root him on at the final table). Schulman was knocked back down to earth and the final table was now anyone’s ball game to win. Medic made some noise yet again on Hand #28: White raised from the cutoff to 240,000, Schulman called from the button, and Medic thought for more than 30 seconds before he moved all in from the big blind for 1,715,000. White moved all in over the top of Medic and Schulman mucked. Medic turned up pocket tens and White held AK. The board brought 1063JK and Medic won the pot with a set of tens to double up to 3.7 million.

Mike Vela slowly and silently took the chip lead during this stretch of play, and he very loudly jumped way out into the lead on hand #30: Dwan raised from the cutoff to 165,000, Vela called from the small blind, and White called from the big blind. The flop rolled out Q85 and Vela bet 410,000. White raised to 1,000,000, Dwan folded, and Vela made the call. There was more than 2.5 million in the pot when the turn brought the A. Vela checked, White bet 1.2 million, and Vela tanked for several minutes before he made the call. He then checked in the dark before the river. The river card was the 9 and White checked as well. Vela showed the Q and he took down the pot with a pair of queens when White mucked his hand. The huge pot was worth 7.4 million, and Vela was now the 7 million-pound-gorilla in the room.

The gorilla in the audience made its retreat from the room after the events of Hand #37 transpired: Vela raised from the cutoff to 175,000 and White moved all in for 515,000 from the cutoff. Vela called with K10 and White showed down 76. The board came J43102 and Vela won the pot with a pair of tens. The local favorite, White, was eliminated in third place, earning $243,184. His cheering section of 50 quickly followed him out of the room after the hand.

Dwan lost a pot worth 4.25 million to Schulman a few hands later (Hand #45) and he was never able to recover. The end came for the young internet star ten hands later: Schulman raised under the gun to 225,000, Dwan moved all in from the button for 1,290,000, and Vela went into the tank for several minutes from the big blind. Vela eventually made the call and Schulman quickly got out of the way. Vela showed down KJ, but Dwan had him dominated with AK. The board ran out 107310J and Vela made jacks up on the river to win the pot. Dwan was eliminated in fourth place, earning $324,244, and Vela was living large with over 10 million! With three players left, the two former champions were still alive and kicking, but neither of them had even half of Vela’s stack so their work was cut out for them.

The difficult task of catching Vela became next to impossible after Hand #71: Vela raised to 450,000 on the button and Medic thought for a moment before he moved all in for 2,930,000. Vela immediately called with AJ and Medic flipped up A7. The board hit the table K98JJ and Vela took down the pot with trip jacks. The defending champion Medic was eliminated in third place, earning $486,367. This left the stacks between the final two a little more than unbalanced. In fact, Vela held a better than three-to-one chip lead on Schulman:

Mike Vela - 13,015,000
Nick Schulman - 4,255,000

Schulman had the chips stacked against him, and the heads-up match came to an end quickly. Just seven hands into the match, Schulman got all of his chips into the middle: Schulman had the button and he raised to 350,000. Vela reraised to 1.7 million and Schulman moved all in. Vela immediately called with AQ and Schulman showed down pocket fives. The board rolled out AQJ78 and Vela won the pot with two pair, aces and queens. Schulman was eliminated in second place, earning $864,652, and Vela won the title. He took home $1,704,986, and a $25,500 seat into the Season VI WPT World Championship in April, 2008.

The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the first expansion effort of World Series of Poker-branded pokertournaments outside the United States. Since 1970, participants have had to travel to Las Vegas if they wanted to compete in the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Although the WSOP held circuit events in other locations, the main tournaments, which awarded bracelets to the winners, were exclusively held in Las Vegas. The inaugural WSOPE, held in 2007, marked the first time that a WSOP bracelet was awarded outside Las Vegas.^[1]

In 2004, Harrah's Casinos purchased the rights to the WSOP label. Harrah's later purchased London Clubs International (LCI). LCI operates three casinos in the London area: Fifty, Leicester Square, and The Sportsman. After the purchase of these casinos, Harrah's decided to expand its WSOP label into Europe.^[2] European casinos typically have a different environment than those in the U.S.^[2]Jeffrey Pollack, the WSOP Commissioner, indicated that the WSOPE would have a 'style and flair that is both unique and appropriate to the setting. So don't be surprised if we require participants to wear blazers at the tables. If James Bond were hosting a poker tournament it may look like the World Series of Poker Europe.'^[2]

In marketing the WSOPE, Harrah's Casino did not rely upon the reputation of Harrah's or the WSOP alone. On July 5, 2007, Harrah's announced its alliance with England-based Betfair, one of the largest online gaming companies in the world. The agreement builds on Betfair's European reputation in advertising the WSOPE while creating the largest agreement between a web-based and brick-and-mortar casinos.^[3] Due to changes in U.S. laws, effective in 2007, the WSOP could no longer accept money from online gambling companies. This prevented the WSOP from acknowledging WSOP qualifiers from online events. The WSOPE is not bound by this limitation. The United Kingdom Gambling Act of 2005 allows for legal regulated online poker sites.^[4] Furthermore, as the laws that govern the age of gambling differ in England than the U.S., the WSOPE admits younger players. In 2007, four of the five finalists at the first event of the WSOPE had won bracelets. Thomas Bihl, however, outlasted each of them to claim the first-ever WSOPE bracelet. No previous bracelet winners played at the second final table; Dario Alioto won the bracelet. Annette 'Annette_15' Obrestad, became the youngest player to win a WSOP bracelet event at 18 years and 364 days old in the final event of the tournament.^[5] As of 2016, Obrestad's record still stands.

Key[edit]

Results[edit]

Event 1: £2,500 H.O.R.S.E.[edit]

• 3-day event: Thursday, September 6, 2007 to Saturday, September 8, 2007
• Number of buy-ins: 105
• Total Prize Pool: £262,500
• Number of Payouts: 16
• Winning Hand:8♠9♣
• Reference:^[6]

Event 2: £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha[edit]

• 2-day event: Saturday, September 8, 2007 to Sunday, September 9, 2007
• Number of buy-ins: 165
• Total Prize Pool: £825,000
• Number of Payouts: 18
• Winning Hand:A♦K♠7♣5♣
• Reference:^[7]

Event 3: £10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event[edit]

• 7-day event: Monday, September 10, 2007 to Sunday, September 16, 2007
• Number of buy-ins: 362
• Total Prize Pool: £3,676,990
• Number of Payouts: 36
• Winning Hand: 7♥7♠
• Reference:^[8]

References[edit]

1. ^'Harrah's Set to Launch World Series of Poker Europe'. Gaming Business. 2007-02-27. Archived from the original on 2009-05-19. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
2. ^ ^abcWarner, Eric (2007-02-27). 'Stay classy, London: Jeffrey Pollack on the World Series of Poker Europe'. Pokerlistings.com. Poker Listings. Archived from the original on 2009-05-19. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
3. ^'Harrah's Selects Betfair.com as 'Presenting Sponsor' of World Series of Poker Europe'. PRweb.com. PRweb. 2007-07-05. Archived from the original on June 19, 2008. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
4. ^World Series of Poker (WSOP) Comes to Europe This FallArchived 2009-02-19 at the Wayback Machine February 27, 2007. Pokerpages.com. Accessed 2007-07-25
5. ^'£10,000 NLHE, Final Table: Annette Obrestad Makes History'. Pokernews.com. Archived from the original on 30 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
6. ^'H.O.R.S.E. (Event 1)'. World Series of Poker Europe. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
7. ^'Pot Limit Omaha (Event 2)'. World Series of Poker Europe. Archived from the original on 2009-05-19. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
8. ^'WSOP Europe Main Event No-Limit Texas Hold'em'. World Series of Poker Europe. Archived from the original on 2009-05-19. Retrieved 2009-05-14.

2007 World Poker Finals Champions