At 11 a.m. the remaining 150 players from the Winstar World Championship Series River Event began their battle for the title of first WWCS champion. The winner would receive a cash prize of $700,000 and gold bracelet, plus a bit of fame to boot, as it was a televised event.
Finalists emerged from a field of almost 1,500 topnotch players from across the country and included poker greats Kido Pham and Winstar's Red River Round-Up 2007 second place finisher, T.J. Cloutier. At the onset, play resembled a demolition derby, with the first table breaking in only five minutes, and nearly half of the field eliminated within the first hour.
Things settled down after that and the field narrowed down to the final ten players around 10 p.m. Dominated by Texans, nine to be exact, the televised battle at the final table began with Annie Duke and Greg Raymer serving as live commentators for the high stakes event.
Professional player Young Cho from Enid, Oklahoma with an impressive string of WPT and WSOP final table cashes under his belt was intent on capturing his fist major tournament title. After several hours of intense play, the championship was close to a reality for Cho as he and part-time player and novelist Jim Carroll, faced off in a heads-up battle for the title with very close to even chip stacks.
Throughout the final table, Jim Carroll had been the comedian in the group. He chatted and joked with the announcer, pulled a few pranks, and brushed off the final table intensity with lighthearted jokes and comments while portraying the image of a passive, conservative player. When heads-up play began, Jim flawlessly switched gears and became the aggressor, retaining his affable façade all the while.
He finished off the match in short order, and captured the title of first WWCS River Champion. After completing his hosting duties Greg Raymer came down to the floor to chat it up with both players and offer some one-on-one evaluation of their play. Greg is somewhat of a regular at the Winstar Poker room, and is often seen mixing it up with the players at cash games.
The WWCS River was Winstar's inaugural entry into the rarefied air of high stakes tournaments, offering a guaranteed prize pool of $3 million and televised events, but it won't be the last. This highly successful event drew professional and high level players from almost every state in the country. Plans for the 2009 WWCS River are already in motion.
Located in Thackerville, Oklahoma on the Texas border, the 46-table Winstar Casino poker room is the largest poker room in the Central Time Zone, and it is easily accessible from the Dallas airport. A new resort complex and extensive renovation of the existing property are currently near completion, and will offer players nationwide a new "must see" poker destination, in addition to the new "must play" WWCS events.
Bonnie Demos from the midwest, Gambler, poker player and award winning chef, has enjoyed working in the gaming industry for the past several years. Write her at bdemos1@wi.rr.com
