With millions of dollars up for grabs, and thousands of players all fiercely competing to walk away with the cash and a prestigious bracelet, the WSOP (World Series of Poker) tournament isn’t to be missed.
Ever since the 2018 event kicked off there’s been games of Hold ‘em, Omaha and every variation of poker under the sun. But, if you’re the kind of player who just likes to spend time playing poker online and haven’t been following every game, you might feel you’ve missed out on the big events.
Conveniently, we’ve been keeping an eye on things for you and have some highlights of the events which we think are particularly interesting.
1. Doyle Brunson’s Last Game
The ten-time bracelet winner Doyle Brunson stepped up to the felt probably for the last time, due to his wife Lucille’s recent ill health, and the fact . It seems he’s looking to wind up his innings at the World Series.
Unfortunately, the legend didn’t end on a massively high note as he went out on the final table of the 2-7 lowball championship and finished in sixth place. His son, Todd, also played and showed the apple didn’t fall far from the tree with his own solid performance.
Will Brunson play again? Only time will tell…
2. Steve Albini Wins a Bracelet
The legendary producer of Nirvana’s In Utero and the guitarist for Shellac, Steve Albini is most famous for his humble approach to being a music producer and a genuine lover of the craft. He is also, now, famous for being a winner of a WSOP bracelet after beating Jeff Lisandro.
Though he’s not the first bracelet winner who’s famous in another industry, his win’s been making headlines as a highlight of WSOP 2018 before the main event really gets underway.
3. Bart Hanson Makes $200,000 by Losing
For pro-player Bart Hanson losing the $10,000 Omaha buy-in at the WSOP this year was more than a little aggravating. His luck was so bad that he busted before managing to cash, despite being able to hit the final table three times in the past.
He was so frustrated with his luck that he decided to blow off some steam playing video poker, where he proceeded to make $200,000 in short order and walk away with a pretty hefty profit.
He’d have to have been placed second or higher at the event he entered to make more money so… incredibly, he did better by losing.
4. Fahrintaj Bonyadi Lands a Bracelet After Lessons From Her Son
One of the biggest surprise wins from this year was 83-year-old Fahrintaj Bonyadi, who won the $1,000 Super Senior’s No-limit Hold’em event thanks to advice from her son – Farzad Bonyadi (that’s him in the picture). To be fair, Farzad has won three bracelets himself, so she had a good teacher to get her started.
The actual game ended in head’s up play with Robert Beach, who played a dominant game until one final hand where Fahrintaj managed to scoop the entire pot. This makes the Bonyadi’s the first Mother-Son bracelet winning duo in WSOP history. Unique claim to fame, right?
5. The Biggest WSOP Ever?
With a massive main event and a prize-pool of $74 million up for grabs for the 1,181 players who come near the top, it’s no surprise that 2018 is looking like a mammoth year for the World Series. But perhaps the biggest shock comes from the 4th July, day 1C, which set a historic new WSOP record with 4,571 players turning up to play. That’s the largest single day turnout for an event in World Series history.
While the main event is only the second biggest in the events history, the surprising number of famous players falling in the early stages are setting it up to be an interesting one!