The 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) began on June 1, 2007. The $10,000 (US) no-limit Texas hold 'em Main Event began on July 6 and was completed on the morning of July 18. All events were held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Harrah's Entertainment, which has run the annual event since its purchase from the Binion family in 2004.

For the first time players began each event with double the amount of chips as the buy-in. This means that players in the Main Event started with 20,000 chips. The blind structure has also been increased and some blind levels removed but slowed to allow for more play.

In addition to the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, which was first played at the 2006 World Series of Poker, this year there were 2 additional H.O.R.S.E. events with lower buy-ins ($2,500 and $5,000).

Tom Schneider, who won 2 events and made 1 other final table, won the Player of the Year Award. Michael Binger and Chad Brown led all other players with eight money finishes.

The annual celebrity event was changed this year, as it became a pro and celeb event called "Ante Up for Africa", hosted by actor Don Cheadle and poker pro Annie Duke. The final two players, Dan Shak and Brandon Moran, agreed to share first place and donate all prize money to charities in Darfur.

The last woman standing of the 2007 Main Event was Maria Ho who finished in 38th place.

Also this year, KEM Plastic Playing Cards were once again used for the events, rather than Copag brand plastic playing cards, which were used during the 2005 and 2006 World Series of Poker.

Event schedule

Phil Hellmuth won his 11th career bracelet, breaking a tie with Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan for the career bracelet lead.

# EventEntries Winner Prize Runner-up Results1 $5,000 World Championship Mixed Hold'em451Steve Billirakis (1/1)$536,287Greg MuellerResults2 $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold'em1,039Frederick Narciso (1/1)$104,701Charles FisherResults3 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em2,998Ciaran O'Leary (1/1)$727,012Paul EvansResults4 $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em781Mike Spegal (1/1)$252,290Gavin SmithResults5 $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better327Tom Schneider (1/1)$214,347Ed TonnellierResults6 $1,500 Limit Hold'em910Gary Styczynski (1/1)$280,715Varouzhan GumroyanResults7 $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha w/Rebuys145Burt Boutin (1/2)$868,745Erik CajelaisResults8 $1,000 No Limit Hold'em w/Rebuys814Michael Chu (1/1)$585,744Tom VuResults9 $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo Split 8 or Better690Alex Kravchenko (1/1)$228,446Bryan DevonshireResults10 $2,000 No Limit Hold'em1,531Will Durkee (1/1)$566,916Todd TerryResults11 $5,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud180Chris Reslock (1/1)$258,453Phil Ivey (0/5)Results12 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Short Handed1,427Jason Warner (1/1)$481,698David ZeitlinResults13 $5,000 World Championship Pot Limit Hold'em398Allen Cunningham (1/5)$487,287Jeff Lisandro Results14 $1,500 Seven Card Stud395Michael Keiner (1/1)$146,987Nesbitt CoburnResults15 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em2,628Phil Hellmuth (1/11)$637,254Andy PhilachackResults16 $2,500 H.O.R.S.E.382James Richburg (1/2)$239,503Walter BrowneResults17 $1,000 World Championship Ladies No Limit Hold'em1,286Sally Boyer (1/1)$262,077Anne HeftResults18 $5,000 World Championship Limit Hold'em257Saro Getzoyan (1/1)$333,379Geoff SanfordResults19 $2,500 No Limit Hold'em1,013Francois Safieddine (1/1)$521,785John PhanResults20 $2,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better340Ryan Hughes (1/1)$176,358Min LeeResults21 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Shootout900Don Baruch (1/1)$264,107Jared DavisResults22 $5,000 No Limit Hold'em640James Mackey (1/1)$730,740Stuart FoxResults23 $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha576Scott Clements (1/2)$194,206Eric LynchResults24 $3,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo Split 8 or Better236Eli Elezra (1/1)$198,984Scotty Nguyen (0/4)Results25 $2,000 No Limit Hold'em1,619Ben Ponzio (1/1)$599,467David HewittResults26 $5,000 H.O.R.S.E.192Ralph Schwartz (1/1)$275,683Bill GazesResults27 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em2,315David Stucke (1/1)$603,069Young ChoResults28 $3,000 No Limit Hold'em827Shankar Pillai (1/1)$527,829Beth ShakResults29 $1,500 Seven Card Razz341Katja Thater (1/1)$132,653Larry St. JeanResults30 $2,500 No Limit Hold'em Short Handed847Hoyt Corkins (1/2)$515,065Terrence ChanResults31 $5,000 World Championship Heads Up No Limit Hold'em392Dan Schreiber (1/1)$425,594Mark MuchnikResults32 $2,000 Seven Card Stud213Jeff Lisandro (1/1)$118,426Nick FrangosResults33 $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/Rebuys293Alan Smurfit (1/1)$464,867Qushqar MoradResults34 $3,000 Limit Hold'em296Alexander Borteh (1/1)$225,483Brandon WongResults35 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em2,541Ryan Young (1/1)$615,955Dustin DirksenResults36 $5,000 World Championship Omaha Hi/Lo Split 8 or Better280John Guth (1/1)$363,216Robert StevanovskiResults37 $2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em599Greg Hopkins (1/1)$269,274Jason NewburgerResults38 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em2,778Robert Cheung (1/1)$673,628Richard MurnickResults39 $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E.148Freddy Deeb (1/2)$2,276,832Bruno FitoussiResults40 $1,500 Mixed Hold'em620Fred Goldberg (1/1)$204,935Rene MouritsenResults41 $1,000 World Championship Seniors No Limit Hold'em1,882Ernest Bennett (1/1)$348,423Tony KorfmanResults42 $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Split 8 or Better687Lukasz Dumanski (1/1)$227,454David BachResults43 $2,000 Limit Hold'em472Saif Ahmad (1/1)$217,329William JensenResults44 $2,000 Omaha Hi/Lo Split534Frankie O'Dell (1/2)$240,057Thang LuuResults45 $5,000 No Limit Hold'em Short Handed728Bill Edler (1/1)$904,672Alex BolotinResults46 $1,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better668Tom Schneider (2/2)$147,713Hoyt VernerResults47 $2,000 No Limit Hold'em2,038Blair Rodman (1/1)$707,898Amato GalassoResults48 $1,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball w/Rebuys209Rafi Amit (1/2)$227,005Lenny MartinResults49 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em3,151Chandrasekhar Billavara (1/1)$722,914Taylor DouglasResults50 $10,000 World Championship Pot Limit Omaha314Robert Mizrachi (1/1)$768,889Rene MouritsenResults51 $1,000 S.H.O.E.730Dao Bac (1/1)$157,975Adam GeyerResults52 $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em w/Rebuys1,048Michael Graves (1/1)$742,121Theo TranResults53 $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout720Ram Vaswani (1/1)$217,438Andy WardResults54 $5,000 World Championship 2-7 Draw Lowball w/Rebuys78Erik Seidel (1/8)$538,835Chad BrownResults55 $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em Main Event6,358Jerry Yang (1/1) $8,250,000Tuan LamResults

2007 records Steve Billirakis became the youngest person to ever win a WSOP bracelet at 21 years and 11 days. This record was broken three months later at the World Series of Poker Europe by Annette Obrestad, aged 18 years, 364 days. Phil Hellmuth became the first player to win 11 bracelets. Phil Hellmuth set a record of 63 all-time WSOP cashes. June 9 was the busiest WSOP day ever, with 3,009 participants starting in two events on the same day.2007 World Series of Poker Continues to Smash Records! Accessed 7/14/07 The largest non-WSOP Main Event tournament record was broken. The $1500 Buy In No Limit Hold'em Event #49 attracted a record 3151 players for the noon start. This event broke the single busiest start date set on June 9. Annie Duke set the women's record with 33 WSOP cashes. 1,286 women set a new record for number of participants in an all women's poker tournament. The 2007 WSOP also boasted the largest number of total registrants in history, with 54,288 registrations for all of the events. Michael Binger and Chad Brown tied Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth and Humberto Brenes for most ITM finishes in a single World Series of Poker with eight.

Main Event

The $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event began on July 6 with the first of four separate starting days. 6,358 players entered, 2,415 fewer than in 2006. This is the first time since 1992 that the Main Event experienced a reduction in participants. As the total number of registrants for the 2007 WSOP set a record at 54,288 with a total prize pool of $159,796,918 ($59,784,954 for the Main Event),2007 World Series of Poker Draws More Than 54,000 Entrants Field is Largest in WSOP History 7/9/07 Accessed 7/10/07 the decrease in the number of participants in the Main Event has been attributed to a recent law that limits Internet gambling. As a result of this law, Harrah's did not allow online poker websites to directly purchase Main Event seats and offer them as prizes, if the sites conducted business with US citizens. Online entries to the Main Event that were won as prizes on Internet poker sites were a substantial contributor to the dramatic growth the Main Event seen in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. The reduced field also meant a nearly one-third reduction in the Main Event's grand prize, from the record $12 million (US) in 2006 to $8.25 million.

A flatter payout structure was introduced in 2007 further reducing the prize money awarded to the final table finishers. Players who busted early in the money received a larger share than they would have in 2006. The lowest payouts in 2007 were $20,320 (just over double the buyin), as compared to $14,597 in 2006. Every player who made the final table in 2006 won over 1.5 million dollars.

A minor controversy arose during the main event. The colors of the chips made it very difficult to differentiate between the chip values. Pokernews.com posted the following note on its live reporting log, "It has literally been impossible for us to count these players' stacks due to the positioning of the cameras and the incredibly similar colors of the various chip denominations." Pokernews also reported that the chip color has affected play, "Because of the similarly-colored chips it took the dealer some time to count down Kluber's stack, and not long after Rahme began thinking about his response Kluber called the clock on him." Other players have complained that they can't count their opponents stacks and fear asking for a chip count as speaking may reveal the strength of their hand.

Final table NameNumber of chips(percentage of total)WSOPBracelets*WSOPCashes*WSOPEarnings* Phillip Hilm22,070,000 (17.3%)01$6,930 Tuan Lam21,315,000 (16.7%)02$10,443 Jon Kalmar20,320,000 (15.9%)01$91,950 Raymond Rahme16,320,000 (12.8%)000 Lee Childs13,240,000 (10.4%)000 Lee Watkinson9,925,000 (7.8%)19$1,283,185 Hevad Khan9,205,000 (7.2%)02$20,255 Jerry Yang8,450,000 (6.6%)000 Alex Kravchenko6,570,000 (5.2%)16$278,844 *Career statistics prior to the beginning of the 2007 Main Event.

Final table results

Place Name Prize 1st Jerry Yang $8,250,000 2nd Tuan Lam $4,840,981 3rd Raymond Rahme $3,048,025 4th Alex Kravchenko $1,852,721 5th Jon Kalmar $1,255,069 6th Hevad Khan $956,243 7th Lee Childs $705,229 8th Lee Watkinson $585,699 9th Phillip Hilm $525,934

Other notable high finishes NB: This list is restricted to top 100 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.

Place Name Prize 11th Scotty Nguyen $476,926 16th Kenny Tran $381,302 23rd Bill Edler $333,490 25th Daniel Alaei $333,490 26th Roy Winston $333,490 38th Maria Ho $237,865 39th Rep Porter $237,865 42nd Dag Mikkelsen $237,865 56th Kirk Morrison $154,194 60th John Spadavecchia $154,194 61st Gus Hansen $154,194 64th Julian Gardner $130,288 69th Brandon Adams $130,288 73rd Huck Seed $106,382 77th Willie Tann $106,382 83rd Humberto Brenes $82,476 96th Dario Minieri $67,535

Performance of past champions

Name ChampionshipYear(s) Day ofElimination Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston 1972 1 Doyle Brunson 1976, 1977 1 Bobby Baldwin 1978 2 Tom McEvoy 1983 2 Berry Johnston 1986 4 (113th) Johnny Chan 1987, 1988 1 Phil Hellmuth 1989 1 Brad Daugherty 1991 1 Jim Bechtel 1993 2 Dan Harrington 1995 2 Huck Seed 1996 5 (73rd) Scotty Nguyen 1998 6 (11th) Chris Ferguson 2000 3 Carlos Mortensen 2001 4 (217th) Robert Varkonyi 2002 4 (177th) Chris Moneymaker 2003 2 Greg Raymer 2004 1 Joe Hachem 2005 2 Jamie Gold 2006 1

Celebrities in the 2007 Main Event