News / Matthew Pitt / 10 June 2009 / Leave a comment

Since the last update there have been a further 13 coveted World Series of Poker bracelets awarded and many hearts broken as they fell just short of winning one of the most wanted pieces of jewellery in the game of poker.

Although he did not actually win a bracelet, instead he was awarded a 1970 Classic Corvette, Tom McEvoy outlasted some of the biggest names in poker to take down the Champions Invitational. No mean feat considering the field contained the likes of Greg Raymer, Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth and Doyle Brunson.

Jason Mercier capped off a tremendous first 18 months on the tournament circuit by winning his first WSOP event and with it $237,462 in prize money when he outlasted 808 players in the Event 5, $1,500 Pot-limit Omaha Event. He burst onto the scene in April where he won the EPT San Remo and followed that up with final tables at EPT Barcelona and the £5,000 PLO event at the WSOPE before winning Omaha and Hold'em tournaments at the LA Poker Classic and The Wynn Classic. He has also cashed a further twice at this year's WSOP, taking his live tournament earnings to $3,234,273

When Phil Ivey won his sixth bracelet in the Deuce-Seven Draw Lowball he was awarded $96,367 in cash also but if reports are true he netted much more in proposition bets from other players. Rumours have it that Ivey took around $3,000,000 from his fellow pros on bets relating to bracelets won. Not too shabby for a couple of day's work.

Two well-known British players have also made final tables but so far we have not won a bracelet. Praz Bansi of the Poker Hit Squad came close when he finished in 8th spot in Event 9, the 6-max No-limit Hold'em Event but former Betfair-pro, Ben 'Milkybar Kid' Grundy came even closer to glory when he busted in third position in the $2,500 PLO event.

Grundy was cruelly outdrawn by Najib Bennani when they were all in preflop, and the board ran out 7c 5h Tc Jc Kh meaning Grundy's pair of aces made from Ac Ad As 7s had lost to Bennani's rivered two-pair holding 4s Qs Jd Kd. Grundy reported on his blog he had won around $140,000 for his troubles although the official figure is just shy of $100,000. Maybe a deal was struck?

The 2009 World Series of Poker is in full flow and with just two weeks until the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E tournament and three weeks until the $10,000 Main Event the action and excitement is certainly hotting up.

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