Monday, June 9, 2008 9:19 PM Local Time
158 players started this $10,000 Seven-Card Stud World Championship. One of the strongest stud fields of all time assembled to try and take down the coveted world title. Eight players, including two multi bracelet winners, started this final table, but it was an unknown player, Eric Brooks, who took the title.
This is Brooks' first professional cash in a major tournament. Brooks will donate his entire winnings to the Decision Education Foundation, whose mission it is to teach the science of decision making to youth in grades K through 12.
At the beginning of this final table, Brooks stated that he was hoping to get lucky. Brooks indeed did get lucky, but he also showed tremendous skill outlasting 157 other opponents and taking home $415,856 and the gold bracelet.
Congratulations to Eric Brooks, the 2008 Seven-Card Stud World Champion.
Monday, June 9, 2008 9:14 PM Local Time
Congratulations to Eric Brooks who overcame a field of the highest quality and a final table full of talent to take down the title in Event 14.
He worked his way quietly through the final table and came back after starting the heads-up battle with a chip deficit.
Brooks has shown class and professionalism throughout this whole tournament, and as we reported earlier today, he will be putting the money to good use.
Congratulations Eric on winning $415,856 and the coveted WSOP bracelet!
Monday, June 9, 2008 9:09 PM Local Time
Eric Brooks was the bring-in with the
and Fu Wong completed showing the
. Brooks then raised and Wong called.
On 4th street Wong checked with the
and Brooks fired a bet after catching the
. Wong then raised, and Brooks reraised, Wong made the call for the last of his chips.
Brooks: (
)
Wong: (
)
On 5th street Brooks hit an ace to extend his lead and leaving Wong needing to hit one of the two remaining fours.
Brooks: (
)
Wong: (
)
Right on cue as the railbirds called “four!”, Wong got his miracle on 6th street:
Brooks: (
)
Wong: (
)
“No diamond!” came the cry from Wong as Brooks turned over his final card. “Oh my god!” exclaimed Wong as Brooks showed the
for the running flush. Wong would need a pair on the river to make a full house or better to stay alive, but was dismayed as he flipped the
. The final boards were:
Brooks: (
)
(
)
Wong: (
)
(
)
Fu Wong is eliminated in 2nd place collecting $259,910 for a wonderful tournament.
Monday, June 9, 2008 8:55 PM Local Time
Fu Wong's short stack just got shorter after Brooks caught a pair of jacks on 6th street and Wong was unable to catch an ace to go with an ace on board.
After the hand Wong is down to 150,000 chips.
Monday, June 9, 2008 8:50 PM Local Time
On fifth street, the betting was capped between Fu Wong and Eric Brooks. Wong was showing
and Brooks was showing
. Brooks asked Wong, "Do you have anything?" Wong replied, "Flush Draw. Big Flush Draw."
On sixth Wong caught the
and bet. Brooks, who caught the
, made the call.
On the river Fu Wong bet out at Brooks and after a moment, Brooks made the call and turned over (
) for two pair. Wong only showed a pair of kings.
After the hand, Wong is down to 475,000 chips.
Monday, June 9, 2008 8:40 PM Local Time
Not including staff, we have about 15 or 20 people watching this heads up match for the Stud World Championship. So far we haven’t seen any of the ESPN camera crew roaming around. We have about 3 photographers and a couple of Harrah’s suits waiting with us to see who will be the next Stud World Champion.
Naturally, part of the reason for lack of interest may be due to the lack of a famous face playing heads up for the bracelet. The other reason is just the difference in popularity. Seven-Card Stud is a game that most people consider a dying game and as such it doesn’t get the publicity of No-Limit. The fact that it is a limit game doesn’t help its cause either.
If you look around at this crowd, you won't see a bored spectator in the stands. For Stud enthusiast, Seven-Card Stud can be just as interesting, if not more so, than Texas Hold'em.
Monday, June 9, 2008 8:39 PM Local Time
Fu Wong: 1,000,000
Eric Brooks: 2,160,000
Monday, June 9, 2008 8:33 PM Local Time
Eric Brooks has just taken back two very healthy pots against Fu Wong. In the first hand Wong appeared to be strong on a board of
but Brooks wasn’t going anywhere, calling him down to take the pot holding (
)
for two pair.
In the very next hand there was some interesting betting as both players tried to steal the pot away from their opponents.
On 4th street, Brooks bet, Wong raised, and Brooks called.
On 5th street, Wong bet, Brooks raised, and Wong called.
On 6th street, Brooks bet, Wong raised, and Brooks called.
Finally on 7th street, Wong fired out again and Brooks made the call.
Wong tapped the table as the boards were as follows:
Wong:
Brooks: (
)
Amazingly with such action Brooks had called Wong down with just a pair of kings as Wong mucked his cards giving Brooks a monstrous pot and the chip lead!
Monday, June 9, 2008 8:33 PM Local Time
Dimitri Nobles is one of the players that are currently on the rail watching the heads up match for this Stud World Championship. Believe it or not, he hasn’t spoken a word
Monday, June 9, 2008 8:27 PM Local Time
So far heads up, neither player has made much headway. Most of the pots are completed and taken down. About every third or fourth pot, we may see fifth street. It will probably go this way for a while unless both players pick up a big hand.
Monday, June 9, 2008 8:25 PM Local Time
Wong has taken down the first few pots of heads up play to extend his chip lead.
Monday, June 9, 2008 8:20 PM Local Time
As we commence heads up play Fu Wong holds a slight chip advantage:
Fu Wong: 1,815,000
Eric Brooks: 1,345,000
Monday, June 9, 2008 8:15 PM Local Time
Fu Wong was the bring-in with Eric Brooks completed with the
. Alexander Kostritsyn then raised with the
, Wong folded and Brooks called.
On 4th street Brooks led out with the
and Kostritsyn called with the
.
On 5th street Brooks fired again, catching the
for a pair on board, but Kostritsyn announced a raise for the last of his chips with the
. Brooks made the call.
Brooks: (
)
Kostritsyn: (
)
Kostritsyn had kings and fours but would need help against the aces and sevens of Brooks. The boards finished:
Brooks: (
)
(
)
Kostritsyn: (
)
(
)
Alexander Kostritsyn is eliminated in 3rd place collecting $163,372 for his efforts.
Monday, June 9, 2008 8:05 PM Local Time
The players are taking a quick ten-minute break.
Chip counts at the break:
Fu Wong: 1,825,000
Eric Brooks: 1,085,000
Alexander Kostritsyn: 250,000
Monday, June 9, 2008 8:00 PM Local Time
Alexander Kostritsyn fired the whole way against Fu Wong with Kostritsyn showing
. Wong agonized over the call on the river but decided to lay it down.
“Don’t think you had outs” quipped Kostritsyn.
“Oh? You made the flush already?” replied Wong.
“I had a big hand!” said Kostritsyn.
However very next hand Wong was able to recover his chips when he was the aggressor and Alexander Kostritsyn called him down with
. Wong turned over (
)
for two pair, kings and tens, to collect the pot.
Kostritsyn is now back down to 250,000 chips.
Monday, June 9, 2008 7:51 PM Local Time
With a board of
, Fu Wong raised Eric Brooks who bet his board of
. Wong bet both fifth and sixth streets and Brooks called him down all the way. On the river, Wong bet out showing a board of
. Showing a board of
, Brooks took a long squeeze and look at his river card before finally mucking his hand. Fu Wong took down the approximately 275,000 chip pot.
Monday, June 9, 2008 7:42 PM Local Time
Alexander Kostritsyn completed with the
before Fu Wong raised it up showing the
. Kostritsyn then re-raised and Wong made the call.
On 4th street Kostritsyn caught the
and led out, with Wong raising after hitting the
. Kostritsyn went into the tank and cut down his chips before making the call.
On 5th street Wong paired up with the
and fired out. Kostritsyn shrugged his shoulders and tossed his cards into the muck in frustration.
The wheels have fallen off for Kostritsyn and he is now down to only 225,000 in chips.
Monday, June 9, 2008 7:38 PM Local Time
Alexander Kostritsyn made it two bets on third and Eric Brooks called. Kostritsyn bet out on fourth and Brooks called yet again. On fifth street, Kostritsyn bet out showing
and was instantly raised by Brooks who was showing
. Kostritsyn made it three bets and Brooks called. Sixth street gave Brooks the
and Kostritsyn the
. Brooks bet and Kostritsyn called. On the river card, Brooks took a look at his hole card and checked. Kostritsyn made a bet into Brooks. Brooks then counted out his chips and made a raise. Kostritsyn, looking confused, made the call.
Brooks turned over (
) for queens fulls. Kostritsyn madly slams his cards saying, "I had three nines and couldn't fill up."
After the hand Kostritsyn is down to 375,000 and Brooks is up to 1,450,000.
Monday, June 9, 2008 7:28 PM Local Time
A short-stacked Minh Ly was able to double up once through Alexander Kostritsyn but eventually the cards went against him. All of the chips were in on 3rd street with the boards running out:
Ly: (
)
(
)
Kostritsyn: (
)
(
)
Kostritsyn made a straight to eliminate Ly after a courageous tournament effort in 4th place for a collect of $118,816.
Monday, June 9, 2008 7:24 PM Local Time
Betting was capped three way between Alexander Kostritsyn, Minh Ly, and Fu Wong. On fourth street, Ly got out the way when Kostritsyn caught a pair of jacks on board and double bet. Ly made the call. Both fifth and sixth street were bet by Kostritsyn and Wong followed him with a call all the way.
On seventh, Kostritsyn bet blind showing
. Wong made the call showing
. Kostritsyn looked underneath and shook his head and Wong asked, "You missed your draw?" Kostritsyn shook his head and the crowd cheered as Wong flipped over (
) for a pair of aces.
Kostritsyn starts complaining to the rail about how Wong called him down with just aces and three spades.
After the hand, Wong is sitting with 1,400,000 in chips