News
A SENIOR MOMENT
The Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship attracted the largest turnout in history -- with a whopping 3,752 entries. Incredibly, attendance was up nearly 20 percent over last year's turnout, which was then an all-time record. In fact, the capacity crowd represented the largest single-day start for any live tournament in poker history.
The winner was James Hess, from Encino, CA. He earned $557,435 in prize money -- the biggest payout ever for what is commonly known as the seniors poker world championship. Hess was also presented with his first-ever WSOP gold bracelet, the game's ultimate achievement. This marked Hess' third time to cash at the WSOP.
Predictably, the battle was not easy. What was originally planned as a three-day competition extended into an early morning fourth day, when the action concluded just shy of 4 am. Hess made trip sixes on the final hand of the tournament, topping his final adversary, Richard Hardwood -- who showed two pair.
With the conclusion of Event #30, the 2011 WSOP has now crossed the midway point -- both in terms of total days and number of events. So far, several attendance and prize money records has been set at the Rio in Las Vegas.
The 2011 WSOP continues in Las Vegas through July 19th.
