WSOP Day 6: $10,000 Mixed Championship, Final Table

So I found it quite annoying that this final table wasn't going to be televised and in the No-Limit Lounge for ESPN to film it while fans crowded the bleachers to watch. The field has all the big names in it and the final table included high profile stars such as Eli Elezra, Sam Farha, Jeff Madsen, and Tom "durrrr" Dwan. Michael DeMichele also made the final table and some might know him from his great showing in the US Poker Championship a couple years back. I felt this would be a much better final table to air than another NLHE event that got the spot instead. They say that the poker buzz is dying out and I think people are just getting tired of seeing the same types of things over and over again. So why not air this event. It includes some crazy games that may just intrigue more fans to watch and want to try them out. it also included PLO and NLHE so it wasn't barren of those games. In fact, throughout the tournament the biggest pots seemed to be played in 2-7 triple draw.

As much expected, Dwan blew up at the final table. We started off playing PLO to Elezra's and Farha's delight. Amnon Filippi came by to check out the action and the three were seen talking about how they expect Dwan to blow up. Well, in the first few hands, Dwan doubled up Elezra twice and then a few of the other short stacks as well. When we hit 2-7 triple draw after, he was able to get a lot of his chips back. We all know that game has a lot of gamble involved in it and Dwan has a ton of gamble. He would just jam every 2-7 hand knowing he could toss all his cards away if he wanted. This wasn't that bad of a strategy and it helped his stack out a lot when he needed it. You could tell during the HORSE games that Dwan's opponents were getting the best of him. He's pretty much dominated PLO and NLHE online to the maximum and I'm sure he'll be dabbling in these others game after this event to further improve his game.

After it was all said and done, Anthony Rivera took the crown. He really played well throughout the event and was a silent force at the final table. He didn't do too much gambling or mixing it up with the others, but when he did enter a pot he usually won it. This guy's only 22 and a high stakes mixed game player from California. What I found a little fishy was after Matt Glantz busted in third place, it took only one hand of heads up play. Both Rivera and second place finisher James Mackey are 22 and went to the University of Missouri. I'm not sure if they know each other, but it seems like the only reason this would happen would be because of a deal that could have been made. Mackey already has a bracelet so we'll never know. Harrah's and the WSOP doesn't allow for official deals to be made, so any deal cut is to be done so without the knowledge of Harrah's or the WSOP. Maybe if I see one of them around, I'll ask them and see if I can get an answer.

I'm covering the $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em next. I know it says ladies, but it's not ladies only. Discrimination laws prevent the tournament from being a ladies-only event, so I'm sure we'll get a few male participants in there. We might even get some bigger name males because of the the prop betting going on to win a bracelet. We may even have a few dressed in drag as accustomed to many 'female' tournaments on the circuit.

As always, live updates will be on PokerNews.com.