2009 WSOP Main Event Update: Media Event

by Bodog Poker | Jul 13 2009

After the World Series of Poker Main Event completed all the Day 1's and 2's, and 6494 entrants were dwindled down to 1724, players got a break from the action on Thursday for the WSOP Media Event. Traditionally a pre-Main Event charity tournament, the Media Event has become more of a battle of bragging rights for media types that want to show their skills on the tables. The tournament now is a break from all the reporting the media professionals do during the Main Event, with the winner given $5K towards their favorite charity. The rest of the final table receives smaller amounts to be donated and play is usually fast and furious with rapid blind levels and lots of action.

Last year a total of 71 players took part in the event, and the final nine - along with their charities and donation amounts - were as follows:

1st Brett Collson $5000 Wounded Warrior Project
2nd Paul Spitzberg $2500 Undecided
3rd Ted Lynch $1500 Undecided
4th Oskar Garcia $1000 Las Vegas After School All-Stars
5th Paul Coleman $750 Cortland Brandenberg Foundation
6th Eric Newby $500 Give Kids the World
7th Seth Palansky $400 Undecided
8th Eric Benoit $250 Make a Wish Foundation
9th Russ Scott $100 American Red Cross, Quad-Cities

This year the media event was played under the Dream Team Poker format. Now players would be playing individually, but they would also be a part of a team of players. 165 professionals from various media outlets showed up and made up 55 three-player teams. Winning teams would be decided based on an overall point system as well as the individual prizes awarded to the final table players. The turnout for the event was more than double that of last year, and the new format seemed to be enjoyed by everyone involved.

As it usually is, play was fast and fun at first, but the players who went deep became competitive in the final stages. The eventual winner was Marc Rizzo from the "Overfed & Underwashed" team. In the heads-up match he beat out Amanda Rosenfeld from "Luckbox Inc.", while Pauly McGuire "Tao of Poker" took third. Lana Maier of "Team Lacey Jones" managed to finish in fourth place.

Those top finishers had a big effect on how their teams finished, especially Lana Maier of "Team Lacey Jones", whose fourth-place finish was enough to push her team to the first-place overall team win. They beat out the "Chonch Chowders" and "Team Mutt" and will donate the biggest amount to their charity of choice. Tao of Poker came in fourth place in the 55-team field, with ESPN.com rounding out the top five.

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