A lot can happen in a week at the World Series of Poker. Over the past seven days we’ve seen 10 more gold bracelets awarded and five new events get underway. Sadly, there hasn’t been much Asian representation at the top of the standings with the United States enjoying a wonderful 2014 WSOP so far.
So what’s been making headlines? By far the biggest story of the past week has been the ongoing saga of Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, who has been letting everyone know of a “disgraceful” decision by a member of the tournament floor staff to give him a one-orbit penalty at a crucial stage of the US$2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low.
Mike Matusow
With just 22 players remaining, Matusow was penalized for excessive celebration after scooping a huge pot – and after letting all and sundry know exactly what he thought of the decision, he proceeded to implode and quickly bust the tournament upon his return. The penalty was debated right across the poker community with many quick to stand by Matusow’s side, however more recently there has been word from some others playing at the table at the time that his behavior had been disgraceful all day, he had been warned previously and was ultimately penalized for refusing to heed those warnings and showing aggression towards the floor staff.
It’s certainly a fascinating turn of events and we’ll be keeping an eye out for further developments in the coming days.
Joe Cada
Controversy aside, the other big result of the week was Joe Cada’s victory in the US$10,000 No Limit Hold’em Championship. Winner of the 2009 WSOP Main Event, Cada scored his second career bracelet and a handy US$670,041 pay day, but the result was more significant than that given the terrible record of former WSOP Main Event Champions in recent times.
Not since Carlos Mortensen’s victory in 2001 has a Main Event champ managed to win another bracelet so to do so in such a tough event is quite an achievement. He also had to do so against an extremely tough final table boasting the likes of JC Tran, Erick Lindgren, Max Silver and another fellow bracelet winner in Jeremy Ausmus.
