Okay, I’ll admit that I tried to check out the celebrity tournament but the 300 security guards over there wouldn’t let me. So I resigned myself to watching the best players in the world determine a champion in an event that has only ever been won by a great player. This is one World Series event that a one-hit wonder has never won. And it’s going to be no different this year. Out of the 12 players remaining when I showed up, I only didn’t recognize two… and I have a feeling if I ask around someone who knows more than I will inform me that so and so is actually an amazing player… or at least was in the 70s.

Interestingly, I was able to follow both events at the same time as Phil Hellmuth was on the mike doing color commentary. Listening to him I learned that Matt Damon and Adam Sandler are the most popular celebs in the room (based on crowd applause) with Charles Barkley coming in a close second. I also heard that Daniel Negreanu busted early and that Annie Duke wanted to let him rebuy… except the Nevada Gaming Commission wouldn’t allow it. “They’ll let you play those slot machines,” Barkley joked, “but they won’t let you give another $5,000 to charity.”

Meanwhile, with ten players left in the 2-7 I watched Shawn Sheikhan raise from the button only to get reraised all in by a short-stacked Allan Cunningham. Sheikhan dropped a king, which he later admitted, and made a 10-9. Cunningham stood pat with his jack-high, which wasn’t good enough to keep him alive. Down to the final ten, the players stayed at two tables. Two more players needed to get eliminated before they could consolidate to one table.

I guess it really is a rule that if a wheel card flips over you’re allowed to keep it because I watched Chip Reese get dealt an upturned 5, which he kept. He then raised to $40,000 from the button. Andy Black reraised him to $100,000, and Reese called. Both players stood pat and Reese checked. Black pushed all in, and Reese quickly called. Black showed 8-7-6-3-2… and Reese, who had been the chip leader for much of the afternoon, mucked his cards and left the room. “He must have had a 9-6,” Todd Brunson guessed, but who really knows?

The final table is now set, and I’d be willing to bet a lot of money that Lamar Wilkinson, the one player I don’t recognize, won’t win it. Only the poker greats win 2-7 bracelets at the World Series of Poker.

Looking dapper in the blue blazer he wore over a gold-and-black silk shirt, Williamson looked confident and relaxed throughout the day despite never building much of a stack. There is good reason for his confidence—Williamson is generally acknowledged to be one of the best pot-limit Omaha players in the United States. His name always gets mentioned alongside that of Sam Farha, Lee Watkinson, and Freddy Deeb. He has done particularly well at the World Series of Poker where he has cashed nine times, made six final tables, and won one gold bracelet in events featuring pot-limit Omaha.

It was a long short day for Williamson as he was perpetually hovering one poorly played hand or unlucky break away from elimination. At times he seemed more interested in the nearest television set which had the U.S. Open on. “Vijay’s back to even,” he announced at one point. But when it came time to mix it up he was more than willing. After two players, one of whom was Williamson, called a raise before the flop, the pot grew so large that Williamson only had two moves left in his arsenal: move all in or fold. Liking the 725 flop, he chose the former. His opponent took his time before folding his string of four overcards. “I had a pair and a ton of outs to make a straight,” Williamson said. “That was about as good of a flop as I can have for my hand.”

The next big hand he got involved in wouldn’t treat him as kindly. Once again, he was one of three players who mixed it up before the flop. The flop came 83J, and he shoved all his chips into the center of the table. The guy on the button, a young internet-schooled player, called with A-A-Q-J. He was winning but Williamson had a huge draw with his wrap: Q1098. This was one more example of the classic Omaha confrontation, an overpair vs. a big draw. Williamson needed one of the four kings, two queens, three 10s, three 9s, two 8s, or four 7s left in the deck—19 outs! But the turn was a 6, the river a jack, and Williamson was out.

“Oh my God!” said the kid who had done the knocking out. “He had a lot of outs. He had over half the deck.”

The other players at the table acknowledged his good fortune, on that hand as well as throughout the day.

“I don’t even know how to play this game,” the kid responded. “This is the first live PLO tournament I’ve every played.”

A moment later Andy Black, carrying a rack of chips worth 12k, was moved into the seat Williamson had left vacant. 

“I knock out one pro,” said the kid, shaking his head, “and another sits down.”