I just thought I would bring this up before the tournament this year. Since GSN opened up the WSOB this year, I guess there will be no question that the winner of this years WSOB will be the: "UNDISPUTED WORLD BLACKJACK CHAMPION"! Although the first two years were not open, I still think Mike and Kenny desevered the titles for the first two years. After all they did win the "World Series of Blackjack". Good luck to whoever wins it this year.
My two cents I really like the way all the hype around TV invitation only tournaments (GSN and UBT) conveniently exclude the greatest winner of all, Sam Vaughn. Sam beat a field of a couple thousand entries to claw his way to the finals and win 1 Million$ in the only true major Open BJ tournament of 2005. No soft field here. Triumph of substance over hype. I nominate Sam for the title of BJ Champion of the Universe.:joker: :joker: :joker:
Worl Champ BJ FAN Sam was at the UBT preliminary taping. He was invited. How he fared for finals, I don't know. But, a real gentleman and probably stayed just as he was before winning the Hilton. Congrats to him. And. I submit: For tourney play, someone can correct me, if anyone has a better record than Ken E. in high profile, high stakes tourneys. Sooooo. Until someone betters that record, he's the "King" to dethrone. Not to belabor the point. But whether it's open entry, invite, or luck of the draw, ya gotta give it to Ken E.
Hell of a run in 2004! Yes November of 2004 was when the last WSOB was shot. And Noman is correct, within a four week period I believe Kenny E. won around $400,000 in three tournaments. Won for $100,000 2nd for $50,000 Won the WSOB for $250,000 Don't hold me to those exact totals, but it was something like that. Pretty damn impressive run of finals. That little run alone should give him the world champion title. Yes, Kenny is a friend of mine and as long as it wasn't me winning I was thrilled to see him take home the quarter million in the WSOB.
Thank you guys I really want to thank you guys with those kind words. What ever happens will happen. If I don't get invited to the WSOB I will still be there cheering for I hope one of my friends at the final table. I did have a great run that I won't for get it. Within a 6 month span, I won the Rio for 20,000 then I came in 1st at Treasure Island for 75,000. 3 weeks later I took 2nd at the Mirage for 75,000 and 2 weeks later took 2nd at Bellagio. A month later I won the World Series of Blackjack and then came in 5th place at the Venetian for 7500. It will be something I never forget. This year hasn't been to bad either as you will come to find out down the road. Kenny E.
Impressive Run Sorry, but I just have to pass on this story, told to me by E's father in Dec. of 02. It seems to me, it was a precurser of things to come. Seems at the Rio, E split 7's to the max four hands for the max bet on each and won all four. Now, that's providing a healthy stake for tourney entries. And good money just kept following good money.
Congrats Kenny, pretty impressive run. Just hope someday to have a run 1/2 of that. Good luck on all future play. Take Care Capt.
World Champion? So the WSOB 2006 is now over and this year tournament all players had a chance to get in through qualifiers so is this years champion the undisputed World Champion?
My point is..... No matter who win's or how they get in the tournament someone will always complain about it. I look at it this way: MIT Mike won the first WSOB. Kenny E. won the second WSOB. and ? won this passed WSOB. Until some better system comes along I think the WSOB has the best arguement for being the World Champion of that year. Before I start getting slammed by a few of ya'll that is just my opinion. Both Mike and Kenny are friends of mine, but that really has no bearing on my final decision. We just don't have any other events around the world or for that matter the country to determine a champion any other way.
Time Will Tell Anytime the best players in the world are brought together to play against eachother the winner should be considered the World Champ.Just like in any major sport the best teams get to play for the World Champion.If this years WSOB has all the best players in the world competing then this years winner should be considered the undisputed World Blackjack Champion.
I gues it isn't then JoeP Because, at minmum, neither you, I, Chips Mccoy, Yama, MIT Mike or Anthony Curtis played in this years event.
Best player in the World? Although I applaud GSN opening the WSOB to the world this year through qualification tournaments and hope GSN continues to make this opportunity available to the masses, I'm certain the 40 finalists are not the 40 best tournament BJ players in the world, several of the 40 finalists stated they earned a seat qualifing in their 1st (or few) ever BJ tournaments, as so I don't consider all 40 finalists among the best BJ tournament players in the world even though each may possibly win the finals in the 2006 WSOB. To be considered a world champion you have to do more than a Douglas vs. Tyson knock out, it's public image not only a title. Congrats KennyE for 2005, your credentials are time proven.
If its all about rating's who is right !! "Congrats KennyE for 2005, your credentials are time proven". A quote from Rookie 789 In regards to my Time Will Tell post lets look at this Kenny E is a proven top tournament player and WSOB 2005 Champion who also can play a winning game of live blackjack . MIT Mike may be the Worlds top live money blackjack player and someone who has been able to cross over and become a very good tournament player,good enough to be the WSOB 2004 champion. This year for the WSOB 2006 GSN has decided to go in a different direction and open the tournament up to the general public and have a limited number of seats left for players of their choosing. For this year's UBT Russ Hamilton made his decision to invite as many as the top blackjack players he could and pit them against the top poker players.With a little bit of some good TV personalities thrown in to the mix. So I ask you which is the right formula ?