The Casino Employees bracelet was won by aspiring rapper Eric Narciso, who goes by the nickname “QuietLike”. The event was the second biggest of its kind, falling slightly behind on last year’s tournament, but the 1,038 competitors still added up to a creditable prize fund, with Narciso receiving $104,701 for first place.

The negligible effect of the UIGEA on the ever-burgeoning popularity of poker was confirmed as early as day two when the first WSOP record was broken for 2007. 2,998 players sat down for the start of Event #3; the biggest field ever assembled outside of a non-championship event.

From the off it was Alex Jacob who made all the running in this tournament, commanding proceedings from the opening day right up to and including the final table. Jacob’s dominance was supreme, and with 6 players left he was fully in control with nearly four times as many chips as his nearest rival.

From there however, things began to fall apart as Jacob crossed paths with the rising star of Ciaran O’Leary. O’Leary started as one of the table’s short-stacks, and a cold run of cards saw him fold before the flop on every one of the first 19 hands. He finally got involved when he found a pair of pocket nines, but when Paul Evans tabled pocket kings it looked like O’Leary’s final table would end on the first hand he played. Barring a miracle that is, and after pleading with the dealer for mercy that is exactly what he got when a nine dropped obligingly on the turn.

However even after that win O’Leary was still propping up the bottom of the leaderboard; he had just $700,000 chips compared to Jacob’s $4 million, but the winds of change were now blowing. Soon O’Leary clashed with Paul Evan’s again, but this time it was O’Leary who held pocket kings, and this time they held up. O’Leary’s stack was now up to $1.5 million, and after doubling up Jeff Yoak to the tune of $700,000 Alex Jacob’s was down to around $3.4 million. Then when his pocket nines failed to improve against O’Leary’s pocket queens their position were reversed.

O’Leary took a hit against Paul Evans, but regained the chip lead a while later when he called Craig Crivello’s all-in with A-8o. Crivello grimaced as he tabled A-7o and O’Leary’s cheering section went nuts when the dealer peeled off an eight on the flop to bring Crivello’s tournament to an end.

O’Leary had a taste for the knock-out now, and he dealt with Jeff Yoak next when he called Yoak’s all-in with A-6o. Yoak flipped K-Qo but an ace on the flop was enough to send him to the rail in fourth.

Next it was Alex Jacob’s turn to square up to “The Big C”, as the tournament director had dubbed Ciaran O’Leary. In what turned out to be one of the most exciting hands at the final table O’Leary limped and Jacob checked his option. O’Leary checked in the dark and Jacob fired out $150,000 at the Ac-4c-2s flop. The Big C then raised to $600,000 and Jacob called. The king of spades fell on the turn and O’Leary went for the big all-in putting Jacob to a decision for his tournament life.

Jacob was clearly frustrated by the way things had fallen apart for him in the latter stages of this final table, but ever the professional, he took his time and weighed up his options before making a decision in this tough spot. Eventually he called, and he obviously must have thought O’Leary was bluffing or on a draw, because he held nothing more than 9h-4h. But to Jacob’s visible disgust O’Leary tabled pocket sevens, and when the six of hearts fell on the river Jacob’s tournament was done.

The heads-up match between O’Leary and Paul Evans lasted just two hands. With a $7.5 million to $1.5 million chip deficit to overcome Evans was going to have to gamble, and he did so when he pushed all-in with 6-3 on a K-6-2 flop. Unfortunately for Evans O’Leary was holding K-T, and when a king fell on the turn Evans was drawing dead on the river. A delighted O’Leary celebrated with his vocal cheering section of whom he said: “It’s great to have the guys in the background; they were very, very supportive.”

Payouts were as follows:

1^st – Ciaran O’Leary - $727,012

2^nd – Paul Evans - $450,150

3^rd – Alex Jacob - $282,367

4^th – Jeffrey Yoak - $184,152

5^th – Craig Crivello - $128,907

6^th – Andreas Krause - $94,122

7^th – Thad Smith - $73,661

8^th – Bart Hanson - $55,246