We all knew this was going to be a marathon and that the biggest names in poker were going to have a target on their heads. The survivors from Day 1a and Day 1b sat down at the tables yesterday and some of the names that had managed to build up formidable stacks were shown the rail by the end of the day. All in all, 1,476 player started the day and only 630 of them still had chips when the final hand was dealt.
Some of the players that failed to make it through the day were Mike Matusow, Jennifer Tilley, Phil Laak, Gus Hansen, Eli Elezra, Todd Brunson, Gavin Smith, Amarillo Slim and Tony G. While they will be watching from the side lines, Chris Ferguson, Andy Black, Greg Mueller, Mike Sexton and Thor Hansen have all managed to get through to the next session.
Day 2b should be interesting as the field for this session will be much larger. A lot of players chose to play in the 2 late Day 1’s and we will see about 3,500 players start the day off before they combine fields to move forward. It was also interesting that a lot of the professionals chose to start off on the later days as they knew they would also be packed with a lot of the amateurs that were getting satellite tickets into the Main Event.
We have talked many times about how difficult it is for the pros to navigate through large fields because of the fact that everyone wants to be the person that can say, “I took out (fill in name of pro here).” Not only that, but by playing in one of the first two sessions, you would get a significant more amount of rest in compared to the later days when the fields get combined. Make no mistake about it, these players will wear down with the grind that they are faced with.
We are a long way from the bubble as the top 648 players get paid. You can expect that stage not be reached until Friday at the earliest. When that time approached, play will come to grinding halt as everyone can smell the money and do not want to be the person that goes out on the bubble in the largest stage that poker sees every year.
Strap in and get ready for another long session of poker on Wednesday. They will hopefully get this field down to under 1,000 players, leaving less than 2,000 overall to go into Day 3. That is when the real fun begins as we will have all of the players in the same room for the first time since the tournament has started.
Well, if you are going to cash, you might as well make it a big one and Mike Eise did exactly that by bursting into the World Series of Poker stats with a huge $639,331 first place win in Event 28. The unknown player was in a groove from day one as he ousted seasoned veterans Amarillo Slim and JC Tran. He continued on his ways right up and through the final table. If destiny has a child, Mike Eise was it on this day.
The final hand of the tournament had Eise on button and doubling the blinds. Chang called the small raise to see a flop of 3c6d3s. Chang checked it down, but Eise stayed aggressive and moved all his chips to the middle of the table. Chang immediately called and everyone thought he was sitting on a monster, but he only turned over AhJd. Eise did not have anything either, but he hid have two live cards with his 8h7d. When the dealer turned a 7h and the room full of Eise supporters let out a roar that would have made a football crowd happy. The river was a harmless 5s and Eise Wins. Change would receive $392,494 for second place.
In other tournaments…
The Heads-Up Championship reached its final table after the shocking upset of Johnny Chen. He had his opponent dead to rights and all in and somehow he managed to hit a 3 outer. From that point on, it was all downhill. While he still had a huge chip lead at this point, momentum was clearly shifting. He had his opponent all in again with the best of it and lost not only the hand, but the chip lead as well. He never saw the better of it again and was soon out of the tournament falling short of his quest for an 11th bracelet.
The final table was reached in Event 30 and while John Juanda is still alive, he is the short stack at the table with only 129,000 left in his stack. JC Tran is also alive with 387,000, but the overall chip leader is Ross Boatman with 718,000 in his stack.
The H.O.R.S.E. event failed to get down to a final table and still has a rather large field of 23 players remaining. With this being a limit event, these players are coming back early and better dig in for a marathon session. This one will end in the wee hours of the morning. The overall leader is Fabrice Soulier with 351,000, but Shannon Shore is hot on his heels with 323,500.
Event 32 has shrunk from its initial 1534 person field down to 261 and should continue down to the final table today. However, if it follows the recent trend of tables slowing down dramatically on day 2, we could see another long session for the eventual champion. The bubble on this one is 171 player and we should see that fairly early in day 2.
The World Championship of Limit Hold’em did not even come close to where they needed to be. With only 185 players starting, they still have 157 left in the field. These late starting tournaments are creating very long day 2 and day 3’s for the field. This is something they are going to have to look at next year and possibly get these going a little earlier. Notable players that have already been felted are Jeff Lisandro, Gabe Kaplan, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, John Juanda, Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow and Gavin Smith. Jennifer Harman is the day one leader with 127,600 in chips.
His internet reputation had preceded him, but now there is no doubt that Brock Parker is the real deal. Just a few short days ago the quiet and seemingly emotionless young man surprised Daniel Negreanu by overcoming a huge chip deficit and defeating him in heads up play. Once again, Brock was at it on a shorthanded table, this time in No Limit, proving that his internet prowess has transferred over nicely to the live felt.
Parker and Serock had a great heads up battle, but when the pots were big, Parker was the one that was holding onto the winning hand. This was pretty much the same thing that happened in Event 14 as he didn’t want all the hands, but he won the ones that shifted the chips. Here is the recap of the final hand.
Brock had just won a big hand and had Serock on the ropes. Serock was on the button and raised it to 200,000. Brock came right back over top of him to make it 1,000,000 and Serock pushed all in. Brock made the immediate call and turned over QQ to Serock’s 1010. The board came out 7sAs2cKc and a Qc on the river just added insult to injury. Brock takes down the tournament, the bracelet and a huge payday of $552,745.00. Serock will get $341,783.00 for second place.
In other tournaments…
Event 20, $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha, has finally achieved their final table. Someone that we have not heard much from lately in the world of poker is still alive in this and the res t of the table better watch out. Eric Seidel is sitting in third place with about as much as the leader, but he is easily the best player left at this table. The players will pick it up at 2:00pm on Thursday to decide the bracelet winner. Here is your final table:
John-Paul Kelly – 627,000 Jason Dewitt – 476,000 Eric Seidel – 337,000 Kyle Carlston – 320,000 Marc Tschirch – 268,000 Andrew Radel – 250,000 Kirk Steward – 231,000 Aaron Virchis – 191,000 Ravi Raghavan – 145,000
The $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. event still has 21 players remaining and Gavin Smith (121,000) is still alive, but far down the board. The leader at the end of the day was Zac Fellows (471,000). These guys have a long day ahead of them as they will play till they have a winner on Thursday. There are coming back a little earlier to get it going and will start play at 1:00pm.
Event 22, the $1,500 NL Hold’em Shootout was a pure bloodbath with 900 of the 1,000 entrants hitting the rail on day one. Day 2 will start with 10 tables and everyone is at 45,000. If you are unfamiliar with how the shootouts work, they must play down to a winner at each table before the next round wins. Once this round is over, we will have our final table and everyone will have 450,000 in chips when they start play.
Event 23, the World Championship NL 2-7 Draw Lowball has also gotten underway and it is packed with pros. Featuring the smallest field of any event, only 96 players, everyone wanted in for a bracelet shot. There are still 60 players remaining and they should have no problems making a quick day of it down to the final table. Roland de Wolfe leads the way with 180,300 in chips.
Day 1b of the World Series of Poker Main Event kicked off on Sunday. Day 1a saw 159 players put up the £10,000 buy-in. Day 1b saw 203 players come together to try and stake their claim for the championship.
The big names were out in force. Among those playing were Marco Traniello, Daniel Negreanu, Roland de Wolfe, Brian Townsend, Nenad Medic, Jennifer Tilly, David “DevilFish” Ulliott, John Juanda, Phil Laak, Tom “Durrrr” Dwan, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Doyle Brunson, Mel Judah, Gavin Smith, David Williams, Annette Obrestad, Gus Hansen, Juan Carlos Mortensen, Allen Cunningham, and Jean-Robert Bellande.
The first big name to get knocked out was Allen Cunningham. He apparently showed up about an hour late to the event. Sometime during the second level he was eliminated. John Tabatabai apparently got a good portion of his chips. He claimed that Cunningham had made an incredibly ridiculous bluff.
During the first couple of levels, Jack Effel tried to get a Turbo £1,000 satellite going for the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. 362 players total had registered for the event, which happened to be the exact number as last year’s event. I guess he was trying to push the number over that so they can claim growth in the event. Apparently noone took Jack up on his offer as the field remained at 362 players after the registration period was completed.
Jeff Madsen was one of the next big names to bite the dust. He was the victim of a player that probably 100,000 players have lost to in the past, Doyle Brunson. The flop was 7d-6h-7s when a player in seat one bet 1,100. Madsen moved all in for 3,900 and Brunson made the call. Seat one folded. Brunson had 7c-9c for a set of sevens. Madsen held 9d-8d for a straight draw. The turn fell the Ks and the river the 9h, filling up Brunson’s boat and sending Madsen to the rail. Doyle Brunson just goes to show that no matter how old you are, you can still play poker at a high level.
Sorel Mizzi was eliminated during level 3. Mizzi made a reraise to 2,625 and Florian Langmann made the call. On a flop of 6s-7h-3c, Langmann bet 7,500. Mizzi tanked for a bit before moving all in. Langmann made the call showing Ah-Ad. Mizzi showed As-Kc. The turn fell the 3d and the river the 7d and Mizzi was eliminated.
Sean Deeb made a bit of a splash during the Pot Limit Omaha event here at the WSOP Europe. His deep run will not be repeated in the Main Event. He was all in on a flop of Ac-6s-10. He held Ad-Jd, and his opponent held As-Qs. The turn fell the 9d and the river the 2h, and Deeb was eliminated.
Juan Carlos Mortensen was next to fall to Brian Powell. Powell raised to 850 preflop, and Mortensen raised all-in to 5,500. Powell made the call and showed As-9s. Mortensen showed 4s-4h. The flop hit Powell like a ton of bricks when it fell 9c-5h-9d. Mortensen would need a four, or he would be done. The turn fell the Ks and river the 6d and Mortensen was out.
Daniel Negreanu took the chip lead about the mid way of Day 1b. Preflop, Negreanu raised to 800 and was called by Lars Hougaard from the big blind. The flop fell 9h-8d-6. Hougaard checked to Negreanu, who bet out 800. Hougaard check-raised to 3,200, and Negranu appeared to go into the tank. Negreanu said, “Hmmm. I have to think about the best way to approach this.” He then moved all in for 50,000. Hougaard started talking to himself and Negreanu asked, “You have a pair AND a straight draw? OK, so you hit your miracle flop and have to fold?” Hougaard then proceeded to fold his hand. Negreanu showed 6c-6s for the set of sixes. After the hand, Negreanu moved up to 95,000 in chips and was the chip leader.
The winner of the PLO bracelet, Theo Jorgensen, moved all in preflop for 2,775. Barry Greenstein made the call. Greenstein held Ah-Ad and Jorgensen held 7c-7h. The board missed both players, and Jorgensen will have to settle for just one bracelet at the WSOP Europe this year. Gus Hansen soon followed. On a flop of 3-4-7, Hansen was all-in against Jennifer Tilly. Tilly held A-A and Hansen 3-4 for two pair. The board paired on the turn when a 7 fell, giving Tilly a better two pair. These pairs held up and Hansen was gone.
The World Series of Poker Europe will have a new Main Event Champion. Annette Obrestad was all-in with pocket Kings against the A-Q of Marco Traniello. Unfortunately for Obrestad, Traniello spiked an Ace and Obrestad will not repeat as Main Event Champion.
Gavin Smith got a taste of his own medicine in tonight’s event. He was all in with pocket Kings. His opponent held 9c-10c. The board flopped an open ended straight draw when the board fell J-8-6. The turn missed both players, but the river Q gave Smith’s opponent a straight and sent Smith to the rail.
Day 1b of the World Series of Poker saw 203 players come together to take their shot at the last bracelet of the World Series of Poker Europe. 97 players survived the session and will join the 86 players from Day 1a on Monday to continue play. Many top names were able to survive Day 1b. Among those are Doyle Brunson, Chris Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen, Surinder Sunar, Barry Grenstein, Jennifer Tilly, Nenad Medic, and John Juanda. Daniel Negranu lost the chip lead for a while, but was able to regain it by the end of the day. Below are the current chip leaders for day 1b.
Daniel Negreanu 154050 Jamie Rosen 139225 David Benefield 126775 Sargon Ruya 114100 Jean Thorel 98675 Marco Traniello 96750 Mikael Norinder 91650 Yuval Bronshtein 85675 Roland de Wolfe 84000 Talal Shakerchi 83025
Play for Day 2 of the World Series of Poker Main Event continued on Monday at 1 p.m. London time.
