No, you did not misread that. With day one having 4 sessions and day 2 having 2 sessions, it took 6 days to complete the first two days of the WSOP Main Event for 2009. While there were quite a few early exits from some of the superstars, there were just as many of them that flew to the top of the leader board and have put themselves in a premium position to make an honest run at the title.
The field has to be worried that three of the hottest players in this year’s WSOP are gathering chips in much the same fashion that they did on their way to bracelets already this year. Phil Ivey (376,000), Greg Mueller (287,300) and Jeff Lisandro (229,300) all have formidable stacks and they way that they have been playing this year, people have to be worried when they take a seat at their tables.
Friday marks the first time that all of the players will be sitting in the same room. The field got a rest day on Thursday and everyone comes back fresh for the big run at the final table. The overall chip leader will be Amir Lehavot (610,500) when they get started again. He has caught an amazing run of cards and has a 150,000 chip lead over the next closest player. That is quite amazing at this level of the tournament. It is actually reminiscent of the run that Jamie Gold put together when he won his championship. He continue to hold a huge lead throughout as nobody ever seemed to be able to put the hands together that could make a dent in his stack.
Other notable players that still have chips in front of them are Eric Cloutier (383,500), JC Tran (284,600), Kenny Tran (273,000), Justin Bonomo (223,300), Paul Wasicka (184,900), Dutch Boyd (163,600) and Phil Hellmuth (142,900).
Day 3 should see some decent movement as some of the newbies start to get antsy, especially when they are sitting at a table with one of the big name pros. If any of these players can catch a run of cards, their stack will get humongous as the amateurs seek to be the one that took them out. Someone like Hellmuth could walk out of the session with well over 1,000,000 in chips if the poker gods are looking down at him in a positive way.
As predicted, the fireworks started early as soon as Day 3 got underway. In less than an hour and a half, the field was down to 18 poker players and it did not stop there. Play tightened up somewhat, but his crew showed that they were not afraid to sling chips regardless of what they were holding.
The two major stories of the day have to be Tony G and Isaac Haxton. Somehow, Tony G had managed to hang on despite being short stacked just about the whole way. When his luck ran out and he was eliminated in 10th place, you had to feel for the guy. He had fought so hard to get to the final table and had his dreams squashed when he only had a little over $200,000 left in front of him. He pushed with A7h and was called by Torelli who was holding onto J10h. Both players hit the board, unfortunately for Tony G., he only hit his 7 and was sent to the rail.
As incredible as Tony G.’s staying power had been, the run of Haxton has been even more incredible. He started the day off with only a little over 500,000 in chips and has managed to climb his way up to the top spot of the leader board with 5,520,000 in chips.
While Raymer has not had the climb that we anticipated, he has continued to play solid poker. Unfortunately for him, his cards have not held up as well as they did in prior sessions, but somehow he is managing to dodge some major bullets and has remained right around the count that he started the day off at.
Shocking or not is a decision that you will have to make, but Bonomo crashed and burned all day. As well as his young, aggressive style worked over the last couple of days, it came back to bite him in Day 3. He continued to dump chips and finds himself at the bottom tier of the final table with a huge target on his stack.
The final table has shaped up very nicely with a great mix of the new and the old, the amateurs and the pros. Tomorrow should be a great session, but my money is still on Raymer to hoist the bracelet and scoop the cash.
Here is your final table and chips counts: 1) Isaac Haxton 5,520,000 2) Vitaly Lunkin 4,565,000 3) Lex Veldhuis 3,805,000 4) Greg Raymer 3,345,000 5) Alec Torelli 2,340,000 6) Justin Bonomo 1,685,000 7) Dani Stern 1,300,000 8) Noah Schwartz 660,000 9) Ted Forrest 560,000
In other tournaments…. The Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better (Event #30 continues to move fast and furious. The top 10 is a definitive who’s who of the poker world. As of this posting, Eli Elezra continues to lead the way and looks absolutely unbeatable so far in this tournament. Other pros that are on top are Freddy Deeb, Layne Flack, Toto Leonidis, Chip Jett and the infamous Annie Duke. With only 90 players remaining, the remaining amateurs are going to have a tough time getting through to the final table.
Event #4 ($1,000 Stimulus NL Hold’em Event) stole the headlines early in the day as it was sold out (6,000 players) well before the tournament started. Players went flying out the door early and often and as of this posting, over 65% of the field was already gone. There were no chips counts posted as of yet, but we will have them for you as soon as they are available.
Sundays action should feature two final tables. The 40K event will be on its fourth and final day and the 3 day scheduled event #3 is also scheduled to finish up tomorrow. The question remains if they will be able to get the tournament down to that point in enough time to actually have the final table on Sunday. Day 2 of the 4 day Stimulus event will take place as well as Day 1 of the Champions Invitational. Monday is the beginning of the two a days with events 5 and 6 kicking off.
Just when you thought normalcy was going to settle in at the WSOP, all hell broke loose. As the bubble got closer, some big names took major hits and the leader board got flipped around just a bit. Once again, one of the younger players on tour, Justin Bonomo, took charge and headed into the third day of the tournament as the chip leader with 2,678,000.
Grey Raymer has been playing great poker for the entire tournament and although he hit a small hiccup, he is still in this tournament with 2,287, 000. A name we have not seen atop the leader boards in quite some time, Ted Forrest, is also perched to make a run at the final table. With 2,586,000, he is sitting in second place and looking strong.
They had intended on playing down to 18, but play slowed down dramatically and 23 players will sit down at the table on day 3 in an effort to get to the final table. There are a lot of short stacks which may lead to a very short session. The next few players should go out rather quickly as they begin to play short-handed tables.
Here are your chip leaders heading into day 3: Justin Bonomo 2,678,000 Ted Forrest 2,586,000 David Baker 2,367,000 Greg Raymer 2,287,000 Lex Veldhuis 2,103,000 Alex Torelle 1,725,000 Keith Lehr 1,257,000 Vitaly Lunkin 1,166,000 Matthew Marafioti 1,003,000 The rest of the field is under 1,000,000 in chips with the bottom 6 having less than 500,000.
In other tournaments…. The first bracelet of the season was won by Andrew Cohen, winner of the $500 Casino Employees Event. He takes home a healthy $83,778 as he bested 866 other players. He also had the honor of going through the first ever bracelet ceremony.
Day 1 is over for the Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (Event #3). This tournament saw a record breaking entry of 918 players. If it is a sign to come, this WSOP is going to have the largest prize pools that we have ever seen. The day saw a lot of action with over 700 players in the starting field finding the rail. Chip counts were not yet available as of this posting, but some big names are still hanging tough. Defending Champion Luu is still in the field and Eli Elezra finished the day very strong and is over 50,000.
In addition to Day 3 of the $40k event and Day 2 of the Omaha Hi/Low tournament, Event #4, a $1000 NL Hold’em event, kicks off today at 12 noon Vegas time. This event will actually be covered on ESPN if you are interested in seeing the live stream.
At one of the final events of the WSOP Circuit, Mike “The Grinder” Mizrachi walked into the casino as the chip leader. Having been absent from a major leader board in quite some time, you could feel the crowd rooting for the charismatic player. While he failed to take down the tournament, his second place finish proved to everyone that he is back on top of his game.
Mizrachi started the day on a mission and that mission was to take out as many players as he could and continue to eliminate players and keep his stack growing. The first player to meet his demise at Mizrachi’s hand was Matt LaGarde. He stared the hand way ahead with a AQ in the hole, but fell quickly behind with a flop of KJ2. Both the turn and river failed to improve his hand and Mizrachi’s K10 took down the all in.
Play was heating up all over the tables after that and slowly but surely, one player after another got their chips in with the worst of it and quickly met the rail. As each player got knocked out, Mizrachi was one step close to taking down the championship.
The final table had an impressive lineup, especially considering that amount of talent that was across the pond at the EPT Monte Carlo event. Again, Mizrachi proved to be too much on more than one occasion and continued to eliminate players. His most notable victim was Men “The Master” Nguyen, who went out in third place.
While the final table seemed to fly by, the heads up action was anything but faced paced. Apparently seeing all of that money on the table tightened up both players a bit and it took well over 3 hours for the tournament to be decided. It was actually some of the most remarkable play that we have seen in quite some time in heads up action.
The final hand had both players looking down at paint, unfortunately for Mizrachi, his was not quite as formidable as Justin Bonomo’s. Mizrachi moved in with J9 and had the unfortunate luck to be looking across the table at KQ. The flop immediately lessened his hopes as it came out K-10-9. He got a little help on the turn with an A, but was reduced to a 5 outer on the river. Needing a Q or one of the two remaining 9’s, he was disappointed with a 3d. Both players ended up making a flush, but Mizrachi was on the short end of it with his only being J high to Q high.
He may be disappointed that he did not manage to hold on, but the $143,512 probably made that a little easier to take. Not only that, but he has some stake money for the WSOP that is right around the corner. Bonomo took down $237,692 for first place and also gets to wear the coveted ring. We can expect to see big things from both of these guys at the WSOP.
No, you did not misread that. With day one having 4 sessions and day 2 having 2 sessions, it took 6 days to complete the first two days of the WSOP Main Event for 2009. While there were quite a few early exits from some of the superstars, there were just as many of them that flew to the top of the leader board and have put themselves in a premium position to make an honest run at the title.
