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.
With the WSOP Main Event having begun, the question of how players can stay mentally focused for so many days and such long sessions. The simple answer is that it isn’t very easy and you absolutely have to be prepared if you are going to invest in this marathon tournament and take your shot at poker glory. However, it is not just a session like this that requires preparation. Sitting down at any MTT is a commitment and if you aren’t ready for it, you will find yourself mumbling and walking to the rail because of an unfocused play that costs you your stack.
If you are going to go deep in any tournament, you need to do a couple of things that will help you stay in the game. The most obvious of course is to pay attention to the play of everyone on your table, but keeping that focus is not easy if that is all you are doing. Sitting there staring at the table will turn you into a zombie. Have you ever noticed how many players are wearing headphones in today’s tournaments?
Music is a great way to not only keep your focus, but also a great reminder to keep your play on track. For instance, maybe you want to program some rather aggressive music once an hour or so to mentally trigger you that if your stack in not in good shape, that you need to start making moves. Music also will allow you to enjoy the tournament instead of getting stuck in that zombie state. People are often much more focused under the influence of music. Get that iPod out and put your favorites on there. Just don’t forget that you want to also use it as a trigger to keep that play focused.
Another thing that you may want to consider is to bring some energy snacks to the table with you. Let’s face it, a huge MTT field means a lot of boring hours at the tables. During those long runs when the cards dry out, it is often very difficult to stay sharp and alert. By eating some healthy energy snacks, you can get that much needed boost to keep you alert and ready for that massive run that awaits you.
Finally, don’t be afraid to get out of your seat if you are starting to feel tired. Even if a break is not coming up, get up and take a quick walk after the blinds pass you by. It will get the blood flowing again and re-energize you at the table. When everyone else is falling asleep because of the long hours, you can pounce like a tiger and start scooping pots. It is quite easy to fall into the trap of fold, fold, fold and you want to avoid that at all costs by staying sharp and alert.
An MTT is not an easy thing to win and if you are going to give yourself a true shot, you must come prepared. Physical ability is one thing, but you also have to be mentally prepared for the long hours that you have to put in at that table. The fact that you cannot re-buy means that one simple mistake could lead to you being ousted. Stay sharp and use this tips to give you an advantage and get you to the final table.
While he wasn’t the first one out of the tournament, he was pretty close. There is no arguing the fact that he got a couple of really bad beats, but that is not going to make it any easier as he sits and watches the next 2 weeks pass by from the sidelines. It took less than an hour for one of the bigger names in poker to head to the rail.
The first has just bad luck. Phan was holding pocket Q’s when his opponent was sitting on 78c. The flop came out 10-4-5. The turn card was a 6h and when Phan made a 1,500 bet after a check, his opponent came right back over the top to make it 4,000. The river card was gave Phan a set and when his opponent led out for 5,100 he realized he was in trouble. Most players would have dumped their stack right then and there, but he merely made the call and managed to stay alive.
Just a few hands later, Phan looked down at AA and made it 300 to see the flop. He was called down by one player and the board hit 879. Phan led out and the player in late position made a raise that would have Phan all in were he to call. He thought about after the last straight popped on him, but then made the call and gave a quick lecture. The cards were turned and he was in the lead with AA to K9. The turn was a 10 and left his opponent looking for a 9 or a K to win and a J or 7 for the split. The miracle card came on the river in the form of another 10 and Phan was out about 45 minutes into the tournament.
So far, we are seeing some decent action and a little bit of drama. One player was taking a bit long to play his hands and it started to get to the table. One player in particular was very upset about it and it got a bit ugly there for a while. The floor came in to handle the situation and it now seems as though it is under control. You can count on a lot more of this with so many people looking at this as their shot at poker glory.
Dragan Galic caught a nice run of cards early and is already up to 120,000 in chips. There are several other big names that have had a nice run so far and are looking to get into day two in a commanding position. It is a little too early to get excited though and you won’t really be able to see how the tourney is flowing until the middle of the week.
The amount of players that are registered has to be a bit of surprise. They were touting this as the largest field ever and with the turnouts so huge during the other tournaments, there was definitely an expectation that every day in the Main Event would be close to if not sold out each day. Day One featured 1116 entrants and that is well below the total expected. Hopefully the next couple of sessions will pick up in numbers.
As predicted, we are seeing a lot of movement on the leader board at the $50k H.O.R.S.E. Championship Event. Some of the recent eliminations include Doyle Brunson, Eric Lindgren, Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein and Daniel Alaei. Hasan Habib has slipped all the way down to one of the short stacks and Erik Sagstrom has taken over as the overall leader with 1,250,000. This tournament still has a long way to go with over 30 players still seated at the tables.
Gus Hanson continues to play strong and is currently sitting at 725,000 in chips. Vitaly Lunkin is once again putting in a very strong performance and is currently located in the top ten with 560,000. There are still a lot of big names left in this tourney and you will probably continue to see a lot of movement as this is one of the most volatile games you will see. Every game guarantees a lot of action and your chip leader very well may be a short stack within 5 hands. They are going to play this one till the early hours of the morning.
In other tournaments…
The Limit Shootout Event is down to 6 players, but the stacks are fairly even among the top 3. This is another tournament that you can expect to go on for quite a bit tonight and not see a winner until after midnight. The current leader is Greg Mueller with 950,000. Marc Naalden and Millie Shue round out the top three and are both within less than 200,000 of Mueller.
The dinner break has sounded in event 51 and there are still well over 100 players alive. You will not recognize many of the names in this one as a lot of the pros have stayed away from these $1,500 tournaments as the WSOP has played on. Huge fields have given them all problems and they seem to be sticking with the higher buy ins and other poker variations for the time being. They are going to have enough problems in the Main Event so why sit down with this aggravation now. The one big name that is making his way up the leader board is Men Nguyen. We haven’t heard much from him so far this year so this may be his warm-up for next week’s tournament.
The Triple Chance No Limit Event is at full steam and has had a surprising amount of eliminations already. They started with 854 players and are close to 300 eliminations so far. Overall chip stacks are not available, but a quick glance around the room says that a lot of the pros were taking advantage of the ability to have the free triple re-buy and play very aggressively. Don’t be surprised to see some big names on the leader board at the end of the day in this one.
Brandon Cantu was absolutely running away with the Pot Limit Omaha Split Tournament when it seemed as though time started standing still. He chip stack did not grow for hours as he watched the rest of the field eat up his massive chip lead and pass him by. However, he managed to do the important thing and that was to stay alive and ride out the storm. Other players started falling to the side and the stack of Cantu allowed him to just wait around until his luck changed.
Well it changed in a big way as his dominance early paid off and allowed him to get into a heads up match with Lee Watkinson. Playing against one of the more accomplished players in the game is not a great situation when you are running bad. Luckily for Cantu, he did not really have to worry about that for long as the cards went good at exactly the right time and he managed to capture the title. He takes home $228,832 and the bracelet.
In other tournaments…
The $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. Event will start day three with 53 of the original 95 players. This tournament has been about as all over the board as you can imagine and the leader board seems to change every few minutes. The field has to take notice the player that is sitting on top now though as Gun Hansen can be quite the handful when he has a chip lead.
Some of the players that have been struggling in this WSOP are taking advantage of the small field and taking their shot at a bracelet. While this event does not have the entries that the Main Event does, there is no doubting the prestige that the players give to this event. Day three should be another long one and you can count on that leader board showing just as much action as we see on the tables.
The Limit Hold’em Shootout reached its final table very early in the morning. The players continued until about 1:30am when play was halted with the final 8. Greg Mueller has a place at the final table as does David Williams. All players will start the day with 360,000.
Event 51 had relatively slow play and still has about 350 players remaining. In order for this tourney to stay on schedule, they would have needed the field of 271 to get well below 300. Expect a full day of play and possibly a very long final day to this tourney. The chip leader is currently Christopher Bonita with 131,700 in chips.
Events 52 and 53 will kick off today and both should have fairly large fields. The Triple Chance No Limit event should be packed as players are getting free limited rebuys in the early stages of the tournament. This is going to make for some very aggressive play and some monstrous stacks heading into day 2. A good run of cards can put some well ahead of the field in this format. Should be a lot of fun to watch.
The mixed holdem event is always a fun one to watch as you have two totally different styles of poker going on at the same time. There are few players that can master both limit and no limit poker and the winner of this event can truly call themselves a great poker player. The final hand had McGuiness waiting far too long to make a move as he did not have enough chips to fight off Ahmadi with his pockets 10’s. Ahmadi ended up drawing out a flush and scooping the championship. He will collect a first place prize of $278,793.
In other tournaments…
There are only 20 players left in the Omaha Split tourney, but nobody is even close to Brandon Cantu at this point. He has had an unbelievably dominating day and is almost seems as though he is the only player winning big hands. While he entered this day with a very close leader board, he has since taken over the tournament and accumulated almost a million in chips. With the next closest player only having 280,000, this is his tournament to lose.
The $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E. Tournament may have a short field, but the first place prize is anything but. The winner of this very prestigious tournament will walk away with $1,276,802 and the title of the best all around player in the game. Justin Smith has made some early moves and currently leads the tournament with 290,000, but he is going to have to fight off the likes of Jeff Lisandro, Daniel Negreunu and Scotty Nguyen if he wants to take down this tournament. Nobody has been eliminated yet, but there are some amazingly short stacks from the 150,000 starting point.
The Limit Hold’em Shootout tournament has gotten underway and has a surprisingly small field of 571 players. This format is very popular and you would have thought that they would have hit the 1,000 player max on this one. Perhaps everyone is catching some rest before the Main Event gets here or they are enjoying the H.O.R.S.E. tournament. This one has just gone to dinner break.
While we continue to see no name players dominate the small buy in events, the World Championship events and larger buy ins continue to be the professionals playground. While there are some amateurs getting into them, they are not lasting as long because of the talent factor. When they sit down at one of these tables, the ratio of pros to amateurs is about even. This means that not as many people have a target on the pros heads and they are absolutely dominated these events.
Matt Graham took down the Pot Limit Omaha Championship in grand form and dominated the last day of play. He was up against 25 world class players and came out on top. He ended up winning $679,379 and his second WSOP bracelet. In order to do so, he had to take down Vitaly Lunkin who is proving to be quite the force in the poker world. If you have not been watching the live feeds, you have no idea what you are missing. This was one of the most exciting final tables yet.
Ray Foley also took home a bracelet on Monday Night in the $1,500 No Limit event. Another huge field of 2715 started out and after three very long days, Foley was the last man standing. This tournament was one of the longest so far in regards to how many hours they played every day. This was definitely a good training ground for how these guys will hold up during the Main Event. Foley took down a first place prize of $657,787 for his first bracelet win.
In other tournaments…
2 of the biggest players in the game did not make it past the final elimination day of the NL Hold’em Shootout event. Jennifer Harman went out in the first round of the day and while Phil Ivey last longer, he did not satisfy his quest to get his third bracelet of this WSOP. 5 players remain and all will start the day off with 900,000 in chips.
The Mixed Hold’em event is always an entertaining one as it tests the skills in both varieties of hold’em. The winner of this event can truly call themselves one of the best poker players in the world as not many people can manage the nuances of both games at the same time. Jon Turner is the current chip leader with 469,200 in chips.
Event 44 was the late starting tournament and they have barely made a dent in this field. Limit events are always tough in the early stages, but as those blinds fly, so do the players to the rail. While there are not very many familiar names at the top of the leader board right now, expect that to change with this specialty version of 7 card stud. Warwick Mirzikinian is the current leader with 59,400 in chips.
While he wasn’t the first one out of the tournament, he was pretty close. There is no arguing the fact that he got a couple of really bad beats, but that is not going to make it any easier as he sits and watches the next 2 weeks pass by from the sidelines. It took less than an hour for one of the bigger names in 
While we continue to see no name players dominate the small buy in events, the World Championship events and larger buy ins continue to be the professionals playground. While there are some amateurs getting into them, they are not lasting as long because of the talent factor. When they sit down at one of these tables, the ratio of pros to amateurs is about even. This means that not as many people have a target on the pros heads and they are absolutely dominated these events.
