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.
If you wanted to see a Pot Limit Omaha clinic, all you needed to do was watch the final table of Event 35 on Friday night. Play after play, read after read was absolutely perfect and Richard Austin made quick work of the remaining players to capture his first WSOP Bracelet. While it was not a very large field, the $5,000 buy in made the payoff over $400,000. This tournament ended just after 8:00pm and is easily the fastest moving final table of the tournament. We saw lots of aggression and some bad timing from the other players at the table. The final hand was typical of the action with all three players committed and Austin obviously coming out on top.
In other tournaments… Event 36 is moving along very well and as of this posting, there were only 66 players remaining. The bubble was 171 and after it was reached, they never looked back. Chips are continuing to fly and Jonathon Plens holds a small chip lead with 520,000 in his stack. Still a long way to go in this one though and lots of players are well within striking distance.
“You know it baby” is probably being heard quite often in Event 37 as the ever enjoyable Scotty Nguyen holds the chip lead with 317,000. As stated yesterday, this field is packed with superstars and they are all still hanging around. Both Doyle and Todd Brunson have worked their way up the leader board and are only 5,000 in chips apart. Some other notables that are stacking chips are Greg Raymer, Dutch Boyd and Howard Lederer. With only 36 players remaining, this final table is starting to shape up to be an all-star cast.
Event 38 was the only event kicking off today and it is still a little early for overall chip counts, but Kid Poker is making some noise early on in the $2,000 Limit Hold’em event. Erick Lindgren looks to be in trouble and Hellmuth’s stack seems to be growing at a steady pace. This is far and away the slowest day we have had in a while and it seems as though a lot of these players are starting to wear down. This is the break that a lot of them needed, except of course for those in the limit tournament and Stud Championship.
For those of you in the fantasy WSOP leagues, start taking the long days into account as a lot of these old-timers are starting to wear down. Frustration is also taking its toll on a lot of the cash players that are wasting days at a time only to get knocked out right before the bubble. If you want some insight, start reading the Tweets from the players and you can see that these big fields and multiple day tournaments are starting to wear thin. Look for a lot of the younger players and the season tournament pros to really start to shine.
Van Alstyne almost got a taste of glory in the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, but fell a little short. He did not waste the opportunity this time as he finally wins his first bracelet in Event 31. Apparently he learned a huge lesson from the previous tournaments as he did not play it safe this time around and used constant pressure and aggression to literally act like an 18 wheeler on the road with a bunch of VW’s. The rest of the table was no match for the player that showed up at last night’s final table. He ends up adding another $246, 997 for the win and is the most recent member of the millionaire club for Circuit Tour and WSOP winnings.
In other tournaments…
Event 32 continued to move in the mud and still has 19 players to go to get down to a champion. Once again, they are coming in to start the session early to ensure that a champion is achieved by the end of the day. The current chip leader is Jason Boyes with 976,000.
While the rest of the field moved forward, Jennifer Harman stood still in the World Championship Limit Hold’em Event. She started the day around 165,000 and ended the day at just over 120,000. She was actually all in near the end of the session and managed to double up to stay in the tournament. Todd Brunson was also making noise in this tournament and was in the top 5 at one point and then went on a horrible run and ended up out of the tournament before the end of the day. The overall leader is Kenny Hsuing with 831,000.
Event 34 eliminated almost 90% of the field in the first day. The infamous poker Brat is still hanging tough and has about 75,000 in chips to start off day 2. All in all, there are 243 people left vying for the first place prize of over half a million. Play will resume today at 2pm to try and get down to the final table.
Event #11 has been slow going all along and after over 8 hours of play, they are still going at it. As of this posting, the players were just granted an hour and a half for dinner and then the final four will play until they have a winner. Once again, our endorsement has been the kiss of death. Scott Hall was humming along nicely and then the equivalent of the Sports Illustrated jinx hit him and he went out in 7th. We are going to leave the fate of the game up to the poker gods at this point and just give you the chip counts of the final four.
1) Anthony Harb – 2,500,000 2) Peter Rho – 2,500,000 3) Adam Adler – 2,200,000 4) Jim Geary – 1,950,000
Event 12 is also moving pretty slowly and has finally gotten down to 8 players. Huck Seed is no longer the chip leader at the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event, but he is still hanging up at the top of the leader board. There is still a long way to go in this one and they will be sitting there until they have a winner. It is unlikely that this one will be over any time before 2 or 3 in the morning. Here are the chip counts for the final nine.
1) Ville Wahlbeck – 1,250,000 2) Scott Dorin – 925,000 3) David Chiu – 910,000 4) Huck Seed – 875,000 5) James Van Alstyne – 640,000 6) Mark Gregorich – 480,000 7) Todd Brunson – 295,000 8) Mike Wattel – 220,000
In other tournaments… Event 13 has finally gotten to under 100 players and now stand at 79 remaining. The money hit at 117, so the pace should pick up a bit at this point until we get to the really serious money. There are a ton of short stacks here and I cannot see the hanging around since they have already made the cash. Alan Keating is the current chip leader as of this posting.
Event 14 is almost at the money with only 39 players remaining and 36 getting paid. Once that bubble has been burst, play will definitely accelerate. Lots of big names are still floating around in this one including Negreanu and Greenstein. The fact that they are both atop the leader board spells misery for the rest of this field. Shawn Buchanan is the current chip leader in this event.
Events 15 and 16 just started today and still have huge fields left. Action is moving along very nicely in Event 15 with about half the field already out since early this afternoon. Event 16 has just gotten underway so there is no available information on that event. More information will be posted after the two bracelets of the evening have been awarded.
It is surprising that it took this long with some of the fields that we have seen, but a tournament may finally be extended for an additional day. Event #4, the $1,000 Stimulus NL Hold’em Event still has 12 players remaining and tournament officials are going to offer the players the option to pay through tonight until a winner is decide or to come back at 2:00pm tomorrow to finish. As of this posting, the leader is Jeff Oakes with 2.4 million in chips.
Event #5, the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Event, is now down to 27 players. This was supposed to be the game that was going to be featured on the live stream, but they have already stated that they will change the game to the NL Event #4 if that gets extended. The current leader is Jason Mercier with 262,000 in chips.
Event #6, The $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship, is the third event that is being played down to f final table tonight. There are still 48 players remaining from the 142 man field and play in this one has been dragging for both days. Greg Mueller has a huge chip lead at 206,000. The next closest player is Hoyt Corkins with 148,000. Todd Brunson is still on the leader board, but he is slowly slipping. However, the bulk of the chips in play are sitting in front of the top 8 players so anyone on the front page is still very much in this to make it to the final table.
Two events started today, the $1,500 NL Hold’em event and the always fun $2,500 Deuce to Seven Lowball No Limit tournament. The leader board in the NL Hold’em event is once again littered with names that most people will not recognize. The big name pros are having an extremely hard time in the NL Hold’em events as every one of them has a huge target on their head. With the fields being so large, it is hard to imagine that we are going to see any major pros hoisting a NL bracelet.
The Deuce to Seven Lowball event seems like it is the place to be for a good time tonight. The sheer nature of the game lends itself to a fun time and the pros are eating it up. Just about every major player in the game has signed up for this one. If you are looking for a pro to take this one down, the money would have to be on Ivey or Negreanu. Both players are among the best in the world at this off the wall game and the amateurs are going to have a hard time keeping up with these two.
With all of the events going on, there are quite a few players that have been multi-tabling. It is not something that you see very often, but everyone is looking for a bracelet and players like Negreanu seem to be entered in every event on the board. The tournament staff is doing an incredible job of keeping everything moving and all of the players straight. Tomorrow could be pure insanity though with 3 final tables going and a total of 7 tournaments in all. Should be a fun day!
Tom McEvoy may not be a household name for the new poker fans, but rest assured, he is a dominant player with an impressive history in WSOP Events. Tom won the World Championship in 1983 and has 3 other WSOP bracelets on his wrist as well. Now he can add The Binion Cup to his prestigious collection. In a competition of the poker elite, McEvoy came out on top.
The winning hand was a simply 10c9d that he turned into a straight leaving Varkonyi only one out left in the deck. If the 4c didn’t show, McEvey was walking with the hardware. He got a club, but it was the K of clubs and that was all she wrote. The cash payday for this event was a mere $1,970, but the winner also received The Binion Cup and a fully restored 1970 Corvette Stingray Convertible. More importantly, McEvoy now has the right to brag about beating every past WSOP Champion that was seated at the table.
In other tournaments…
Event #4 continued on from the field of 6012 and we are not looking at the final day of the tournament. With only 50 players left, we will hopefully have a champion of The Stimulus $1,000 NL Hold’em event early in the evening. Top prize for the event is $771,106 and play will resume at 1:00pm on Tuesday.
Event 5 wrapped up its first day by eliminating an impressive 90% of the field. Only 81 players remain from the original 809. Jason Mercier appears to be the chip leader in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Event, but official counts have not yet been released.
Event 6, the $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship Event, will continue on, but still has a long way to go. 142 players started the day and there are still 101 remaining. The top 16 positions will be played and Matt Glantz is the current chip leader with 100,000 in his stack. Todd Brunson and Eli Elezra are also some of the bigger names on the Day 1 leader board.
“Texas Dolly” Doyle Brunson, stands alone as a living legend in the poker world. He still plays a lot of competitive poker and it is hard to imagine him not at the World Series of Poker. Doyle has won 10 WSOP bracelets and is still trying to get his 11th. Doyle won his first bracelet in 1976 when the World Series was much smaller and won his last bracelet in 2005. Its been a long journey for Brunson, the kind of journeys you make movies about. I imagine Mr. Brunson could tell stories for days about the old days of playing in back rooms and risking his life to be a poker player. He has been through it all and played against the best in four different decades. Whether you think Doyle is the best ever doesn’t matter, everyone respects him and knows he is one of the best players to ever play the game.
Super System, known as the “poker bible”, was written by Doyle, changed the poker world forever. 1978 the average player now had the ability to see how the pros were making money playing Texas Holdem. If you haven’t read Super System, go out and get it. The book is still relevant today, and will teach you how to play the game like a pro. Doyle said that the book has cost him a lot of money, the amateurs got better because of it.
Doyle is known as a Texas Holdem player, but he might be the best all around poker player to ever live. Brunson has won bracelets in No Limit Holdem, Deuce to Seven Draw, Seven Card Stud, RAZZ and HORSE. In 1979 Doyle even won a Mixed Doubles event with Starla Brodie. With 10 bracelets in total ‘Dolly” won four of them playing No Limit Holdem. The biggest cash that Doyle has at the World Series was he last one when he won the Shorthanded No Limit Holdem bracelet for more then $350,000. That will help you realize how much the game has changed, in 1976 Doyle made $230,000 for winning the main event. In ‘76 Doyle won two bracelets the Main Event and the Deuce to Seven Draw.
The 10 – 2 is Doyle’s hand, he won back to back main events holding those two hole card in 1976 and 1977. In ‘76 Brunson beat Jesse Alto Heads up coming from behind to make a full house, again in’77 holding 10 – 2 Doyle came from behind making a full hose against Gary Berland. 10- 2 is one of the worst hands in poker and forever will be known as “Doyle Brunson”, Doyle will play the hand from time to time when he is on television just for show. Poker has changed a lot since Doyle was winning main events in ‘76 there were 22 players in the tournament and 34 in ‘77 compared to the thousands who enter every year now. Doyle won six bracelets in the 1970′s, but did not win any in the 1980′s. In 1991 Brunson won his first bracelet since 1979, when he took home the $2,500 No Limit Holdem event for more then $200,000. In 1998 Doyle won a RAZZ tournament, and in 2003 he proved he could still win big tournaments when he won the HORSE event. “Texas Dolly” won his tenth World Series of Poker bracelet in 2005 taking home the Shorthanded event.
The family man, Doyle married his wife Louise in 1962. Doyle and Louise had three children, his son Todd became a professional poker player himself. Todd and Doyle were the first father / son combination to win World Series of Poker bracelets. Pamela, Doyle’s daughter also plays and found some success in the 2007 Series. Doyle overcame great obstacles in his life, he had cancer in the early ‘60′s that was said to incurable. After he had an operation no cancer could be found and the doctors said it had to be a miracle. His daughter Doyla passed away at the age of 18 and Doyle turned to religion to get him through the tough times.
To this day Doyle Brunson frequents the biggest cash games in Vegas and plays multiple tournaments a year. He plays in the World Series of Poker every year in both Las Vegas and in Europe. He has made more then $2,800,000 in his World Series career, and continues the chase for his 11th bracelet. In 2008 in had big runs in tournaments twice, finishing 21st in event eight and finished 16th at the World Championship of HORSE. Doyle has finished in the top 10 at a WSOP tournament 23 times and that number will continue to rise in my opinion. He has had 31 total cashes throughout his career and has had six in the last three Series. The HORSE tournament may be the best chance Doyle has at winning more bracelets in the future, he still is one of the best all around players in the world. He has cashed in HORSE events four times since 2003 and sooner rather then later he may win it again.
Doyle revolutionized the game of poker with his writing and after the poker boom he has re-established himself as one of the best players in the world. A lot of people see “Texas Dolly” as the face of poker. Doyle is to poker what Babe Ruth is to baseball, Wilt Chamberlain is to Basketball and what Gordie Howe is to hockey, a legend. The difference is you can compete with Doyle you can play a tournament or sit in a cash game and test your skills against the most legendary poker player of all time. Take the time watch Doyle play, listen to his stories and just enjoy the fact that you got to see a true legend of poker.
