Johnny Phan Makes a Quick Exit from the WSOP

WSOP 2009 by pokerguru on July 7, 2009

John Phan 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.