Monday, November 22, 2010 12:42 AM Local Time
The first day of poker for the WSOP Circuit Main Event here in Lake Tahoe at Harvey's is in the books. An impressive 246 entrants showed up for action in this Main Event and it was a great day of poker, even despite the snow storm outside.
When the day was all said and done, right around 50 players remained, or about one-fifth of the field. Leading them all is Dan Black from Cloverdale, California. He bagged up 329,500 chips at the end of the night. Hot on his heels is Steve Brown with 305,400 in chips. Those are the only two players to eclipse the 300,000-chip mark.
Some of those who failed to make it to the end of the day include the barking Ted Bort, Woody Moore, Howard "Tahoe" Andrew, Aaron Kanter and "Captain" Tom Franklin. Unfortunately for them, they never saw the bag-and-tag portion of the night.
Play resumes tomorrow at 12:00 PM PST. The field will be whittled down to the final table and then that's where they will call it quits for tomorrow's play. With the way things are flying here in Tahoe, that shouldn't run too late into the night. Thanks for following along at PokerNews and be sure to tune in tomorrow for more live coverage from up here in the mountains of Tahoe! We'll see you then.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 11:57 PM Local Time
Ken Chruchill raised to 5,600 and again, Damjan Radanov reraised. This time, he put all of his chips in for an all-in raise worth 33,900. Churchill made the call.
Radanov:
Churchill:
The board ran out and Radanov doubles to nearly 70,000 in chips.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 11:48 PM Local Time
Damjan Radanov was all in preflop for 11,700 and called by two players, Leonard Swisher and George Reese. Swisher and Reese checked down the board as it ran out . Both of them tabled , but Radanov tabled the , proclaiming, "Flopped it!" He tripled up and is back to about 36,000 now.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 11:44 PM Local Time
The troubles for Damjan Radanov just keep piling up. He just doubled up an opponent who held the . Radanov held the and couldn't get there. He's down to 12,000 in chips now.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 11:34 PM Local Time
Ken Churchill raised to 5,600 from middle position. Damjan Radanov reraised to 13,100 from the cutoff seat. After action folded back to Churchill, me made the call.
The flop came down and Churchill checked. Radanov fired 10,000, leaving himself with 26,000 behind. Churchill called.
The turn brought the and both players checked to see the fall on the river. Churchill fired 20,000 and Radanov snap-mucked disgustedly. He's down to 26,000 while Churchill moved up to 122,000.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 11:26 PM Local Time
Dusty Leary opened to 5,500, and the player next to him made the call. Apparently, there's some history there. "If I lose this hand against you too," the opponent said, "I'm not playing another one all night."
In any event, it was heads up to the flop, and Leary continued out with another 8,000 chips. His opponent called, and both men checked through the and turn and river.
"Ace!" the opponent piped up as he tabled . It was no good; Leary turned up and pointed to his kicker to take the pot. He's the chip leader, sitting pretty with about 235,000 now.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 11:00 PM Local Time
Well, that was a bit of a slow level if we're being honest. Still, we've ticked down to 67 players left, and they've all been sent off for one more 10-minute break. We'll play two more levels when we return, and that'll be that for Day 1.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 10:40 PM Local Time
Aaron Kanter just saw his tournament dashed and it was all done with a miracle river card that gave George Reese the winning hand. If anyone remembers back to 2005, the year Greg Raymer was running deep in the WSOP Main Event the year following the one where he won the thing, it was Kanter who delivered a crushing blow to Raymer and left him crippled.
Famous 2005 Hand Involving Kanter and Raymer
With only 25 players remaining, Raymer was trying to do the unthinkable -- win back to back, massive-field WSOP Main Events -- before being dealt a beat so crushing it might have made a lesser man leave the game forever. Dealt , Raymer made a standard opening raise and was called by Aaron Kanter, who held . The flop came down and Raymer made a half-pot continuation bet. Kanter called. The on the turn put two hearts on the board and Raymer bet 330,000 -- again, about half the pot. Kanter raised "600,000 more," according to ESPN's Lon McEachern and Raymer set him in for the 700,000 he had behind. Kanter called with only the flush draw but caught lightning in a bottle when the hit the river. Raymer's stack was decimated and Kanter doubled up. Had Raymer won that hand, he would have taken the chip lead. Instead, he was eliminated a short time later in 25th place.
The hand was such a severe blow that it made #10 on our [URL="http://www.pokernews.com/news/2009/03/pokernews-top-ten-big-event-bad-beats-1285.htm"]Top 10 Big Event Bad Beats[/URL] list back in 2005.
Fast forward to a few moments ago. On the board of , Kanter checked. The next player bet 4,000 and then Reese raised to 12,000. Damjan Radanov was next up and he reraised to 32,000. Kanter thought for a little bit and then moved all in for 52,500. The next player folded and then Reese called all in for 51,200 total. Radanov had slammed the table with his hand immediately after Kanter shoved and was still visibly upset when he tossed his cards into the muck emphatically. The all-in hands were tabled.
Kanter:
Reese:
As you can see, Kanter already had a made full house and was in prime position to take a huge pot and send Reese to the rail. The dealer burned once more and then delivered the on the river to smack Reese with a higher full house than Kanter. Just like the river saved Kanter in 2005 against Raymer, it took everything but 1,300 chips from Kanter. He was decimated just like Raymer was back in 2005. On the next hand, Kanter was eliminated. Reese exploded to 170,000 in chips after the big hand.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 10:24 PM Local Time
Tony Bracy was all in preflop and called up Leonard Swisher and one other player. After the flop came down , both remaining active players called.
The turn brought the and Swisher check-folded to a bet of 10,000 from the other active player. That player turned over the for a straight and was up against the for Bracy. Bracy needed a heart on the river to win and a four to chop the pot.
The river completed the board with the and Bracy was eliminated from the tournament.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 10:23 PM Local Time
"Oh my god!" we heard Tony Bracy yelling, so we dashed over to see what the fuss was about. Bracy shot out of his chair and said a few more things, lamenting his bad fortunes. We're not sure when the money went in, but Bracy's had flopped the world on a board. A female player was at risk with , her set needing to fill up to keep her alive. The turn was a blank, but the river filled in that boat and drew the loud reaction from Bracy. The dealer counted out the all in and gave Bracy back his ~11,000 in change.
She then yelled for the floor. When the supervisor arrived to the table, the dealer told him that Bracy had used the dreaded F-word and that the lady at the table did not deserve to be talked to that way. Bracy was baffled, and several players at the table came to his defense and said that she'd mis-heard him. A bit of an argument ensued, and big boss Dennis said, "All right guys, let's play poker. Let's try to watch the language."
Sunday, November 21, 2010 10:12 PM Local Time
Junior Merafuentes has been open-shoving his shortening stack about once or twice per orbit to try and stay afloat here. He had 35,100 the last time he shoved, and it would be... well, the last time he'd shove. The player in the small blind called, and Merafuentes exposed his hand. There was action pending, however, as big blind Tony Bracy was contemplating his play. Bracy stood from his chair and talked it out for a while. Merafuentes asked if he'd seen his cards flash, and Bracy insisted he didn't. "I'm such an idiot!" he called himself out. "But you're not the one I'm really worried about." Eventually, Bracy open-mucked his pocket jacks, and he'd soon see it was a good fold.
Showdown
Merafuentes:
Small blind:
The flop drew a chorus of "Oooooh"s from the table, but that's as close as Merafuentes would get. The turn and river filled out a useless board as far as he was concerned, and his day is done.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 10:03 PM Local Time
Details from this hand are scarce as we walked up just as the dealer was pulling in the board cards and washing the deck. It was a big pot, though, so we'll try.
Lee Patitz and an opponent were heads up to a ten-high flop, and both players got stacks into the pot. Each of them started with about 70,000 in front of them, and some heavy flop action resulted in Mr. Opponent shoving all in for about three times the pot. He held queen-ten (top pair, queen kicker), and Patitz called him down with ace-jack (ace-high).
The turn was a blank, but the proverbial ace on the river has whisked one player away and given Patitz a powerful stack of about 155,000.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 9:46 PM Local Time
The gentleman in the cutoff seat opened with a raise, and big blind Tony Bracy moved all in for 25,300. The cutoff insta-called with , but his pair was second-best. Bracy tabled the , poised for a double up.
The at-risk Bracy stood up to sweat his fate, and the dealer was kind to him. The board ran , and that spells a double up. Mark him down for 53,100 now.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 9:41 PM Local Time
On the penultimate hand of the last level...
Action folded around to Ted Bort in the small blind and he completed. Grant Hillman checked in the big blind and the flop came down . Bort checked and Hillman fired 2,000. Bort meant to call, but accidentally min-raised to 4,000. Hillman jammed all in and Bort called it off with the for a flush draw plus a gutshot. Hillman held for two pair.
The turn brought the and the river the . Bort missed on both of those and was eliminated from the tournament. Hillman moved to about 85,000 in chips.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 9:29 PM Local Time
We've played 12 of the requisite 16 levels here on Day 1, and the players have been sent off for a 10-minute break. We'll play two more two-level sessions with one more break in between before calling it a night.
There are 88 players left.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 9:20 PM Local Time
Howard 'Tahoe' Andrew has been eliminated from play. He was all in preflop for his last 9,000 or so and up against two other players that made the call.
The flop came down and the first player fired 13,000. The other players folded, leaving Tahoe left to battle with one opponent. Tahoe tabled the and was up against the overlords and flush draw combo that his opponent had with the .
The turn brought the and kept Tahoe alive, but the river gave his opponent a better two pair and sent Tahoe to the rail.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 9:09 PM Local Time
Aaron Kanter opened to 3,000 from the cutoff seat, and the button called to come along to the flop. The dealer laid out , and Kanter continued out with 4,000 chips. The button quickly raised to 9,000, and Kanter flashed a sour look before flicking in the extra T5,000 chip to see another card.
He checked the turn, and his opponent checked it back, and the landed on the river. Kanter checked again, and the button took his cue to bet 12,000. Kanter hated it, but he eventually talked himself into the call.
It was a good one. The button showed a naked , and Kanter's earned him the pot and a chip stack of more than 100,000. He's got about 107,000 to our eyes. It's been a good hour for him, just about tripling up his stack over the course of the last couple orbits.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 8:57 PM Local Time
On the flop of , the first player checked to Aaron Kanter. He also checked and "Captain" Tom Franklin was next. He moved all in for about 14,000 and the first player folded. Kanter quickly called, showing the for top two pair. "I guess I have a few outs," said Franklin, tabling the for a straight and flush draw.
The turn was the and the river the . Both missed Franklin and he was eliminated at the hands of Kanter, who moved his way up to 60,000 in chips.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 8:46 PM Local Time
Leonard Swisher raised from the hijack seat to 2,300. David Robinson made the call from the small blind to see the flop come down . Robinson checked and Swisher fired 3,200. Robinson folded and Swisher won the pot to see his stack move to just about 100,000.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 8:45 PM Local Time
A player in middle position raised to 2,600. Tony Bracy called, Leonard Swisher called from the cutoff seat and David Robinson called from the big blind.
The flop came down and action checked over to Swisher. He was last to act on the flop and fired a small bet of 1,500. Only Bracy came along to see the turn.
The hit the turn and Bracy checked. Swisher fired 6,000 and Bracy called.
The river completed the board with the and both players checked. Bracy mucked after Swisher tabled the and dropped back to 41,000. Swisher improved to 95,000.