Saturday, July 9, 2011 11:33 AM Local Time
Lauren Kling | 30,000 | |
Daniel Negreanu | 30,000 | |
Christina Lindley | 30,000 | |
Haralabos Voulgaris | 30,000 | |
Chris Tryba | 30,000 | |
Daniel Harrington | 30,000 | |
Saturday, July 9, 2011 11:33 AM Local Time
Over on table 279, the action folded around to Bryan Huang who raised from middle position preflop; the player in the cutoff was the only caller, so off they went heads-up to the flop of . Huang flung out a T500 chip and the cutoff quickly called, then both players checked down both the turn of the and the river .
The cutoff player showed down and Huang let his hand go. Don't hit the panic button yet, Huang's only lost 500 of his start bank of 30,000!
Diwei Huang | 29,500 | -500 |
Saturday, July 9, 2011 11:33 AM Local Time
Bobby Baldwin | 30,000 | |
Victoria Coren | 30,000 | |
Bernard Lee | 30,000 | |
Cody Slaubaugh | 30,000 | |
Gavin Smith | 30,000 | |
Dan Shak | 30,000 | |
Saturday, July 9, 2011 11:29 AM Local Time
By far the most-talkative table in the relatively small Tan sectioning the early going has been Table 260. There we find both Grayson Ramage and Leo Wolpert, although both of them are staying mostly quiet during the early going. So have the rest of the table. It's Michael "Squeaky" Winnett whose doing most of the talking, and indeed it began with the very first hand.
Four players, including Winnett, saw a flop come . A middle position player bet, and while chatting away Winnett was the only caller from late position. The turn was the and when Winnett's opponent checked Winnett's monologue continued.
"A sign of weakness!" he said. "I'll go ahead and take the first pot of the World Series of Poker then!" he added, firing a bet of two-thirds the pot. When his opponent didn't respond immediately, Winnett rejoiced. "Yes!" he said. His opponent took another 30 seconds for show, but finally let it go.
"Like mother always said," Winnett continued. "You can't win every pot until you win the first one."
Saturday, July 9, 2011 11:28 AM Local Time
The purple section is highlighted by two of the, well, loudest names in the game. Humberto Brenes and Brad Garrett are just a couple tables apart, and we've keeping our decibel meter handy. Garrett, in particular, seems to be starting the morning comedy routine off strong, loudly making fun of the, "Water, Red Bull," grunting server guy.
We also have a cricketer, a gentleman with pink hair, a member of Team PokerStars Online (whose name we have to check), a 2011 bracelet winner, a few notable Brits, and the rest of these gentlemen:
Eric Baldwin | 30,000 | |
Ryan Young | 30,000 | |
Fabrice Soulier | 30,000 | |
Brad Garrett | 30,000 | |
Pramesh Bansi | 30,000 | |
Mark Schmid | 30,000 | |
Shane Warne | 30,000 | |
Hoyt Corkins | 30,000 | |
Humberto Brenes | 30,000 | |
Steve Brecher | 30,000 | |
Thomas Middleton | 30,000 | |
Justin Schwartz | 30,000 | |
Steven Gross | 30,000 | |
Chris Moorman | 30,000 | |
Chris Bell | 30,000 | |
Zohair Karim | 30,000 | |
Saturday, July 9, 2011 11:26 AM Local Time
Andrew Robl has taken his seat over here in the Tan section and is already getting to know his neighbors.
The gentleman on his right leaned over to say that Robl looked familiar, asking him where he's seen him before. "Television," answered Robl, adding "Now you have an unfair advantage over me… you know how I play poker."
"You don't want to know how I play poker," deadpanned his neighbor.
Soon after the player on Robl's left, Bob Talbot, spoke up. "Take it easy on me fellas," he said. "This is my first time playing poker… go easy."
Robl paused a beat, then pointing to Talbot's hand had a response. "So what's that ring for?" Talbot -- a regular on the WSOP circuit -- is sporting a number of rings which look to be poker-related prizes. The table laughed in response, and Talbot grinned sheepishly in response to Robl's good read.
Talbot is clearly no newcomer, having made several WSOP circuit final tables. Just now he and Robl tangled in a small pot in which Talbot bet Robl out of the hand, and Robl folded face up. We'll keep an eye on how Robl handles his cagey neighbors this afternoon.
Saturday, July 9, 2011 11:22 AM Local Time
We caught the action on the river with a board reading . It was heads up and the under-the-gun player had checked to Ted Forrest, who bet 2,000. The UTG player then woke up with a check-raise to 8,500. Forrest thought for a moment before making the call, only to muck when his opponent revealed his flush.
Forrest has already lost a third of his chips and is down to just under 20K.
Ted Forrest | 19,500 | -10,500 |
Saturday, July 9, 2011 11:18 AM Local Time
Here is a look at the Player-of-the-Year standings heading into the Main Event. Given Ben Lamb's finish atop the chip counts on Day 1b, not to mention the WSOP-Europe events yet to come, we're guessing the race is far from over:
Current 2011 WSOP Player-of-the-Year Leaderboard
Player | Points | Cashes | Final Tables | Bracelets | Winnings |
Phil Hellmuth | 710.25 | 5 | 3 | 0 | $1,591,004 |
Ben Lamb | 659.05 | 4 | 3 | 1 | $1,331,832 |
Brian Rast | 550 | 3 | 2 | 2 | $1,976,522 |
Chris Moorman | 486.20 | 5 | 2 | 0 | $1,051,466 |
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier | 479.25 | 4 | 2 | 1 | $811,639 |
Sam Stein | 416.13 | 5 | 2 | 1 | $731,279 |
Joe Ebanks | 410.25 | 3 | 1 | 1 | $1,179,031 |
Owais Ahmed | 408.03 | 5 | 2 | 1 | $764,997 |
Mikhail Lakhitov | 401.80 | 5 | 2 | 1 | $851,058 |
Jason Mercier | 385.33 | 5 | 3 | 1 | $696,438 |
Mitch Schock | 364.81 | 5 | 3 | 1 | $406,018 |
Sean Getzwiller | 343 | 3 | 2 | 1 | $672,627 |
*Through Event #57
Saturday, July 9, 2011 11:17 AM Local Time
Here are just a few names we've come across here in the Blue section of the Amazon Room:
Diwei Huang | 30,000 | |
Jason Young | 30,000 | |
Ryan Laplante | 30,000 | |
Casey Kelton | 30,000 | |
Karina Jett | 30,000 | |
Tyler Patterson | 30,000 | |
Braden Murphy | 30,000 | |
Paul Pritchett | 30,000 | |
Michael Skender | 30,000 | |
Roberto Romanello | 30,000 | |
Tom McEvoy | 30,000 | |
Matt Hawrilenko | 30,000 | |
Nenad Medic | 30,000 | |
Amanda Baker | 30,000 | |
Jason Potter | 30,000 | |
Jameson Painter | 30,000 | |
Barny Boatman | 30,000 | |
Saturday, July 9, 2011 11:14 AM Local Time
Marco Traniello | 30,000 | |
Mikhail Shalamov | 30,000 | |
Philip Gordon | 30,000 | |
Blair Rodman | 30,000 | |
Todd Witteles | 30,000 | |
Vitaly Lunkin | 30,000 | |
Adam Junglen | 30,000 | |
Ted Forrest | 30,000 | |
Saturday, July 9, 2011 11:08 AM Local Time
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Saturday, July 9, 2011 11:08 AM Local Time
Jack Effel is on the microphone right now from the featured table dais, and he's announcing the rules and schedule for the assembled masses.
"Please make sure you know the rules of the game," Effel said, adding that his staff is eager to help players understand the specifics so they don't make any mistakes.
Don't conceal your chips. That's the big one. A couple players have been disqualified already this year for pocketing chips during table breaks.
We'll be playing five two-hour levels today with a dinner break after the third. Players from today will play their Day 2 on Monday, July 11th. If they're lucky enough to survive to the bag-and-tag, that is.
With everyone duly informed, the stage was turned over to today's honorary host. She's a bracelet winner, and a former Tournament of Champions Champion. She's one of the most charity-oriented people in the business, and she's generally regarded among the top players in the world of any gender. Annie Duke!
Duke brought TV's Ray Romano and Brad Garrett to the stage, and Romano put a free-massage bounty on Garrett's head.
"We're both still in the Main Event," Garrett chimed in. "And we're both here to meet lots of men."
"Good luck everyone," added the fourth member on the stage, the champion of Cupcake Wars. "Shuffle up and deal!", she yelled.
And with that, Day 1c is under way!
"All in, Table 5!" Romano finished.
Saturday, July 9, 2011 10:42 AM Local Time
Welcome back to PokerNews' continuing live coverage of the 2011 World Series of Poker! Thursday saw the start of the greatest tournament on the planet, the WSOP Main Event. We've had 897 and 978 players on the first two starting days to bring the running total up to 1,875.
Last year, an even 2,300 players took part in Day 1c, and that big number might not be out of the realm of possibility today, either. We already have "well over 2,000" players registered according to Tournament Director Jack Effel, though we can't get him to peg down a specific number. Either way, all indications are that we'll be less than 2,000 players from reaching the 6,000 mark by the end of the day today.
At the end Day 1b last night, Ben Lamb was the man bagging up the big stack after he'd worked his starting 30,000 chips up to an impressive 188,925 by night's end. That still trails Day 1a chip leader Fred Berger's monstrous 209,600 chips, and Lamb -- already a bracelet winner this year -- will have to settle for, at best, second place heading into Day 2.
"Benba", as he's more commonly known, is putting on quite the show here in the summer of 2011. He's notched four big cashes already, including three final tables. He finished 8th in the big $50,000 Poker Players' Championship, and he managed to get heads-up before falling in second place in the $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event. In between them? A bracelet. Pot-Limit Omaha again. Lamb took down the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship, and he's padded his pockets by more $1.3 million in the last four weeks. Because of his efforts, Lamb finds himself in second place behind Phil Hellmuth in the Player of the Year race, and a deep run here in the Main could push him over the top.
We're still a couple days away from that Day 2, though, and Day 1c is set to kick off shortly at 12:00 PM PT from the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The convention center abuzz with Main Event shenanigans, and you should stay tuned to PokerNews for all the live updates, videos and photos you can handle.
In the meantime, check out the July 9th daily update from the lovely Lynn Gilmartin: