Saturday, May 30, 2015 3:40 AM Local Time
The second starting flight of the World Series of Poker’s historic new addition has come to a close, and in the end an estimated 720 players advanced to secure a seat for Day 2 of The Colossus on Sunday.
The likely end-of-day chip leader is Ian O'Hara, a longtime pro with more than $450,000 in reported live earnings. O'Hara bagged up a massive stack with 184,000 - good enough for nearly 37 starting stacks in a day's worth of work. O'Hara is one of the only players to eclipse the 100,000-chip plateau, but he will be joined by Brandon Shane, who crossed the mark late in the night by coming out on top in a classic ace-king versus queens coin flip.
Notable names to navigate the Day 1B minefield include Chris Moorman, Mukul Pahuja, Zo Karim, Ronnie Bardah, Steve Zolotow, and Justin Oliver.
Those who came and went during Day 1B include Antonio Esfandiari, Tony Dunst, Leif Force, George Danzer, Lee Markholt, Matt Salsberg, Ashly Butler, Ryan Riess, Sorel Mizzi, Faraz Jaka - not to mention countless amateurs who arrived en masse at the Rio to take the shot of a lifetime.
Official numbers are still a bit murky at this point, but tournament officials estimate that more than 5,000 players ponied up $565 to compete in today's second starting flight. That means over 4,000 hopefuls came and went during a taxing 11 eleven levels on the felt.
The Colossus reconvenes Saturday at 10 a.m. local time for Day 1C, and Day 1D, the fourth and final starting flight, will begin at 7 p.m. Check back in with WSOP.com tomorrow to follow all of the action live, as thousands upon thousands of hopeful amateurs continue their own personal Main Event.
Saturday, May 30, 2015 3:33 AM Local Time
Chris Moorman and Felipe Davila are all in preflop. Moorman has and Davila has .
The board comes and the turn completes Davila's ten-high straight allowing him to start Day 2 with 67,000. Moorman will start Day 2 with 71,000.
Saturday, May 30, 2015 3:27 AM Local Time
Randy Kaas, who is quite a character with his two foot tall chefs hat and contagious smile, had pocket sevens and three bet to 8,000 after an all in for 4,100. The player behind him went all in with around 40,000 in chips. Kaas called. One player had pocket jacks, and the other had king-queen.
The flop showed giving Kaas trip sevens. The turn was a blank, not helping anyone. On the river came another seven giving Kaas quad sevens and a hefty stack of 80,000.
Saturday, May 30, 2015 3:25 AM Local Time
Ronnie Bardah doesn’t have a big stack left but he has been putting them to good use. First Bardah shoves for 11,000 and picks up the antes and blinds.
A few hands later Bardah shoves again and one recreational player agonises for just over a minute, asking for time. The call would represent half his stack and he eventually folds saying, “I just want to leave with twenty five K. You wouldn’t believe what I folded. Ace-King.” Bardah told him he had eights as he picked up another pot uncontested.
Ronnie Bardah - 17,000
Saturday, May 30, 2015 3:25 AM Local Time
Sean Borland raises it up to 2,300 under the gun, and action folds around to the hijack, who three-bets it to 5,100. In the big blind, Brandon Shane four-bets to 11,300.
Borland's eyebrows raise as he seems surprised by all the action in front of him. Not deterred however, Borland grabs his stack of 5,000 chips and slides them across the felt, putting both of his opponents all in. The hijack folds, and after a few moments of thought, Shane drops chips in to signify a call.
Shane:
Borland:
Shane catches a king on the flop, as it comes down . Borland isn't able to catch his miracle queen, as the board completes and . Shane doubles up to over 130,000, while Borland falls to 90,000 just minutes before bagging up tonight.
Saturday, May 30, 2015 3:08 AM Local Time
Action folds around to Richard Seymour in the hijack who moves all in for his last 6,900. The player in the cutoff quickly calls and the button folds, as well as the blinds.
Seymour:
Cutoff:
The board runs out and Seymour scores the double, moving his chip stack up to 16,500.
Saturday, May 30, 2015 3:04 AM Local Time
Shawn Sorgi opens to 2,300 and a short-stacked Tony Dunst makes his stand with a three-bet shove for right around 9,000 total.
Sorgi makes a quick call with to find himself flipping against Dunst's .
The board runs out and Dunst finds no help, sending him to the rail in the last level of the night.
Sean Sorgi - 44,000
Tony Dunst - Eliminated
Saturday, May 30, 2015 2:54 AM Local Time
Mikiyo Aoki moves all in for approximately 15,000 in chips and gets a call from one player who she has covered. The two turn their hands over and Aoki has while her opponent has .
The flop gives Aoki a set as it comes and her opponent is drawing thin. After the on the turn he is drawing dead and the dealer puts out a meaningless on the river. Aoki taps the table as her opponent quickly rushes out of the room. Aoki had a very successful 2014 WSOP finishing second in the Ladies Championship Event for $94,800 and then following that up with a 83rd place finish in the Main Event for $72,369. She ends the hand with approximately 27,000 in chips.
Saturday, May 30, 2015 2:51 AM Local Time
Fresh off his 28th place finish in the $3,000 Shoutout, Kyle Frey wasted no time in hopping in the 1B flight of Colossus. The decision seems to be paying off as Frey has climbed up the chip counts and is sitting with over 40,000 with just one level left in the night.
In the latest hand there was over 5,000 in the pot on a board reading . A player in early position bets out 2,000 and Frey makes the call.
The completes the board and the player again fires, this time for 3,500. Frey thinks about it for a few seconds and then calls.
"You win" the player says as he tables .
Frey quietly rolls over to take the pot with ace high.
Kyle Frey - 43,000
Saturday, May 30, 2015 2:48 AM Local Time
Level: 11
Blinds: 500/1000
Ante: 100
Saturday, May 30, 2015 2:41 AM Local Time
There are only nine tables currently in play in the Pavilion area, and tournament officials are working to break those 90 players into the Brasilia Room as Level 10 comes to a close.
Saturday, May 30, 2015 2:38 AM Local Time
Roberto Romanello has been nursing his stack for a while now, peeking at his hole cards and patiently throwing them away.
Action folds to Romanello in early position and, finally liking what he sees, moves all in for 4,800. The player in the cut-off asks for a count and makes the call. The blinds fold and it’s heads up for Romanello’s tournament life. The news is not good as his must beat the of his opponent.
The cards fall with the river riding to the rescue for the Welsh wizard to give him a straight and salvation.
Roberto Romanello - 10,000
Saturday, May 30, 2015 2:31 AM Local Time
Matt Salsberg had a good stack going for a while, but he just became one of our latest causalities. The TV Executive Producer turned poker pro tweeted out the details of his demise.
Saturday, May 30, 2015 2:28 AM Local Time
Three players, one after another, announce that they are all in before the flop. Bruce flips his . His opponents show and . The board comes . Dacko's aces hold up and he rakes in a hefty pot, eliminating two players.
Bruce Dacko- 32,600
Saturday, May 30, 2015 2:27 AM Local Time
Justin Oliver won a WSOP bracelet back in 2013 - taking down Event #38: Four-Handed NLHE for a $309,071 score - so he's no stranger to long nights on the felt here at the Rio.
But to hear Oliver tell it, he's dragging just a bit after playing a series of long nights to kick off 2015. Oliver competed in Event #2: $5,000 NLHE and Event #4: $3,000 NLHE Shootout to start this year's series, staying up long into the evening before ultimately busting out. He showed up bright and early today for Day 1A of the Colossus, and after misfiring on his first bullet, he ponied up another buy-in to take a second shot.
Oliver is looking to make his second go round count after waking up with in the big blind. The button and small blind players both shoved short stacks before Oliver acted, and after he looked down to see the prettiest sight in poker, he snap-called to put and at risk.
The board ran out pure for Oliver's pocket rockets, coming , and with that he notched a pair of knockouts while moving his stack to 37,500.
"I have to get through to Day 2," said Oliver with fatigue etched across his face. "Running on no sleep, so waking up with aces there was perfect."
Justin Oliver - 37,500
Saturday, May 30, 2015 2:21 AM Local Time
A player in early position moves all in for his last 7,500 and action folds through to Brendan Wiley in the cutoff who moves all in on top. The button and both blinds fold and Wiley is ahead, but flipping for majority of his stack.
Wiley:
Opponent:
The board runs out and Wiley turns a full house, leaving his opponent drawing dead. After the hand Wiley turned to us and just smiled.
"Just trying to scrape by man!"
Bredan Wiley - 17,600
Saturday, May 30, 2015 2:07 AM Local Time
Level: 10
Blinds: 400/800
Ante: 100
Saturday, May 30, 2015 1:56 AM Local Time
Jon Peck and Jordan Cristos, in a lone hand, more than five minutes in to their break, are sitting right next to each other. The board shows . Cristos bet 1,700, and Peck raises to 7,500. Cristos sits, shuffling chips and thinking for several minutes, occasionally looking at the stack in front of Peck, and then back to the board.Cristos hesitates throwing his cards away several times before he lets them go into the muck.
Peck says "If we weren't friends, I would have called clock an hour ago". Peck shows his friend letting him know that he made the right call.
Saturday, May 30, 2015 1:41 AM Local Time
Three-time bracelet winner Vanessa Selbst had recently been crippled down to her last 1,000 when she moves all in blind preflop. She is called by a player with pocket nines, and Selbst rolls over her cards one at a time:
and
. It wasn't the worst of hands to move all in blind with, especially after the flop comes with two clubs. However, the turn and river both miss, and Selbst is sent home just short of the third break on the night.
Saturday, May 30, 2015 1:40 AM Local Time
As the clock winds down here in level 9, players are preparing to head on their final break of the night. The tournament staff announced they will be coloring up the green 25 chips on this break.
The past three levels seemed to keep up with the fast and furious pace of the earlier levels as the tournament staff was breaking tables as quick as they could to condense the field into the Brasilia room and Pavilion.
We saw Phil Hellmuth fall short of day 2 after taking a horrific beat when his lost to his opponent's on an board. Behind Hellmuth we also saw Vanessa Rousso fall on the unfortunate side of a flip resulting in her elimination. Other notables to bust out include George Danzer, Athanasios Polychronopoulos, and Vanessa Selbst.
With the beats also come the victories and many familiar faces have continued to climb up the chip counts including Ronnie Bardah, Mukul Pahuja, Kyle Frey, Rachel Kranz, Robert Cote, and Chris Morman.
Players will return to play at 2:00am with two levels remaining in the night.