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Sunday, July 5, 2015 12:28 PM Local Time
On a flop of , Doc Sands bets 450 from the hijack and the cutoff folds. The button calls and they are heads-up to the turn card.
Sands bets again, this time 1,250 and the button calls again. The river is the and Sands fires 2,700 into the middle. The button quickly calls and Sands tables , good for aces and nines, but the button shows , giving him a flush and the pot.
The dealer hesitates for a moment before pushing the pot, thinking that the button needs to raise the river with the nuts and is about to call for a supervisor, but the table points out that the board is paired and he doesn't have the nuts. The pot is pushed, and Sands watches some of his chips head to his neighbor.
David Sands - 32,000
Sunday, July 5, 2015 12:28 PM Local Time
Last year the story was all about Mark Newhouse making back-to-back WSOP Main Event final tables.
However, a story that occurred a few years prior was Steve Gee nearly making back-to-back final tables.
In 2012 Gee would finish ninth for a $754,798 payday, and in the following year he made a run at repeating in the November Nine before he eventually fell short in 24th place for $285,408.
Today, Gee is back and hoping that he can make another deep WSOP Main Event run in 2015.
Sunday, July 5, 2015 12:28 PM Local Time
With approximately 1,300 in the pot, Blair Rodman bets out for 625 after the turn with a board of and gets a call from his lone opponent in the hand.
The river is the and Rodman fires out again, this time for 1,200 total. His opponent tosses a chip into the middle to indicate a call. Rodman tables for a heart flush and his opponent mucks.
Blair Rodman - 32,475
Sunday, July 5, 2015 12:27 PM Local Time
Some familiar faces sitting in the Red section of the Brasilia room include Josh Arieh and Cary Katz. Sitting at Table 74 are Jean Gaspard, Ashton Griffin, Andrew Lichtenberger. Also sharing a table are David Paredes and Maxx Coleman.
Sunday, July 5, 2015 12:25 PM Local Time
Doc Sands is heads up on a flop of . The player in the big blind checks, and Sands checks from the button.
The turn is the . The big blind bets 325 and Sands calls.
The river is the .The big blind checks, Sands bets 525, and his opponent calls.
Sands tables giving him a pair of queens. His opponent mucks his cards.
Doc Sands - 35,000
Sunday, July 5, 2015 12:21 PM Local Time
Scott Ball is in the big blind and calls a raise. The flop is and Ball check-calls a bet of 300.
Both players check when the comes on the turn. The river is the and Ball bets 350, which is good enough to get his opponent to fold and give him the pot.
Scott Ball - 30,550
Sunday, July 5, 2015 12:19 PM Local Time
Ashton Griffin limps in from the cutoff and Kima Kumara follows suit from the button. Roger Jensen limps from the small blind as well and Andrew Lichtenberger checks his option.
The flop comes and all four players check. The turn is the and Jensen bets, with only Lichtenberger calling.
The hits the river and Jensen bets 125, which gets Lichtenberger to lay it down.
Andrew Lichtenberger - 29,700
Roger Jensen - 31,050
Sunday, July 5, 2015 12:17 PM Local Time
With every player jammed into the Brasilia Room, there are a plethora of notables already taking their seats early.
John Monnette is sharing a table with Jaime Staples, while on Table 51 we find Michael Stecker, Billy Kopp and Abe Mosseri are battling it out.
WSOP Europe Champion Barry Shulman, 2009 Poker Players Championship winner David Bach and WSOP Circuit crusher Kyle Cartwright, along with Erik Cajelais, Michael Chow, Andreas Hoivoid, and Anh Van Nguyen are just a few of the players in this section.
Sunday, July 5, 2015 12:08 PM Local Time
Donnacha O'Dea is an Irish professional who has played every WSOP Main Event since 1982, with the exception of the one that occurred during the birth of his daughter. The O'Dea family has had some good success in this building, too. Donnacha and his son Eoghan have amassed more than $2 million in earnings across 44 combined cashes, and Donnacha won a Pot-Limit Omaha bracelet in 1998 and final tabled the Main Event in 1991.
O'Dea delivers the most famous words in poker, sparking the dealers and players into action: "Shuffle up and deal!"
With that, the 2015 WSOP Main Event is under way.
Sunday, July 5, 2015 12:06 PM Local Time
Players will begin with a 30,000-chip starting bank and will be enduring five two-hour levels with a break occurring after every level for 20 minutes.
After level three there will be a 90-minute dinner break and play will end at approximately 12:30 a.m. (PDT).
Sunday, July 5, 2015 12:04 PM Local Time
| Level: | 1 | | Blinds: | 50/100 | |
Sunday, July 5, 2015 12:04 PM Local Time
WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel has taken the microphone on stage in the Brasilia Room. Effel begins his introduction by thanking the players and running through a few of the highlights from the 2015 Series.
Effel lists the pertinent rules, including the important warning against concealing chips during table changes and breaks. He runs through the schedule for today's action, which will consist of five two-hour levels with a dinner break after three.
Effel turns the microphone over to WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart, and he continues the superlatives. More than 100,000 entries from more than 100 countries will have participated by the time this 2015 Series is over.
This Main Event figures to be a memorable one for many who are in the room today. "For one of you," Stewart says, "It's the chance to become immortal. To become literally larger than life with your banner hanging from the wall."
The cards will be in the air shortly.
Sunday, July 5, 2015 10:18 AM Local Time
Welcome back to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino and the 2015 World Series of Poker (WSOP) for Day 1A of the Main Event!
Over the past 39 days, 67 events across a variety of poker games and buy-ins took place at the Rio. Millions of dollars have been awarded, champions have been crowned, bracelets have been awarded, and dreams have been achieved. However, today is the day the poker clock resets for the year, as the biggest event of 2015 is finally upon us.
Today marks the 46th running of the Main Event - the only WSOP tournament that hasn't changed since its inception more than 40 years ago. Gone are the days of the professional tournament that saw just a few entrants. Now, thousands upon thousands of players will descend upon the Rio over the next three days to try their luck at being that one player in November that can capture poker's most alluring and elusive prize.
With the prizepool expected to be over $60,000,000 this year with first set to take home potentially $8,000,000 and the top 1,000 finishers guaranteed a piece of the prizepool, a who's who of poker players will be here. Whether it is the seasoned pro looking to add to their bracelet collection, or the online whiz kid looking to make that transition from the virtual to the green felt, or just your average Joe from the mid west hoping that their story of $20 home games to the big dance will be the one everyone is talking about for years to come.
The one man that made this tournament his own in 2014 was Sweden's Martin Jacobson. Although already a someone in the poker community, his name is now etched among the likes of Hellmuth, Brunson, Moneymaker, Hachem, Merson, Ungar, and Harrington. Jacobson started second to last in chips at the final table, but that didn't stop him from navigating the final table with precision, skill, and class to top poker's greatest event and become the next poker ambassador.
One of Jacobson's poker ambassador duties will be on display today as he will be in charge of wishing players good luck and uttering those words of shuffle up and deal to put Day 1a of the Main Event into action. From there, the hopes and dreams of potentially a 1,000 players will begin as they aim to repeat what Jacobson did on Day 1a last year - bag the overwhelming chip lead and hopefully build upon that to become the 2015 WSOP Main Event Champion.
Cards will be in the air at 12:00 p.m. (PDT) with the WSOP live reporting team providing continuous live updates of every flopped set, turned flushed, and rivered two-outer from Day 1A. So stay tuned to WSOP.com as we begin writing the path of the next WSOP Main Event Champion live from the 2015 World Series of Poker!