Event #58: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship

Joe Cada slipped a bit to start the day, doubling an opponent at his table, but after eliminating that very same player, he's closing back in on a six-figure stack.

Cada's opponent opened to 4,100, The 2009 Main Event Champion three-bet to 11,600, and the action folded back to his opponent who went deep into the tank. The ESPN crew hovered over the table as the man sat silently, and when he finally grabbed the rest of his 28,000-chip stack, Cada beat him into the pot.

Opponent:   
Cada :   

The     flop was fairly dry, but the   turned, giving Cada's opponent ten more outs to Broadway. The river was the   however - a brick - and Cada's opponent was eliminated from the tournament.

The action folded around to a player in middle position who raised to 3,500 preflop; the player in the hijack position called, but Donny Mizrachi shoved from the small blind for around 23,000. The big blind snap-called and the others got out of the way before showdown:

Big Blind:   
Mizrachi:   

The players chopped it up after the board ran out      . Unlike last year's "brothers-in-arms" story, Donny is the Last of the Mizrachis this year and will have plenty of work to do as he's now on less than 28,000 in chips.

Before play began today, Ty Stewart took to the mic to mark this very special day in poker's history. Today is the day that ESPN's coverage of the 2011 WSOP officially begins, and they're rolling out some new and exciting toys for this year's production. For the first time ever, the run to the Main Event bracelet will be shown "live" on a 30-minute delay on either ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPN3.com. We know "live delay" is a bit of an oxymoron; we're just going with what the press release says here. Either way, the important bit is that there will be hole cards and live commentary from Lon McEachern, David Tuchman, and a rotating cast of guest pros to compliment the broadcasts. Football isn't the only sport with a sideline reporter, either, and the WSOP now has Kara Scott filling in the coverage from the rail. In fact, there's a whole new production crew in charge as 441 is out and Poker PROductions is in. The regular Tuesday night telecasts will begin on July 26th and run for 16 consecutive weeks leading up to the November Nine. Here are some more numbers involved in the production this year:

• 4.5 - Miles of cable used
• 10 - Number of days to build the WSOP bracelet-themed lighting truss structure
• 40 - Number of live hours of Main Event coverage -- a first
• 55 - Number of ESPN cameras (18 hole-card cams, 14 feature cams, 9 secondary cams + others)
• 88 - Number of LED video panels throughout the room
• 150 - Number of people involved in the WSOP telecasts
• 700 - Number of lights used on-set
• 1,000 - Number of man hours needed to go from an empty room to a final set for the telecast

Today's broadcast schedule has coverage from 3-9pm Eastern (that's now!) on ESPN3.com, and from 7-9pm and 11pm-2:30am on ESPN 2. As such, the break schedule for today is a bit funky.

We'll play this first level, then take a twenty-minute break. Then we'll play the second level, followed by a ten-minute break. That will put us into the third level of the day, and we'll play half of it before heading off for a two-hour dinner break around 5:30pm local time. Play will resume at 7:30 with the other half of the level, then we'll take a 15-minute break, then we'll play the fourth level of the day. And that's it. The bags will be out right at 10:45pm tonight for the lucky survivors.

Eric Jackson opened with a raise to 4,000 from middle position and got two callers, including Phil Hellmuth in the small blind. The flop came     and it checked to Jackson who continued for 7,000. Only Hellmuth called. The turn brought the   and checks from both players.

The river brought the  . Hellmuth didn't waste much time tossing out a bet of 16,000, and Jackson sat back in his chair in response. With a resigned look he rechecked his cards, rubbed his chin, and sat another half-minute with a "Can I call this?" expression on his face.

Finally he did call. "Flush," called out Hellmuth in response, flipping over   . Jackson showed his no-good   , and Hellmuth took the pot.

Hellmuth has about 110,000 at the moment, a bit below the average stack (almost 120,000) with 1,722 players left. Meanwhile, Jackson has 130,000.

Jason Wheeler opened to 3,500 from the cutoff, and an opponent called in the big blind. The flop came down    , and Wheeler's opponent check-called a 4,600-chip bet.

The turn was the  , Wheeler's opponent checked again, and Wheeler tossed out 10,100. His opponent folded, and Wheeler showed    for a flopped set of sevens.

Jason Wheeler

160,000

20,600

With about 38,000 already in on the turn of a      board, Erick Lindgren was tanking against an all in of 27,400 from his small blind opponent. Finally Lindgren made the call showing    for the turned flush but he had been right to be wary, his opponent flipping    for the nut flush which held on the   river.

Lindgren drops to 112,000

-

112,000

-58,300

From the UTG +1 position, Joseph Cheong popped it up to 3,500 before the flop and the action folded around to the player in the big blind who called, but then both players checked down the whole board of      .

The big blind tabled    and Cheong mucked his hand. It was only a small hit though - he's still sitting pretty with 224,000 in chips.

-

224,000

-5,100

The flop had already fallen     when we reached Table 347. "Miami" John Cernuto led out for 20,000 from the small blind, Arturo Diaz raised to 50,000 on the button, and Cernuto called.

The turn was the  , and Cernuto moved all in for effectively 85,000. Diaz tank-folded    face-up, and Cernuto won the pot.

-	300,000	117,900
Arturo Diaz	85,000	-22,700

Phil Hellmuth raised to 3,800 from middle position and Marcos Cerqueira called from the big blind to see the     flop. Both players checked and the turn brought the  . Both checked again and the river completed the board with the  . Both checked a third time.

Cerqueira mucked after Hellmuth showed the   , but the hand took a few minutes longer.

Hellmuth's table is not one of the two featured tables here on Day 3. The table is in the middle of the Purple Section of the Amazon Room , but there's plenty of filming going on every single hand in order to catch all of the action at the table and especially action involving Hellmuth.

After many hands have been completed, the production team has instructed the dealer to hold the board and all cards where they are while they film. The dealer does so, which takes an extra minute or two before washing the deck and moving to the next hand. The dealer also has been instructed to hold a player's mucked holding, as happened on this hand.

Hellmuth showed his hand and Ader mucked, but the dealer didn't pull the hand into the muck. After the filming team shoots the board in the middle of the table with the winning hand, a mini camera is placed on the table in front of the player who mucked, in this case it was Cerqueira. He takes back his cards and shows them to the camera as though it were a hole-card camera. This is so when the hand airs later on, all hole cards can be known throughout the action.

We just walked past Table 312, where sits Jason Alexander and Jonathan Frey, among others. On our way past, Alexander threw his hands up in the air and stared over in our direction. He has shades on, so we couldn't immediately tell if he was looking at us directly. He did the motion again, though, following us around the table with his eyes.

"Where were you?!" he finally spoke up. "Two good ones over here already."

A quick check on Alexander's stack sees that his day has indeed started off well. He began play with 167,000 chips just a half level ago, and he's already turned that into about 285,000, making him the biggest-stacked celebrity left in the field.

While he continues to gain respect for his prowess on the felt, it's Alexander's other passion that he's best known for. Born in New Jersey with a full head of hair, Alexander initially had his heart set on being a magician. He soon realized how hard it was to pay the bills making little red balls disappear under plastic cups, though, and he made a fortuitous switch to a career in acting. He writes, he sings, he tells jokes, he produces and directs, he's won a ton of awards, and he's played one of the more memorable characters in television history, Seinfeld's George Costanza. Still, more than a decade after the show's final episode, we still very often hear people asking "George!" for his autograph in the Amazon Room. Even the dealer at Table 312 was asking him, "Do you ever see Kramer?" as we walked past.

If any of the mainstream celebrities have a chance to win a gold bracelet, Alexander may well be the best bet. He won a season of Celebrity Poker Showdown, and he finished 10th in the Ante Up for Africa event in 2007. This appearance today marks the second time in three years he's made Day 3 of the Main Event, and he's got some fighting chips to work with over there, too.