Monday, July 5, 2010 10:45 PM Local Time
After four and a half levels of play we've reached the end of the opening flight of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event. The players are bagging up their chips and exchanging bad beat stories as they drift out of the Amazon Room, content in the knowledge that they've safely survived day one of the Main Event. For many, a huge achievement in itself, and hopefully the first of many long days ahead on their road to the Holy Grail.
We started out with 1,125 entrants and approximately 800 have lived to fight another day. It wasn't a great day for 2004 World Champion Greg Raymer, who started off in high spirits with the "Shuffle Up and Deal" honors, but just a few minutes later was crippled and eliminated from the tournament. Such are the highs and lows of tournament poker. Others to join Raymer on the rail included Nick Schulman, Chino Rheem, Mike Caro, Victor Ramdin, Jimmy Fricke and Ray Romano.
At the other end of the spectrum 2003 World Champion Chris Moneymaker should feature in the ESPN highlights as he was prominent along with $50,000 Poker Player's Championship winner Michael Mizrachi. It will be some time before we have the official end-of-day counts, but as the players were bagging up we spotted Dwyen Ringbauer with 191,125 which should put him near the top of the leaderboard, but James Mitchell bested that by writing a whopping 241,075 on his bag. Corwin Cole capped out the day with 228,200. We'll have the official counts for the entire field for you shortly.
Join us again tomorrow as we do it all over again for Day 1b as the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event continues from Las Vegas. The action kicks off at noon and we look forward to your company then! Until then, good night from the Rio!
Monday, July 5, 2010 10:34 PM Local Time
Barry Shulman is looking to end the day with more than 100,000 in chips thanks to a late elimination. He opened a pot pre-flop for 1,200 and was called by the button player before the small blind three-bet to 4,600. All three players went to the flop, . The small blind checked, allowing Shulman to bet 10,000. That was enough to drive out the button, but the small blind went for a check-raise to a bit more than 20,000. Shulman called with , in great shape against the small blind's . Nothing changed on the turn or river. Shulman dragged the pot to increase his count to about 113,000.
Monday, July 5, 2010 10:31 PM Local Time
Susie Isaacs and James Akenhead were both short when they got all of their chips in the middle to race. It was Isaac's against Akenhead's . The board fell , and Akenhead took the hand with nines and eights. When the stacks were counted down, Isaacs got a 2,500-chip refund, while Akenhead doubled to 16,000.
Monday, July 5, 2010 10:28 PM Local Time
The flop came out , and Ted Forrest was all in for not very much. His opponent called with . Fortunately for Ted, he could best it with . The turn kept him ahead, and the on the river locked up the win for him. Forrest may have doubled, but he's still short with 6,000.
Monday, July 5, 2010 10:26 PM Local Time
On a flop of , Beth Shak got her whole stack into the middle with . An opponent was right there to greet Shak's big pair with his nuts, . There was no further help for Shak. The turn and river sent her off into the night, complaining about how much she hates queens.
Monday, July 5, 2010 10:25 PM Local Time
"I'm out, Joy," said T.J. Cloutier to his wife, who had been patiently waiting for him outside the Amazon Room, perched upon his motorized scooter. "Finally had a race but I didn't win."
See you next year, T.J.
Monday, July 5, 2010 10:22 PM Local Time
With an under-the-gun limper in front of him, Andre Akkari raised it up to 1,500 from middle position. His opponent made the call and saw a flop of .
Both players checked and the hit the turn. The UTG-player fired out 2,600 and Akkari made the call to see the hit the river. Akkari called a bet of 4,000 but mucked when his opponent showed for a flush. Akkari is down to 12,000.
Monday, July 5, 2010 10:19 PM Local Time
It's hard to know how the pot developed, but somehow Dutch Boyd and an opponent wound up at the river of a board. With about 13,000 chips in the pot and the ESPN cameras recording the action, Boyd used his first action to bet out 5,200. His opponent dove into the think tank while Boyd waited silently to see what would happen. After about a minute, the other player matched Boyd's 5,200.
Boyd said a few inaudible words and shook his head without showing his hand, seemingly indicating that he had been caught bluffing. Neither player opened his hand until Boyd made a circling motion with his finger as if to say, "Flip over your cards." His opponent finally opened for two pair, tens and nines. Boyd looked visibly stunned by the holding and flicked his cards into the muck.
"Nice hand," he said, but he could be seen shaking his head and talking to himself for a few moments after the hand. It's not all bad for Boyd though. He still has 44,000 chips.
Monday, July 5, 2010 10:10 PM Local Time
Greg Mueller called and early-position raise of 1,125 from the cutoff seat. The button also called and the three players saw a flop of . The first player checked and Mueller fired 1,100. The button called and the other player mucked.
The turn brought the and Mueller fired 3,500. His opponent made the call.
The river completed the board with the and both players checked. Mueller mucked his hand after his opponent tabled the and dropped to 11,500.
Monday, July 5, 2010 10:09 PM Local Time
In a three-bet pot, Owen Crowe and the small blind saw a flop.
The small blind fired out 4,000 and Crowe raised it to 10,000 only to have his opponent three-bet to 20,000.
Crowe committed roughly his remaining 28,000 and his opponent asked for a count.
As the dealer began to cut down the chips exactly, the small blind folded for roughly the additional 8,000 as Crowe raked in the pot to send him to 53,500 in chips.
Monday, July 5, 2010 10:09 PM Local Time
Johannes Strassman had a plan for today-- go big or go home. After struggling on a short stack for most of the day, he got the rest of his chips in with a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw, but ran into a set of nines. Strassman did not improve and he hit the rail.
Monday, July 5, 2010 10:05 PM Local Time
Sarah Jean Underwood played a hand! Her VPIP is no longer at zero, for those of you following at home. On a flop, the small blind checked, and she bet 3,600 at the 1,250-chip pot. Her opponent called, then checked the on the turn. Underwood checked behind. He checked a third street when the came on the river, and she checked once more. He showed , but she tabled for a flopped two pair. "You scared me!" she said as she collected her winnings. She moved back to 28,000 after blinding away the rest of them.
Monday, July 5, 2010 10:04 PM Local Time
On a flop of , Shawn Marion fired out 2,000 only to have the small blind check-raise to 7,000.
"You're trying to get me out of here huh?" prodded Marion at his opponent.
Marion eventually made the call to see the land on the turn and the small blind move all in for 17,950. Marion made the call for his last 7,800 and we were off to a showdown.
Marion:
Opponent:
With Marion drawing dead, the meaningless landed on the river to send Marion to the rail.
"I guess that's the end of our TV time" stated one of the players.
Monday, July 5, 2010 10:03 PM Local Time
With about 12,000 chips in the middle, Jonas Kronwitter checked the board of to his one opponent. That player checked behind and then the dealer put the on the river. Kronwitter opted to bet and he made a wager of 7,400. His opponent made the call.
Kronwitter tabled the and his opponent mucked. This pot put Kronwitter up to about 70,000, who was all in for about 22,000 at one point earlier in the tournament.
Monday, July 5, 2010 10:03 PM Local Time
Barry Shulman opened preflop for 1,200 and was called by one player in position behind him and one player in the blinds. Shulman continued for 3,000 on a flop of . the player in the blinds was the only one who called and went to the turn. That player checked again and then called another 7,000-chip bet from Shulman.
The river was the . Both players checked, with Shulman's , trip aces, having bad-beated his opponent's after the flop. That pot pushed Shulman up to 90,000.
Monday, July 5, 2010 9:59 PM Local Time
Action folded to the button and he raised to 925. John Hennigan called from the small blind and the two of them took a flop of . Hennigan check-called a bet of 1,300 from his opponent on the flop before the turn came the . Hennigan checked again and his opponent continued pressing on the gas with a bet of 2,150. Hennigan let his hand go and gave up the pot, dropping to 65,000 in chips.
Monday, July 5, 2010 9:59 PM Local Time
On a flop of Kevin McGowan called his opponent's pot-sized all in shove.
McGowan:
Opponent:
"Wow! I have no outs! No outs at all!" stated McGowan without realising his runner-runner straight and full house draw outs.
The landed on the turn to complete one of McGowan's outs, and when the landed on the river, half the table leapt to their feet at the shock bad beat.
"I'm so sorry, so sorry!" McGowan kept repeating as he collected the pot to move to 100,000 courtesy of the major suck-out.
Monday, July 5, 2010 9:59 PM Local Time
Anton Allemann opened for 800 from middle position. The big blind called, then checked dark.
The flop came down . Allemann bet 1,500 and the big blind called. The turn came the and the action was again checked to Allemann. He bet 3,500 and the big blind called. The river was the and the big blind checked a third time. Allemann fired 15,000 but it was too much for the big blind, who released his hand. Allemann raked in the pot and is up to 65,000.
Monday, July 5, 2010 9:56 PM Local Time
While we had a few slow moments in the Orange Section, we sat down and calculated how many chips you'd lose if you never showed up for Day 1 and were blinded and anted off the whole day. We assumed 40 hands per hour, which is probably on the high end.
Level 1, 2 hours, 50-100: 1,200
Level 2, 2 hours, 100-200: 2,400
Level 3, 2 hours, 150-300: 3,600
Level 4, 2 hours, 150-300-25: 5,600
Level 5, 1 hour, 200-400-50: 4,400
Total chips blinded and anted off: 17,200
Chips returning for Day 2, blinds 200-400-50: 12,800
So if you never showed up for Day 1, you'd return on Day 2 with an M of about 12 and 32 big blinds in your stack. That's certainly not cozy, but it's workable. The biggest downside, probably, is that the worst players in the field would already be busted before you even play your first hand.
Monday, July 5, 2010 9:51 PM Local Time
Mario Doria has been sent to the rail after his last 15,000 chips were in the middle on a board of .
Doria tabled but his opponent showed for a bigger set. The river was the and Doria is done.