Thursday, July 8, 2010 5:18 PM Local Time
A player in middle position had raised to 1,050. The player in the hijack three-bet, but we didn't catch how much it was for. David Daneshgar then four-bet to 4,150. The original raiser folded, but the hijack called.
The flop came down and the hijack bet 3,500 with Daneshgar making the call. Both players checked through the on the turn as well as the on the river.
Daneshgar showed and his opponent mucked, sending Daneshgar up to 37,000.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 5:12 PM Local Time
On a flop of , Shawn Sheikhan got his remaining chips all in and was called by his opponent in Seat 2.
Sheikhan:
Seat 2:
Sheikhan was in great shape to double up. The turn was the and all he needed to do was dodge a queen on the river. The dealer burned and revealed the . Sheikhan doubled on the hand and is now sitting with around 17,000.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 5:09 PM Local Time
A player raised from middle position to 800, and it folded around to the small blind who reraised to 3,000. Then Eddy Sabat made it 7,200 to go from the big blind. The original raiser got out, but the small blind pushed it up once more to 16,000, putting himself all in. Sabat made the call.
Sabat showed and his opponent . The flop came , and Sabat was still in front. The turn then brought another , giving Sabat the boat and making the river card no matter.
We've lost another player, while Sabat pushes up to 68,000.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 5:09 PM Local Time
We didn't catch the swan song, but the good people at ESPN have reliably informed us that Olga Varkonyi, wife of 2002 winner Robert, has been eliminated from the Main Event.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 5:08 PM Local Time
Tommy Vedes has had a pretty awful day so far, and he must have been terribly disappointed to get his last 4,500 or so in with and find himself unlikely to double up against his opponent's . Duly the board came down for a chop, and Vedes remains dangerously short.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 5:04 PM Local Time
Catching the action on the river with the board reading and the pot sitting at only 3,000, we witnessed a bet of 2,000 from Anh Van Nguyen before his opponent made it 6,250.
Nguyen then bumped it to 22,000, and after a lengthy amount of deliberation, his opponent made the call leaving himself just 150 in chips.
Nguyen tabled his for a flush to collect the pot and move to 98,200 as his opponent flashed his before sending into the muck.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 5:04 PM Local Time
The WSOP Main Event is generally a joyous occasion for most players, one filled with cheer and camaraderie. That doesn't seem to be the case over at Table 39 where the floorman was called after a verbal altercation.
We're not sure what the problem was but the floorman told the two players in question: "If either of you say anything more to the other, I'm giving you a two round penalty. You got it?"
One of the men pointed at the other and said, "Tell him that."
"I'm telling you too," the floorman stated. Things at Table 39 have been quiet ever since.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 5:03 PM Local Time
Joe Hacham recently took a hit and was down to 9,000 after doubling up a player at his table. It wasn't long before he tried to double up himself. All the chips were in the middle preflop between Hachem and his opponent.
Hachem:
Opponent:
Hachem was looking good through most of the hand as the board ran out but the on the river was enough to give his opponent the best hand and send Hachem to the rail.
Fittingly enough, Steve Dannenmann, who finished runner-up to Hachem in the 2005 Main Event busted right around the same time as Hachem
Thursday, July 8, 2010 5:03 PM Local Time
Spanish pro Victor "Mendi" Mendicuti limped from early position before calling a raise to 1,200 from William Thorson just one seat down.
On the flop, both players checked leading to an turn where Thorson led for 1,400. Mendicuti called.
The river came the , and Mendicuti turned aggressor by leading for 3,500. Thorson slammed his call onto the table, only to be shown for the spade flush.
Thorson drops to 24,500, whilst Mendicuti continues to slice and dice his way through the competition like a psychotic butcher with 78,000.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 4:58 PM Local Time
Upon hearing the announcement of the final numbers and confirmed prize pool, one of the players asked his table if they want to chop. Unfortunately, he was unable to get the table to agree, nevermind the whole room.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 4:55 PM Local Time
There was about 1,800 in the pot preflop between Barry Greenstein and his opponent in Seat 1. The flop came down and Seat 1 led out for a bet of 1,000. Greenstein wasted little time in raising it to 2,000.
Seat 1 thought for a moment, grabbed his entire stack of 8,600 more and slammed it in the middle. Greenstein quickly flicked his cards into the muck and seemed content to preserve his stack of about 39,000.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 4:53 PM Local Time
Norman Chad is making the rounds, as he normally does here at the Main Event. Just now he stopped by a table where a player had asked him to sign the bill of his WSOP baseball cap.
As he signed someone the conversation turned to Chad's spouse. "You mean your future ex-wife?" another player cracked. "My current wife," Chad corrected. "I don't say that anymore, because every time I did before, it came true."
Thursday, July 8, 2010 4:49 PM Local Time
Joe Hachem was in middle position when he bet 5,725 into a board reading . His opponent went all in for a total of 16,100 and Hachem went into the tank.
After thinking for a while, Hachem said, "I'm not Hollywooding, boys. Either you got a full house or you're bluffing."
Eventually, Hachem said he "couldn't fold" and made the call. Much to his dismay his opponent tabled . Hachem mucked and after doubling up his opponent, he is down to 9,000.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 4:47 PM Local Time
The entire sports world is focusing on LeBron James today with his decision coming up shortly on where he'll be headed to next year. One of the tables, Table 299, has a little pool going on the subject. Al Riccobono brought up the idea and seven people put up $5 each for a winner-take-all bet, which may be chopped as some people share the same team. Here's who picked who.
Al Riccobono - Miami Heat
Steve Moore - Chicago Bulls
Mike Liscio - Miami Heat
Brad Miller - New Jersey Nets
James Boyle - New Jersey Nets
Alec Vanderlem - Chicago Bulls
Jeff the Dealer - Cleveland Cavaliers
Surely it'll be on the televisions around the area when it airs shortly and many of the players will be more honed in on that than anything else.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 4:46 PM Local Time
The pot contained around 2,000 in chips and the flop read when the gentleman in the big blind bet out 1,000. Lyle Berman under the gun made the call.
They saw a turn and this time the big blind checked. Berman bet 2,000, and his opponent flat-called.
The river was the and the big blind checked again. This time the bet from Berman was a hefty 10,000. His opponent flatted again and turned over for a flopped set. Berman showed for a higher set on the turn, and took the sizeable pot.
Berman moved up to the lofty environs of 87,000.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 4:43 PM Local Time
There was a commotion in the far corner of the Red Section, and we arrived the board looked like this: . Thomas Muehloecker had laying in front of him, and he was stacking up a wave up chips.
Muehloecker eliminated a player after turning a straight flush, and now sits with over 50,000 chips.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 4:43 PM Local Time
Today, three members of the Brunson family started the Main Event and only two remain. While Pam Brunson has been eliminated, both Doyle and Todd are still alive.
We haven't heard much from Todd all day long as he has been playing patiently over in the Pavilion Room. In a recent pot of 3,800, the board read and Brunson bet out 2,000. His opponent in Seat 8 folded and he took down the pot, bringing him up to around 31,500.
Who will be the last Brunson standing? Father or son?
Thursday, July 8, 2010 4:41 PM Local Time
The numbers are in and it's a big one. A total number of 7,319 ponied up the $10,000 buy-in for the year's World Series of Poker Main Event. That puts the total prizepool at a whopping $68,798,600. This year's Main Event is the second largest ever, making it the second largest live tournament in history behind only the 2006 Main Event. To read some more interesting facts and figures about the field, head [URL="http://www.wsop.com/news/2010/Jul/2982/2010-WSOP-MAIN-EVENT-EXCEEDS-ALL-EXPECTATIONS-THE-OFFICIAL-NUMBERS-ARE-IN.html"]here[/URL].
It breaks down as follows for the past two years.
[TABLE]
| 2009 | 2010
Day 1a: | 1,116 | 1,125
Day 1b: | 873 | 1,489
Day 1c: | 1,696 | 2,314
Day 1d: | 2,809 | 2,391
| |
Total: | 6,494 | 7,319[/TABLE]
Comparing that to last year, Day 1a only had 1,116 players, Day 1b had 873 players, Day 1c had 1,696 players and Day 1d had 2,809 players for a total of 6,494.
Looking at this year's numbers compared with last year's, the field increased by 12.7%. Last year's Day 1d trumped this year's, but the other three days were all larger this year. There was also a steady increase from Day 1a to Day 1d this year.
Last year's first-place prize was worth $8,546,435 to youngster Joe Cada and this year will be even more -- $8,944,138, in fact. In all, 747 players will be paid out. Once we receive all the official payouts and prizepool information, we'll send them your way.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 4:41 PM Local Time
David Saab got the rest of his stack in on a flop with against an opponent's .
The turn card gave his opponent some extra outs, but the river card notched the victory for Saab with a six-high straight.
Saab is up to about 46,000.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 4:36 PM Local Time
Paul Jackson raised from early to mid position to 800, Vanessa Rousso reraised to 2,200 from the cut-off and Jackson made the call.
Flop:
Jackson led for 2,500, Rousso raised to 7,500 and Jackson called.
Turn:
Check, check.
River:
Jackson bet 10,000 and Rousso made the call.
Jackson showed ; Rousso claimed to have had .
Jackson - 50,000
Rousso - 18,000