With the World Series of Poker Main Event just hours away, Sunday was originally intended to be a quiet day at the Rio Hotel and Casino. But with constant schedule changes to the Tournament of Champions and two events adding an extra day of play, it turned out to be a rather eventful day in the Amazon Room as two of poker’s most talented players walked away with titles at the day’s conclusion.
Poker pro Daniel Alaei won his third career bracelet and a prize of $780,599 by winning the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship. Alaei bested 346 players, a field that included Tom Dwan, Phil Hellmuth and Jason Mercier, all of whom busted just before the final table. An extra day was added to the event, as the final table wasn’t reached until after midnight the day before, so players recharged their batteries and returned at 4:00 p.m. to play down to a winner.
Much of the day was led by France’s Ludovic Lacay, who entered second in chips but was able to chip up despite not eliminating a player at the final table. At the dinner break, Lacay had more than twice the chips of Alaei, who was in second, but he lost the lead with four players remaining. Ville Mattila got his chips in on a flop of 10h-9h-6c with Js-Jc-6s-6s against Lacay’s flush and straight draws. Mattila’s hand held up to give him the lead, but it wouldn’t last for long.
Minutes later, Mattila and Alaei wound up in a preflop raising war that saw nearly 5 million chips end up in the pot before their hands were revealed. Alaei was all in with As-Ah-Kc-7h against Mattila’s Jc-7c-9d-5s, and after the board came Qh-8h-8c-3s-Ac Alaei took over the chip lead, with Mattila now second, Lacay third and Miguel Proulx fourth.
It took a couple more hours for the next player to hit the rail, but Daniel Alaei found a great spot to eliminate Lacay. The short-stacked Frenchman moved all in with Ks-Jh-9d-2s but was in rough shape against the Ah-Kc-Qd-Js of Alaei. Lacay’s hand failed to improve and he collected $262,208 for his fourth place finish.
Mattila was the next to go, running aces into Alaei’s trip kings to send him on his way in third place. That gave Alaei a substantial lead over Proulx, who won the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha Event earlier in the summer. His attempt at bracelet #2 would fall short, as he got his last chips in with Ac-Kh-10h-2h against Alaei’s 7s-6c-5s-5h, and Alaei would make a set of fives on the flop to eliminate Proulx in second and give him bracelet number three.
Alaei’s first WSOP win came in the $5,000 buy-in Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball event in 2007. He won gold bracelet number two last year in the $10,000 buy-in Omaha High-Low Split championship.
1. Daniel Alaei — $780,599
2. Miguel Proulx — $482,265
3. Ville Mattila — $354,218
4. Ludovic Lacay — $262,208
5. Trevor Uyesugi — $195,631
6. Stephen Pierson — $147,138
7. Dmitry Stelmak — $111,524
8. Alexander Kravchenko — $85,180
9. Matthew Wheat — $65,578
The WSOP Tournament of Champions finally decided on a day to play down to a winner on Sunday and a large crowd gathered to watch the biggest names take to the felt in the Amazon Room. Mike Matusow began the day with the chip lead but most of them went to Daniel Negreanu, who flopped a set of kings against Matusow’s top pair, sending “The Mouth” out in 16th. Negreanu led the way going into the final table, with Johnny Chan, Joe Hachem and Huck Seed all lurking.
After several hours of play and the stacks growing shallower by the minute, Negreanu, Hachem and Chan had fallen and Howard Lederer was heads up with Seed for the title. The short-stacked Lederer moved all in with Qc-8c and Seed made the call with As-2s. Seed made a pair on the flop and used it to claim his first TOC title and the $500,000 prize.
1. Huck Seed — $500,000
2. Howard Lederer — $250,000
3. Johnny Chan — $100,000
4. Joe Hachem — $25,000
5. Barry Greenstein — $25,000
6. Daniel Negreanu — $25,000
7. Jennifer Harman — $25,000
8. Annie Duke — $25,000
9. TJ Cloutier — $25,000
Two more prelims will play down to a winner on Monday as the $1,000 No Limit Hold ’em Event #54 and the $2,500 No Limit Hold ’em Event #56 will crown champions. Online superstar David “DPeters17” Peters takes the chip lead into the final day of Event #54, eyeing a first place prize of $570,960, while PokerStars Team Pro Salvatore Bonavena leads Event #56, which has a reward of $825,976. Both final tables will begin at 3:00 p.m. local time.
And, of course, the highly anticipated Day 1a of the Main Event will get underway at Noon Pacific Time on Monday. Another late schedule change was made by Harrah’s, as players will take to the felts for 4 1/2 levels on Days 1 and 2, adding an extra hour of play to each day. Everyone who advances on Days 1a and 1c will play on Day 2a, and Days 1b and 1d will form Day 2b.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for continuous updates from the 2010 WSOP Main Event!
