As play approached the Day 8 dinner break in the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, players were dropping like flies. In fact, there were 12 eliminations before dinner was served, mirroring the fast pace of the $10,000 buy-in tournament throughout its run.
Canadian Matthew Jarvis led the field into the 90-minute pause with a mountain of 32 million chips. Jarvis sent Benjamin Statz into the Las Vegas night in 16th place after Statz moved all-in pre-flop with A-5 suited. Jarvis showed K-Q offsuit, making him a slight underdog in the hand, but he hit the K-K-Q flop hard. The turn was a five, pairing Statz, but a river king sealed the win in the hand for Jarvis with quads. You can catch major hands like this one when the 2010 WSOP Main Event debuts on ESPN on Tuesday, August 10th.
The top 15 players are guaranteed to make at least $500,000, or 50 times their buy-in, and a first place prize of $8.9 million is up for grabs. The road to the 2010 WSOP November Nine will see the top eight players walk away poker-made millionaires and a total of 747 entrants landed in the money. The 2010 Main Event is the second largest WSOP tournament ever held, trailing only the 2006 installment, which drew a colossal field of nearly 9,000.
A major threat was bounced from the Main Event when two-time bracelet winner Scott “BigRiskky” Clements exited in 18th place for $396,000. Clements was all-in pre-flop with A-Q, but ran into the buzz saw that was Jarvis, who showed A-K. Both players flopped top pair when an ace hit, but no queen came for Clements and he found the rail. Clements boosted his career WSOP earnings to over $1 million; he’s notched a six-figure cash at the WSOP in four of the last five years.
Jarvis was fifth in chips entering Day 8 on Saturday of the Main Event and a swarm of poker media, fans, and friends flocked to the rail to watch the group of 27 take to the felt. 2010 seems to be the Year of MMA, as in addition to UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth’s grand entrance on Day 1C of the Main Event dressed as an MMA fighter, Kevin “The Monster” Randleman issued the ceremonial “Shuffle up and deal” command. He told the assembled crowd shortly after Noon PT on Saturday, “You guys are all very talented. I hope you guys have good luck along with that talent. Dealers, shuffle up and deal!”
Matt “mcmatto” Affleck, who has turned in back-to-back deep runs in the Main Event as the march to the November Nine rolls on, lost his glasses to start play, perhaps an ominous beginning to what is typically a stressful day of poker. Despite the initial setback, Affleck built a top five chip stack by the dinner break.
Fans quickly returned to the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas following the dinner break. Coverage found on WSOP.com equated the mad rush of poker enthusiasts clamoring to get a spot on the rail to a person taking “their proverbial finger out of a proverbial dam.” Media not from PokerNews or ESPN were relegated to an interior rung around the tables, which numbered just two as play narrowed down.
Here are the final 15 chip stacks in the 2010 WSOP Main Event shortly after the Day 8 dinner break. There are only six more eliminations to go before the 2010 WSOP November Nine is determined:
1. Matthew Jarvis – 32,000,000
2. Jonathan Duhamel – 29,100,000
3. John “$JMONEY$” Racener – 21,000,000
4. Filippo Candio – 19,750,000
5. Matt “mcmatto” Affleck – 19,400,000
6. John Dolan – 17,075,000
7. Joseph Cheong – 16,745,000
8. Soi Nguyen – 15,620,000
9. Pascal LeFrancois – 14,415,000
10. Jason Senti – 13,300,000
11. Brandon Steven – 5,300,000
12. Adam “Roothlus” Levy – 4,695,000
13. Duy Le – 4,110,000
14. Hasan Habib – 2,700,000
15. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi – 2,145,000
When play resumed following dinner, the blinds were at 120,000/240,000 with an ante of 30,000, or the original starting stack.
