Two new tournaments took to the stage at the Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino on Thursday as the 2012 World Series of Poker welcomed its first action in a tournament that hadn’t been seen before at the Las Vegas version of the tournament and one of the venerable forms of the game of poker.
Event #6 – $5000 No Limit Hold’em “Mixed Max”
Bright and early at noon yesterday, the first-ever WSOP Las Vegas version of the “Mixed Max” tournament made its debut. First contested during the WSOP Europe last year, the four day event starts as a normal nine-handed event. The next day, the tournament switches to a six-max tournament, while Day Three will bring the players to battle in a heads up format to determine the champion.
The Brasilia Room was bursting at the seams with this and Event #7 in action and there were plenty of notables for the railbirds to root for. Doing double duty, Daniel Negreanu was shuttling between this tournament and the battle for the $1500 Pot Limit Hold’em final table. He would do well enough to survive the action into Day Two but, since he has made the final table of Event #5, he might just let his stack go for to concentrate on winning his fifth bracelet.
Making the most noise during the Day One play was former World Poker Tour Championship winner Joe Tehan. He would establish himself as an early force in knocking out Mohsin Charania in a Kings versus Queens cooler and then doing a double by picking off Andy Frankenberger and Ryan Schmidt with a flopped flush. By the end of the evening’s play, Tehan had amassed an impressive 219,200 in chips, good enough for the chip lead.
There are a host of strong players arranged behind Tehan for Day Two play today. The newest victor of the WPT Championship, Marvin Rettenmaier, will begin the day in third place, while Raja Kattamuri, Gavin Smith, Jared Jaffe and Bryce Yockey are also in the Top Ten. Chris Klodnicki, Victor Ramdin, Will “The Thrill” Failla and 2011 WSOP $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship winner Brian Rast are also within striking distance.
Of the 409 players who entered the tournament, there will be 112 back in action on Friday. Almost two-thirds of those players will be unhappy by the end of today as only 44 players will walk out with the minimum $9503 payday. The eventual champion of the tournament will win the WSOP bracelet and $480,564.
Event #7 – $1500 Seven Card Stud
The second Stud event of the still-young 2012 WSOP schedule started up at 5PM yesterday, drawing in a field of 367 players for the event. This was an improvement over the 2011 version of the tournament, which saw 357 runners come to the line and Eugene Katchalov vanquish Alessio Isaia for the championship. Of the tournaments that have a track record, only the Stud events have improved their fields versus their similar event from last year.
The early action was slow, as is indicative of Stud events, with the first knockout not occurring until over two hours into play. 2009 WSOP bracelet winner Matt Hawrilenko was the unfortunate soul with that dubious distinction and it seemed to open the gates for other departures. Al Barbieri, Bryan Devonshire, actor James Woods, Chip Jett and Kevin MacPhee would be some of the notable players eliminated as the field worked down to 110 by the end of the night.
When the tournament restarts on Friday, Rogerio Sousa will hang onto a slim 4000+ chip lead over Kevin McGuinness, with two veteran Stud players also in the Top Ten. Chau Giang will start the day with 35,800 (only slightly more than 5000 behind Sousa), while Sam Grizzle will be looking to improve his 31,600 chip stack.
With only 40 players taking home money for this tournament, it could be a long day (and night) for the Stud masters as they attempt to get to the final table. First place will take down a neat $126,363 and the WSOP bracelet.
With all the action already going at the Rio, another tournament will join the fray on Friday. Event #8, the $1500 Omaha Hi/Lo tournament, will get its festivities on in the Brasilia Room, leading up to a potentially huge weekend with Event #9, the $1500 No Limit Hold’em re-entry tournament (players out or low on Day 1A will be allowed to re-enter on Day 1B) on Saturday and Sunday. This tournament will potentially be a benchmark as to how the rest of the 2012 World Series of Poker might play out because of its low buy in, weekend scheduling and the re-entry potential.
