It was an active day around the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino as – well, most of the people – were there for the start of the 2012 World Series of Poker $10,000 Championship Event. There was some unfinished business left for some, however, as one tournament surprisingly reached its conclusion a day early and a second was finished with plenty of time for the competitors to rest up if they are playing in the Main Event today or tomorrow.
Event #59 – $1000 No Limit Hold’em
What was supposed to be a four day tournament actually reached its conclusion a day early, something that is rarely seen at the WSOP. 51 players came back for action on this penultimate day, barreling through the field until a champion was determined early this morning.
As he had been since he played Day 1B, Alex Cordero was at the head of the class when play began on Saturday with Jake Cody, Event #1 winner Chiab Saechao and a host of others looking to take him down. Saechao got off to a nice start, eliminating James Brodie from the tournament within minutes of the opening bell, but he would run into another big stack in a confrontation that would cost him his tournament life.
After flopping two pair with A-7 on a 10-A-7 flop, Saechao would commit his remaining chips against Daniel Thomas when a ten hit the turn. Unfortunately for Saechao, Thomas showed an A-J and, with Saechao’s original two pair counterfeited on the turn, faded the river eight to eliminate Saechao just an hour into play.
Cody would also experience some problems during the first hours of action. After seeing his stack drop to only 154K, Cody pushed in with A-Q pre-flop and found a dance partner in Daniel Eichhorn, whose pocket nines were in the lead. After no Queen or Ace appeared on the board, Cody took his leave from the Amazon Room in a disappointing 34th place.
That type of action was common in the first level. 22 players hit the rail in total, bringing the field to only 29 runners after two hours of play. Cordero was continuing to run strong at this point, his 1.48 million chips dominating the field and looking to catch up. Dominik Nitsche was one of those to make his surge, besting Fernando Suaya in 21st place to close in on the million chip mark. He would then close in on two million by eliminating Yoav Tenenbaum in 14th place and shoot to over three million by eliminating Hieu Nguyen in twelfth.
The final table was determined surprisingly quickly, after only seven hours of play, and Nitsche held a 1.2 million chip lead over Jonathan Hilton. Cordero still lurked in the pack, holding 1.65 million in chips for fourth place, as the players decided on a dinner break before battling some more.
Once the festivities recommenced at the final table, Nitsche stormed through the remaining players. He would eliminate five of his seven opponents (Hilton got the other two) to reach heads up play just after midnight against Hilton holding a 10:3 lead. Although Hilton would battle admirably for over an hour, he never could close the gap against Nitsche. On the final hand, Nitsche applied the pressure by moving all in with only a K♠ 5♠. After a moment of deliberation, Hilton made the call and tabled A♣ 8♥, good for the lead. It would hold through the 3-J-Q-10 flop and turn, but a nine on the river ended the tournament with Nitsche’s King high straight beating Hilton’s Queen high straight.
1. Dominik Nitsche (Germany), $654,797
2. Jonathan Hilton (Chattanooga, TN), $405,156
3. Alex Cordero (Victoria, British Columbia), $291,725
4. Sebastien Comel (St. Praire du Mont, France), $215,592
5. Randolph Lanosga (South Fork, CO), $160,665
6. Franklin Johnson (Bonanza, OR), $120,748
7. Martin Vallo (Copenhagen, Denmark), $91,476
8. Jonathan Miller (Lexington, KY), $69,896
9. Daniel Eichhorn (Henderson, NV), $53,846
Event #60 – $10,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball World Championship
The battle for the Deuce to Seven Lowball World Championship turned out to be a quick one as the final ten men returned for battle Saturday afternoon. Ashton Griffin headed the survivors, but Nick Schulman and defending champion John Juanda were right behind him in the quest for the bracelet.
2012 WSOP bracelet winner Andy Bloch came in on the short stack and was eliminated on a first hand that showed some bad blood at the table. After Larry Wright had raised, Bloch committed the remainder of his stack and Wright called. Wright stood pat with his J-10-7-4-2, while Bloch drew one, showing an Ace to go with his 7-6-5-2. Needing to catch a three, eight, nine or ten to double up, Bloch drew a Queen on his final draw and was eliminated in tenth.
As Bloch displayed his final card and his elimination was finalized, Wright, in a poor display of sportsmanship and clearly lacking any respect, cheerfully clapped Bloch’s demise. Sarcastically, Bloch clapped back as he left the arena. While some at the table chided Wright for his demeanor, Wright suggested that he was chafed because Bloch wouldn’t shake his hand a day earlier. It was an ugly display at any final table, let alone the WSOP.
Wright couldn’t use Bloch’s chips to do anything, however. He would be the final table “bubble boy” as Schulman knocked him off in ninth place. The eight men moved to the ESPN Main Stage to continue the fight with a new leader, Schulman having passed Griffin with the Wright knockout.
After the elimination of Ali Eslami (eighth) and Bob Bright (seventh), Schulman still held over a 400K chip lead over Juanda. Schulman would take care of that challenge, however, knocking Juanda down to only 200K in chips when the duo clashed. Griffin would finish off Juanda’s repeat attempt (after a bit of controversy when Juanda thought he had received the same card twice) in sixth place as Griffin attempted to regain his lead.
Following Juanda’s departure, the pace of play ramped up. Mike Wattel would knock off Griffin as it began to appear that the rest of the table would have to decide who would play Schulman. Schulman took out Benjamin Parker and George Danzer to further increase his stack, however, holding a 9:1 lead over Wattel by the time the duo reached heads up. Within fifteen minutes, the tournament was over.
On the button, Schulman put out a bet large enough to require Wattel to commit his stack. He did and both players drew one card. When the cards were turned up, Schulman’s 9-8-6-3 was behind Wattel’s 6-4-3-2 but, when Schulman turned up a seven as his draw card, he had made a 9-8 low. Wattel looked at his draw card and then tossed it in the center; it was a King, making an inferior hand to Schulman’s and end the tournament in rapid fashion.
1. Nick Schulman (New York, NY), $294,321
2. Mike Wattel (Chandler, AZ), $181,886
3. George Danzer (Munich, Germany), $115,295
4. Benjamin Parker (Apex, NC), $78,088
5. Ashton Griffin (Lake Worth, FL), $55,482
6. John Juanda (Las Vegas, NV), $41,270
7. Bob Bright (Las Vegas, NV), $32,080
8. Ali Eslami (Van Nuys, CA), $26.004
