Three tournaments are in their preliminary stages of play at the 2012 World Series of Poker, with one of the tournaments awarding a bracelet today and the other two tournaments set to hand out the WSOP gold on Saturday.
Event #38 – $1500 No Limit Hold’em – Day Two
Of the 277 players who returned on Thursday for this tournament, seven of them would be wondering why they bothered to come back at all. With 270 players being paid from the 2534 starters, those unfortunate seven would show nothing for their efforts other than the distinction of playing in a WSOP event. Layne Flack led the players to the line on Thursday and the bubble would pop in an unusual fashion.
After Sami Banizuraji was taken out in 273rd place (zippo for a payday), four players were eliminated on the very first hand-for hand deal. Steven Silverman, Kyle Burnside, Matias Nilsson and an unknown player who had already packed up and left the Amazon Room were eliminated on that first hand, leaving the foursome to divvy up the $2771 that the two cashing position (269th-270th) would have paid out. Following that odd occurrence, the players started flowing freely out of the Amazon Room with some cash in their pockets.
David Levi, Tony Cousineau, Mohsin Charania, 2012 WSOP bracelet winner Timothy Adams, Eric Baldwin, Philippe Boucher, Will “The Thrill” Failla and Tommy Vedes would all take the long march from the Rio before dinner came around. Those that were at the top of the leaderboard at the start of the day weren’t immune from the elimination chamber, either, with Lauren Kling (who started the day in fourth place) knocked off in 31st place when her A-J was unable to catch her opponent’s pocket tens. Flack was a victim of the knockout monster also, leaving the tournament on one of the last few hands of the evening in 23rd place.
When the 21 players remaining in the tournament gather to determine a champion this afternoon, Jeffrey Manza will be at the helm with his 1.302 million chip stack. Right on his back is Dung Nguyen (holding 1.273 million), while Blair Hinkle has inserted his name into contention in fourth place with 750K in chips. David “The Dragon” Pham, Tyler Patterson, Jason Lester, Scott Clements and Miguel Proulx are also still alive, although they will have some work to do to contend for the championship. Tonight’s champion – when he is determined – will take the WSOP bracelet and $607,200 in first place money.
Event #39 – $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship – Day One
Although the field’s final player tally fell far below last year’s numbers (293 versus last year’s 361), there were quality names all around the Brasilia Room ready for the unmitigated action of PLO. By the time the final 88 players were determined on Thursday, some of those notable names – Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Justin Bonomo, Ludovic Lacay, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Andrew Lichtenberger (to name a few) – were no longer in the tournament.
In fact, the Top Ten does have a bit of an unfamiliar feel to it:
1. Benjamin Sage, 358,400
2. Joseph Kushner, 352,500
3. Jan-Peter Jachtmann, 250,000
4. Jerome Bradpiece, 228,800
5. Andrew Brown, 202,100
6. Nestor Martinez, 193,800
7. Loren Klein, 193,400
8. Bahram Zohri, 193,100
9. John Riordan, 188,900
10. Jason Mercier, 187,100
Mercier, who has “only” earned three min-cashes at the 2012 WSOP for around $11K, will be looking for a bit more than that on Friday, if he can make it to the final 36 players. Other big names in contention include Nenad Medic, Matt Stout, Japan’s first bracelet winner Naoya Kihara, Daniel Alaei, Robert Williamson III, Sam Farha, Hasan Habib, Brock Parker and Huck Seed, all arranged in the Top Fifty.
Up for grabs when this tournament determines a champion Saturday is the World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha (and the WSOP bracelet) as well as a flat $661,000 in cash.
Event #40 – $2500 Limit Hold’em – Day One
By the time the stragglers had made it through late registration, 302 players had come to the tables for the $2500 Limit Hold’em event. Approximately two-thirds of the field would be knocked out by early Friday morning, leaving 101 souls to rest easy before coming back this afternoon to resume the fight.
With the volatile nature of Limit Hold’em, the Top Ten will have their work cut out for them to be around at the end of today’s Day Two action:
1. Vincent Gironda, 60,400
2. Michael Reed, 56,800
3. Andre Akkari, 50,800
4. Terrence Chan, 50,700
5. Chad Brown, 46,300
Michael Senter, 46,300
7. John Hennigan, 45,300
8. Scott Seiver, 43,900
9. Sorel Mizzi, 43,000
10. Sok Cheng, 39,800
Also still in the mix are Humberto Brenes, Jon Turner, Maria Ho and Jeff Lisandro, all in the Top 35.
Two more tournaments will join in the fun and games at the Rio on Friday. A $3000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, #41 on the WSOP schedule, will kick off at noon, while the non-Hold’em players will have the $2500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo event to placate them beginning at 5PM. Both tournaments will crown their winners on Sunday, ensuring that the action around the 2012 WSOP will have something for everyone.
