Amid the clamor around the Rio on Wednesday, the 2012 World Series of Poker had three tournaments that were in various stages of their play. The final table has been determined in one with a second getting close to that point, while a third event made its debut on the WSOP stage.
Event #47 – Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo – Day Two
Of the 978 players who began this tournament on Tuesday, only 141 were back yesterday with a shot at getting to the final table. After playing the WSOP mandated ten levels through Wednesday, the unofficial final table of ten was determined.
The first objective for the field would be to determine the 117 players who would take down their piece of the $1.32 million prize pool. That would take almost two hours of play and result in Steve Jelinek taking out Neil McFayden in 118th place, but the true story was in the survival of one player in his pursuit of a WSOP record.
Terrence Chan came into the event extremely low on chips and, after McFayden was knocked off, picked up his ninth cash of the 2012 WSOP when he was eliminated on the very next hand. The record for cashes in a WSOP is ten, which the late Nikolay Evdakov achieved in 2008 and, with a couple of weeks left in the 2012 WSOP, Chan has a chance to eclipse that.
After the money bubble popped, the halls of the Rio were awash with those eliminated from this event. Some of the notable names to take some green from Event #47 included Andy Frankenberger, David Bach, Joe Tehan, James Dempsey and Allen Kessler, all gone before the dinner break. Chip Jett, Adam Kornuth, Barry Greenstein, Dan Heimiller and Lee Watkinson would depart following some sustenance as the tournament worked late in the evening.
The lead for Event #47 wasn’t determined until the last hand of the night. All the chips got to the center between Charalampos Lappas and Viatcheslav Ortynskiy on a [6h]-[Qd]-[Td] flop, with Lappas holding an A-J-3-10 (gut shot straight and Jack high flush draw) against Ortynskiy’s A-K-8-A (pair of Aces, gut shot straight draw). A Jack on the turn would seemingly give Ortynskiy the hand, but another Jack on the river switched the fortunes to give Lappas the hand and the chip lead for today’s action.
1. Charalampos Lappas, 994K
2. Steven Loube, 947K
3. Roch Cousineau, 505K
4. Cameron McKinley, 477K
5. Timothy Finne, 455K
6. Sonu Sharma, 300K
7. Kyle Carlston, 277K
8. Paul Ewen, 234K
9. Paul Taylor, 180K
10. Viatcheslav Ortynskiy, 27K
Event #48 – $3000 Limit Hold’em – Day Two
Twenty players will come back to determine a champion in the $3000 Limit event on Thursday, looking at a long day of play to find out who will win.
126 players came back yesterday with dreams of a WSOP bracelet in their minds but, for many, it would be a day that gave them nothing. Only 27 players would even earn cash from this event, meaning 99 people left with a bitter taste in their mouths. Some of those players included Daniel Negreanu, Humberto Brenes and Jimmy Fricke, while Maria Ho, Jeff Shulman and David Steicke made the money after the bubble burst post-midnight.
Leading the way for today’s penultimate action will be Paul Berende, who holds an 89K chip lead over Kenny Hsiung. Chad Brown is in the Top Ten with 112K in chips (good for seventh), while former World Champion Jonathan Duhamel, John Myung, Dwyte Pilgrim and Justin Bonomo are arranged down the leaderboard. The eventual champion tonight will take the WSOP bracelet and $165,205 in cash.
Event #49 – $1500 Ante Only No Limit Hold’em – Day One
A new event took to the Brasilia Room, the Ante Only version of NLHE. As the name suggests, each player at the table would ante a specified amount, rather than the normal blind style of play. As it was new for most players, the 939 runner field was respectable for a new tournament.
The nuances of the tournament – a player could bet the lowest denomination chip in play to open the pot but, following that, no limit applied – led to some adventurous play around the Brasilia Room. Although there were some who picked up on the game quick, there were several who failed to make it out of Day One, including the Phil’s (Hellmuth and Ivey), David Williams, Vanessa Rousso and the creator of this particular poker variant, Bryan Slick.
Because of the fast paced action, the bubble did pop before the end of play on Wednesday (117 players) with the elimination of Morgan Machina. Six players would leave with a minimum payday of $2409, while the remaining 110 will be back on Thursday for more ante-only fun.
Sameer Al-Janedi will lead the field when play commences this afternoon, with Jon Turner, Chris DeMaci, Erick Lindgren and Mike McDonald in the Top Twenty. Other notables in the field – but with some work to do – include David Chicotsky, Dominik Nitsche, Max Pescatori and John Racener, who are in the money but in the bottom quarter of the field.
Whoever wins this inaugural ante-only event will take down $256,691 and the WSOP bracelet when the champion is determined tomorrow.
On today’s calendar is Day One of the $5000 No Limit Hold’em, Event #50 on the 2012 WSOP slate. It should be a tournament that draws a great crowd, mixing the skilled pros with the unknown players who have the skill and the bankroll to get into the tournament and will provide entertainment for all in attendance at the 2012 WSOP.
