The play on Friday has set up for what should be an exciting weekend of poker for those in attendance at the 2012 World Series of Poker this weekend. The Ladies Championship will be determined, along with the Six Handed Ten Game champion, while a satellite event kicks off today for tomorrow’s biggest ever tournament in poker history.
Event #51 – $1000 Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship – Day One
The ladies came out in force on Friday to take on the challenge of the $1000 Ladies Championship. By the time the late registration period had ended, 936 players – and we say players because there were some men who felt the need to play in this tournament – had stepped up to take part, with some stunning occurrences on the way through the first day of play.
Last year’s runner up in the event, Karina Jett, was a quick casualty of the action. She Tweeted to her followers, “OUT! KK vs. AA (and) could not get away from it.” Although her stay wasn’t as long this year as last, Jett at least had some familiar faces to keep her company on the rail. Former Ladies Champions’ Jennifer Tilly, Barbara Enright and Svetlana Gromenkova, Ebony Kenney, Jennifer Leigh, Vanessa Rousso, Vanessa Selbst, Maria Ho and Victoria Coren would all be ejected from the tournament by the time the action closed early this morning.
Even with that list of luminaries knocked out, there are still some strong players left in the field:
1. Gaelle Baumann, 77,300
2. Lara Boutros, 76,600
3. Anna Lundholm, 73,400
4. Myra Thompson, 66,500
5. Joanne “J. J.” Liu, 66,000
6. Sofia Lovgren, 64,000
7. Erica Schoenberg, 56,600
8. Marcia Paulson, 56,200
9. Debbie Pechac, 55,700
10. Leslie Nielsen, 49,500
Defending champion Marsha Wolak is still in the tournament in 69th place (16,300) and it does not appear that there are any men who survived to be in the money among the 117 players left. Also of interest is that the top three spots are all occupied by European ladies (Baumann and Boutros are French, Lundholm is Swedish). The ladies will determine a champion in this event on Sunday, with the champion taking home the $170,587 first place check and the WSOP bracelet.
Event #52 – $2500 Six Handed Ten Game Mixed – Day One
The players who couldn’t afford to pop up $50K for the Poker Players’ Championship got their shot at the Ten Game format on Friday. Strangely enough, only 421 players came out for what should be one of the more active games on the WSOP schedule, considering its six handed nature and the depth of gamble in such games as Omaha, Triple Draw Lowball and Badugi. It might have been even stranger in the fact that the players wasted little time in knocking out their fellow man (or woman). By the end of the night, only 167 players were remaining with Tommy Hang at the helm of the ship with his 74K in chips.
There are tremendous players across the tables of the Rio (as they would have to be to step up to take on the ten game format) and some of the crème has risen to the top. Having an excellent 2012 WSOP, bracelet winner Vincent van der Fluit (53K) and Scott Clements (40,350) are in the Top Five and John D’Agostino, Richard Ashby and Chris Wallace are lurking in the Top Fifteen.
Due to the volatility of the Ten Game format, there could be a complete shuffling of this leaderboard come tomorrow morning. The players are battling it out for the WSOP bracelet and the $244,259 payday that will go to the champion tomorrow night.
Event #53 – $1500 No Limit Hold’em, $500 Doubles No Limit Hold’em (Non-Bracelet) and $25,000 Mega-Satellite – Big One For One Drop – STARTING TODAY
It’s going to be a bit hectic around the Brasilia Room today as three tournaments will be open for business. Another $1500 NLHE is on tap (it is the weekend, after all), but two other tournaments might draw more attention than you would think.
The $500 Doubles No Limit event will begin at 10AM this morning, featuring two player teams who will alternate in playing on the tables. Although this year’s event is a non-bracelet tournament, it used to be a part of the WSOP roster of tournaments. Back in 1979, the legendary Doyle Brunson and Starla Brodie teamed up to win the bracelet. The tournament only drew 15 teams back in 1979, however, and probably was the reason for its demise (think we might see some more than that in 2012!).
What most on the rail will put their eyeballs on is the mega-satellite for the “Big One For One Drop,” which kicks off at 1PM this afternoon. The $25,000 buy in tournament will award a seat for every 40 entrants, offering maybe a few players the chance to get into the biggest ever buy in poker tournament ($1 million) on the cheap. You might expect a good stable of pros to turn out for this in an attempt to turn a $25K investment into a multi-million dollar return.
