As the first bracelet of the 2013 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas was awarded last night, two other tournaments were also in action around the Rio’s assortment of tournament rooms, with one whittling its way closer to a champion and the other drawing in a huge contingent of players.
Event #2 – $5000 Eight Handed No Limit Hold’em – Day Two
The 194 players remaining in Event #2 came back on Thursday with poker pro Tom Marchese at the head of the field with his 153,975 in chips. Marchese led a star-studded field, including second place Scott Baumstein, third place David ‘Doc’ Sands and WSOP bracelet winners Antonio Esfandiari, Vanessa Selbst, Gavin Griffin, Barry Greenstein, Brandon Cantu and Phil Hellmuth, when the cards hit the air on Thursday afternoon, but there was a long way to go for all of them before the money bubble would be hit.
On down the leaderboard was another player who was getting his fair share of attention. Olympian Michael Phelps had made it through the Day One carnage (which saw the field shrink from 481 to 194) but he had Selbst on his table to start the day. In one particular hand, he would go to battle against Selbst on a J-K-7 rainbow flop and check call a bet from one of 2012’s WSOP bracelet winners. An Ace on the turn brought another check-call from the Olympic swimming champion but, on a four river (which put three spades on the board), Phelps couldn’t call a third bet from Selbst with his short stack. That would drop him into the danger zone with only slightly more than 10K in chips and, although he would tread water for a bit, he would eventually be eliminated by David Diaz.
While Phelps headed out of the Rio, several pros were able to chip up nicely. Greenstein would knock out Jonathan Little, while Sands also eliminated a player to move up the leaderboard. In the early going it was Hellmuth who made some noise, increasing his starting stack fourfold after winning a pot off of Griffin Benger. Neither Greenstein nor Hellmuth would make it to the money, however.
It would take most of the Day Two action to work down to the money bubble but, once it was popped with the elimination of Lloyd Mandel in 57th place by Sam Stein close to midnight, the players ratcheted up the action. The small stacks, looking to either make a move up the leaderboard or take home their minimum payday, began to drop out. Such notables as Angel Guillen, Andreas Hoivold, Steve Brecher, Bryan Piccioli, Esfandiari, J. J. Liu, Cantu and Jeremy Ausmus would head out the door over the last two hours of play while Rafal Michalowski would win a late night battle against Benger to assume the chip lead heading to today’s Day Three.
1. Rafal Michalowski, 632,000
2. Markus Gonsalves, 502,000
3. Trevor Pope, 465,000
4. Ismael Bojang, 463,000
5. David Vamplew, 452,000
6. Tom Marchese, 446,000
7. Joe Serock, 372,000
8. Darryll Fish, 354,000
9. Tony Gargano, 304,000
10. Brian Rast, 270,000
Others among the 28 players remaining include Benger (265K), Dan Kelly (224K), Sands (172K) and Jared Hamby (166K).
The players will return today at 2PM (Pacific Time) to play down to the final table of eight (set for tomorrow). The lion’s share of the $2.26 million prize pool is yet to be divvied up, with the eventual champion taking down a $553,906 payday.
Event #3 – $1000 No Limit Hold’em Re-Entry – Day One
The players flocked to the first “re-entry” of the 2013 WSOP, which allowed players who busted after the first flight that started at 11AM the opportunity to re-enter the 5PM flight. The tournament has the same setup that this weekend’s “Millionaire Maker” will have, essentially giving both the players and the WSOP floor staff the opportunity to test drive the format. By the time the smoke cleared, 3,164 entries had been received but only 660 players would be left at the end of the night.
Official statistics for Event #3 have yet to be released by the WSOP staff, but some notables will be a part of the mix for today’s Day Two play. Scott Seiver, Amanda Baker, Amanda Musumeci, Nam Le and Carlos Mortensen will all be around for the action this afternoon as they work their way down to the money (the top 324 players will be paid). The champion of Event #3 will have earned their $491,360 prize after battling through such a large field.
Starting Today – Event #4 – $1500 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em and Event #5 – $2500 Omaha/Seven Card Hi/Lo
Two events will take to the tables around the Rio beginning at noon today. Event #4, the $1500 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em event, will step up first and, at 5PM, the $2500 Omaha/Seven Card Hi/Lo tournament will head to the felt. It will be difficult to judge how many players are going to jump into these tournaments as many may be waiting for the “Millionaire Maker” that begins on Saturday.
The first Friday of play at the 2013 WSOP will be a busy one, as it will be for the remainder of the seven week schedule. No bracelets will be awarded today, but it leads up to what will be an exciting Saturday of action on the tables at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino.
