If Sunday was the official opening day of the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and Monday was the unofficial opening day, Tuesday would have to be the first busy day of this summer’s premiere poker festival. With three tournaments running simultaneously, it was a full house at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas as the WSOP is now without a doubt in full gear.
The highlight event was Event #2: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em, which was in its second day. 239 of the original 2,101 players started with chips on Day 2 and just 15 remained in the field after the final hand was dealt early this morning. Leading the way is Jacob Bazeley, holding 1.291 million chips. He and Ryan Schmidt (1.193 million) are the only two with over a million and are way in front of the rest of the field, as the next closest competitor, Abdyl Konjuhi, has just 754,000.
Just below those three are the two players left in the field that many poker fans will recognize: JP Kelly, who finished 26th in the WSOP Main Event last year and won two bracelets back in 2009, and Vanessa Selbst. Selbst is attempting to become the first woman since 2008 to win a bracelet in an open event. Coincidentally (or not, depending on your perspective), that woman was Selbst herself.
Selbst made the leap to over 700,000 chips on one of the last hands of the night. After raising pre-flop, she watched both Dan Smith and Nicolas Verkaik move all-in behind her. After some thought, she made the call with 7♠-7♣, up against Smith’s A♥-6♦ and Verkaik’s A♣-Q♦. The only player who improved was Smith, but flopping a 6 wasn’t good enough and both he and Verkaik were eliminated in 17th and 16th place, respectively.
The $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event will resume Wednesday at 1:00pm local time. The final table, once it is reached, can be watched live on WSOP.com
2012 WSOP Event #2: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em – End of Day 2 Chip Counts
1. Jacob Bazeley – 1,291,000
2. Ryan Schmidt – 1,193,000
3. Abdyl Konjuhi – 754,000
4. JP Kelly – 721,000
5. Vanessa Selbst – 706,000
6. Joseph Cino – 703,000
7. Kenneth Strickland – 685,000
8. Kwinsee Khoa Tran – 592,000
9. Brent Hanks – 578,000
10. Neil Willerson – 479,000
11. Kennii Nguyen – 411,000
12. Richard Park – 379,000
13. Andrew Badecker – 349,000
14. Todd Keikoan – 265,000
15. Michael Kaufman – 243,000
But wait, there’s more. Two events began Tuesday, ensuring the Brasilia Room would always be hopping. The first is interesting and new to the WSOP. Event 3: $3,000 Heads Up No-Limit Hold’em / Pot-Limit Omaha was sure to attract an intimidating field and to nobody’s surprise, it did. While the bracket-style tournament was set to accommodate 512 players, 317 was the final number, meaning many players were fortunate enough to receive first round byes. Each player began with 3,000 chips, but were also given two 3,000 chip re-buys to use at any time. So, they could start with 9,000 if they wished, wait until they were low, whatever they liked. 64 players remain going into Wednesday’s action with the likes of Annette Obrestad, Josh Arieh, Sam Stein, Andy Frankenberger, Justin Bonomo, David Williams, David Chiu, David Benefield, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, John Racener, and Justin Smith still alive and gunning for a bracelet.
Event #3 will also pick up at 1:00pm in the Amazon Room, with play stopping when the field is down to 16 players.
The other tournament is Event #4: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8 or Better. 622 players paid the buy-in, creating a $839,700 prize pool and a $201,559 first prize. It’s still anybody’s game, but of the 210 players remaining, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi tops the field with 41,500 chips. Also in the top ten are “old school” favorites Chau Giang and World Poker Tour announcer Mike Sexton.
2012 WSOP Event #4: Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8 or Better – End of Day 1 Chip Leaders
1. Michael Mizrachi – 41,500
2. Brian Nadell – 34,600
3. Thomas Bessoir – 30,100
4. Yarron Bendor – 28,700
5. Frankie O’Dell – 26,500
6. Jordan Siegel – 25,900
7. Chris Tryba – 24,200
8. Chau Giang – 23,400
9. Zimnan Ziyard – 23,000
10. Mike Sexton – 22,400
One tournament, Event #5: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em will begin on Wednesday.