The final day of June marks the start of one of the most anticipated events of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP). Beginning at Noon PT on Wednesday is the $25,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max event, which boasts the second largest buy-in of this year’s World Series.
You can expect a mix of top-tier online pros and live tournament specialists to turn out for this high-octane test of skill. Among those slated to play is newly minted PokerStars pro David Williams, who Tweeted before turning in late Tuesday night, “Big event tomorrow. Event 52, $25,000 buyin 6max NL Holdem. It’s gotten serious.” Also looking ahead to today’s epic event was fellow PokerStars sponsored pro Lex Veldhuis, who posted this dandy: “Really excited about tomorrow’s 25k NL SH tournament. Time to shine.”
All players in the $25,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max event will receive 75,000 in chips and complete 10 one-hour levels today. The dinner break will be held at the conclusion of the sixth level and run for 90 minutes. The blinds start off at 150-300 with an ante of 25, meaning that every player will stack up 250 big blinds to begin play.
Among those who might not be in attendance due to deep runs in concurrent events are Tyler “brainwash” Cornell, Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo, Jason Mercier, Joe Beevers, 2010 bracelet winner Josh Tieman, CardRunners instructor Eric Liu, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, and Tommy Vedes, who is the chip leader in the $3,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #51) after Day 1.
Speaking of the Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em event, 965 players entered on Tuesday and 189 survived the day. Another 99 will need to bite the dust before the money bubble bursts and a top prize of $559,000 is up for grabs. Vedes leads the way after Day 1, but a host of brand name poker pros are hot on his heels, including David Singer, Gavin Griffin, Ryan Welch, 2009 WSOP Main Event November Niner James Akenhead, and Mike Sowers, all of whom sit in the top ten in chips.
Other big time pros remaining in Event #51 include Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Peter “Belabacsi” Traply, Neil Channing, DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Amit amak316 Makhija, Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler, and Victory Poker’s Lee Markholt. Vedes busted three players in back-to-back hands with pocket aces at the end of the night to catapult his stack to 237,100, about 30,000 more than Singer’s total of 204,100.
Tempe, Arizona native Adam White owns the overnight chip lead entering the final table of Event #47, $1,000 No Limit Hold’em. The tournament, which began on Saturday with the first of two starting days, offers a top prize of $485,000. White has a stack of 1.69 million, just ahead of Danish poker pro Allan Baekke’s 1.63 million.
Event #49, $1,500 No Limit Hold’em, will also play down to a winner today at the Rio in Las Vegas. Michael Linn and Mihai Manole own a commanding lead over the other 19 survivors and a first place prize of $609,000 is on the line. Each of the 21 players left in the field is guaranteed to bank at least $17,000. Manole, who calls Romania home, final tabled the European Poker Tour’s Barcelona Main Event last September for over $350,000.
Finally, the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha event (#50) has 31 players remaining and is scheduled to play down to a winner today. Player’s Championship final tablist Robert Mizrachi is out in front with two days in the books at 758,000 and Colorado poker player Kevin Boudreau is second with a stack of 508,000. Many of Mizrachi’s chips came courtesy of Andy Black, as Mizrachi flopped a set of sevens against Black’s two pair. All of the money went in and Mizrachi’s three of a kind held for the win.
Check back on Thursday for the latest WSOP updates right here on Poker News Daily.
