f there is a lesson to be learned tonight, it’s “don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.”
Monday’s Day 7 of the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event is final table cut down day, the day that the field is narrowed from 27 to the November Nine (well, the October Nine, but we’re just nitting it up). Each player who sat down at the three remaining tables at 1:00pm PST was guaranteed at least $294,601, but while that is a handsome sum of money, almost none of the competitors was going to be satisfied with that. No, they had their sights set on November.
The tournament is currently on dinner break and there are just 15 players remaining divided amongst two tables. And while poker players know that anything can happen in this game, one has to think that the players who entered Day 7 at the top of the standings could taste the final table. But again, this is poker, and until that final hand is won, nothing is certain.
Of the players in the top third of the field to begin Monday’s action, five have already been eliminated. That includes Daniel “Deoxyribo” Strelitz, who was second in chips (12,790,000) when the cards were put in the air. His rough day began less than an hour in when he picked a really bad spot for a bluff. Holding 9♦-7♦, he raised pre-flop to 240,000 and was called by both Russell Thomas and Scott “weirdchess1” Abrams. Abrams checked the flop of J♥-6♣-4♦, Strelitz continued with a 345,000 chip bet, Thomas called, and Abrams folded. After the T♣ on the turn, Strelitz fired another 615,000 chip bullet and Thomas once again called. On the river 3♥, Strelitz changed it up and checked, prompting Thomas to come out firing for 925,000. Strelitz then raised it up to 2.125 million and Thomas called, revealing K♣-K♥, easily good enough to beat Strelitz’s 9-high.
Strelitz fell further before doubling-up to regain some life, but couldn’t keep it up. He finally moved all-in pre-flop after getting into a raising war with Abrams, committing himself with pocket 4’s. Once again, he was up against Kings and once again, he couldn’t beat them, going out in 24th place.
The eliminations so far, in order, have been:
27th – Nicco Maag
26th – Jan Heitmann
25th – Roland Israelashvili
24th – Daniel Strelitz
23rd – Yuval Bronshtein
22nd – Cylus Watson
21st – Robert Corcione
20th – Paul Volpe
19th – Jamie Robbins
18th – David Balkin
17th – Robert Buckenmayer
16th – Percy Mahatan
History continues to be made in this tournament, as well, as both Elisabeth Hille and Gaelle Baumann are still in the running. They are already the first two women to both finish in the top 27 in the Main Event since 2000 (Annie Duke – 10th and Kathy Liebert – 17th), but each would love to be just the second (or perhaps second and third) woman to reach the final table. Barbara Enright is the only women to achieve the feat, coming in 5th in the 1995 Main Event.
The cards are about to get back in the air at the Rio as we hit the final table stretch run. Here is a look at the current chip counts:
1. Jacob Balsiger – 25,730,000
2. Robert Salaburu – 22,245,000
3. Scott Abrams – 21,160,000
4. Michael Esposito – 17,570,000
5. Greg Merson – 16,805,000
6. Marc Ladouceur – 16,765,000
7. Russell Thomas – 15,350,000
8. Jeremy Ausmus – 13,530,000
9. Steven Gee – 11,860,000
10. Elisabeth Hille – 9,390,000
11. Andras Koroknai – 9,080,000
12. Jesse Sylvia – 7,635,000
13. Danny Wong – 5,615,000
14. Gaelle Baumann – 3,045,000
15. Wilfried Harig – 2,905,000
