Two flights of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event Day 1 are in the books, and while there have been plenty of ups and downs for the 2,600 players so far, it has been a story of contrasting days for the members of Team UB.
Day 1A drew 1,125 runners, two of whom were members of Team UB: Tiffany Michelle and Matthew Graham. Michelle, who has become a crossover celebrity after competing on “The Amazing Race,” was never far from the roaming eyes of the ESPN cameras. If she was involved in an all-in, particularly if it was all of her chips at stake, chances were that camera crews would rush over to her table. In fact, at one point she tweeted, “Listen ESPN cameras: Stop hoarding around my table like I’m a lamb being led to the slaughter, not giving you an exciting bust anytime soon!”
Watching her chip stack crumble from the get-go, Michelle did have her chips at risk on more than one occasion, but she managed, as she put it, to “grind grind grind” and keep herself in the competition. With only around 20 big blinds left, she is going to need to make a move early on Day 2, but she’s still alive, and that’s what matters. Hopefully for her sake, she’ll have a better run of cards. On Twitter, she said, “I keep thinking that good cards HAVE 2 come. Playing 10hrs & I’ve had Aces twice, jacks, 8s, AK AQ & AJ once. Not exaggerating. That’s it.”
Also on Day 1A, Team UB member Matthew Graham had a very nice go of it, ending the day with 58,450 chips, just a bit fewer than twice as many as what he started with. That chip count put him about in the middle of the pack after that first flight.
So, Team UB was 2-for-2 after Day 1A. Regardless of whether the players had 200,000 chips or 2,000, they were batting 1.000, so that’s something to hang their hats on.
And then the calendar turned to Tuesday. Four Team UB players took to the felts on Day 1B: Brandon Cantu, Liv Boeree, Joe Sebok, and Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon.
Kroon was eliminated early on, getting unlucky when his Queens slammed into Kings. That wasn’t the knock out blow, but it crippled him and shortly thereafter he headed home when he lost a race with A-K against, of course Queens.
Sebok couldn’t gain any traction all day. During the first level, he had Kings against Eights against A-Q, but the flop came A-8-A, giving him virtually no shot at the pot. He was smart enough to get out of there, though, so the damage was minimal. He later lost with two pair against a better two pair and eventually sunk as low as 6,000 chips. He was able to chip back up to keep hope alive, but slipped back again when he called an all-in with A-Q, losing to Jacks. At dinner, he had just 3,500 chips, all of which he lost on the first hand back from the break when his Fives lost to A-6. He just couldn’t win a race.
Philosophical about the whole thing, Sebok Tweeted, “there’s something so brutally final about not doing shit during the wsop and busting out of the main. like, it’s over. see you next year…”
Liv Boeree, winner of the 2010 EPT San Remo Main Event, ran into a set of Kings during Level 1 and was never able to recover after her stack fell to almost 5,000 so early. She was eliminated when her opponent turned a set of 8’s, sucking out on her pocket Jacks.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Team UB on Day 1B, though. Brandon Cantu, a two-time WSOP bracelet winner, advanced to Day 2 with a healthy 65,000 chip stack. Always brief, yet prolific, with his Twitter updates during tournaments, Cantu let his followers know that he was down slightly from his starting stack at the first break, but soon climbed to 33,000, then 42,000, and then about 52,000 by dinner. He peaked at 71,000 going into the last hour, but despite the small drop in chips to close out the night, he called it a “great day.” Cantu admitted that he was getting cards left and right, but at the same time, he was playing his “A game.” Not a bad combination.
All in all, with the amount of luck needed just to get past the first day, a 50 percent success rate for Team UB is pretty solid, even though the first two days had very different feels. The big stars of Team UB – Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth – will play Wednesday, as will Adam “Roothlus” Levy and Hollywood Dave Stann. The rest of the team members have not publically announced which of the last two starting days they will play, but no doubt they will be at the Rio, ready to make a run to the November Nine.