It was a busy day at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Thursday as a total of six events were spread around the Rio Convention Center in Las Vegas. On top of that, the WSOP announced the inception of a $1 million buy-in tournament starting next year that will benefit One Drop, a foundation which focuses on supporting access to clean water worldwide.
More than a dozen players have apparently committed to participate in the $1 million BIG ONE for ONE DROP tournament, including Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Tony G, and Doyle Brunson. ONE DROP president and founder of Cirque du Soleil Guy Laliberte will also take part, as well as CEO of MGM-Mirage Resorts Bobby Baldwin, and Treasure Island owner Phil Ruffin. A $50,000 deposit is required to reserve a seat in the event, which has a registration cap of 48 players.
“We are proud to align the planet’s premiere poker event with the foundation created by one of our generation’s most creative entrepreneurs, Guy Laliberte, to help make the world a healthier place,” said Gary Loveman, Caesar Entertainment Corporation’s chairman, president and chief executive officer.
The tournament is scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN and the winner will take home the first-ever platinum WSOP bracelet. Of the $1 million tournament buy-in, 11.11 percent of each entry will be withheld for One Drop.
The announcement of the BIG ONE was made at the beautiful new ESPN arena, which also played host to the WSOP rematches Thursday evening. Former WSOP Main Event runner ups Johnny Chan and Sammy Farha had an opportunity to get revenge on the men that defeated them in their respective tournament years ago, and it all played out for everyone to see live on ESPN3.
First it was Chan facing off against 1989 champion Phil Hellmuth, who set the record as the youngest player ever to win the Main Event at the time (since broken by Peter Eastgate and then Joe Cada). Chan broke out to an early lead Thursday and never let the 11-time bracelet winner back in the match, slowly chipping away before getting his payback on the Poker Brat.
Chan was also scheduled to play Erik Seidel in a rematch of the 1998 Main Event, but Seidel was still playing the $1500 Limit Omaha 8 or Better tournament Thursday so the match was postponed. That left only Farha and 2003 champion Chris Moneymaker to play a best-of-three heads up match in a restoration of what is widely considered the spark that created the poker boom.
Moneymaker began the first match with same chip lead he had eight years ago and was able to relive the feeling of victory over Farha when his Ac-8h came from behind to beat Farha’s Ah-10c after the two got their chips in preflop. In the second match, the chip stacks were reversed, and this time it was Farha who used a timely suckout to his advantage. On a flop of 7h-6d-6c, the two players had a raising war that resulted in Moneymaker all in with pocket eights against Farha’s As-7h. But an ace on the river gave Farha a higher two pair and set up the rubber match.
The third match began with even stacks and turned out to be an intense and long battle. Ultimately, though, it was Moneymaker who came out on top after a bad beat crippled Farha to the point of no return. On a Jh-10d-2h flop, Moneymaker put his tournament life on the line with two pair, Jacks and Twos, against Farha’s Jacks and Tens. But a deuce on the river doubled up the former account from Tennessee and he was able to finish off Farha a few hands later.
Here’s a look at the other events that took place at the World Series of Poker on Thursday:
Event #1: $500 Casino Employees Event
The second bracelet of the 2011 WSOP was awarded as Sean Drake, a part-time poker dealer from California, won the Casino Employees Event for $82,292. Drake entered the final day as the chip leader and fought through some tumultuous moments at the final table to defeat Jason Baker for the title and his first WSOP Bracelet.
Event #2: $25,000 Heads Up No Limit Hold ‘Em Championship
The final four of one of the most anticipated events of this year’s WSOP is set. With a first-place prize of $851,192 on the line, Friday’s semifinal matches will set up a best-of-three championship scheduled for Saturday. Here’s a look at the matchups:
Gus Hansen vs. Jake Cody
Eric Froehlich vs. Yevgeniy Timoshenko
Event #3: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low 8 or Better
Day 2 of Event #3 saw a field of 202 dwindle down to 20 with several big names in contention for a bracelet. Francesco Barbaro is the chip leader going into Day 3, but Matt Waxman, Vladimir Shchemelev, Jimmy Fricke, Humberto Brenes, Scott Clements and Lex Velduis will all return Friday afternoon. The winner will take home $262,283.
Event #4: $5,000 No Limit Hold ‘Em
A monstrous field of 865 turned up to play the $5K NLHE event, creating what will certainly be one of the biggest prize pools of the 2011 WSOP. Several “jobless” online pros from the U.S. had success on Day 1, including Brian “ship_the_perc” Lemke, Steve “SteveyBallGame” Merrifield, Greg “Funkii” Dyer, Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul, David “Doc” Sands, and Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane, who finished the day with the chip lead. Play will resume Friday afternoon with 243 players still alive.
Event #5: $1,500 Seven Card Stud
The Stud tournament kicked off Thursday evening with 357 players and only 112 survived the night. Former November Niner Ylon Schwartz is the chip leader, but the top 10 on the leaderboard is loaded with big names: Shaun Deeb, Andy Bloch, Chad Brown, Tom Dwan, Eli Elezra, Ali Eslami, and Josh Arieh. Play will resume Friday at 3 p.m. PST.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for continuing coverage from the 2011 WSOP in Las Vegas.