Author: elizabeth

Now that the hum of the rest of the 2011 World Series of Poker has come to a halt, as all but the Main Event are completed, we can focus on what’s going on in the No-Limit Hold’em Championship on this, Day 1C of the action.

The third of the four starting days of this event saw a bigger turnout than the first two days combined; while Day 1A had 897 entrants and Day 1b had 985, today’s turnout was a whopping 2,181, making all the naysayers who previously spoke of the drastic decrease in play this year rethink their theories. The turnout on Day 1D has always been the largest of all, and over 2,000 players are already registered for the final first day of the Main Event. Most previous estimates said that this year’s WSOP would have more than 5,000 but less than 6,000 entrants, but with 6,000 guaranteed, we’re now looking towards the elusive 7,000 mark.

All eyes were on Phil Hellmuth tonight, even though the day was full of other players who have won a Main Event bracelet before (Chris Moneymaker, Bobby Baldwin, Scotty Nguyen, Dan Harrington, Joe Cada, and Jonathan Duhamel were all in attendance; Moneymaker was the only one sent to the rail today). Hellmuth’s entrances to the Main Event have been legendary in past years, when he’s appeared dressed as Julius Caesar and surrounded by a harem, a NASCAR driver, General Patton, and a mixed martial arts outfit, complete with fighter’s robe. This year, however, he merely wore a suit and had an ESPN microphone, as he’s been filming some pieces for the network.

Hellmuth gets attention not only because of his flashy entrances, or because he won his first WSOP Main Event bracelet over 20 years ago. Hellmuth is also in the running for Player of the Year, despite constant disappointment that he hasn’t been able to nab another bracelet this year (he already has 11, more than any other player, but he’s been looking for a twelfth). He leads the race, but the Main Event could turn everything around, depending on how he plays. Hellmuth had a frustrating day as his chip stack dropped to around 5,000; he was able to regain a little ground and get back up to 11k, but he’ll still be struggling to catch up to the other players on Day 2.

Jonathan Duhamel, last year’s Main Event winner, ended the day with around 41k chips, which still puts him considerably behind today’s leaders, Kevin Song (163,325), and Christopher McClung (162,375). Both of the Day 1C chips leaders are behind Day 1A leaders Fred Berger (209,500) and Shane Sigsbee (182,600) in chips. On Day 2A, the remaining players from Days 1A and 1C will combine (for a considerable field, as 1,471 players survived Day 1C).

Other noteworthy players today included Boston Celtics basketballer Paul Pierce, the comedic pairings of Ray Romano and Brad Garrett, Audley Harrison, a former Olympic boxer, Shane Warne, who is a legend in Australia for his cricket playing, and Hungarian model Krisztina Polgar. Perhaps the most interesting entry, however, came from the 91 year old grandmother of Shaun Deeb, one Mrs. Ellen Deeb, who was a crowd favourite as soon as she sat down.

Day 39 saw the close of the two last preliminary events of the 2011 World Series of Poker, after both events were carried over for an extra day after interruption from the hard stop rule the night before. This day also saw the second Day 1 of the main event, which showed some strong action and created more developments in the Player of the Year race. Here are the results for Day 39:

Event 56: $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em

After Event 56 was ended, due to the hard stop rule, with only three players left in the game, many people were wondering at the wisdom of this rule, which has reared its ugly head time and again during the 2011 season. Despite a halt in play while he had the lead, Alexander (Hasan) Anter went on to keep his chip lead and win the bracelet, knocking the two American players out of the competition after only two hours of play on the unscheduled fourth day of play in the $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em competition. Anter’s win is noteworthy not just because he knocked Andy Philachack and Nemer Haddad to win first place and become not only the first Swede to win a WSOP bracelet, but also the first Scandinavian, but also because he managed to win with a royal flush, another first in WSOP bracelet history (it’s possible that another bracelet’s final hand was won with a royal flush, but it does seem that Anter really is the first to do so).

Event 57: $5K Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better

The 2011 bracelet for the last preliminary event went to Nick Binger, who really worked his way to a much-deserved win. It seemed as though everything that could possibly go wrong for Binger did throughout his trip to the WSOP this year. He made a huge investment in the tournament this year, entering dozens of events, only to have two small cashes and a lot of hitting the rail, and after being slammed to the rail on the last event for which he’d registered, he got up, dusted himself off, and then ran as fast as he could to enter one last event– Event 57, the one that he would eventually win. While Binger had a healthy stack during the second and third days of play, his table placement was fierce; while David Bach, who came in second, had a strong chip lead over the other players at his table going into Day 3, Binger was sitting right in the middle in number of chips at his table. Binger worked for it, though, and made it to the final table, after eliminating the likes of Padraig Parkinson, Lee Watkinson, and David “Doc” Sands. The hard stop rule stopped the heads-up play between he and Back late in the evening, but Binger pushed forward on Friday to win his first bracelet and the $397,073 first place prize.

Event 58: $10K No-Limit Hold’em Championship

Ben Lamb is likely very excited about the way that Day 1B of the main event has played out– he’s come one step closer to the Player of the Year award. Although we have yet to see how Phil Hellmuth does in the last event, Lamb’s second place spot seems a very good leaping point to overtake Hellmuth’s lead in the PoY race, especially since Lamb came in as the chip leader in his first day of the last event of the 2011 season. Scoring higher than Hellmuth in the No-Limit Hold’em Championship is the only chance that any of the players vying for Player of the Year have for overtaking him for the coveted title. In any other year, Lamb’s performance thus far would have made him a sure bet for the position, but Hellmuth, who has won more WSOP bracelets than any other player (11 to date) has had a performance just as good during this year’s World Series of Poker.

Event 56: $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em

Try as they might, the 42 players remaining in the $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em just couldn’t play down to winners, and the hard stop rule once more interrupted final table play at the 2011 World Series of Poker. The rule, which was put into effect in 2011 to prevent games from running over, has been the subject of a great deal of criticism and was, during the $10K HORSE event, even booed by the spectators. This event becomes one of many that was stopped during the final table when only a few (three, in this case) players were left. Critics say that the hard stop rule has its place, but that place is during the first couple of days of an event, not during the final table, as it can greatly disrupt the momentum of the players.

The final table has been whittled down to Hasan Anter, the chip leader with 8,385,000 chips, and Nemer Haddad and Andy Philachack, both of whom have around 3.4 million chips. James Boyle also drew some attention for his conduct during a hand with Smith and Nathan; it was Boyle’s turn to bid, and he refused to look at his hand until he made sure that the server who had brought his drink had given him the correct change. Other players called the clock on him, and Boyle folded after glancing at his cards, making the rest of the table wonder why he couldn’t have done that in the first place.

Event 57: $5K Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better

David Bach, who started Day 3 at a fortunate table that allowed him to drastically increase his chip count, and Nick Binger, who started the day with a table that was considerably more even in chip distribution, are now head-to-head at the final table of Event 57. Per the hard stop rule, play will stop for today and begin again tomorrow, causing yet more people to complain about the questionable nature of this rule. Binger closes the day with 3,230,000 chips, while Bach isn’t far behind with 2,055,000; this game could still belong to either player. The two players, one a 2009 bracelet winner and the other still wondering what it feels like to win one, will come back tomorrow to continue head-to-head play and finish off the last preliminary event of the season. Given that tomorrow’s game could be over in a matter of minutes, one really has to question the efficacy of the hard-stop rule in this case.

Event 58: $10K No-Limit Hold’em Championship

Day 1A of the main event has drawn 897 entrants, with many more to be expected during the next three days, as players have a choice of starting their game any day Thursday-Sunday. The initial flock of Day 1A has been culled to 556, an elimination nowhere as steep as we’ve seen in other events thus far this year.

Some big name players have hit the rail already: Doyle Brunson, Greg Raymer, and Jerry Yang, who have all won bracelets for the main event before, as well as Vanessa Selbst, Chip Jett, and Randy Lew. Plenty of professionals are still in the running for this event, however– Annette Obrestad, Jason Alexander, Sebastian Ruthenberg, and Mickey Appleman, to name a few. Fred Berger is the chip leader at the end of Day 1A with 209,500 chips, and he is followed by Shame Sigsbee with 182,600 and Kyle Burnside at 159,050.

Two events that have garnered a lot of attention in this year’s World Series of Poker have finally drawn to a close, and everyone is excited about the main event, which will determine who wins the coveted Player of the Year title. This year, Phil Hellmuth, Ben Lamb, and Brian Rast lead the race, but as George Lind twittered, “I can still pass Hellmuth if I just win the main event.” Although Lind is being facetious (we think), he has a point– the Player of the Year race is still close enough that it will ultimately be determined by how the main event plays out. Here are today’s results:

Event 54: $1K No-Limit Hold’em

Max Lykov started the final day of play in the $1K No-Limit Hold’em event with the chip lead, and he didn’t lose it for even a second, making him the winner of the $648,880 prize and the bracelet for the event. Lykov’s win in this event also puts him on the board for the Player of the Year race, as this event was heavily weighted in the PoY scoring due to its large number of entrants. Lykov personally knocked out the majority of his opponents at the final table, starting with Sebastien Roy and ending with Dror Michaelo, who came in second. Michaelo went all-in pre-flop on the last hand of the game with K5 in his pocket, and Lykov called with AK; when the flop came down AQQ, it looked like it was all over for Michaelo– and it was.

Event 55: $50K Poker Player’s Championship

Event 55 went to a surprise winner: with the other contenders at the table, Brian Rast had been somehow overlooked as a strong contender for the bracelet, but he won it nonetheless. The real surprise of Rast’s win, however, comes with the story that he tells about how he ended up at the final table for the $50K Poker Player’s Championship in the first place. A chance encounter with Antonio Esfandiari brought Rast to the WSOP this year, after Esfandiari was so insistent that Rast play in the $1.5K Pot-Limit Hold’em Tournament that day that he even staked Rast’s play. After winning that event, Rast had enough to buy in to the Poker Player’s Championship, which he did.

Phil Hellmuth, who came in second in the event, already holds 11 WSOP bracelets, all in Hold’em poker, and he played aggressively and had an advantage for most of the game. He ultimately lost when he went all-in while hoping for a flush/straight draw and Rast held the highest possible straight in the game.

Event 56: $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em

The competition for Event 56 has now been whittled down to 42 players, and Ben Volpe, yesterday’s leader, was sent to the rail towards the end of the evening. Gavin Smith, who has already nabbed a WSOP bracelet and a World Poker Tour title, has the lead, but James Boyle, Ryan Goindoo, Matt Lawrence, and Hasan Anter are all close behind as we head into the third day of play in this event.

Event 57: $5K Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better

This last preliminary event has seen its entrants whittled down to the final 25; tomorrow they will try to play down to winners, but with some steep competition, that may not be possible. Nick Schulman is the chip leader today with 772,000 chips, and he has a healthy position at his first table tomorrow. Still left at one of the three tables are Allen Kessler, with 568,000 chips, Phil Laak (319,000), Nick Binger (303,000), David Bach (310,000), Lee Watkinson (111,000), and David Sands (110,000). Kessler, Sands, and Laak are all at the table with Schulman at the start of play tomorrow, while Bach’s fortunate placement at Table 3 leaves him starting tomorrow with a 2-1 chip lead over the rest of his table.

After a relatively slow Day 35 of the World Series of Poker 2011, Day 36 proved to be action-packed as two new events (the $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em and $5K Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better) were introduced and the field was whittled down to the final tables in Events 54 and 55, giving spectators some real insight into who may be the new bracelet winners in these two events.

Event 54: $1K No-Limit Hold’em

The $1K No-Limit Hold’em had a record number of entrants this year, becoming the second-largest WSOP event of all time (the first being the Stimulus inaugural event from 2009). At the end of Day 3, the 4,576 entrants had been whittled down to nine and the final table has been set, and the Americans hold such an small number of spots that one would think that this was the European Poker Tour. Dror Michaelo, Douglas Mackinnon and Joshua Evans are the three US players at the final table, while Russia’s Maxim Lykov has the chip lead and fellow Russian Stanislav Alekhin has a shorter stack and a reputation as a fierce player, thanks to his heads-up game against John Juanda in the 2008 Main Event.

Event 55: $50K Poker Player’s Championship

Some fierce competition in one of the favourite events at the World Series of Poker tries to knock the players down to the final table, but nine players were still hanging on when they called it a night. Minh Ly, who has the chip lead with 5,215,000 chips, but will still have to face both Phil Hellmuth (2,245,000 chips) and Ben Lamb (1,180,000 chips), both of whom are chasing a Player of the Year title. Ly, who has had 12 WSOP cashes but has yet to nab a bracelet, has just as much on the line and is sure to put up a fierce fight.

Going into Day 4, table positions and chip amounts are as follows:

• Seat 1 Brian Rast 2,660,000
• Seat 2 George Lind 2,315,000
• Seat 3 Phil Hellmuth 2,245,000
• Seat 4 Owais Ahmed 1,425,000
• Seat 5 Scott Seiver 725,000
• Seat 6 Minh Ly 5,215,000
• Seat 7 Ben Lamb 1,180,000
• Seat 8 Jason Lester 920,000
• Seat 9 Matt Glantz 2,535,000

Event 56: $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em

The body count on day one of $1K and $1.5K events is always gruesome, but a few notable names of professional players eliminated in the first day of action for this event stand out: Antonio Esfandiari, Liv Boeree, Vanessa Selbst, and Nacho Barbero. With 3,389 players signed up for the last low-money event of 2011, one can expect a lot of big names to fall throughout the game. Today’s first day of play knocked the field down to 465 players, among whom Ben Volpe took an early strong lead which will give him the chip lead tomorrow in Day 2.

Event 57: $5K Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split 8 or Better

Near chip leader Gary Bolden (98,300) after this first day of action in the last preliminary event of the 2011 World Series of Poker are Max Pescatori (72,000), who has won two WSOP bracelets before, and Brazilian Alexandre Gomes (70,400), known for holding a WSOP bracelet and a World Poker Tour title, as well as coming in second in the European Poker Tour’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in 2009. The 189 players left also include Mike Matusow, Huck Seed, Allen Kessler, Erik Seidel, and David Sands, so Event 57 is still anyone’s game.

Day 34 of the 2011 lacked the constant element of surprise that was present the previous day, which likely came as a relief to many players who could now focus on their game. One more event closed, and another two plowed forward, eliminating all the players who didn’t make the cut. Here’s the recap for today’s events:

Event 53: $1K Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship

The 2011 WSOP Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship has been the center of a lot of discussion this year, in part due to the presence of Jonathan Epstein, the singular man who made it to the last day of play in this event. To the delight and relief of the vast majority of spectators, Epstein was knocked out first in today’s play, and the Ladies Championship returned to its status as a celebration of women in poker. The play and eliminations were impressively well-rounded, with each of the players making some stunning plays and fierce eliminations throughout the final table. Marsha Wolak, a relative newcomer who credits her time spent training with Annie Duke back in 2009 as part of the reason for her unexpected win, would take first place, beating out an American-dominated final table for the bracelet and the $192,344 first place prize. Karina Jett came in second place, having been defeated by Wolak after only a single hand of head-to-head play (Wolak had a 3-to-1 chip lead at the time).

Event 54: $1K No-Limit Hold’em

The last of the $1K events for 2011 has turned out to be bigger than anyone imagined, especially given that its timing coincides with the play of the $50K Poker Player’s Championship, which certainly gets more attention. Event 54, as it turns out, has had more registrants than any other event in the history of WSOP, save for one– the 2009 kick-off “Stimulus” event. Day 1B saw the competition whittled down to 380 players from the original 2,644; they will join with the 275 players who survived Day 1A for Day 2 tomorrow. Paul Volpe had an impressive chip lead yesterday, but Eric Afriat has ended today’s competition with more than enough chips to give Volpe a run for his money throughout the remainder of the event. Many of the poker giants have fallen during the 1B action, including Galen Hall, Liv Boeree, David Williams, Jonathan Duhamel, and Michael Mizrachi.

Event 55: $50K Poker Player’s Championship

The list of players still remaining in Event 55 of the 2011 World Series of Poker reads like a laundry list of professional poker players; while the last $1K event has the largest turnout of players overall, the $50K Poker Player’s Championship certainly has the largest turnout of pro players. Benjamin Lamb, who won his first WSOP bracelet in Event 42 this year, tops the Player of the Year race and the chip count after Day 2 of this event. Lamb has made a name for himself in this year’s WSOP, but he’s followed in chips immediately by Gus Hansen, Sebastian Ruthenberg, and David Oppenheim, so he’ll have his work cut out for him if he wants to take home another bracelet. Still in the running for this event are David Benyamine, Erick Lindgren, Abe Mosseri, Phil Hellmuth, Jennifer Harman, and Steve Sung, just to name a few. The $50K Poker Player’s Championship, which switches types of poker every level (between Limit Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better, Seven Card Razz, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split 8 or Better, No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, and 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball) to lead up to a final table of No-Limit Hold’em, is still anyone’s game.

Jonathan Epstein didn’t join the Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship game to make waves. He just wanted to play in one more tournament before he left Vegas and went home to LA. Make waves, however, is exactly what he’s done, bringing to the forefront a heated issue.

Epstein wasn’t the only male who entered the ladies championship; every year, many men do. Some claim that they’re “rebelling against discrimination,” which is often code for “I think women are less skilled, so I’m going to play in the tournament because it’s an easy win” or “Hey, look at me, I’m so funny– I’m a man in a women’s tournament!” For those who genuinely think that they’re standing up to the man by entering a tournament designed for women, one has to wonder about the exact nature of the statement that they’re making. Women now have women-only basketball, football, and hockey leagues (not to mention rugby leagues and wrestling, fencing, and martial arts tournaments), precisely because there’s an unspoken understanding throughout society that the sports leagues that aren’t designated “women-only” are, of course, men-only.

Poker has been, for the longest time, an activity dominated by men. The sociological reasons for this are plentiful but largely situation-dependent: women make less money than men, therefore having less income to spend on non-essential activities; women are expected to prioritize family, such that if they have a career (and therefore the money to spend playing poker), the expectation still remains that their free time will go to home and children. In a society where women do not have the privilege that men do, saying that one is bucking the system by competing in a womens-only event is like saying that you’d like to join the Black Panthers just because you think that it’s unfair of them to exclude you for being white.

Epstein has had a hard time in the three days that he’s been playing in the event; despite solid poker playing, he is consistently booed and ridiculed by the spectators and WSOP officials alike– WSOP Media Director Seth Palansky attempted a slight at the men who had entered the event by saying that they “are not men.” One has to wonder if Palansky realizes that by saying the equivalent of “if you entered this tournament, you’re a bunch of girls,” where “girls” is an insult, is really just perpetuating a larger problem.

So then, where do we stand? If Epstein wasn’t trying to make a statement and really just wanted to play some poker after suffering some staggering losses elsewhere in the World Series of Poker, and he was just listening to the advice of his friend, who suggested the Ladies event (and, as he claims, it fit with his schedule), should he be persecuted for being in the wrong place at the wrong time? If it was legitimately an honest mistake, is the ceaseless harassment and bad sportsmanship (albeit not from the players– from the spectators) really the best way to handle the situation? Or is it enough to have to compete against some of the most incredible poker players in the world today, like Liv Boeree, Vanessa Selbst, Susie Isaacs, and Evelyn Ng? Women’s tournament or not– these are players that pretty much any rookie player would be terrified of facing. Perhaps this year’s spectators could learn to handle disappointment and disapproval with a little more grace, accepting that more good would come from cheering on the women playing than from verbally assaulting the lone man at the table.

Nevada law has changed, and the new legislature states that casinos can now ban men from competing in women-only events. By this time next year, we can expect not to relive this issue. The state of Nevada doesn’t seem to think that this is an issue of discrimination, so WSOP 2012 will have Ladies events where the final tables are full of ladies.

Day 33 of the 2011 World Series of Poker has been one surprise after another. Here’s the recap:

Event 50: $5K Triple Chance No-Limit Hold’em

Eric Froehlich was a shoe-in for Event 50, but his short stack at the start of the day caused him to be knocked out early, something that none of the spectators anticipated. Antonin Teisseire of France, who called Froehlich when he went in with two million pre-flop, not only knocked the favourite out of the game but also took home his first WSOP cash– a hefty $825,604 for the first place win.

Event 51: $1.5K Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better

When David Singontiko sat down at the final table for Event 51, he, fellow American John Reiss, and Brazil’s Marco Oliveira were the only players who had not cashed at the WSOP before. While none of the other final players had won a bracelet before, it was still a surprise when the recent college graduate who had to ask his father for a week off of work to compete in the tournament for the very first time, won first place and $268,235. Singontiko racked up the majority of the eliminations at the table (including second place finisher Michael Yee), with some help from Jeffrey Gibralter, who came in third.

Event 52: $2.5K Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No Limit)

Matt Matros became the only repeat performer of Day 33 by snagging a second WSOP Bracelet in Event 52. His first WSOP win came a year earlier at last year’s $1.5K Limit Hold’em event, and since he’s been making final tables at the World Series of Poker since 2005, it came as no surprise that Matros was a serious contender for these two wins. Matros, a poker coach and author of a book on poker, has almost two million dollars in live tournament winnings, and today’s event added another $303,501 to that total. Matros beat out a final table full of players with several WSOP cashes under their belts (although he was the only one to have won a bracelet before), including Noah Boeken and Jonathan Lane.

Event 53: $1K Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship

The Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship ended on Day 33 in a bout of upheaval, as one of the 14 players remaining in this event is a man. Jonathan Epstein is one of about a dozen men who have decided to take advantage of the fact that a change to Nevada’s laws, which will make it legal for casinos to ban men from entering women’s tournaments, has yet to go into effect, even though it’s made it onto the books. In a sport largely dominated by men, women struggle to make a name for themselves, so in the event that Epstein, who currently sits in 7th place with about half the chips of Valerie McColligan, currently in first place with a hefty lead, were to win this tournament, he could rest assured that there would be many people who would not be amused by his audacity.

Event 54: $1K No-Limit Hold’em

This final $1K No-Limit Hold’em event managed to pull in almost 2,000 entrants, despite coinciding with the play for the infinitely popular $50K Poker Player’s Championship. Hoyt Corkins, Andy Black, Dan Heimiller, Men Nguyen, Brian Cantu, and Antonio Esfandiari were among the biggest names to enter the event, but at the end of Day 1a, only two-time bracelet winner Cantu was among the 275 entrants still standing.

Event 55: $50K Poker Player’s Championship

Professional players flock to the $50K Poker Player’s Championship, creating a small field (128 players) of some of the most impressive poker players in the world. After 10 hours, only five players were eliminated, including Phil Laak and Eli Elezra. This five-day event is anyone’s game at this point, but the competition has been (and will continue to be) absolutely fierce.