For the first time at the 2012 World Series of Poker, a day of play went by where no bracelets were handed out. This doesn’t mean that there wasn’t any action on the tables, however, as one tournament suspended play short of the bracelet, two tournaments decided their course for their final day of action and another event opened up its proceedings.
Event #50 – $5000 No Limit Hold’em – Day Three
With 48 players coming back for the final day of play in Event #50, it was thought that it would be unlikely that a champion would be determined by the end of Saturday’s play. While the common wisdom was correct, there was plenty of action to bring folks back when the champion is determined today.
Kyle Julius was at the head of the class when the players hit the tables on Saturday, with Tommy Vedes, Konstantin Puchkov, Galen Hall, Dan Smith, Fernando Brito, Sam Chartier and Matt Giannetti all arranged down the leaderboard behind him. From the time the cards hit the felt on Saturday, the seriousness of the situation – and the almost $1 million payday awaiting the champion – was evident around the room.
Brito was one of the first casualties of the day and in a particularly cruel fashion. The former European Poker Tour Player of the Year pushed in his final chips with pocket Queens and found a dance partner in Randy Lew, who could only muster pocket tens to go to battle. The board was kind to Brito until the river, where Lew spiked his two-outer to take the hand. Instead of moving up, Fernando Brito was moving out of the tournament in 47th place.
Over the span of a couple of hands, Hall would also be knocked out of this event. On the first hand, Hall got a player to commit most of his stack with A-4 against his A-K on a A-3-9 flop, only to see a four appear on the turn to chop off much of his stack. On his final hand, Hall was able to put it in with pocket tens against A-K and fade the flop, but then he would see a King on the turn and an Ace on the River. For his efforts, Hall was eliminated in 40th place.
And this was just the first hour of play….
Even though Hall and Brito faded from the field’s memory, some of the notables were able to increase their stacks. Cheong used the elimination of Andrew Weisner to pop over the million mark, while Smith would use a double KO of Alexander Kravchenko and Cary Katz to join Cheong in the million chip club. Cheong would eliminate Andrew Lichtenberger later on to keep his stack floating healthily before a battle against Julius that would leave one of the two out of the event.
After a bet from Daniel Perper, Cheong moved all in from the small blind. Julius, in the big blind, took just a moment before moving all in over the top of Cheong’s bet, forcing Perper from the hand. Julius’ pocket tens led over Cheong’s A-K of clubs and the flop brought what the former “November Niner” was looking for. Coming down 9-A-7, Cheong moved to the lead, but a six on the turn opened up a gut shot straight draw for Julius along with his two-outer for the set. The gut shot came home on the river eight, pushing Julius over the two million chip mark and eliminating Cheong in fifteenth place.
The players wouldn’t reach the final table until close to 8PM, but there was some history made prior to that point. Puchkov, who has seemingly been in every tournament at the 2012 WSOP, was eliminated in fourteenth place for his tenth cash of the year. This ties the record for most cashes in a single WSOP, set in 2008 by Puchkov’s countryman, the sadly departed Nikolay Evdakov, and leaves Puchkov time (about two weeks) to eclipse the record (Terrence Chan is also in the running for this record; he currently sits at nine cashes).
Once the final table began after dinner, Smith had edged into the lead over Julius and Kevin Schulz, with the three being the only players above the two million mark. Julius would take the chip lead with his elimination of Amir Lehavot, while Smith kept pace by showing Giannetti the door in seventh. As the midnight hour came and went, Smith held only a 25K chip edge over Julius for the lead.
The final two hours of play for Event #50 would set up for the showdown today. Two time WSOP bracelet winner Pete Vilandos would double up through Julius to get into the fight and then eliminate Schulz to get even stronger. Julius wouldn’t go away, though, getting his own double through Smith to remain viable in the tournament. As WSOP officials called off play for the night, Smith (6.62 million) led Julius (4.435 million) and Vilandos (3.955 million), with the trio coming back today at 2PM (Pacific Time) to determine the winner.
Event #51 – $1000 Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship – Day Two
After using Day One to bring the field from 936 to the 117 cashers in the event, the ladies of poker used Day Two of the Ladies Championship to determine the final table, which they did rather early for a change at the WSOP!
Defending champion Marsha Wolak had some work to do if she was going to become a two time champion of this event. Leading the way were a trio of Europeans – Gaelle Baumann, Lara Boutros and Anna Lundholm – and all of them were active early on. Wolak chopped a pot with Candida Ross-Powers after the duo played an excellent mental pot in trying to get the other to fold, but would eventually be eliminated in 74th place. Meanwhile, Baumann pushed her stack north of the 100K mark in taking a big hand from Debbie Pechac.
Pechac would turn out to be the story of the Ladies Event. After the hand against Baumann, Pechac would power her way through the field, using two double ups to push her way to the top of the standings. The first time, Pechac used pocket Jacks to double up through A-Q, then she won a set-over-set situation against Lisa Serban to crack the 180K mark. Those two hands would catapult her to the final table with the chip lead.
Of the trio of Europeans who led Day One, only Lundholm will be back today when the final table plays out:
Seat 1: Debbie Pechac, 630K
Seat 2: Candida Ross-Powers, 548K
Seat 3: Yen Dang, 483K
Seat 4: Lesley Amos, 352K
Seat 5: Anna Lundholm, 218K
Seat 6: Rae Rocco, 203K
Seat 7: Angela Moed, 145K
Seat 8: Janet Howard, 132K
Seat 9: Freda Lawrence, 99K
At stake for the ladies on Sunday is the opportunity to join such notables as Poker Hall of Famer Barbara Enright, Susie Isaacs, Nani Dollison and Jennifer Tilly as champions of the Ladies Event, the WSOP bracelet and a $170,587 payday.
Event #52 – $2500 Six Handed Ten Game Mixed – Day Two
The 167 combatants who came back on Saturday were able to get down to the final four tables early this morning, making for an even longer Sunday as the players try to determine a champion tonight.
When play kicks off this afternoon at 3PM (the 19 survivors played until 4AM this morning), Vanessa Selbst will be looking to once again change the pages of the WSOP history books. A win by Selbst would be the second bracelet for a female player (outside of the Ladies Event) since 2004 and it would also be Selbst’s second WSOP bracelet. The men aren’t going to just step aside for her, however, as there are challenges across the board.
On her table in particular, Selbst will have to contend with the veteran Chris Bjorin, himself a double WSOP bracelet winner, and Mike Wattel, who has about half the chips (179,900) that Selbst has (346,900). On the other three tables (one elimination will bring the final 18 down to three full six handed tables), Scott Clements, Vincent van der Fluit, Can Kim Hua and James Mackey are all awaiting Selbst’s arrival.
It would be a trick for the final nineteen to actually determine a champion tonight but, if they do, $244,259 and the WSOP bracelet await.
Event #53 – $1500 No Limit Hold’em – Day One
The latest $1500 event at the 2012 WSOP has proven to be the most popular one, at least in looking at the numbers. While some of these lower buy-in tournaments have not been up to par with their 2011 counterparts, this tournament drew in an astounding 3166 runners, making it the largest of the lot for this year’s WSOP.
As usual with the lower buy in events, the players leave just about as fast as they entered the Brasilia Room. By the time play ended with the WSOP mandatory daily ten levels, only 348 players were remaining; the casualty rate for the first day of this $1500 tournament broke down to roughly 200 players per hour!
Although they eliminated nearly 90% of the field, they still aren’t in the money. That will be the first task this afternoon (324 players will be paid) when the tournament resumes with Mario Nagel in the lead with 158,700 in chips. The top eleven players are all over the 100K mark, meaning that no one is running off with a huge advantage, and should set up for an exciting Day Two of play in the tournament.
What’s the other nice thing about large field tournaments? The cash for first place, in this case $737,248, and the WSOP bracelet!
