As Joe Ely once said, “the road goes on forever and the party never ends.” (OK, my favorite version of the song, anyway.) That pretty much sums up the first week of the 2014 World Series of Poker as a popular event with the professionals kicked off play on Thursday and two more events enter the arena on Friday.
Event #5 – $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball – Day 1
Long one of the more difficult disciplines of poker, the 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event headed into unknown territory on Thursday. When contested last year, the buy-in was “only” $2500 and drew in a healthy 282 runners for the tournament. With the increase to the $10,000 buy-in, WSOP officials had to be a bit concerned that the attendance would be underwhelming. Instead, the professionals responded in eventually bringing out 120 players for the tournament to create a $1.128 million prize pool that 12 players will divvy up.
With their 30K stacks of chips, the players settled in for the long slog that would be the Day One dirge. Making his first appearance at the 2014 WSOP, the legendary Doyle Brunson sauntered in a bit later than usual after debating over Twitter whether to play or not. While he might not have felt like playing the tournament, Brunson would last through the first day holding onto a roughly 22K stack (oddly enough, son Todd Brunson also has the same chip count).
As the 120 players kept their noses to the grindstone, the prize pool information was announced. With only 12 players earning anything (the minimum payday is $24,342), the battle for the upper echelons of the pay scale will be very intense. The top prize came in at $355,324 and, of course, will award the WSOP bracelet to a very skilled champion.
Unfortunately, a host of big names will not be around on Day Two to stake their claim to any of the prize pool. Former WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela, Tom McCormick, Daniel Negreanu (who has a 0-for the WSOP at this point), Allen Kessler, Phil Laak, Layne Flack, Dan Cates, Jeff Lisandro, ‘Chino’ Rheem, Phil Ivey and Scott Seiver will have to find another tournament on Friday as the final 54 players come back to the Rio.
When the action begins at 2PM in Las Vegas today, an unknown commodity will be at the helm. Mike Peltekci, the president of the Merit Casino in Cyprus, holds 171,100 in chips to take the honor of chip leader, but there’s trouble on the horizon if he is to make it to the final table in the shapes of four-time WSOP bracelet winner and former WSOP POY Tom Schneider and the defending champion of this tournament, Eli Elezra:
1. Mike Peltekci, 171,100
2. Tom Schneider, 155,300
3. Michael Chow, 145,500
4. Huck Seed, 137,000
5. Eli Elezra, 125,600
6. David Chiu, 120,000
7. Scott Abrams, 108,700
8. Barry Greenstein, 104,000
9. Ismael Bojang, 101,400
10. George Danzer, 86,800
STARTING TODAY
In advance of what will be the “big” tournament over the weekend – the “Millionaire Maker” – two tournaments will attempt to offer something for those that need some action. Event #6, the $1500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout, will step to the plate at noon. Considered an easier path to winning a WSOP bracelet in that you only have to defeat two or three tables to take the prize, some pros may step up to take part in this. In 2013, Simeon Naydenov bested Jake Schwartz and an 1194 player field to take the crown.
At 4PM, the $1500 Seven Card Razz tournament opens up shop for its first day of play. Last year played as a $2500 buy in tournament, 301 players would gather for their shot at a WSOP bracelet. Former Chip Reese Trophy winner David Bach was denied his second bracelet in this event by Bryan Campanello, who took the jewelry and the $178,052 payday.
