WSOP Update: Four events in progress at Rio
July 2nd, 2011 | by Jessica Teakle |The 2011 World Series of Poker continues to crank out champions and make dreamers into believers. Eight events have been completed with three more in progress and one more event beginning on Tuesday (Event 12, $1,500 triple chance no-limit hold ‘em).
Reflecting on the first week, I think the biggest story in my mind remains Phil Ivey. While there may have been two British buds from the same small town claim titles, Ivey’s absence is simply unfortunate for the game. Having one of the world’s best players sitting out and causing a massive disturbance in the industry just isn’t what poker needed after a couple months that have included indictments and legal troubles.
Ivey is out, but there are plenty of others who are searching to leave a more positive mark on the industry. Here’s a look at the events in progress at the Rio:
Event 8, $1,000 no-limit hold ‘em
The turnout in this event was a slight disappointment. While it’s hard to say that, given that more than 4,000 players participated (4,178 to be exact), but this was the opening weekend of the WSOP. This was the time where players who just wanted to take their shot would be ready to go. After the successful debuts of these “Stimulus Special” tournaments in the past, I expected Event 8 to break last year’s total of 4,345. Of course, the events of Black Friday likely affected players in these events the most. That impact could have been anything from the inability to get their money offline or that players who hadn’t played for a few months might have felt they weren’t ready.
I’m sure there are many of you out there who think I’m crazy for arguing that a 4,000-player tournament wasn’t a success, but as I went into this summer, my gauge of success was going to be the smaller buy-in events that aim to bring the casual players out to Vegas. In my eyes, those players are the key to the sustainability of the industry in general. This was the first of many of these $1,000 tournaments this summer and I’m anxious to see how the next one fares on June 12.
Turnout concerns aside, out of the 4,178 who entered, only 59 remain. Jon Turner leads the way, and the 14-time WSOP casher knows how to put away tournaments. More well known by his online alias, “PearlJammer,” Turner has been successful on tour with nearly $1 million in live cashes. Online, he’s added another $2 million. He’ll bring in a 30-big-blind lead over second-place Kyle Speake.
Making his first cash of the 2011 series is a familiar face to all of us, 2010 WSOP main event champion Jonathan Duhamel. The defending world champion is in the top 15 of the chip counts and will start Day 3 action with Turner at his table. Two more circuit regulars, Young Pham and David Peters, are joining them as well.
Eric Mizrachi, WeiKai Chang, Max Weinberg, John Eames and Albert Kim are also still in contention. Action will continue on Day 3 for 10 levels. All players are guaranteed $7,791 at this point, while first place will take home $611,185.
Event 10, $1,500 six-handed no-limit hold ‘em
Turnout was not a problem for this event, as 1,920 players bought in on Monday for Day 1 action (compared to 1,663 in 2010). Only 188 survived the day. and when play picks up, each of them will be fighting on the money bubble, with 180 getting paid.
Chip leader Anthony Spinella is fresh off a victory at the Battle of the Beach in Pompano Beach, Fla. His $174,870 payout in that event was the largest of his career, and now he’s looking to secure a much bigger one at the WSOP. He finished 25th in the six-handed $5,000 event in 2010, and was 135th in this exact event a year ago. It seems like Spinella likes this format, and with the blinds at 400/800, Spinella has 223,000. Yes, that’s 278 big blinds and one heck of a lead over the Ryan Welch’s second-place stack of 156,300.
Joining Spinella and Welch in Day 2 action will be Greg Mueller, Victor Radmin, Ali Eslami, Amit Makhija, Grant Hinkle, Eric Froehlich and many, many more. Day 2 is set for another 10 levels and first place in this event will earn $544,388.
Event 11:, $10,000 Omaha high-low split world championship
Any $10,000 event at the WSOP will bring out the game’s best. and this one was no exception. A field of 202 players put up the dime, and Fabrizio Gonzalez emerged out of Day 1 with the chip lead. Gonzalez finished 12th in Event 3 that concluded just days ago. It was also a Omaha high-low split event.
Gonzalez has a small chip lead over 2009 WSOP main event fourth-place finisher Eric Buchman. Buchman finished third in Event 5 and he told me Friday that he was excited to play in a lot of events at this WSOP. Alessio Isaia, who was runner-up in that same event, also brings in a top-10 stack.
Given the structure, there weren’t many eliminations on Day 1, and 164 survivors will resume play Tuesday afternoon. If you’re around the Rio and want to see poker at its best, this is the event you’ll want to watch.
The Big Picture
The WSOP continues to not only be a place where players win a lot of money, but also a place where charities benefit. The Bad Beat on Cancer Foundation is the official sponsor of the WSOP and you’ll notice that players often wear the green one percent patch to show their support.
This year, Poker Gives, a charity formed by Mike Sexton, Linda Johnson, Lisa Tenner and Jan Fisher, is holding the “Shuffle Up For Charity”. The goal is that for each hour a player spends at the table, they donate anywhere from $0.25 to $5. The donations will then go towards building ramps for paralyzed veterans at their homes and to Fallen Heroes USA, which assists the families of law enforcement officers who die in the line of duty.
Poker and charity have always gone hand in hand, but now more than ever, it looks like two great organizations are stepping forward to show that there’s more to the industry than just what’s accomplished at the felt.
Tags: Progress, Progress Rio