July 5, 2008
The smallest opening day field (1,158) since the WSOP was first held at the Rio in 2005 started play shortly after noon yesterday. The attendance for days 1c and 1d look to be much more encouraging, with at least 3,000 expected to play over the next two days. They’re going to need another 800 to sign up over the next couple of days to match last year’s total, and it looks to be a close call if that actually happens.
The 636 who made it through day 1a are now combined with the 615 who made it through the end of play earlier this morning to play July 8th at 12 noon. Ben Sarnoff is the day 1b leader with 177,500 in chips. Notable names near the top of the leaderboard: Robert Mizrachi, Erick Lindgren, Marc Karam, Thor Hansen, Hal Lubarsky, Hoyt Corkins, Patrik Antonius, John Duthie, and Victoria Cohen. You can see the other chip counts at the WSOP site here (or wait until later for some sort of list by seat assigment/alphabetical order).
Another 1,700+ souls descend on the Rio today to start their chance at WSOP glory shortly after 12, who knows what musical act/attraction will greet the nonplussed group.
More updates during the day…
July 12, 2007
LAS VEGAS - Most media veterans would agree that the past few days have lacked the excitement of previous main events, but that changed today when players practically spent an entire level going hand for hand to “get in the money.” Some tables took so long to play a single hand one had to wonder if a player realized stalling was costing themselves money with the fast blind structure. Nevertheless, the tournament reached the 621 mark rewarding the remaining players a longer poker resume.
On the way to dinner John Duthie said he had about 160k. Duthie picked up pocket aces in the big blind with Gus Hansen on the button… but everyone folded. A fine example of not giving up is David Levi who is still working a short stack despite starting Day 2 with only 15k in chips.
Sexy (did I say that outloud?) Fabrice Soulier (….but not as sexy as my husband) is stacked at 325k. Fabrice took 7th against Hellmuth’s 11th bracelet win earlier this summer when the temperature was still in the 90’s.
Mimi Tran (long overdue to be on WPT Ladies Night) and Shirley Williams (sponsored by Bodog) are still in the tournament. Shirley’s table was filmed briefly by ESPN which should provide fun footage as Gavin Smith was on her left.
LAS VEGAS - There were 797 players ready to take their seats at noon today. Still able to go for the gold as of 3:30pm PT are JC Tran, John Duthie - Mr. EPT (see photo), Gus Hansen, Huck Seed, Gavin Smith, Sorel Mizzi, Mimi Tran, Fabrice Soulier, Shirley Williams (David’s mom) and Tobey “Spiderman” Maguire.
July 11, 2007
Familiar faces left in Day 2a are few and far between. John Duthie (one of my favorites) is among the chip leaders with Huck Seed not too far behind and David Levi working a short stack. On break Levi said he wasn’t too excited about 50k after a big loss but since he started the day with only 15k…then he shrugged his shoulders. John Duthie said he was up and down but thought he should be okay if he made it through tonight. I should say so…Duthie is looking good with a stack over 300k
Other notables are Houston’s Ted Leva, Bobby Baldwin (see photo), Bruno Fitoussi, Neil Channing, Robert Mizrachi and Tobey Maguire. They are down to 386 players and will play down to 350 tonight “no matter what.â€
BTW - I announced Liger in the media room and someone from not America said “Did you say Liger? I didn’t know anyone knew they existed, I know a lot about Ligers!”
July 1, 2007
LAS VEGAS - First things first…Congratulations to Tom on winning his second bracelet and for reaching his goal of three 2007 WSOP final tables! And congratulations to Dan for his 4th place finish at, the former WSOP stomping grounds, Binions.
I’m relaxing in writing from Summerlin with my three two children and husband who bought $100 worth of fireworks. If you see anything on the news regarding wild fires in West Vegas…
The S.H.O.E. event started at 5pm today and in the line up is Marcel Luske, David Levi, Chad Brown, James Van Alstyne and beauties Shannon Elizabeth and Lacey Jones.
Speaking of ladies…Anna Wroblewski has made the final table for event #47 2k NL Holdem.
Just when you thought this post was finished, there’s a bit more…John Duthie, a personal favorite and who coached Daniel Craig in the new James Bond film, is currently chip leader in today’s PLO with over 100k but lady favorite Patrik Antonius (who, according to WCP, should have the massage therapist paying him to rub his body) is close behind.
Oops, Patrik just made the pass (in the race not at a massage therapist).
