Players to Watch – Day 27

D’Amato

Ivey

Harman

Le

Austin

Thousands of players taking to the felt today. Whether going for a bracelet, just trying to survive Day 1, or making an otherwise interesting showing, some folks catching eyes today, in action you may want to follow:

Ret. Sen. Al D’Amato seems to be today’s guest of honor at the WSOP. While shuffle-up-and-deal duties have been relegated to active Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV), the Chairman of the PPA will be playing in the $1,000 NLH-Seniors event. If he goes deep, it could screw up a bunch of schedules something fierce. Event coverage here.

Phil Ivey, of course, is always a player to watch – especially when he’s advancing, as he did in his first round of the $5,000 NLH-Shootout. While it’s obviously premature to get trip-bracelet possibilities, he only has to beat two tables. Take a look at the field and you tell me who has the best odds of doing exactly that. Jen Harman also advanced in her first match. Might she be able to finally make a showing for the ladies? Strange tourney, btw, with 6-handed tables in the second round, playing down to a 5-handed SNG for the bracelet.

While multi-tournamenting isn’t unheard of at the WSOP, doing two Day 2s at the same time kinda is. Nam Le went deep (but fell short of cashing) in the $10k PLO while going even deeper in the $1,500 NLH. In that event, he\’s one of 25 players left, from a starting field of 2,715.

Of the 25 players who remain in $10k PLO, dare I say I\’m rooting for Richard Austin? Kinda funny for the kid who wants nothing to do with cameras and interviews or even just basic biographical info to go deep yet again. Austin didn\’t want to play nice with WSOP officials after winning his bracelet in the $5k PLO. Possibilities include that he is a) shy b) the second coming of \”Ricky Zilem\” c) just a punk-bitch a-hole or d) a DOJ narc. Think about it … supposedly undercover Treasury agents at the WSOP and elsewhere in Las Vegas where large sums of money are exchanged amongst gamblers is nothing new. But this year, totally unconfirmed and hardly reliable word has it, whoever\’s really behind the payment processor crackdown has a posse of undercover Feds sprinkled throughout the Amazon room … and you gotta think at least a few of them would know a thing or two about pot-limit Omaha, right? Event coverage here.