Here\’s a recap of the Sunday afternoon activities, with issues regarding the 1k NL event coming to a head early Monday morning.
Problems with Payouts?
Day 1b of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event drew a field of just 1,744 entrants for a total of 4,345 over the weekend. This means that 441 players will make the money, with first place taking down over $625,000. Day 1a ended with 276 making it through the end of level 10. Updates from the PokerNews and WSOP.com sites report that they will either play down to 170 players or to the end of level 10, whichever comes first. There were around 550 players remaining when the field returned from their 90-minute dinner break, so it\’ll be intriguing to see how far they\’re able to go tonight. In lieu of chip counts for today\’s event, read Michael Craig\’s blog for the story of a player banned for life for trying to steal an absent player\’s chips during the 1k yesterday.
Kostritsyn in Control of Players\’ Championship
Full Tilt pro Alexander Kostritsyn is the current chip leader of the $50,000 Players\’ Championship as they head to their dinner break with approximately 35 players remaining. Kostritsyn, known online as \”PostFlopAction\”, is the only player with a seven-figure chip stack (1,430,000). Another Russian, Vladimir Schmelev, second with 830,000 in chips and Robert Mizrachi third with 810,000. Other notables: Erik Seidel (720,000), Erik Sagstrom (656,000) and Andy Bloch (604,000). Three more levels are scheduled, although that may change if they near the money, at 16 players.
Late Night Omaha 8
Play started this afternoon in the $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better missing it\’s two-time defending champion Thang Luu. There had been talk during last year\’s WSOP about Luu being banned for life for injuring a dealer\’s hand in a cash game. Reports now indicate that he was banned for one year. A field of 818 signed up for some split-pot action, with eight levels of play scheduled tonight. 81 players will make the money, with the winner pocketing over $237,000. One very early casualty was Tom \”Durrrr\” Dwan, his third straight early elimination from a tournament.