Saturday at noon is the first of six $1,000 No-limit holdem events, each having two day 1\’s and fields of at least 5,000 expected. Last year\’s \”Stimulus Special\”, won by Steve Sung for over $770,000, drew out all kinds of people, as Pauly noted in his Nostrum Donkulus post. After reading that, check out his morning link dump.
Time for some Friday recapping:
Casino Employees Cashing
The first bracelet event, $500 Casino Employees , finished play at the end of level 10 with 53 players remaining. The chip leader is Kent Washington, from Oakland, California with 168,300 in chips. Jonathan Kotula, who won this event in 2008, is in 2nd (108,700). The only other recognizable name remaining is Bellagio tournament director Jack McClleland (19,700). The tournament is scheduled to resume at 2:30pm today, although the 1k donkament may delay that start. The schedule notes they\’re playing down to a winner today, but circumstances may prevent that. If they play down to a winner today, it may put a damper on the plans looking to take part in Bluff\’s Streak 2 Seven contest to win a 2010 or 2011 WSOP me seat, as mentioned on this week\’s episode of the award-winning Poker Beat.
Players\’ Championship Moves to Day 2
Day 1 of the $50,000 Players\’ Championship concluded earlier this morning with 105 of the 116 players remaining. Chip counts haven\’t been finalized, but it appears Erik Sagstrom will be the chip leader at 329,100. Other notables in the top 10: David Oppenheim (313,800), \”Miami John\” Cernuto and Joe Serock (265,000), Justin Bonomo (255,000), Barry Greenstein (240,100), and early chip leader Daniel Kelly (223,000). Tom Dwan, Brian Townsend, and 2009 dual bracelet winner Greg Mueller started off down $50,000 at the WSOP, eliminated on Friday. The remaining field will return at 3pm today as the field is scheduled to play six 90-minute levels.
Saturday Night\’s Alright for Fighting
For those who get eliminated early enough, you can watch guys trying to beat the shit out of each other at the MGM Grand Garden area for UFC 114 tonight. The highly anticipated main event features Rashad Evans v Quinton \”Rampage\” Jackson topping an 11-fight card. For those looking for a preview of the fights, or looking for some good betting tips, check out www.mmafix.com and www.rawvegas.tv.
More later today, but in the meantime be sure to check Pokerati, on Twitter and hit up the official WSOP site over at www.wsop.com