#WBCOOP 2012 - First 5 Events

It's been quite the ride in the #WBCOOP series so far.

I'm currently playing my 5th event - PL 5 Card Draw.

I got off to a frustrating start in my first event, finishing in 11th place in the Badugi, just short of the 8 player final table. Unfortunately that's been my deepest run so far.

It's been great fun to play a mix of different games. So far I have logged just one NLHE event and played one each of PL5CD,  PLO8, Badugi and 7 Card Stud H/L.

I should probably brush up on some of these games, but the payouts have been so flat that I've been lucky enough to cash 3 of the 4 events I have completed so far.

Let's hope I can get something going in one of the remaining events and finally make it to the final table!

A Bluffers Guide to Badugi for the WBCOOP

I have a confession to make. I have only played Badugi a few times in my life.

The game is relatively new compared to games like Omaha and NLHE, but that's no excure not to learn an exciting new game!

If, like me, you intend to play in tonight's WBCOOP Badugi tournament, here's a quick guide:

Each player is dealt four cards face down, and the preflop action is the same as Hold’em (Button, SB, BB then action moves to the left). After the first round of betting, the first draw takes place. Players can discard any number of cards from 0 to 4 and receive an equal number of cards in return.

A second round of betting then starts, after which there is a second draw.  This is followed by two further draws, with the third and fourth betting rounds after each one.

If at least two players make it to this stage, there will be a showdown.

Hand rankings in Badugi are unlike those in any other poker game. Players only receive four cards of course, and unlike many popular games, suited cards and pairs count against you.

A four card Badugi hand must consist of all four suits and no pairs. For example:

Ah 3s 4d 6c

Any four card Badugi hand beats any three card hand, which would be any three non-suited cards and one that either paired one of the others, or was the same suit, for example:

Ah 3s 4d 4c

Or:

Ah 3s 4d 5d

A two card hand would be any hand where only two cards qualify, and two others are either the same suit, or pair one of the others. A one card hand would be one where just one card qualifies.

The best possible hand in Badugi is A234 with four different suits.

If two hands contain the same number of qualifying cards, the hands are evaluated by comparing the highest card in each hand, lowest wins. For example:

Ah 3s 4d 5c

Beats

Ah 4s 6d Kc

When drawing one card, remember that there are only 10 possible cards from the remaining deck that can improve your hand (all the hands from the required suit, minus those that make a pair) so working out your outs against a given opponent should be easy relative to some other forms of poker. This allows you to calculate your pot odds too, which again should be easy as tonight’s tournament is fixed limit.

As with any poker game, a solid understanding of the rules is essential to success. Failing that (as will be the case with many tonight, I’m sure) it’s important to take advantage of transitional poker concepts like position and aggressiveness.

Many players have won big tournaments at the WSOP after just a few hours of playing a particular game. Let’s hope I’m able to replicate that tonight!

WBCOOP Tournie Choices

After a somewhat late submission to the WBCOOP I finally have my tickets. Now there is just the small matter of deciding which events to play!

PokerStars have given us 10 tickets for the 30 tournaments (there are 31 events total, including the main event) so I need to decide which ones to play.

I think all of the weekday 10am ET tournaments are out, so that at least rounds it down a little.

There are some events with great prizepools which have relatively few entrants. For example, the NLHE shootout, event 5, currently has over 200 people registered with 81 getting paid. Event 3 may be Badugi, but there are currently only 57 players registered and it pays out to 96 people. I think I can take my hand to a little Badugi with those odds!

I'm sure the numbers will go up as the tournies start, but the field sizes will be weighted towards the NLHE events. For that reason, I'm going to try to play a mix:

Event 3 - FL Badugi
Event 5 - NLHE [Triple Shootout]
Event 8 - NLHE
Event 12 - Stud Hi/Lo [Turbo]
Event 15 - NLHE [6-Max, Turbo]
Event 20 - PLHE [Turbo]
Event 24 - NL Omaha Hi/Lo
Event 26 - PLO Hi/Lo
Event 28 - HORSE
Event 29 - NLHE [6-Max]

And hopefully...

Event 31 - Main Event!

I'm really looking forward to this, so keep an eye on the blog and my Twitter account @jackrabbitslims for updates as the series progresses.

World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

It's time for the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker again!


This year, Pokerstars have asked all wouldbe participants to submit a blog explaining what we would do with the $5,000 Best Blogger prize.

For me the choice would be easy, I'd use the money to travel to and play in some of the UKIPT events this year.

Pokerstars has 7 more events planned this year, in Nottingham, Dublin, Newcastle, Swansea, Edinburgh, Cork and London.

I don't think I could miss the chance to play in London, since it's so close. I think exploring two new places on top of that would be fun, so I would probably go for Edinburgh and Cork. I have never been to either, so it would be fun to mix playing in a UKIPT event with exploring the local sites and taking in their respective cultures.

I have been to Ireland for a couple of poker tournaments, but those were held in Dublin. Cork looks like an interesting place to visit. It’s the second largest city in Ireland and is referred to by it’s locals as the "real capital of Ireland".

The Irish spirit is sure to be alive and well at the UKIPT event and there’s no doubt they’ll put on a good show!

While I’m there I might have to take some time to catch some Gaelic football if possible. I have always wanted to watch a game, and since the sport is so big in Ireland, I’m sure I’ll find a place to watch some.

The two remaining stops on the UKIPT that I haven’t been to are Swansea and Edinburgh. I have to admit, its close between those two, but Edinburgh just gets there ahead. I have been to Wales a few times before, but never to Scotland, so that swings it.

I’m a big whisky fan too, so while I’m in Edinburgh I’ll take the chance to visit the Scotch Whisky Experience and do the tour they offer while I’m there.

I’ve played in a few WBCOOP over the years and they are always great tournaments. There is something about the camaraderie in a bloggers tournament that you just don’t get in other poker events. As a guy, I imagine it’s not unlike that of the atmosphere in a Women’s tournament. Everyone wants to win, of course, but everyone at least has some fun with it.

Plus, with blogger tournaments you never know when you’re going to read about a hand you played! Because everyone is blogging a tweeting about the experience you can be sure to run into someone who was at one of your tables. 

I’m looking forward to it. There is a great mix of game types, and even Badugi has been thrown into the mix! I prefer to play in a rage of games because an all NLHE series could get a little boring.

This series has everything, PLO, Turbo’s, 6-max, Stud, Deepstacks and even HORSE and the 8-Game.

I’ll have to brush up on my skills in some of those games.

If you’re a blogger and haven’t already got yourself registered for the WBCOOP, get yourself over to the registration page. It’s free to enter, and there are some fantastic prizes on offer.

There are 31 events in total and each participant will get 10 tickets to play in events.

Pokerstars iPhone/iPad app

At long last, Pokerstars has released an app for iOS devices.

This now means you can play your regular games anywhere you have connection and battery power.

I downloaded the software and I have to say, I'm impressed! It has all of the functionality you would expect, and they have really brought the online poker experience to the iPhone and iPad.

While it works really well on the iPhone, it can be a bit fiddly. That's down to the device though, and not the software, as on the iPad it's an absolute dream to play!

I have now officially won my first real money tournament on my phone (a 6-max hyper turbo, but still....).

So download the software and give it a go!

January Review

I managed to get much more volume in to start the year than I expected. I’d still like to play a bit more if I can, but I’m on track to put in decent volume if I can carry on like this.

The games on PokerStars have been great, and there is still plenty of action at the stakes I play. In the current online climate I’m really grateful for such a solid site, and one that we can trust.

As for the training: so far, so good.

I have watched quite a few videos so far, and I have found them more useful than I thought. Setting smaller goals means I’m not trying to plough through something to get it done. I’m taking my time and making sure I’m in the right mood before I get started.

Hand reviews haven’t been quite so good. I did review a handful of tournament hand histories, but I need to get cracking and go though a more meaningful amount of data.

The math review has been a bit hot and miss. I have done a couple of short sessions with the good old ICM calculator, but each time I have been distracted by the lure of playing instead. I need to exercise more discipline and ensure I’m in the right mindset to learn, as I have done with the training videos.

I have also joined a discussion group, which really helps me concentrate. It’s quite late in the day for me, which means that it’s at a time I can’t actually play. That’s good, because I can focus on learning rather than playing.

2012: I'm ready for you

I didn’t get the chance to play as much as I would have liked in 2011, but towards the end of the year I started to get back into it, and really enjoyed playing again.

This year the focus for me will be on learning. I have played hundreds of thousands of hands but certainly haven’t done as much studying as I should have. So this year, I’m going to make a real effort, and here’s how:

Training Sites

I still have my DC subscription, so I’ll be making full use of that. I’m not a fan of setting huge targets, rather breaking them down and making them more achievable. So I think watching, reviewing and taking notes on at least two videos a week is a good place to start. While I don’t think they are the best way to learn for me personally, they give a great insight into other peoples approaches to the game. It’s rare I watch a video without learning at least something.

I’ll also look into some of the other sites to see if I’m missing out elsewhere. Sometimes a change is good and can re-ignite your interest.

Math

I have gotten very sloppy with my math, using rough figures to make decisions that can often be wrong. I need a quick brush up on the basics and a solid run though a bunch of hands from an ICM perspective. I’m playing a lot more MTT SNG’s so solid ICM is essential. Let’s say I’ll run 100 hands through in the next 4 weeks…

Hand Reviews

I also need to spend a decent amount of time reviewing hands and critiquing my own play. I don’t review hands often enough, which is bad because whenever I do I tend to find leaks and mistakes. Concentrating on previous hands is a great way to make sure what I’m watching in the videos is being applied in my play. I might think is it, but this will help me spot those areas that need work, informing my future video selections. I think I should spend 4 hours between now and the end of the month.

I think that’ll do for now. I’ll add more as I think of them.

Best of luck to everyone in 2012 - hope it’s a big year!

Pius Heinz is WSOP Champion!

Congratulations to Pius Heinz on becoming WSOP Main Event champion.

You can read the PokerNews interview with him here.

Pius picked up $8,715,638 for his win.

2011 WSOP Main Event November Nine Profiles

Quick profiles on this years November Nine:

Seat 1: Matt Giannetti

From: Las Vegas, NV
Chips: 24,750,000
Pro?: Yes
WSOP Cashes: 11
WSOP Final Tables: 1
WSOP Bracelets: 0

Seat 2: Badih Bou-Nahra

From: Belize
Chips: 19,700,000
Pro?: No
WSOP Cashes: 1
WSOP Final Tables: 0
WSOP Bracelets: 0

Seat 3: Eoghan O’Dea

From: Dublin, Ireland
Chips: 33,925,000
Pro?: Yes
WSOP Cashes: 5
WSOP Final Tables: 0
WSOP Bracelets: 0

Seat 4: Phil Collins

From: Las Vegas, NV
Chips: 23,875,000
Pro?: Yes
WSOP Cashes: 8
WSOP Final Tables: 0
WSOP Bracelets: 0

Seat 5: Anton Makiievskyi

From: Ukraine
Chips: 13,825,000
Pro?: No
WSOP Cashes: 0
WSOP Final Tables: 0
WSOP Bracelets: 0

Seat 6: Sam Holden

From: UK
Chips: 12,375,000
Pro?: Yes
WSOP Cashes: 0
WSOP Final Tables: 0
WSOP Bracelets: 0

Seat 7: Pius Heinz

From: Cologne, Germany
Chips: 16,425,000
Pro?: Yes/Student
WSOP Cashes: 1
WSOP Final Tables: 1
WSOP Bracelets: 0

Seat 8: Ben Lamb

From: Tulsa, OK
Chips: 20,875,000
Pro?: Yes
WSOP Cashes: 12
WSOP Final Tables: 3
WSOP Bracelets: 1

Seat 9: Martin Staszko

From: Czech Republic
Chips: 40,175,000
Pro?: Yes
WSOP Cashes: 4
WSOP Final Tables: 0
WSOP Bracelets: 0

WSOP Main Event Day 8 - The November Nine

6,865 men and women entered the 2011 WSOP Main Event over four starting days with just $10,000 and a dream. That dream was to make the November Nine and come back to the Rio in a few months to play for the bracelet.

Nine men (and sadly no women) have now made that dream a reality:

Seat 1: Matt Giannetti (24,750,000)

Seat 2: Badih Bounahra (19,700,000)

Seat 3: Eoghan O'Dea (33,925,000)

Seat 4: Phil Collins (23,875,000)
Seat 5: Anton Makiievskyi (13,825,000)

Seat 6: Samuel Holden (12,375,000)
Seat 7: Pius Heinz (16,425,000)

Seat 8: Ben Lamb (20,875,000)

Seat 9: Martin Staszko (40,175,000)

Blinds start at 250,000-500,000, 50,000 ante when players return.

Photo from wsop.com
Eliminations were at a fast pace in the early going on day 8 as we lost Chris Moore, Aleksandr Mozhnyakov and Gionni Demers to get down to two tables. 29 year old professional and well known online player Bryan Devonshire busted in 12th, much to the dismay of the forums.

John Hewitt was the player with the unwanted achievement of making the final table but not the November Nine, as he busted in 10th after shoving 33 into the KJ of O'Dea, who promptly turned a straight to end play and set the November Nine.

Each of the remaining players are now guaranteed at least the $782,115 for ninth place. Everyone who makes it past that point will make at least a million dollars with $8.7m up top for the winner:

1st: $8,711,956
2nd: $5,430,928
3rd: $4,019,635
4th: $3,011,661
5th: $2,268,909
6th: $1,720,396
7th: $1,313,851
8th: $1,009,910
9th: $782,115

Sam Holden is our last remaining Brit at a very international final table. When you consider the percentage of players who play in the WSOP that are American, only three have managed to make the November Nine. There is one player from the Czech Republic, one Irishman, one player from Belize, one from the Ukraine, one from the UK and one from Germany.

The average age at the final table is just 28, and that's bumped up significantly by 49 year old Badih Bounahra who is, not surprisingly, the first player from Belize to make a Main Event final table.

It's the toughest final table lineup for a few years. Even though we have no Ivey or Grinder, there isn't really any weak spots, everyone seems at least somewhat competent and while there will clearly be favourites, I'd be interested to see the lines set, I think it could be quite close to chip counts.

That's nealry it from me this WSOP until November, but I'll probably do a November Nine profile at some point over the next couple of days.

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WSOP Main Event Day 7

Day 7 didn't play down to 27 as I'd previously thought as just 22 remained when play stopped. The top 5 going into day 8 line up as follows:

Anton Makievskyi - 21m
Eoghan O'Dea - 19m
Khoa Nguyen - 16.4m
Andrey Pateychuk - 16.2m
Ben Lamb - 14.7m

There is now only one Brit left in the field, Sam Holden is left flying the flag for our humble nation and is currently nursing a short stack of 6m.

Ukranian Makievskyi, who really isn't helping the announcers with his name, is sitting on top of the chip counts due in large part to the 20m chip pot he played after flopping a full house against Chris Moore's trips. The money went in on the flop and Makievskyi took down the huge pot, eliminating Moore in the process.

WSOP Main Event golden couple David "Doc" Sands and Erika Moutinho busted within a few hands of eachother. It's always good to be around people who know how it feels to bust the main event when you get knocked out yourself, but that must be one sad hotel room right now.

Also hitting the rail on day 7 were JP Kelly, Erick Lindgren, David Bach and the remarkable Andrew Brokos (known as Foucault online) who busted in 53rd this year, 87th in 2010 and 35th in 2008. That's a truly impressive run from someone who clearly has playing against the type of players in the WSOP Main Event nailed.

Day 8 is underway and it won't be long now until we know who our November Nine are as we're playing down to the final table today. There have been some early eliminations and Makievskyi has now amassed a huge stack of 33m, 10m more than current second place in chips, Irishman Eoghan O'Dea.

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WSOP Main Event Day 6

Chips flew, shorties doubled, big stacks blew up and players hit the rail at an alarming pace. When it was all said and done, day 6 of the 2011 WSOP Main Event had 85 casualties, 85 ruined dreams and 85 long, long walks down the corridors of the Rio.

Our top 5 chip leaders at the end of day 6 look like this:

Ryan Lenaghan 12.8m
Ben Lamb 9.98m
Matt Giannetti - 8m
Andrey Pateychuk - 7.2m
Phil Collins - 7.2m

The chip lead changed hands throughout the day but Lenaghan amassed a huge stack of nearly 13 million to take the biggest stack into day 7.

The field will play down to the final 3 tables today to give us our final 27.

2010 November Niner Joseph Cheong is gone, as are the popular Jean-Robert Bellande, Eli Elezra and all but one of the remaining women. There are some notable names among the remaining players though as Erick Lindgren, Sebastian Ruthenberg and Bryan Devonshire all made day 7.

The last woman standing is always the focus of some attention and there is usually a boyfriend or husband looking out for her on the rail. Erika Moutinho however has boyfriend David Sands on her table for company. Both players are alive going into day 7 and spent the last level of day at the feature table together.

Day 7 is now underway and the 57 remaining players are all now guaranteed $130,000 for their efforts. PokerStars players Andrew Brokos and Sebastian Ruthenberg have both busted in early play but you can see live updates at Pokernews and follow live coverage over at ESPN.

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WSOP Main Event Day 5

Day 5 of the 2011 WSOP Main Event is in the books and it was a lively one with just over 140 players remaining from the 378 that started.

David Bach currently tops the leaderboard with over 4.7m in chips, closely followed by Pius Heinz and Kyle Johnson. Ben Lamb looks almost certain to wrestle the WSOP POY title from Phil Helmuth as he sits 5th in chips with over 4m. WSOPE counts towards POY so there is still a way to go, but I doubt anyone will be forgetting Lamb's name in a hurry regardless.

Three women managed to last the day and hopefully we'll see at least one go on a deep run. Of the three Bodog pro Amanda Musumeci is the most experianced with some solid online results and three cashes this WSOP.

Our day 4 chip leader Viswanathan failed to last the day after losing his 2m chip stack some time in the third level. Max Heinzelmann also busted after getting it in preflop with AA and losing, one would imagine much to the delight of one Shaun Deeb...

There are a host of big names still alive:

Sebastian Ruthenberg - 3.3m
Joseph Cheong - 2m
Jean-Robert Bellande - 1.2m (starting to wonder how long the line at the cage will be if he goes much deeper)
JP Kelly - 2.6m

Day 6 begins with 142 players set on lasting another day. Five levels are scheduled but there are rumours that number could be reduced to four





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WSOP Main Event Day 4

Manoj Viswanathan ended day 4 above the 2 million chip barrier and was the only one to do so as the main event field burst the bubble to get to the money.

Our top 5 chip stacks line up as follows:

Manoj Viswanathan - 2.12m
Sam Barnhart - 1.93m
Pius Heinz - 1.89
Stephane Albertini - 1.87m
Daryl Jace 1.85m

378 players lasted the day and will be back for day 5. Among them are a host of notable pros including Kevin Saul, Eli Elezra, Jean-Robert Bellande, JP Kelly, and Erick Lindgren.

The 2011 WSOP Main Event bubble boy was Reza Kashani. After less than an hour of hand-for-hand play 2010 November Niner Joseph Cheong busted Kashani to send him to the rail empty handed. The actual bubble boy is never the one who misses out these days however, as Kashani was given a 2012 Main Event seat, so Dylan Linde is the poor guy who really goes away empty handed.

The remaining 693 players were all now guaranteed the $19,359 min-cash and the chips started to fly. Huge pots appeared all across the Rio and when the dust settled 378 players were able to last the day and maybe, just maybe, start to dream about coming back in November.

Day 5 is now underway and anyone looking at the biggest stacks will reconise a player who's managed to amass a huge stack of over 2 million: Max Heinzelmann - I can only assume he's using his image from what has to be one of the moet talked about hands of the WSOP Main Event so far.


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WSOP Main Event Day 3 - Heinzelmann 6-bets Deeb

1,864 players made their way back to the felt for day 3 of the WSOP main event looking to build their stacks and last the day. The field was combined from day 2a and 2b so everyone was playing together for the first time.

Patrick Poirier emerged as the chip leader for the day with a hefty 1.3 million in chips. There were some other notables making in to day 4 with a big stack, including Peter Jetten (650k) and Sebastian Ruthenberg (890k).

The hand discussed in everyones wrap up of the day involved Shaun Deeb and Max Heinzelmann. Deeb is well known for his online results and 21 year old German pro Heinzelmann (also known by online name HotKarlMC) shot to poker fame after back to back second place finishes in the EPT earlier this year in Berlin and San Remo.

It's fitting then that the hand should be 6-bet preflop and the only real surprise is that somebody actually had AA. Deeb tabled the nuts and Heinzelmann rolled over the powerhouse that is A6. With the ESPN cameras rolling the flop was T6K giving Heinzelmann a little hope, the Q on the turn produced more outs to the chop and the 6 on the river game him the pot and all but busted Deeb.

I'll leave the commentary to others, but that is a truly fearless move. Playing that style and with that mindset only really comes to young guys with recent success who are on the top of their game.

Overall reports suggest that pokers big day on the small screen was well received. Lots of people on Twitter were positive about the action and what was covered by ESPN. It's a big year for poker and we could all do with a big story this summer.

The remaining 850 or so players return for day 4 with one thing on their mind: the bubble. Some will be pushing the smaller stacks hard, some will be holding on for the min cash - lets hope for another fast paced and entertaining day!

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WSOP Main Event Day 2

2,031 players started day 2a and 2,490 started day 2b. Around 1,900 players made it to day 3 where the two remaining flights will combine and everyone in the main event will be playing at the same time for the fist time.

Aleksandr Mozhnyakov was the day 2a chipleader with a little under 480k and who else but Ben Lamb is heading up the remainder of the field from 2b with over 550k in chips. Usually there is some over the top guy with a huge stack in the early days who ends up donking it off it day 4 or 5, but this is Ben Lamb - you have to think he's going to know how to put that stacks to good use, especially when things get tighter towards the money. Kevin Saul (BelowAbove, can't be bothered with all the zero's and stuff) also finished day 2b with a huge stack of just over 540k, and again, he's a force when he has an average stack let alone several times the average. Patrik Antonius is another notable who made day 3 with a healthy stack, he has over 360k.

As always there are stacks of amateur players left in the field and while deep runs for well known pros certainly look hopeful, I'm sure we can expect another Darvin Moon to take the chip lead at some point.

Wednesday is a break for the WSOP so the action continues on Thursday with day 3.


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Subject: Poker

I just thought I'd take the time to bring a great site to people's attention. Subject: Poker is a poker news site I heard about a while back on the 2 + 2 pokercast and hadn't got around to exploring until now.

I won't take too much away from their about page but basically the concept is “Poker news done right.”. No adverts, no sponsorship, no agenda.

They strive to bring you news from the poker world independent of an outside interests, advertisements or other influences. Unfortunately most poker news sites are dependant on advertising revenue which generally comes from online poker sites or other organisations with an interest in what's being reported. This obviously has an impact on the viewpoint of that site and the way the report news. It would be difficult to report on the UB scandal if they were paying the bills that allow you to run your site and pay your staff.

The project is run by Noah Stephens-Davidowitz who is thankfully known by the easier to pronounce NoahSD on 2 + 2 along with a team of writers including Isaac Haxton and Aaron Wilt.

I'll leave it up to you to decide of it's a good idea (finances might be an issue, I have noticed a 'donate' button appear on the site already) but I honestly think it's a fair crack at bringing some objective and unbiased news into the poker world.

The have some great stuff on what's happening over at FTP at the moment and that's exactly the type of thing you'll be able to trust them on. Go check it out.

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WSOP Day 2a - Helmuth Nearly Blinds Down in WSOP Main Event

Not content with narrowly missing out on three bracelets in this years WSOP, Phil Helmuth tried to miss a whole day of a tournament. It looks like Hellmuth simply didn't realise that he was playing day 2a of the WSOP Main Event and was blinding down.

Twitter is great for the 'live as it happens, from the people who are doing it' approach to news, and this is a great example:

Mike Matusow

'@phil_hellmuth is such a idiot hes getting blinded off has 5k left has his phoneoff and a do not disturb on his phone at hotel'

'sorry @phil_hellmuth that you4 wsop comes to a nd this way i even got them to ring inside your room wtih a do not disturb on it'

Phil Hellmuth

'Security broke into my room, I'm like, "What's going on?!?" SGuard says, "You're playing in the World Series of Poker today."'

Mike Matusow

'@phil_hellmuth yea i had them break in you idiot least you know who your friends are'

Phil Hellmuth

'I jump out of bed, dress, and run down to my car. Didn't know you could drive 75 on side roads!! I Thought I played Day 2 Tuesday...'

'Never crossed my mind that I played today!! Started $11,800: 1 hr 40 min late + had $6,975, OUCH!! Changed Sunday to Sat to do charity eventNever crossed my mind that I played today!! Started $11,800: 1 hr 40 min late + had $6,975, OUCH!! Changed Sunday to Sat to do charity event'

'WOW!! So happy, not chip leader, BUT ended Day Two w $64,900!! Had 7k when I sat down and ran it up without ever being all in and called!!'


Quite the story. Helmuth made an impressive comeback in typical style with reports of 3x BB opens with a 12 BB stack. Still, I'd like to think that if I was still in bed while my day 2 was running that someone would notice and that security would dramatically break into my room instead of using the keycard. I think it's safe to say that if Helmuth goes deep in this he'll have his buddy Mike Matusow to thank for it.

I hate to admit it but I'm warming to the guy - you can't argue with the entertainment he brings to the game, intentional or otherwise.

More on the other action from day 2a of the WSOP Main Event later today.

Twitter updates from Helmuth and Matusow can be found at: @themouthmatusow and @phil_hellmuth

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WSOP 2011 Main Event Day 1 (A-D)

Although the first days of the main event are a wonderful and exciting affair for the thousands of players who cram into the Rio to play them, it's nothing that can't be handled in a single blog post, so here's a recap of the four day 1's:

Day 1 A

Players: 897
Remaining at end of day: 560
Biggest stack: Fred Berger - 210k
Notable eliminations: Doyle Brunson, Greg Raymer
Other notables: Matt Affleck (made deep runs last two years, cried, poor guy)

Day 1 B

Players: 985
Remaining at end of day: 600
Biggest stack: Ben Lamb (who else, hope he binks and takes POY) - 190k
Notable eliminations: Michael Mizrachi, Noah Schwartz
Other notables: None? Boring day...

Day 1 C

Players: 2,181 (!!)
Remaining at end of day: around 1,300
Biggest stack: Kevin Song - 163k (interesting that the biggest field has the smallest chip leader)
Notable eliminations: Ms. Ellen Deeb (91 year old grandmother of Shaun Deeb)
Other notables: Helmuth finishes on 12k

Day 1 C

Players: 2,802
Remaining at end of day: around 1,800
Biggest stack: Maynard Little - 180k
Notable eliminations: Tom Dwan, Antonio Esfandiari, David Williams
Other notables: Jamie 'best bluffer in the world' Gold (82k) Darvin Moon (48k)

WSOP 2011 Main Event Totals

Field: 6,865
First prize: $8,700,000
Total prize pool: $64,531,000
Places paid: 693
Min cash: $20k

We have our final numbers as the player tally reaches a line busting 6,865. Many people's predictions for the first post Black Friday WSOP Main Event were in the mid 5k's, so congratulations if you took the over. I thought they'd struggle to make it to 6k with the absence of the usual online qualifiers, but if would appear, for this year at least, that the WSOP will go on regardless.

There are other factors of course - that 'one final shot at a big score before I have to go get a job' outlook many have spoken of, the 'I have my $100k PokerStars bankroll sitting in my current account' crew and the 'Online whatdidyousay?' crowd.

That wraps up the day ones in a quick and easy format. Around 4,500 players remain and Day 2a starts today with around 2,000 players back at the felt to try to last another day with something resembling a stack.

Next update after the completion of Day 2b.

Links from day 1:

Wicked Chops Girls of the Main Event

Tao of Poker - Nice stats and general awesomeness, found this after my roundup above

Pokerati - DonkeyBomber's 2011 WSOP Wrap-Up

Pokernews - Live reporting

Bluff Magazine - Ongoing coverage

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WSOP Day 39 - Royal Flush

Day 39 of the 2011 WSOP saw the continuation of day 1 of the Main Event and the completion of the last two prelims.

Nick Binger and David Bach got back to it in Event #57: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Split. Binger started with a slight chip lead but Bach was able to wrestle that from him in the early stages of the heads up match, only for Binger to pull away to nearly a 2:1 chip lead. The pair got it in preflop as the blinds got high and left Bach needing a two outer on the river for a chop to save his tournament life. The card didn't come and Binger took down his second career bracelet and just under $400k.

The last NLHE preliminary every saw Hassan Anter start with a commanding chip lead over Nemer Haddad and Andy Philachack after the hard stop rule ended play the night before. Anter put his chip lead to good use by pressurising the smaller stacks until Haddad doubled up by eliminating Philachack after winning a coinflip.

Anter took a 3:1 chip lead into heads up play and continued to use it to devastating effect. He eventually busted Haddad after getting it in preflop with As4d against Haddad's Ad2c. The KQT all spades board brought a royal flush draw, part of which was completed on the 4s which fell on the turn sending Haddad to the rail. It is of course customary to deal the river card, and the Js fell on the river, completing the royal flush. That has to be the first time in history someone has won a bracelet with a royal flush? There's one to tell the grandkids...


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