World Series of Poker -- $25,000 Heads-Up Championship Day 1Marquee Event to Kickoff the Summer at the Rio Attracts 128 Players |
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The 42nd annual World Series of Poker started with a marquee event on Tuesday, May 31 at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and that event was the inaugural $25,000 heads-up no-limit hold’em championship. The tournament exceeded expectations and attracted a solid field of 128 players.
That created a total prize pool of $3,040,000 and a top prize worth $851,192. The top 16 players will walk away with prize money in the event, which means that whoever wins their first match tomorrow in the round of 32 will be in the money. Here is a look at the total payout structure:
1: $851,192
2: $525,980
3-4: $283,966
5-8: $138,852
9-16: $67,436
The first round of the tournament began at 5 p.m. with the 128 hopefuls taking their seats in an effort to slice the field in half for the first time. This process wrapped up a little before 10 p.m. and some notables who fell during the first round of play included Daniel Negreanu, Patrik Antonius, Bertrand Grospellier, Vanessa Selbst, and Erik Seidel. Seidel has been dominant in 2011, especially in high-roller fields that have attracted the same stiff competition that was present in today’s field, but he fell at the hands of Dani Stern during the first round when his A-K was cracked by a straight on the river.
Another notable Team Full Tilt pro who did not advance to round 2 did so because he wasn’t playing in the tournament, and that was Phil Ivey. Despite his absence from the Rio Ivey made waves on the first day of the WSOP by announcing that he was going to boycott the WSOP this summer and that he is filing a lawsuit against Tiltware. The field was abuzz with this news throughout the day.
Round 2 began just after 10 p.m. in the Amazon Room and it played well into the night thanks to a long battle between John Juanda and Kenny Tran. Juanda was involved in a confrontation with James Bord earlier in the day that resulted with security having to separate the two players but Juanda settled in to his round 2 match and played solid poker to advance. On the final hand of the night Tran raised to 18,000 on the button and Juanda reraised all in. Tran made the all-in call for 100,000 and they flipped over their cards:
Juanda: A
3
Tran: K Q
Board: K
6 4 9
A
Tran was eliminated on the hand and Juanda was the last player to advance to the round of 32 with the win, where he will face David Paredes tomorrow. Other notables who advanced to day 2 include Tom Dwan, Gus Hansen, who will face off with Daniel Alaei in the round of 32’s marquee match, and Carlos Mortensen, who also faces a tough match tomorrow against John Duthie.
There is a ton of talent still left in the field and you can check out the full list of who advanced below. Some of the talented players who fell during round 2 on Tuesday night included Justin Bonomo, who fell very early against Alaei when his set was topped by a gutshot straight draw on the river, Erick Lindgren, Antonio Esfandiari, and Vanessa Rousso.
Day 2 begins at 3 p.m. local time tomorrow with the round of 32 and whoever wins their first match advances to the prize money in the sweet 16. Card Player will bring you hourly live updates tomorrow from the Amazon Room and CardPlayer TV will bring you videos from the tournament floor.
Day 2 Matchups:
David Benyamine vs. Anthony Guetti
Chris Moorman vs. Richard Lyndaker
Dani Stern vs. Jake Cody
Isaac Haxton vs. Jonathan Jaffe
Ashton Griffin vs. Tom Dwan
Daniel Alaei vs. Gus Hansen
Steve Blilirakis vs. Trevor Pope
Matt Marafioti vs. Maxim Lykov
Eric Froehlich vs. Steve Zolotow
John Duthie vs. Carlos Mortenson
Jason Smirnov vs. Darren Elias
Erik Cajelais vs. Nikolay Evdakov
Yevgeniy Timshenko vs. Amritraj Singh
Oliver Busquet vs. Andrew Robl
Kunimaro Kojo vs. Nick Schulman
David Paredes vs. John Juanda
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