World Series of Poker Main Event -- Day 1A Recap

Day 1A at the 2011 World Series of Poker $10,000 no-limit hold’em championship is in the books and from the 897 players who entered on the first possible day of the event 556 have survived. Those players from Day 1A will join the survivors from Day 1B on Monday, July 11. Cards get into the air for Day 1B at noon on Friday and you can follow along with all of the action in Card Player’s live reporting from the main event.

Fred Berger is the only player to top the 200,000-mark on Day 1A with 209,500. Notables near the top include Sebastian Ruthenberg (117,000), Raymond Rahme (103,950), and Olivier Busquet (98,975). Berger added most of his chips on Thursday in the hand where he eliminated former November Niner Scott Montgomery. Here is the hand from Card Player’s live reporting:

Scott Montgomery Eliminated by the New Chip Leader Fred Berger

The board read 8 6 2 J J when Fred Berger moved all in UTG+1 and Scott Montgomery went into the tank in late position. He eventually decided to make the call and the cards were flipped over.

Berger showed down J 9 and Montgomery held 8 7. They counted out the chips and Montgomery was covered. He headed toward the rail while Berger stacked up his huge amount of chips. Berger held more than 200,000 after the hand and he should end the night as the chip leader.

Card Player’s own Barry Shulman survived Day 1A with 71,150. Shulman found himself at the toughest table of the day on Day 1A at the main event. Purple table 362 in the Amazon room was anything but easy for those who ponied up $10,000 to compete in one of the softest big buy-in fields of the tournament year. The table featured elite pros such as Matthew Glantz, Vanessa Selbst, and Shulman, in addition to a former online grinder and former Seinfeld star Jason Alexander, who is no joke on the felt.

Glantz took to Twitter to vent his astonishment at the luck of the draw in a field of thousands. “This random table is tougher than most of my tables in the 5 days of the 50k,” Glantz wrote. “Main Event Day 1A. I recognize every single player at my table. Is this even possible?”

It was in fact Alexander who eliminated Selbst. Here is the hand from Card Player’s live reporting:

Vanessa Selbst Eliminated

The flop read 7 3 2 when the small blind checked before Vanessa Selbst bet 1,300 UTG+1. Jason Alexander then raised to 2,900 from middle position.

The small blind mucked and Selbst then went into the tank before moving all in for 18,625. Alexander made the call and they flipped over their cards:

Selbst: 7 6
Alexander: 2 2

Turn and River: 9 and Q

Alexander won the hand with his set of deuces and Selbst was eliminated on the hand. The Seinfeld star now holds over 100,000 in chips and he is near the top of the leader board (Alexander ended the night with 63,150).

Doyle Brunson kicked off the main event with the legendary words of “Shuffle Up and Deal,” on Thursday, but he was unfortunately not one of the players who made it through Day 1A. Other notable eliminations on the first day of play included Faraz Jaka, Scott Montgomery, Evelyn Ng, Josh Arieh, John Hennigan, Vanessa Selbst, Matt Affleck, Vinny Vinh, Brett Richey, Isaac Haxton, Jude Ainsworth, Chip Jett, Antonie Saout, Adam Levy, Tom Schneider, Jerry Yang, and Greg Raymer.

Here is a look at the top 10 chip counts. You can see the full official Day 1A chip count listing here:

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