Day One (B) of the World Poker Finals

He is known more for his cash-game skills than his tournament prowess, but that doesn't mean that online phenom Tom "durrrr" Dwan can't build a chip stack. On day one (B) of the World Poker Finals, Dwan jumped out to an early chip lead after doubling up with a straight flush and spent the rest of the day terrorizing his table and increasing his stack.

Dwan is highly regarded by his peers as one of the best young cash-game players on the planet. While Dwan is generally used to sitting down with some of the game's best, like Phil Ivey, David Benyamine, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, and Brian "sbrugby" Townsend, he was fortunate to start at a table at which the only familiar face was Erica Schoenberg, sitting across from him. Schoenberg would survive the day, but the rest of her competitors would not be so lucky.

Dwan had no problem punishing his table throughout the day, but it helped that he hit some hands along the way. After getting his opponent to call a 25,000 river bet when he held kings full of nines, another opponent at the table remarked to his tablemate, "Son, you don't stand in the way of a moving train." His opponent tried to pretend as if the hand hadn't bothered him, but you could see he had been flustered by the run-in with the 21-year-old poker professional. In only five levels of play, Dwan amassed 134,500 in chips, good for third place in the chip counts.

Known mostly for his antics during this year's World Series of Poker, Hevad "RainKhan" Khan was calm, cool, and collected throughout his first WPT event since the WSOP main event. He quietly amassed a large stack of 118,575 by the day's end. Khan was also the beneficiary of a relatively easy table draw and had no problem extracting chips from his amateur counterparts. While the excitement of a large stack on day one may not trigger a song and dance from most, it is clear that Khan has found a healthy balance at the tables, enjoying his time without going overboard.

The focal point of the day was table 36. Located along the rail, the star power of the table drew most of the attention of the fans that had made the roughly 9-mile hike through the Foxwoods Casino to witness a WPT event in action. Gavin Smith, Nick "TheTakeover" Schulman, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Jeff Madsen, Tony Ma, Tom Dobrilovic, and Beth Shak were all the recipients of the worst table draw of the day.

An interesting hand came up early in the day on a board of A K J 10 Q. Schulman moved all in for almost 25,000 into a pot of less than 1,000 and Nguyen quickly called all in behind him. Surprisingly, Teddy Adalis folded with the nuts on the board, and this prompted a laugh from the table. Dobrilovic moved all in behind him and seat 6 announced that he was all in. The action was now up to Shak, and she thought for a few moments before mucking her cards to the astonishment of the table.

Of course, the players turned over their cards and began to laugh. Schulman said, "Every little chip helps," as he collected his piece of the pot. Nguyen couldn't stop laughing, and it took Adalis several minutes before he understood what was going on.

Despite her blunder, Shak was able to build her stack up to about 82,000 when she tangled with Adalis in a huge pot. On a flop of 9-7-2, Shak bet 4,000, and Adalis made it 20,000 to go. Shak moved all in for 80,000, putting her opponent on a draw. Remarkably, Adalis continued his questionable play by calling with 10-8 for an open-end straight draw. Shak showed pocket eights and was looking to double up an already impressive stack, but a 10 on the river ended her day and vaulted Adalis into the unlikely chip lead with 186,775.

A number of big names hit the rail, as Allen Cunningham, Smith, Nguyen, John D'Agostino, Mark Seif, Gioi Luong, David Singer, Danny Wong, and Joe Cassidy all faltered at their respective tables.

In the end, 215 out of the 338 players who started day one (B) survived to join the 151 remaining players from day one (A) for tomorrow's action. Day two will begin tomorrow at noon ET when the combined field will compete for another five scheduled levels.

Related Articles

Xixiang Luo Wins His Second Bracelet Of Summer

Daniel Perkusic Wins WSOP $50k PLO High Roller

Nakache Wins 2024 WSOP $10k PLO Championship

Most Viewed Articles