WSOP: Day 1B of the Main EventFourth of July Hurts Day 1B Turnout |
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As patriotic as America can be on the fourth of July, it's easy to forget that the World Series of Poker is one of the largest international events of the year in the poker world. As each player entered the Amazon room for day 1B of the main event, they were handed a small American flag as the national anthem was sung over the loudspeakers. Despite the obvious show of support for the United States of America, nearly 1/3 of the field's participants hailed from outside the country's borders. In fact, at this year's WSOP alone, over 100 countries have been represented, as poker continues to grow in Europe and Asia.
The small field of 1,158 was well below expectation, but those who did choose to play were decked out in their red, white and blue. Players who were sent home early at least had the good fortune of catching the fireworks displayed outside throughout the strip. Among the early casualties were Andy Black, Tuan Le, Dewey Tomko, Kenny Tran, David Levi, Ram Vaswani, Peter Feldman, Kenna James, Humberto Brenes, WSOP player of the year contender Jacobo Fernandez and former major league pitcher Orel Hershiser.
The first elimination of the day came just 15 minutes after the cards hit the air. Poker professional Stephen Ladowsky claimed the first bounty when his quad nines beat out the second nuts, kings full. $10,000 is a hefty price to pay for just 15 minutes of play, but at least Ladowsky's opponent will have a great bad beat story to tell for years to come.
Three former main event champions also made their appearance, but Tom McEvoy, Jamie Gold and Grey Raymer all had relatively short stays in the competition.
It seemed as though a set was the kiss of death for many notables. Daniel Negreanu was eliminated early when his set of sixes was bested by an opponent's set of nines. Ted Forrest made a set on the flop, only to see his opponent river a flush. Scott Fischman was all in with top set of nines against his opponent's open-ended straight-flush draw, and the river brought bad news. Steve "MrTimCaum" O'Dwyer was looking good with his set of fours against pocket aces, but an ace on the river ended his tournament.
It wasn't all bad news for the pros, however, as several made their presence known and benefitted from the weak overall field. As play approached the end of the night, notables Marc Karam, Patrik Antonius and Mike "SirWatts" Watson all vaulted up the leaderboard, putting themselves in great shape for day 2 on Tuesday. Also among the roughly 615 players to survive the day were notables Erick Lindgren, Vanessa Rousso, Thor Hansen and Hoyt Corkins.
Join us at noon tomorrow as day 1C begins of the 2008 WSOP main event. Card Player will continue to bring you updates, chip counts and photos live from the floor of the Amazon room until a champion is crowned.
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