First Hour Gone
Jul 07, '07
Cards in the Air
The cards have been in the air for only one hour and already day 1B feels different than day 1A. Day 1A was filled with nervous anticipation and tons of hype. Today feels more like a poker tournament, a convention of gamblers if you will. The day started with World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack unveiling the 2007 Main Event Champion's bracelet. This year's bracelet is made of white gold with 120 diamonds and a 1.3 karat weight. Pollack handed the microphone to the Rio's own Penn and Teller who were given the honor of announcing "Shuffle up and deal!"
Stacked Field
Although many notable names played in yesterday's field, today may have it beat. Scott Fischman, Erik Seidel, Joe Sebok, Sam Farha, Evelyn Ng, David "The Dragon" Pham, Paul Wasicka, John Juanda, "Miami" John Cernuto, Roland De Wolfe and Jennifer Harmon are just some of the big names sharing the felt in today's heat of Main Event entrants.
Champions Present
On any day one of the Main Event it is easy to walk around the Amazon room and count anywhere from five to twenty bracelet winners littered amongst the field. Eric Seidel, Scott Clements, David Williams and Jeff Lisandro are a few of the notable bracelet winners in today's field but more noteworthy may be the number of Main Event bracelet winners that are all playing today. Tom McEvoy ('83), Berry Johnston ('86), Dan Harrington ('95), Scotty Nguyen ('98) and Joe Hachem ('04) have all elected to play on day 1B of this year's Main Event.
A Family Affair?
Poker skills may or may not be hereditary, the jury is still out on that one, but there is something to be said for families that play the game. Brothers Ross and Barny Boatman are both in the field today and sitting just a few tables apart are David Williams and his mother, Shirley. Barry Shulman, his wife Allyn Jaffrey Shulman and his son Jeff Shulman are all at different tables but playing on the same day as well, while father and son Donnacha O’Dea and Eoghan O’Dea from Ireland are also in the field.
Hollywood in the House
Tournament official Nolan Dolla announced over the loud speaker that TV personality Montel Williams was amongst the 1,300 or so that started the day. It is not uncommon on day one to spot a few celebrities either playing or watching. Director and writer Nick Cassavetes is playing today as well as Norm McDonald who is playing for PokerStars.
www.pokerstars.com
Euro news
The European contingent is out in force today. Some interesting tablemates include Neil Channing and Michael Keiner, Ross Boatman and Pat O’Callaghan, Dave Shallow and Alexander Kravchenko, Al Kelleher and Max Pescatori, Rob Taylor and John Juanda, Bruno Fitoussi and Dan Harrington, Kathy Liebert and George McKeever.
Early chip movements include popular Blonde Poker journalist and birthday girl Jen Mason down to $13,050 in chips and equally popular European Poker Tour honcho John Duthie up to $34,050 in chips.
Recent bracelet winner Alan Smurfit is also playing as are Carlo Citrone, Praz Banzi, Juha Helppi, Vicky Coren, Marc Goodwin, Bruno Fitoussi, Simon Trumper, Pascal Perrault, Martin Wendt, Noah Boeken and Martin Green.
Trumper trumps opponent
Simon Trumper, from English crew Dusk Til Dawn, pulled what he described as 'an outrageous bluff' and was inordinately happy with his early play.
'I haven't made day two for five years and that has pi*sed me right off,' he told CardPlayer.com. 'I'm in the small blind with 8-6 and with three limpers i call. The flop came J-4-7 with two spades so if i hit a five i'm ahead or a spade i reckon i can represent the flush.' Cutting a long story short the limpers were weeded out when a spade came on the turn and another on the river. Trumper made it $2,500 into a pot of $4,500 on the river and the early raise dwelled.
Picking up the story Trumper said,' Just then they announced former world champion Berry Johnson was playing today so i took my hands off my cards and clapped. When the other guys saw how relaxed and casual i was he immediately mucked,' beamed an upbeat Trumper.
Notable Chip Counts
| Berry Johnston |
37,000 |
| Joe Sebok |
34,000 |
| Kirk Morrison |
33,000 |
| Tony G |
29,000 |
| Justin Bonomo |
28,200 |
| Sammy Farha |
27,000 |
| Evelyn Ng |
27,000 |
| Scotty Nguyen |
25,800 |
| J.J. Liu |
25,000 |
| Joe Hachem |
24,000 |
| Barry Shulman |
23,500 |
| Bob Bright |
23,100 |
| Erik Seidel |
23,000 |
| Paul Wasicka |
22,700 |
| Robert Mizrachi |
22,000 |
| Norm MacDonald |
22,000 |
| Isabelle Mercier |
21,500 |
| Kathy Liebert |
21,000 |
| Allyn Jaffrey Shulman |
21,000 |
| Scott Fischman |
20,500 |
| Tom McEvoy |
20,000 |
| Scott Clements |
20,000 |
| Sam Grizzle |
20,000 |
| Rett Butler |
20,000 |
| Jordan Morgan |
20,000 |
| Jeffrey Lisandro |
20,000 |
| Howard Lederer |
20,000 |
| Dan Harrington |
20,000 |
| Alexander Kravchenko |
20,000 |
| Sabyl Cohen |
19,800 |
| Jennifer Harman |
19,650 |
| Noah Boeken |
19,000 |
| Annie Duke |
18,500 |
| John Juanda |
18,300 |
| Kido Pham |
17,500 |
| 'Miami John' Cernuto |
17,000 |
| David 'The Dragon' Pham |
16,800 |
| Barny Boatman |
15,800 |
| Roland De Wolfe |
15,500 |
| Hoyt Corkins |
15,400 |
| Juha Helppi |
14,600 |
| Mark Seif |
14,500 |
| Max Pescatori |
14,000 |
| Aaron Kanter |
13,500 |
| David Singer |
13,000 |
| Davidson Matthew |
12,500 |
| Dan Shak |
11,000 |
| David Williams |
10,500 |
| Bill Chen |
10,000 |
Player Tags: Donnacha O'Dea, John Cernuto, Tom McEvoy, Scotty Nguyen, Allyn Shulman, David Pham, Erik Seidel, Evelyn Ng, Jeff Shulman, John Juanda, Scott Fischman, Ross Boatman, Dan Harrington, Barry Shulman, Jennifer Harman, Jeffrey Lisandro, Bruno Fitoussi, Barny Boatman, Berry Johnston, John Duthie, George McKeever, David Williams, Sam Farha, Simon Trumper, Paul Wasicka, Scott Clements, Pascal Perrault, Joe Sebok, Shirley Williams, Carlo Citrone, Roland de Wolfe, Joe Hachem, Jennifer Mason, Nick Cassavetes, Martin Wendt, Victoria Coren, Praz Bansi, Norm MacDonald, Montel Williams
Hour One Recap
Jul 10, '07
Why So Quiet?
With only 1,037 players starting the day and no other activity in the Amazon room, things are eerily quiet. No cash games, no spectators, no satellites and the Amazon room at half capacity makes for a very different feeling on this day two. The sound of rustling chips usually evokes a feeling of being in a rainstorm, today it sounds more like crickets.
Early Eliminations
Director, actor, writer, these are all titles that apply to Nick Cassavetes. The title of Main Event Champion looks like it will not be added to that list. Cassavetes came into the day with a relatively healthy chip stack. With the board showing 10
8
3
and $60,000 behind him, Cassavetes found himself all in against only one opponent. Cassavetes showed J
J
and said to his opponent, "you got a set of eights?" His read was spot on as his opponent turned over 8
8
. The turn was the 2
and the river brought the K
. Cassavetes shook his opponent's hand and exited the Amazon room.
Joe Hachem, member of Team
Pokerstars, was also eliminated in the early hours of day two. Hachem got all his money in on a flop of A-10-10 with A-8. His opponent in the hand called him with A-Q and when the turn and river both bricked out, the queen ended up playing. Hachem was out kicked and eliminated from this year's Main Event.
Bringing a little bit of humor to the room today was Ivan Saul. Playing for
Pokerstars, Saul pushed all in before the flop from late position. The player in seat three asked the dealer to count out the bet and Saul immediately stood up and started putting on a show. "Seat open! Table 64!" shouted Saul, inciting laughter from Kirk Morrison who is seated at his table. Saul, clad in an Argentina hat and towel draped around his neck, looked more like a crazed World Cup fan than a poker player. "Seat open! Seat open! Table 64!" shouted Saul again. The player in seat three called and Saul showed A
4
. The player in seat three showed 3
3
. The board came Q
J
6
5
5
and Saul was sent to the rail.
Looks like Montel Williams won't be leaving his television show anytime soon, after busting out today he'll more than likely keep his day job. Williams was all in with A
4
up against his opponent in seat eight who was holding pocket sevens. The board bricked out for Williams when it came J
3
2
J
9
and he exited the Amazon room.
Up and Down Day for Sebok
Joe Sebok came into the day short stacked and has had a rocky day thus far. Sebok was able to double up early to almost $23,000 when he was all in with pocket kings against Pascal Perrault and his pocket eights. The board bricked out for Perrault and Sebok's kings held up. With things looking up for Sebok, he played the rush and took a stab at a point just a few hands later. Sebok made a large bet on the turn and was met with a large raise from his opponent. Sebok got away from the hand but now has only $13,000 to work with.
Hamby Passed the $100K Mark
Jared Hamby, one of poker's hottest new players, has just passed the $100,000 chip mark. The player in seat three at Hamby's table raised to $3,700 preflop and Hamby bumped it up to $10,700. The player in seat nine called from the small blind and the initial raiser got out of the way. The flop came J
4
3
and the player in seat nine checked. Hamby bet out $15,000 and the player in seat nine called without hesitation. The turn was the 5
and again the player in seat nine checked. Hamby pushed all in and the player in seat nine shook his head in frustration. Seat nine eventually folded and and Hamby asked him, "queens?" The player in seat nine nodded and Hamby showed the table his pocket kings. Hamby took down the pot and now has $105,000.
Featured Table
Sharing the felt at today's featured table are "Miami" John Cernuto, Mack Lee, Sabyl Cohen and Scotty Nguyen.
Notable Chip Counts
| Scotty Nguyen |
152,000 |
| Berry Johnston |
145,000 |
| David "The Dragon" Pham |
105,000 |
| John Cernuto |
91,000 |
| Alex Kravchenko |
84,500 |
| Brad Garrett |
81,000 |
| Barry Greenstein |
81,000 |
| Robert Mizrachi |
80,900 |
| Huck Seed |
67,500 |
| Minh Ly |
67,000 |
| Evelyn Ng |
67,000 |
| Shirley Williams |
62,700 |
| Raymond Davis |
60,300 |
| Nam Le |
57,100 |
| Jeff Madsen |
56,500 |
| Joe Tehan |
56,000 |
| Richard Lee |
55,200 |
| Bruno Fitoussi |
47,100 |
| Daniel Harrington |
44,800 |
| Tony G |
42,400 |
| Kirk Morrison |
42,000 |
| David Levi |
38,000 |
| Tom McEvoy |
37,400 |
| John Hennigan |
36,100 |
| Tobey Maguire |
24,200 |
| Sabyl Cohen |
24,000 |
| Joe Sebok |
24,000 |
| Paul Wasicka |
23,000 |
| Doug Kim |
18,000 |
Player Tags: John Cernuto, Scotty Nguyen, Mack Lee, Pascal Perrault, Joe Sebok, Joe Hachem, Nick Cassavetes, Sabyl Cohen-Landrum, Jared Hamby, Ivan Saul, Montel Williams
