Hour One Recap
Jul 12, '07
Play ended last night shortly after midnight with 797 players returning to begin day three. Play started today by completing the last 20 minutes of level 11 and continued right into level 12 with no break. The blinds are now $1,500-$3,000 with a $400 ante and are beginning to play a larger role in the tournament.
Currently, there are 716 players remaining, playing on only 80 tables. The average chip stack is $177,597 and there have already been many notable names eliminated. Gus Hansen is still the chip leader, as he was heading into the day. Hansen has been able to build his stack up to $670,000 in the early hours of day three despite being seated at the ESPN featured table with the likes of Carlos Mortensen and Gavin Smith.
Chris "Jesus" Ferguson is arguably one of the most recognized poker players on the planet and as a result has quite the following. Ferguson's recent elimination instigated a buzz amongst the remaining players and crowd. Sympathetic groans and disappointed comments were heard all around the Amazon room when tournament officials announced Ferguson's departure. Ferguson pushed all in from the small blind following a raise from the player in seat seven. Seat seven made the call and both players turned over their cards. ESPN cameras rushed the table to catch the action and Ferguson turned over A
5
. The player in the seven seat showed Q
Q
and waited patiently for the flop. The board came 8
2
2
8
10
and Ferguson was sent to the rail out of the money. Players applauded as Ferguson left the tournament area and Ferguson's dream of repeating as champion will have to wait another year.
Isaac Haxton, known by many as the player who finished in second place at the
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and has a substantial amount of money tied up in Neteller, was able to double up to more than $160,000 in the first hour of day three. The player in seat two at Haxton's table pushed all in on the button and Haxton took only a moment before calling from the big blind. The player in seat two exposed 3
3
and Haxton showed A
8
. The board came Q
8
4
6
K
and Haxton took down the huge pot.
Tor Helness, hailing from Norway and qualifying on
PokerStars, also took down a huge pot in the early hours and almost gave himself a heart attack in the process. Helness pushed all in with 9
9
and was called by the player in seat nine with A
K
. The tv cameras gathered, causing the dealer to pause for extended periods of time between dealing out the flop, turn and river. The flop came Q
3
2
and Helness could hardly stand the anticipation. The turn was the 6
and Helness only had to dodge one more card. The river brought the Q
and Helness was able to finally double up to $135,000.
Card Player writer Craig Tapscott handled a request from a fan to meet Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi at table #6. Sorel was surprised to see the fan was Norm McDonald. Norm shared that he has watched Imper1um play online for quite some time.
"What's your screen name," asked Mizzi.
"I'm not telling YOU," said McDonald.
They both laughed. Norm stepped back and continued to watch the Internet phenom dominate his table. Tapscott will be interviewing Sorel Mizzi all day on the breaks in our
Pro Blogs section.
| Cliff Josephy |
346,400 |
| Kirk Morrison |
370,000 |
| Hasan Habib |
325,000 |
| Thor Hansen |
310,000 |
| Chad Brown |
270,000 |
| Daniel Alaei |
260,000 |
| Chip Jett |
210,000 |
| Robert Mizrachi |
179,000 |
| Tobey Maguire |
130,000 |
| Todd Brunson |
122,000 |
| Jason Lester |
107,000 |
| Ted Forrest |
95,000 |
| Tony Hachem |
83,000 |
| Gavin Smith |
80,000 |
| Scotty Nguyen |
68,000 |
| Amnon Filippi |
68,000 |
| Humberto Brenes |
61,000 |
| J.C. Tran |
50,000 |
Player Tags: Chris Ferguson, Gus Hansen, Gavin Smith, Tor Helness, Norman MacDonald, Sorel Mizzi, Isaac Haxton
