2008 WSOP $10,000 NLHE Championship Day 1C: Granstad Breaks 200,000
Day 1C of the WSOP Championship event saw 1,928 players take the field, making it the largest Day 1 flight thus far. Amazon Room players were treated to the world-debut performance of "It's All About the Money" by country recording star Andy Griggs. In the secondary Brasilia Room, they missed the serenade, but heard everything they needed to when Tournament Director Jack Effel issued the command to "Shuffle up and deal."
Norway's Henning Granstad won the World Speed Poker Championship back in 2004. While we don't know how fast he played in Day 1C, we do know how long he played. He played all night long, amassing the largest stack of the three flights thus far, and becoming the first player to break the 200,000-chip mark.
As in the previous two flights, Day 1C had plenty of notables. Former WSOP Champions Brad Daugherty, Jim Bechtel, Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, and Huck Seed chose this day to play. 2008 bracelet winners Ryan Hughes, Matt Graham, David Daneshgar, Max Pescatori, Nenad Medic, David Singer, Scott Seiver, and JC Tran took the field. They were joined by, among many others, TJ Cloutier, Mike Matusow, Larry Flynt, Sammy Farha, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Evelyn Ng, Johnny Lodden, Michael Binger, Alan Sass and Brian "sbrugby" Townsend.
Andy Griggs' song may have lasted longer than Shawn Buchanan's stint in the field. Buchanan cashed four times in this 2008 WSOP, including a final table appearance. But in one of the first hands of the day, his flopped set of sevens ran into a flopped set of jacks. He got his remaining 300 chips in with K-10 only to run into a winning K-Q. Buchanan didn't have to wait long to have company on the rail. Minutes later, Huck Seed flopped trip sevens, only to discover that Chris Miranda had done the same. Miranda's ace kicker was good and Seed was the second player down with Vegas' usually lucky 7-7-7.
Michael Gracz got it all in on the turn with the best of it, holding K-Q to his opponent's Q-J on a board of Q-10-5-3. But a three-outer jack came on the river and Gracz was done for the day. Larry Flynt was crippled in a hand early in the day when his king-high straight went down to an ace-high straight. Flynt eventually got the last of his chips in with 10-7 only to run into an opponent's pocket jacks, and he, too, was done.
Scott Seiver pushed in the last of his chips on the turn with A-10 on a board of A-10-2-4. Unfortunately for Seiver, his big-blind opponent had 5-3 for the wheel. The river failed to deliver Seiver outs and his run was over. While Seiver leaves the Main Event without a cash, he will likely console himself with the gold bracelet and $755,891 he won for the $5,000 NLHE Event this year. Max Pescatori will also have to take solace in his $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em/Omaha bracelet-winning performance. Pescatori was all in on the turn with the board reading J-9-3-5, holding an overpair of pocket kings. But just like Seiver's opponent, Pescatori's opponent held the deadly 5-3 for two pair.
Mike Sexton couldn't catch a break on Day 1C. The last of his chips went in with A-K, dominating his opponent's K-J. The J-J-5 flop tipped the scales the other way, and blanks on the turn and river sent Sexton home. Johnny Lodden's day ended when his pocket fives lost a race against K-10 when a king came on the turn. And it looked like Isaac Haxton's A-7 was going to win its race against pocket queens when the flop delivered 6-7-7. Haxton didn't mind the four on the turn, but the queen on the river was a killer.
Even though his opponent had pocket kings, Terrence Chan had plenty of outs when he got his chips in with A♠Q♠ on a Q♦9♠5♠ flop; the rest of the board blanked for Chan. Mimi Tran went much the same way when her A♠Q♠ failed to overcome an opponent's K-10 after a 10♠3♦3♠ flop. And Roz Quarto might take issue with the whole "diamonds are a girl's best friend" thing. The Ladies Event final tablist was all in with Q♦Q♣ on a flop of 7♦3♦2♦. All she needed was one more diamond to overtake her opponent's 10♦9♦, but the rest of the board came up hearts.
Justin Bonomo barely had Kara Scott covered when all the money went in on the J♠5♥3♠ flop; Bonomo had A♠6♠ for the nut flush draw to Scott's flopped set of fives. The 6♣ on the turn changed little, and the case 5♣ was just salt in Bonomo's wound. He went out on the next hand, running his 10-8 into A-K. Marco Traniello soon followed when his pocket kings couldn't overtake Ryan Hughes' turned two pair.
The level following the dinner break always seems to be the most deadly. As stacks and stamina were on the wane, Day 1C held to the trend. JC Tran pushed his short stack in with A-Q, but Ed Brogdon's pocket jacks held. Antony Lellouche, Steve Paul-Ambrose, Kevin O'Donnell, Jeffrey Lisandro, Raj Vohra, Fred Berger, and Mark Gregorich were also swept away in the post-dinner elimination wave.
Kirk Morrison pushed all in on the turn with the board reading K-J-7-3. When Jim McManus insta-called, Morrison knew his K-10 was in trouble. McManus' flopped set of jacks spelled big trouble and Morrison was eliminated on the hand. Bryan Devonshire suffered a far crueler fate. Devonshire got all his money in with the nut straight holding the 9♥7♣ on the 10♥8♠6♠ flop. Arnaud Mattern flopped the same straight, but his 9♠7♠ had a straight flush redraw as well. Devonshire was eliminated when the A♠ fell on the river.
TJ Cloutier tried to push an opponent off a K-7-5 flop, but it's hard to push an opponent out when they're holding pocket aces. Cloutier's A-10 had few outs and caught none, sending the six-time bracelet winner to the rail. Just back from the last break of the night, 2007 WSOP Championship final tablist Jon Kalmar lost his bid for a repeat. All the money went in on the turn when Kalmar had the decided advantage. Kalmer held pocket deuces for the set against Serj Markarian's two pair with A-3, on the A-2-3-J board. The three on the river gave Markarian the better boat, and Kalmar set sail for the rail.
Tony G pushed in with a flush draw on a flop and caught an open-ended straight draw on the turn. But the river blanked for Tony G and he was eliminated. As the night was drawing to a close, Nam Le pushed in with K-Q and got called by an opponent's A-2. The board changed nothing and Le was gone. And Will "The Thrill" Failla may have been the last elimination of Day 1C when he pushed with A-Q and couldn't overcome an opponent's A-10.
Women seemed to fair particularly well on Day 1C, as Evelyn Ng, Liz Lieu, Isabelle Mercier, Clonie Gowen, Kara Scott, Shirley Williams, Lacey Jones, and Suzie Lederer all navigated their way to Day 2 play. And it was a good day for the poker media with PokerNews' John Caldwell and Tiffany Michelle both ending the day with chips, along with Bluff Magazine's Matt Parvis and Eric Morris. Poker author Anthony Holden also survived the day.
In all, 1,026 players remain from Day 1C play, with the top ten chip leaders listed below. Joining them on Day 2B will be David Singer, "Yukon" Brad Booth, Brian Townsend, Jeff Madsen, Nenad Medic, Soren Jensen, Sorel Mizzi, David Einhorn, Francoise Safieddine, Brian "tsarrast" Rast, Chris Moneymaker, Ryan Hughes, Mike Matusow, Bill Chen, Eric "Rizen" Lynch, Joe Hachem, Rhett Butler, Brad Daugherty, Archie "The Greek" Karas and many more.
Henning Granstad — 242,950
Curt Kohlberg — 173,050
David Baker — 163,450
Howard Berchowitz — 160,075
Arnaud Mattern --157,650
Diren Yildiz — 136,075
Josh Schiffman — 133,000
Evan Woodington — 127,125
Michael Souza — 126,100
Serj Markarian — 126,000
There is only one more Day 1 flight for the 2008 WSOP Main Event. Check back for all the action with the PokerNews "Live Reporting" team today for the latest.
