WSOP Updates – Event 47 – Big Field Surprises; Ravich, Eslami Lead
Friday saw the start of another 2007 World Series of Poker No Limit Hold'em tournament with the beginning of the $2,000 No Limit Hold em - Event 47. Once again proving that No Limit is the dominant game of the WSOP, players flocked to the Rio in droves for the start of the fast-moving tournament.
With the weekend finally at hand, plenty of home-game heroes and plenty of dead money lined up in yesterday's field, which in turn, brought out some of the game's biggest sharks. Notables seeing action on Day One included Evelyn Ng, John Gale, David Singer, John Juanda, James Mackey, Joe Sebok, Tom McEvoy, Adam Schoenfeld, Greg Mueller, Shannon Elizabeth, Brad Berman, Arnold Spee, Peter Feldman, Rene Angelil, David Redlin, and David "Devilfish" Ulliott.
The pro-heavy field provided plenty of early key match-ups with the toughest table featuring four of the game's elite players. Table 75 gets the day's award for the toughest table as Johnny Chan, Andy Black, Amnon Filippi, and Harry Demetriou took their turns at being table captain. Another solid table featured Issac Haxton, Eric "Rizen" Lynch, and T.J. Cloutier. Eventually, this table would get even tougher when Filippi soon moved to the stacked table.
The large field and strong pro turnout had a big effect on the bustout list because many of the game's top stars became casualties of the first day's action. Hitting the rail were Nick Binger, Barry Greenstein, Joe Sebok, Burt Boutin, Kathy Liebert, Clonie Gowen, Amir Vahedi, Phil Gordon, Andy Black ,Johnny Chan, Joe Hachem, Lee Watkinson, John Juanda, and recent prop bet winner, Erick Lindgren.
The big story of the day was that the enormous field of 2,038 decreased past the money bubble on the first day of play. The action moved so fast on Day One that the field not only broke the money bubble at 198, it also managed to pay out 55 additional players before the final hand was dealt for the day.
Going into Day Two, plenty of big-name players were still in the race for the WSOP bracelet and the $707,898 first place prize. Eugene Todd, Blair Rodman, Kirk Morrison, internet hotshot Jordan Morgan, Nick Frangos, Jennifer Tilly, Rafe Furst, T.J. Cloutier, and Pokernews.com's own Justin Shronk all hold solid chip stacks going into Saturday's action.
The top 10 chip leaders as we enter play today are.
Jess Ravich 201,800
Peter Horenstein 201,100
Pontus Khosravi 189,800
Ali Eslami 161,900
Eugene Todd 159,900
Jordan Morgan 127,200
David Chiu 124,200
Blair Rodman 124,100
Nick Frangos 123,400
Andreas Hagew 122,100
Make sure to check back with Pokernews.com for all of the exciting Day Two action from the $2,000 No Limit Hold'em Event #47 at 2:00 P.M. (PDT).
