2007 WSOP Overview, July 2nd — No Limit for Chandrasekhar; Brunson Seeks 11th
Action continued in four events on Monday at the WSOP, with Chandrasekhar Billavara the day's sole bracelet winner, taking the gold and the $722,914 first-place check in Event #49, $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em. In other headlines, 'Texas Dolly,' Doyle Brunson himself, will seek a record-tying 11th WSOP title in Event #50, the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship.
Billavara's triumph in the last of this WSOP's $1,500 no-limit freezeouts was limitless indeed, as he became the third player to perform a worst-to-first turnaround at the final table. Billavara began the final in ninth place out of nine, and overcame Greg Mueller, chip leader Taylor Douglas and the other competitors for the win. Douglas finished second, worth $467,101.
Brunson's first final table of the '07 WSOP highlights today's ongoing action, with Brunson fifth in chips among a powerful lineup including Patrik Antonius, Robert Mizrachi and Marco Traniello. These players are among those chasing chip leader Tommy Ly, who comes to the final with nearly 1.9 million in chips, with Mizrachi the only other player over a million. A $768,889 first-place prize awaits the winner.
Event #51, $1,000 S.H.O.E., saw 146 Day One survivors playing all the way down to a final table in a 12-hour session. Early chip leader Susie Genard was eliminated late in the session — though well inside the 72-spot money bubble — and Adam Geyer finished the day on top with 293,000 chips to lead the way to today's eight-player final. Names of note in the finale include author Michael Craig (fourth) and a short-stacked Chip Jett (eighth).
Event #52, $1,000 No Limit Hold 'Em (w/ Rebuys), kicked off on Monday, drawing 1,048 players. The field added in 2,336 rebuys and add-ons to build a total prize pool of over $3.2 million, with a first prize of $742,121 in wait. Justin Bonomo was the day's unofficial rebuy champ (with 19), while several big names fought their way through the wild early action to find themselves atop the leader board at night's end. The first three spots are occupied by Bryan O'Connell, David Williams and Daniel Alaei, with Steve Billirakis and Carl Olson also in the top ten.
Today's new entry is Event #53, $1,500 Limit Hold 'Em Shootout. Play began at noon in that event with the returning events scheduled for early-afternoon restarts. The latest updates in each are available in PokerNews.com's 'Live Reporting' area.
