2009 WSOP: $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Event #6, Day 1 – Glantz, Oppenheim Lead
It was slow going to start off Event #6 at the 2009 World Series of Poker, with no eliminations until just before the dinner break. Blame part of that on the triple-sized starting stack, part of that on the nature of seven-card stud, and a fair chunk on the type of player who is willing and able to pay $10,000 for a shot at the Seven-Card Stud World Championship. 142 players took to the felt in the Brasilia Room for Day 1 of the event, and 102 of them made it through to Day 2, with Matt Glantz and David Oppenheim leading the survivors.
The field was predictably stacked, with many of the biggest names in the game ponying up $10,000 for a chance at the bracelet. Among the stars in the field were Chad Brown, Tony G, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, Michael Mizrachi, and Scotty Nguyen. 2008 champ Eric Brooks was in the house as well, trying to defend his title.
With such a tough field, almost every table was a potential “Table of Doom,” but one player in particular had a tough draw. Pawel Andrzejewski settled into his seat and looked around to find Yuval Bronshtein, David Benyamine, Jen Harman, Nick Schulman, Barry Greenstein, Eli Elezra, and Andy Bloch all staring back at him across the felt. Andrzejewski made a good showing for himself, surviving Day 1 on one of the toughest tables in the room.
It took awhile for the eliminations to begin, but among the Day 1 casualties were Perry Friedman, Tony G, Greg Raymer, and Bill Chen. Chen lost most of his chips to Mel Judah when Judah showed (A♦K♠) 6♦J♣K♥A♠ (Q♦) for aces up. Chen mucked and headed to the rail shortly thereafter. Bruno Fitoussi took out Raymer when the 2004 World Champ went all the way with queens up and four to a flush. Fitoussi caught up and made a straight to send Raymer packing after he autographed his “fossil of the day” for Fitoussi.
At the close of Level 8, a card was drawn to set the number of hands remaining at four, sparking Daniel Negreanu into action in an effort to accumulate enough chips to play Day 2 or bust out. Negreanu tripled up with jacks full of deuces on one of the last hands of Day 1 to give him enough ammunition to return on Day 2.
Annie Duke wasn’t so fortunate, however, when she was sent to the rail at the hands of Sam Grizzle. Duke was all in on fourth street with a final board of 2♠6♥10♥J♦ showing. Grizzle and another player bet on all three remaining streets for the side pot. At the showdown, Grizzle tabled (A♠A♦) 4♠Q♥K♠9♠ (K♦) for aces up, and took down the pot as Duke mucked and the other opponent could only produce queens and threes.
The day ended with two players, Matt Glantz and David Oppenheim, in contention for the chip lead, with Glantz tentatively declared the leader at 100,000. Other notable survivors included Benjamin Lin (who won a stud bracelet in 2006), Todd Brunson, Johnny Chan, Steve Billirakis, and "Miami" John Cernuto. Join PokerNews at 2PM local time for all the live updates from the $10,000 Stud World Championship.
