2009 WSOP, Event 9, 10: Fox Leads $1,500 Six-Handed, Rosen Ahead in $2,500 PLHE/PLO
$1,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Event #9, Day 1 – Fox Leads the Pack
Day 1 of Event #9, $1,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em, kicked off Wednesday at noon. 1459 players paid the $1,500 buy-in for a game that enjoys tremendous success in the online poker world. This event drew out a strong contingent of both online and live players. Among those in attendance were Jon Turner, Maria Ho, Chad Batista, Jeff Madsen, Eric Froehlich, Clonie Gowen, Joe Sebok, Jeff Williams, Justin Bonomo, Peter Eastgate, Kathy Liebert, Ivan Demidov, TJ Cloutier, Chau Giang, Men Nguyen, and Jimmy Fricke. By the end of the day, David Fox was the chip leader with over 186,000 in chips.
Short-handed poker requires a faster style of play and as a result, a flurry of bustouts occurred early in this event. Justin Bonomo, Kevin Saul, Jeff Madsen, and Bryan Micon were all eliminated before the third level of play was reached. Rapper Nelly was also among the early casualties. On the flop of J♥A♦6♥, Nelly led out for 300 and was met with an all-in bet from his opponent. Nelly called with Q♠J♠ and was behind to his opponent’s A♣9♣. The turn fell the 9♦ to give his opponent two pair. The river failed to produce a jack and Nelly headed out of the tournament arena.
Isaac Haxton, runner-up in Event #2, $40,000 No-Limit Hold’em, came out of the gates swinging. Shortly after Ari Engel was moved to his table, Haxton and Ari were involved in a sizable pot together. The board read 3♥5♣8♣2♥ on the turn and Haxton moved all in against Engel. Engel made the call and was covered. Engel showed K♠K♦ and saw the bad news when Haxton showed 3♦3♣ for a flopped set. The river missed both players and Ari hit the brick. After the 20,000 pot, Haxton was one of the early chip leaders.
In a rematch of the 2008 Main Event final table, Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov found themselves both sitting at the same table during this event. However, this rematch would turn out to be a draw as both players were eliminated during Day 1 action. Audley Harrison, Heavy Weight Boxing gold medalist from the 2000 Sydney Games, was among those in the field. He managed to build up a nice stack to around 25,000 after knocking out an opponent with pocket aces.
After the dinner break, Jeremiah Smith started to chip up nicely. He went to dinner with only 15,000 chips and within two levels had moved up to 115,000. Italian pro Dario Minieri is known for a very fast style of play that can accumulate chips quickly. At one point after the dinner break, Minieri was up to over 100,000 chips. But the problem with fast play is that sometimes it causes epic swings. Such was the case with Minieri as he began to bleed off chips to his opponents. His final hand saw him shove all in with K♥J♠ only to be called by David Squires’ pocket aces. The aces held as Minieri went from penthouse to outhouse.
The fast pace of eliminations meant that players would reach the money by the end of Day 1. Shortly after the beginning of the last level, Jason Dreibelbis had the dubious honor of being this event’s bubble boy. He got his chips in holding pocket jacks, seemingly in good shape facing another opponent’s pocket eights. Dreibelbis was able to dodge an eight on the flop and turn, but was unable to dodge one on the river. His elimination meant the remaining 180 players were all in the money.
As play wound up for the day, Doug Lee temporarily vaulted into the chip lead after eliminating two players. They both were all in holding pocket nines against the A-K of Lee. An ace on the flop left both players drawing dead and Lee moved up to around 230,000 in chips. Play would conclude a few hands later with Lee falling to seventh chip position before all was said and done. David Fox finished the day in front, with Richard Freire, David Squires, Robert Lipkin, and Ken Aldridge rounding out the top five. Players will return Thursday at 2 p.m. PDT to play down to the final table of this event.
$2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em/Omaha Event #10, Day 1 – Rosen Takes Early Lead
Event #10, $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em/Omaha, also kicked off on Wednesday. This event saw a modest field of 453 players take a shot at the first mixed event of the 2009 World Series of Poker. By the end of the day Jamie Rosen emerged from the field as the chip leader with 110,200 chips.
Many of the mixed events tend to have star-studded fields, and this event was no exception. Some of the notable players in action for this event were Dan Shak, Katja Thater, Bryan Devonshire, Hevad Khan, Jordan Morgan, Daniel Negreanu, Scott Fischman, David Ulliott, Erik Seidel, David Sklansky, Phil Hellmuth, Robert Williamson III, and Andy Black.
Both Phil Hellmuth and Alexander Kostritsyn were eliminated in early action. Hellmuth showed up “fashionably late” as usual and got involved in a big pot against two players. By the turn, the board read Q-10-3-7 with two hearts and Hellmuth bet the pot. Only Danny Smith made the call. The river A♥ saw Hellmuth move all in and Smith made the call showing two hearts to complete a flush. Hellmuth showed Q-J-9-3 for two pair and headed for the rail. Kostritsyn was eliminated by Jay Heimowitz. Kostritsyn moved in with K♣10♣9♥8♥ and was called by A-A-6-5 of Heimowitz. The aces held and Kostritsyn would get some extra time to rest up for tomorrow’s events.
A plethora of pros were knocked out in this Day 1. Victor Ramdin put all his chips in the middle in a four-way Omaha pot and lost when an opponent rivered a straight. Marco Traniello was on the short end of A♠9♠ versus A♥K♠ and headed out after a king hit the flop. Marcel Luske’s pocket queens were outdrawn by an opponent’s pocket nines to send him packing. Phil Ivey arrived somewhat late to the event due to making the final table of Event #8. He wound up playing only one Omaha hand before being eliminated. Ivey moved in on a jack-high flop holding A-J-10-8 and was called by an opponent holding A-A-K-8. The turn and river fell babies and Ivey went home to rest up for Thursday’s final table.
After being eliminated in tenth place in the $10,000 World Championship Seven-Card Stud earlier in the day, Daniel Negreanu turned his attention to this event. He steadily chipped up throughout the day and moved up to 86,000 heading into the final hour of play. Andy Black and Clonie Gowen were not as fortunate. Both were short going into the last level of play and both were unable to survive to Day 2.
Play for Day 1 concluded with 104 players remaining out of the 453 who started the event. As play came to a close for the day, Jamie Rosen held 110,200 in chips to finish as the chip leader. Bjorn Verbakel was right on his heels with 103,400. Play will resume at 2 p.m. PDT and will continue until a final table is reached. Stay tuned to PokerNews.com as we bring you all the exciting action from this year’s World Series of Poker.
