2010 World Series of Poker Day 12: Frank Kassela Nabs First Bracelet, Hamby Headlines a Final Table and More
Tuesday night, or rather early Wednesday morning, belonged to Frank Kassela. The army veteran captured his first WSOP gold bracelet after outlasting a tough field of 170 of poker's best players. Internet sensations are making themselves known in Event #17, and David Baker leads the nine remaining players going into the final table of Event #13.
Event #13: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em
Nine players have made it through three grueling days of play and will saddle up Wednesday at 2:30 p.m., and only one will walk away with a giant bundle of cash and the WSOP bracelet.
Jared Hamby, Daniel Thomas, Matthew Vance, Jeffrey Gross, Mats Gavatin, Nicholas Heather, David Baker, Kyung Han and Steven Gee are a solid bunch of online superstars, amateurs and live pros who all made their way through an absolute minefield to even get this far.
Daniel Duong was clipped from the official final table when he moved all-in for about 250,000 holding 10♥8♥. Baker made the call with A♦Q♠, and after a flop of 10♠3♣4♠, Duong's pair of tens looked good. Things looked even better for Duong to double up when the 5♠ opened up on the turn but, in true poker fashion, Baker spiked the A♣ on the river to end Duong's night just short of the final table.
Follow the final table as it happens through our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #15: $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better World Championship
Five years ago, Frank Kassela took a bad beat against former WSOP Main Event champ Johnny Chan when he was four-handed at the final table in the $2,500 pot-limit hold'em event. It was a tale that poker players everywhere know all too well: Kassela got all his chips in the middle with aces, Chan called with queens, and Chan spiked a third queen. That night, Chan won his 10th WSOP bracelet, and now five years later, Kassela has won his first.
The army veteran outlasted one of the toughest fields possible during three days of play to earn the Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low World Championship, bags full of cash and a gold WSOP bracelet. Kassela bested Allen Kessler in a relatively short heads-up match that came at the end of a grueling, long final table. Before Kassela could be crowned king, he had to outlast not only Kessler but Jennifer Harman, Steve Zolotow, John Juanda, Kirill Rabtsov, player of the year leader Vladimir Shchmelev, Dario Minieri and Gary Benson.
On an interesting side note, Kassela bubbled the final table in Event #12 just before the start of Event #15. Had he made that final table, he would not have played in this event, and the coveted bracelet would been awarded to someone else.
Check out our WSOP live reporting pages to find out how it all went down.
Event #16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed
Carter Phillips and Mikhail Lakhitov will be looking to ride the wave of their impressive Day 2 performances all the way to the final table when they return for Day 3 in Event #16.
Phillips leads the 16 remaining players with a stack of 922,000 in chips, followed by Lakhitov who holds 763,000. Lakhitov was nearly busted from the tournament by Phillips when he moved all-in with pocket jacks and Phillips made the covered call holding A♠10♦. Phillips hit an ace on the flop but Lakhitov hit it harder as the two remaining jacks were opened up, giving the Russian a nearly unbeatable hand. After the 7♠ fell on the turn, Phillips was drawing dead, giving Lakhitov the double-up. But losing to quads didn't signal the end for Phillips who had been near the top most of the day. He regained his lost chips and by the end of the night held the lead.
A few others who will be joining Phillips and Lakhitov for Day 3 will be Keven Iacofano, Thong Tran, Matthew Erzol, Hugo Perez and Mark Flowers.
Follow along at our WSOP live reporting pages to see how it all plays out.
Event #17: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em
Internet sensations were in control by the end of Day 1 as Jeff "yellowsub86" Williams, Amit "amak316" Makhija and James "Flushy" Dempsey amassed some of the largest stacks in the room out of the 225 players who survived Day 1. Other players with sizable stacks include Brian Rast, Chino Rheem, Antonio Esfandiari, Jason DeWitt and Bryn Kenney.
Day 1 was full of action, double-ups and bust-outs, with some very notable names getting shown the exit. Nacho Barbero, fresh off his LAPT titles was mowed down by Jason Mercier early in the day when Mercier put him all-in on a board of 5♠8♠5♥10♦Q♦. Barbero made what would turn out to be the wrong call as Mercier revealed K♦Q♠. The LAPT phenomenon mucked his cards before gathering his things and making his exit.
Others who soon joined Barbero included Noah Boeken, Hevad Khan, Humberto Brenes, Bill Chen, and defending Main Event champ Joe Cada.
Action will get under way Wednesday afternoon. Keep up with all the double-ups and bust-outs through our WSOP live updates.
On Tap
Event #18: $2,000 Limit Hold'em will begin at 12 p.m.
Video of the Day
Lynn Gilmartin catches up with Tony G on the break of Event #17. He's keeping up with his workouts, getting paid by Tom Dwan, and of course, poker.
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