2010 World Series of Poker Day 29: Hamrick and Gordon Both Win Their First WSOP Bracelets
Day 29 of the World Series of Poker saw Dean Hamrick and Ian Gordong both win their first WSOP bracelets, and Gavin Smith put himself in position to do the same. Also, many notables survived Day 1 of the pot-limit Omaha hi-low event, and more.
Event #42: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Scott Montgomery and Eric Buchman, members of the 2008 and 2009 November Nine respectively, have won WSOP bracelets this summer, and now the man who bubbled the first November Nine, Dean Hamrick, has joined them.
Hamrick beat out a field of 2,521 players, 25 of them yesterday alone, to win a whopping $604,222, and his first WSOP bracelet. It took over 15 hours to decide a winner on Friday night, and the final hand saw Hamrick all in holding A♦Q♥ against the A♠9♠ of his opponent, Thomas O'Neal. The board would not bring the help O'Neal needed coming down A♥2♣K♦7♠8♠, sealing the win for Hamrick.
For a full look at how the final table played out, check our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #43: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship
With 241 of the worlds best poker players taking the felt for this event, it's doubtful anyone but Ian Gordon himself picked him to win this event. But win is just what Gordon did by defeating Englishman Richard Ashby who was going for his second WSOP bracelet this year, taking home the coveted WSOP bracelet and $611,666.
Like Event #42, it was an extremely long final day as 23 players returned on Friday to play down to a winner, however, play went from three-handed to a winner in the blink of an eye. First, Gordon eliminated Eugene Katchalov when both players were virtually all in preflop in limit hold'em. Gordon flopped the second nut flush holding K♦J♦, and Katchalov could not hit any miracles with his pocket sevens.
The final hand saw Gordon and Ashby put the majority of their stacks in preflop again, this time with Gordon holding pocket nines and Ashby A♦J♦. The 6♥10♥8♦ flop and the 10♣ turn were no help to Ashby who had the rest of his chips go in on the turn and said, " I think you've got me, but I have to go all-in." The K♦ river was also no help to Ashby, and he was eliminated in second place, earning $378,027.
Check out all the eliminations, and final table action by checking out our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #44: $2,500 Mixed Hold'em
In one of the true shockers of this year's WSOP, play actually reached a final table at the conclusion of Day 2 of this mixed hold'em event, and it will be Jarred Solomon and Gavin Smith who go into Saturday's final table neck and neck, both with about 745,000 in chips.
Smith, who has won a number of a major poker tournaments over the course of his career will be looking to finally add a WSOP bracelet to his list of achievements. Smith got himself into good chip position by eliminating Steven Kelly, the Event #39 winner, in 11th place. Smith opened to 27,000 with A♦K♦, and Kelly moved all in for his last 180,000 holding J♥8♦. The 10♥6♣9♠ flop was fantastic for Kelly, giving him an open-ended straight draw. The J♠ on the turn was even better, for Kelly, as it gave him top-pair to go along with his draw, but the K♥ that fell on the river ended Kelly's bid for back-to-back wins and catapulted Smith to the top of the chip counts.
Can Gavin Smith finally win his first WSOP bracelet? Keep your browsers logged in to our WSOP live reporting pages for all the details.
Event #45: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Another $1,500 no-limit hold'em Day 1 is in the books, and this event in particular saw a massive field of 3,097 players hit the felt. When the day was complete, less than 400 players remained, and Will Failla is leading the way with 156,000.
Also among the notables who will be returning for Saturday's Day 2 are Chino Rheem, Dutch Boyd, Theo Tran, John Phan, John Juanda, David Chicotsky, Jonathan Little, Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin, and Adam Junglen.
Day 2 gets under way at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, and you can get all your updates from our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #46: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Split
Just under 300 players forked over the $5,000 to take part in this action-packed, split pot tournament and when play was complete, 130 remained, led by Colin Burton who accumulated 91,700.
Also in the hunt are James Dempsey, who has had an outstanding WSOP so far,Mike Matusow, Team PokerStars Pros Barry Greenstein and Alexander Kravchenko, Vladimir Shchemelev, Dan Heimiller, Phil Hellmuth, Erick Lindgren, Howard Lederer and Kathy Liebert.
Play resumes Saturday at 3 p.m. and PokerNews is bringing you all the action in our WSOP live reporting pages.
On Tap
The standard weekend $1,000 buy-in event kicks off at noon on Saturday, as does a $2,500 mixed-game event, which kicks off at 5 p.m. You can get updates on both in our WSOP live reporting pages.
Video of the Day
The final table of Friday's $1,500 event almost turned into a UFC octagon as MMA fighter Mike Swick made a deep run. Gloria Balding caught up with Swick to discuss the correlation between MMA fighting and poker.
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