2010 World Series of Poker Day 8: Grinder Looking for Bracelet Number Two, and LeFrancois Wins His First
With one full week of poker in the books at the World Series of Poker Day 8 saw Pascal LeFrancois take down a WSOP bracelet in Event #8, JJ Liu made the Event #9 final table, and Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi in the hunt for his second WSOP bracelet of the summer.
Event #8 $1,500 no-limit hold'em
When Day 3 started with 25 players, all eyes were on Phil Hellmuth who was making a charge for his 12th WSOP bracelet, but when the day was complete, it was Pascal LeFrancois who was sitting in front of the giant stack of chips holding his first WSOP bracelet and the winning cards. LeFrancois was fierce during the final two tables, knocking out six players on his way to the final table chip lead.
LeFrancois changed gears when nine-handed play began, allowing the other players to do all the work as he crept closer to the $569,974 payday. When play got three-handed, it was time for LeFrancois to light it up again, and he eliminated Kevin Howe in third place when his pocket kings held up against the A♠10♠ of his opponent. Heads-up play was fast, and after about forty-five minutes both LeFrancois and Max Steinberg saw a J♣4♣K♥ flop. Steinberg bet 140,000 and LeFrancois made the call, bringing the 5♥ on the turn. Steinberg led out again, this time for 360,000, and once again LeFrancois slid out the chips to make the call. When the 10♦ hit on the river, Steinberg moved all-in and after asking for a count, called. Steinberg flipped over 4♥3♦ and jumped out of his chair revealing the J♠6♣ to seal the deal.
Phil Hellmuth, who started the day in prime position with over 500,000 in chips, couldn't get anything going on Friday. His stack slipped and slipped before he finally made a stand holding Q♦9♦ with his last 80,000. Scott Vener made the call with A♣6♣ and the board was unable to help the eleven-time WSOP champion.
Read all about the Day 3, and the final table by checking out our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #9 $1,500 pot-limit hold'em
When Day 2 of the $1,5000 pot-limit hold'em event began, James Dempsey held a big chip lead, and when the day concluded, he was still at the top of the counts, just 5,000 chips behind the chip leader Steve Chanthabouasy.
Dempsey found himself in one of those "Hold, one time!" situations in a three-way all-in pot holding K♣K♦, against Kenneth Krouner's pocket queens, and Joe Gotlieb's pocket nines. Miraculously, the kings held, and Dempsey will see if he can end the day atop the leaderboard again on Saturday when the final nine, which includes poker pro JJ Liu, will battle it out for the $197,470 first prize.
Follow the final table live at 3 p.m. Saturday in our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #10 $10,000 seven-card stud
It seems as if Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and Vladimir Schmelev have some unfinished business to handle after going heads-up in the $50,000 Players Championship earlier this week ― the two men are sitting in third and first places respectively with just 12 players remaining.
Play was fast and furious with bust-outs coming at a frantic pace until players reached the money bubble with 17 players remaining. Tony G, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Todd Brunson and Scotty Nguyen were unable to hit a rush of cards to propel them into the money.
Can Mizrachi grab hold of his second WSOP bracelet in a week? Follow our WSOP live reporting pages at 3 p.m. today when play resumes to find out.
Event #11 $1,500 no-limit hold'em
Another 2,563 player plunked down $1,500 Friday with the hopes of earning WSOP glory and a boatload of cash, and when the bags were brought out at the end of play only 297 remained bringing the field only 27 places from them money.
Venkatesh Gupta ended the day just under the 200k mark and is the chip leader, followed by Blair Hinkle who sits in fifth with 112,400 and Casey Jarzabek sitting seventh with just over 100k.
Join PokerNews Saturday and follow the action in our WSOP live reporting pages as the field plays its way to a final table starting at 2:30 p.m.
Event #12 $1,500 limit hold'em
It took a little more time than usual to hear the familiar cry of "all in!" at the Rio during Friday's evening limit hold'em event as 625 players engaged in forced small-ball battle. Among those who entered only 177 will return on Saturday to make a WSOP bracelet run.
Phil Ivey jumped out to an early lead and looked like he was going to break away from the pack but he eventually faded and ended the day with only about 13,000. David Williams, however, may not have started as fast as Ivey, but he finished strong and sits in third place with 41,800.
Also taking the felt Saturday are Jeff Madsen, Jeff Shulman, Sorel Mizzi, Marco Traniello, Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein, John Juanda, and Ted Forrest.
Play will resume at 3 p.m. in the Amazon room; you can follow all the action in our WSOP live reporting pages.
On Tap
Another boatload of players will enter the Rio Pavilion Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m. for the second $1,000 no-limit hold'em event of the year. Tune in with our WSOP live reporting pages.
Video of the Day
Catch up on what reining WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada has been up to so far at this years WSOP.
