2011 World Series of Poker Day 30: Ahmed Wins Event #47 and Mercier Goes for No. 3
Day 30 of the 2011 World Series of Poker saw a bracelet awarded in the $2,500 Omaha 8/Stud 8 event and the final table reached in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed Championship. The $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em and $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball events both played through the money bubble and a strong field took to the felt in the $5,000 Triple Chance No-Limit Hold'em event.
Event #46: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed Championship
Only 22 players returned to play the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed Championship on Wednesday. The final table of this event was reached midway through the day and Chris Moorman took the chip lead into his second final table of the 2011 WSOP. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier also made the final table and started fourth in chips.
Grospellier was a factor at this final table and made it to three-handed play. Down to 1.7 million in chips during three-handed play, he open shoved from the button with K♠10♣ and Joe Ebanks came over the top with pocket eights to isolate. The board entirely blanked for Grospellier who finished in third place. His third-place performance propelled him to second place in the 2011 WSOP Player of the Year race.
Chris Moorman retained his chip lead going into heads-up play with Joe Ebanks, but the stacks were relatively even with Moorman holding 7.4 million to 6.8 million. In the first hand of heads-up action, Ebanks took the chip lead. The two saw a flop of K♥Q♦J♦ and Moorman bet 125,000. Ebanks raised to 400,000 and was called. When the turn brought the 6♥, Moorman check-called a bet of 750,000. He did the same when the 4♦ fell on the river and Ebanks bet 1.5 million. Ebanks turned over 10♥9♣ for a flopped straight, taking the pot and the lead over Moorman 9.8 million to 4.4 million.
For the rest of the night, Moorman's stack hovered between 3 and 4 million. The hard stop ruled forced this to conclude before a winner could be crowned. Joe Ebanks will return with 11 million chips Thursday to try and finish off Moorman, who will begin the day with 3.2 million and try and come back from a 3:1 chip deficit.
Action will resume at 1430 PDT (2130 GMT) Thursday as the two players return to battle for the bracelet and the top prize of $1.15 million.
All the details on Day 3 of this event can be found in our live reporting pages.
Event #47: $2,500 Omaha 8 / Stud 8
Day 3 of the $2,500 Omaha 8/Stud 8 Event started with 21 players looking to make the final table in the only split-pot mixed game of the Series. The final table of this event was reached just after the dinner break, and all eyes were on Michael Mizrachi as he took an almost 3:1 chip lead over the rest of the field. Mizrachi was looking for his second career bracelet, but his challenge would not be a simple one since the remaining field was a strong one that included Scotty Nguyen, Abe Mosseri and Gregory Jamison.
Mizrachi dominated this final table, and once heads-up play was reached with Owais Ahmed, he held a 2.4 million to 965,000 lead. Mizrachi ground him down to 525,000 before Ahmed began his comeback. He took several pots in a row to regain the chip lead. The betting levels started to play a factor in the event and both players started to have wild chip swings, thus resulting in the chip lead changing nearly every hand.
Finally, the limits caught up to Mizrachi. Just after the start of the 50,000/100,000 betting level, Mizrachi lost the chip lead to Ahmed when he caught kings-up against Mizrachi. He was later knocked down to only 300,000 during Omaha 8 in a hand where Ahmed flopped trip fives against him.
The final hand of the match saw Mizrachi put the last of his chips in at the turn with the board showing A♣4♥J♦10♥. Mizrachi showed A♦Q♥10♠3♦ for aces-up and a Broadway draw. Ahmed showed Q♥10♣5♥3♣ for the same straight draw and a flush draw. The river brought the 6♥ to give Ahmed his flush and Mizrachi was denied his second bracelet.
Owais Ahmed took down the $2,500 Omaha 8/Stud 8 Event and won $255,959.
Find out how the final table was reached in our live event blog.
Event #48: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Day 2 of the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event began with 270 players looking to make some cash in this event and begin their march toward the final table. Garrett Utt was the bubble boy in this event. He got the last of his chips in on the turn with the board showing Ax2♠9♠3x and Heinz Pius made the call. Utt held 5♠4♠ for a flush and wheel-draw, and Pius held A♠Q♠ for top pair and the nut-flush draw. The 3♠ fell on the river and Pius' nut flush made Utt the bubble boy.
At the end of Day 2 action, only 30 players remained. Sebastian Winkler will head into Day 3 as the chip leader, but right on his heels is Matt "AllInAt420" Stout with 1.06 million in chips. Stout will be going for both his first WSOP final table and first bracelet. Yevgeniy Timoshenko is also alive in this event, but will start the final day as one of the short stacks.
Who made the money in this event? Find out in our live reporting blog.
Event #49: $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball
The second day of play in the $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event began with 105 players looking to cash and make the final table of this event. Only 30 players received a payday in this event and Thomas Hamlett was the bubble boy. Hamlett was down to around 1,000 chips and those went in for the small blind. Both Jason Mercier and Greg Raymer called and drew one. Hamlett drew two. After the draw, Mercier check-called a bet and Raymer showed 8x6x4x3x2x and Hamlett could not beat it.
At the end of the day, 13 players were left to return to fight for the last lowball bracelet of the year. Jason Mercier will return as the chip leader with 358,500 and is looking for his third career bracelet and second of this WSOP. Eli Elezra is right behind him with 327,000. Scott Seiver, Shawn Buchanan, Jon Turner, Galen Hall, David Bach, and Justin Bonomo are all in contention, as well.
For a full list of who made Day 3, read our live event coverage.
Event #50: $5,000 Triple Chance No-Limit Hold'em
A new event on the 2011 WSOP schedule was Wednesday's $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Triple Chance event. A field of 817 turned out for this event to create a prize pool of over $3.83 million. Poker's best and brightest turned out for this event, including David Williams, Joseph Cheong, Maria Ho, Daniel Negreanu, Shane Schleger, Victor Ramdin, Barry Shulman, Prahlad Friedman, Billy Kopp, Liv Boeree, Brandon Cantu, Vanessa Selbst, Allen Bari, Vanessa Rousso, and Men Nguyen.
After ten levels were completed, 297 players remained and Mark Herm finished as the chip leader with 148,400. James Akenhead, Johnny Lodden, and Allen Bari all finished near the top of the leaderboard.
We give you all the coverage you could want in one shot. Read our blog for more.
On Tap
Bracelets will be awarded on Thursday in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed Championship and the $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event. One is also scheduled to be awarded in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event. The $5,000 Triple Chance No-Limit Hold'em event will burst the money bubble and the true contenders for the title will start to emerge. Thursday will be the first day in a while that a new no-limit hold'em event will not be featured on the schedule. The 1200 PDT (1900 GMT) event, the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low, should draw a sizable field while the evening's $2,500 Mixed Hold'em event should draw a solid field of mixed variant players.
Podcast
The main topic of discussion on the PokerNews Podcast Wednesday was the Full Tilt Poker license suspension by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. Later in the program, Jeff Madsen joined the team to give his insight and have a few laughs. Warning: this podcast is not "Spa Approved."
Want to know what was said? Listen here and find out.
Video of the Day
Andy Black is in denial. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. Kristy Arnett caught up with Black during the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Triple Chance event to find out what Black is in denial about.
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