2013 World Series of Poker Main Event Underway; Evan Panesis Leads 584 Day 1a Survivors
The Big One has finally arrived. The 2013 World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event got underway Saturday afternoon at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The tournament which every poker pro looks forward to each year will see three separate Day 1 flights take place, and the series will wrap up when the November Nine is in place next weekend.
Three other events were in action on Saturday, none of which crowned champions. Winners will be determined in Event #58: $1,111 Little One for One Drop No-Limit Hold'em, Event #60: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em and Event #61:$10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha on Sunday.
Event #62: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event
A total of 943 players turned up for the first of three Day 1 flights of the 2013 WSOP Main Event, down from 1,066 participants last year. After five two-hour levels of play, Evan Panesis leads the 584 survivors who advanced to Day 2 on Tuesday.
END-OF-DAY 1A CHIP COUNTS
| Place | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Evan Panesis | 190,975 |
| 2 | Nick Crisp | 184,075 |
| 3 | Abdulaziz Almashal | 180,575 |
| 4 | Sergio Castelluccio | 175,825 |
| 5 | Michael Wehner | 170,325 |
| 6 | Jason Manger | 158,150 |
| 7 | Yucel Eminoglu | 147,425 |
| 8 | Gal Erlichman | 146,875 |
| 9 | Jon Lane | 137,075 |
| 10 | Scott Wesley | 137,075 |
Panesis emerged as the leader late in the day. The high-stakes poker pro from Kansas picked up a big pot after the dinner break when he had QxJx against 7x6x on a 10x9x8x flop, and he continued building throughout the evening to finish just above 190,000.
The most exciting moment of the day came in Level 5 when five players ended up all-in preflop in the same hand. After the under-the-gun player raised to 1,100, a middle-position player moved all in for 11,700. Right behind the shove, Mac Sohrabi was in the hijack seat and reraised all in for 23,100. Then, the player on the button called all in for 16,550 before action slid over to Yurel Eminoglu in the big blind. Eminoglu tanked long enough to have two players call the clock on him, and he eventually moved all in as well. Action then fell back on the original raiser, who snap-called, and hands were revealed.
Under-the-gun player: 4♦3♦
Middle-position shove: A♦10♣
Sohrabi: Q♣Q♥
Button: A♣K♠
Eminogla: J♠J♦
A large crowd gathered to watch the board run out 7♠6♥6♦7♣4♠, and Sohrabi's queens held up to win the main pot worth around 100,000. Eminogla scooped a side pot from the player who held the 4♦3♦ and moved to 150,300 in chips. The other three players were eliminated.
Several former Main Event champions graced the Amazon Room on Saturday. Pius Heinz, Joe Cada and defending champ Greg Merson were in the field looking to becoming the first two-time champ since Johnny Chan in 1988. Merson, who announced the traditional "shuffle up and deal" to kick off the festivities, coasted through the day to finish with 81,650, while Cada battled at the ESPN feature stage, dropping as low as 10,000 before finding a double up and ending with 26,100.
Heinz was eliminated quickly after the dinner break. With the board reading J♥10♦7♣7♠Q♣, Heinz committed the rest of his chips with7♥6x, but was outdone by his opponent's A♣K♠ for a rivered Broadway straight.
Other notables who hit the rail on Day 1a were Abe Mosseri, T.J. Cloutier, Mike McDonald, Raymond Rahme, Jason Alexander, Chino Rheem, Gavin Smith and Soi Nguyen.
While those players will have to wait another year for a chance at becoming world champ, many will return on Tuesday. Among those who survived were Dominik Nitsche, Elio Fox, Olivier Busquet, Nick Maimone, Dan O'Brien, Ivan Demidov, Rep Porter, Andy Black, Elisabeth Hille, Mike Matusow, Kenny Tran, Mike Sexton, John Henigan, Brian Rast and Dwyte Pilgrim.
The advancing players will reconvene with those that survive from Day 1b for a joint Day 2 on Tuesday at 12 p.m. The Main Event will resume Sunday afternoon with Day 1b, so stay tuned to PokerNews.com for up-to-the-minute coverage.
Event #58: $1,111 Little One for One Drop No-Limit Hold'em
Sixty-seven players began Day 3 of Event #58: $1,111 Little One for One Drop, but only a select eight are still in contention after 10 levels of play today. Nghi "Henry" Tran leads the octet with 4,130,000, as his trademark aggressive play, along with some good luck, has propelled him to the top.
FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS
| Place | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Nghi "Henry" Tran | 4,130,000 |
| 2 | Roland Israelashvili | 3,375,000 |
| 3 | Brian Yoon | 2,650,000 |
| 4 | Joe Morneau | 2,585,000 |
| 5 | Justin Zaki | 2,300,000 |
| 6 | Alexander Case | 1,760,000 |
| 7 | Cuong Van Nguyen | 1,050,000 |
| 8 | Kevin O'Donnell | 655,000 |
Notable online powerhouses Bryn Kenney andMike Sowers were among the first to fall today, and Allyn Jaffrey Shulman and Day 2 chipleader Joe Wilson weren't far behind. Gordon Huntly was the unfortunate victim of the final table bubble.
Once there, all ins were frequent but short stacks carried the day, including Kevin O'Donnell getting it in with the shortest stack and the worst hand but coming out on top in athree-way pot. Adriano Santa Ana was the only player to fall after final table play began, but others will surely be joining him early on Day 4.
Play resumes at 1 p.m. in the Amazon Room, and while the majority of the players in the room will be jockeying for early positioning in the Main Event, one of the eight players remaining here will be pocketing a gold bracelet and $663,727. Be sure to tune in to PokerNews.com to find out who the next champion will be.
Event #60: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Day 2 of Event #60: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em saw 297 hopefuls looking to set themselves up for a final table run. After 11 levels of play, only 15 still have a shot at obtaining that goal, and the player in prime position to do so is Cy Williams, who bagged up 1,372,000 in chips. Not far behind is Bijon Notash with 1,255,000, and Daniel Cascado (1,106,000), who just finished runner-up in Event #24 earlier this summer.
Several notables were eliminated throughout the day, including Manig Loeser (269th), Jeremy Ausmus (219th), Bryan Micon (162nd), Rupert Elder (125th), Bill Chen (112th), Lauren Kling (91st), Melanie Weisner (78th), Yuval Bronshtein (44th), and Jeff Madsen (33rd).
Meanwhile, a few notables are still in the hunt for the bracelet, including Hiren Patel (1,099,000), Ryan Julius (479,000), and Loni Harwood (669,000), who is the only woman to make two WSOP final tables this year. She'll go after her third on Sunday.
The final 15 will return at 1 p.m. and play down to a winner by the end of the night. Be sure to come back to PokerNews for all of the live updates, including hand-for-hand coverage of the final table.
Event #61:$10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha
The action was intense in the Pavilion Room for Day 2 of Event #61: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha. From a starting field of 386 there were 168 players back in action to start, and after 10 more levels of PLO just 32 remain with Alexey Rybin of Russia leading all with a stack of 977,000.
Rybin grabbed the lead early on Day 2 and kept it for most of the afternoon and evening, only losing it briefly to Mike Watson of Canada near night's end before claiming it back. Watson ended the day with 773,000 in second position, with Johannes Strassman (Germany), Nadar Kakhmazov (Russia), and Nicolas Faure (France) not far behind.
Daniel Alaei and Jonathan Duhamel also will be returning to big stacks tomorrow, as will the Ukraine's Oleksii Kovalchuk who is going for his third bracelet in three years. Alex Kravchenko, Tom Marchese, Nacho Barbero, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Stephen Chidwick, Tony Cousineau, Jared Bleznick, and Joseph Cheong will also be back to help round out a star-studded field of remaining players.
Play resumes Sunday at 2 p.m on Sunday. Come back then to follow all of the action as we discover who among these 32 will win the last preliminary bracelet of the 2013 WSOP.
On Tap
The Little One for One Drop will return for an extra day to determine a winner. Meanwhile, winners will also be crowned in Event #60: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em and Event #61:$10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha. And Day 1b of Event #62: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event will begin at noon.
Video of the Day
NBA All-Star Paul Pierce busted before the money in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event, but he still had a lot of fun on Day 2. PokerNews' Kristy Arnett caught up with Pierce early in the day.
Be sure to follow our Live Reporting page for continuing coverage of every event at the 2013 World Series of Poker, and follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
