Five-Way All In Highlights Most Interesting Hands from Day 1 of WSOP Main Event
Day 1 of the 2013 World Series of Poker wrapped up on Monday with the third and final flight coming to a close. With 6,352 players in the field, there was bound to be some big hands early in the tournament.
Here are just a few of the most entertaining encounters, in no particular order, from the three starting flights of Day 1.
1. The most interesting pot of Day 1 involved Yucel Eminoglu (pictured) and Mac Sohrabi, who found themselves caught in a web preflop raises and re-raises. Blinds were at 200/400/50 in Level 5 of Day 1a when the under-the-gun player raised to 1,100. Action folded to the player in middle position who moved all in for 11,700. Sohrabi, in the cutoff, shoved all in for 23,100. The button called for less with 16,550, and then Eminoglu tank-called with a stack large enough to cover all players from the big blind. Finally, the under-the-gun raiser snap-called with about 40,000 in chips, creating a five-way all-in pot.
Under-the-gun player: 4♦3♦
Middle-position shove: A♦10♣
Sohrabi: Q♣Q♥
Button: A♣K♠
Eminoglu: J♠J♦
The board ran out 7♠6♥6♦7♣4♠ and Sohrabi’s queens held up for the main pot, while Eminoglu’s jacks scooped the side pot. The other three players were eliminated.
2. Level 3 of Day 1a saw Dominik Nitsche and Tatiana Barausova play a hand that was considered the “hand of the century” by IveyPoker Pro Ronnie Bardah. At the ESPN feature table, Barausova opened to 700, and Nitsche shoved all-in for 6,500. Barausova called and turned over ace-king, which was ahead of Nitsche’s king-queen. The flop came Ax6x4x giving Barausova a pair of aces and a huge edge. But the turn and river fell queen-queen for runner-runner trips, allowing Nitsche to stay alive with a 13,200 stack.
Nitsche was saved from elimination and managed to run his stack up to 76,775 to end the day.
3. Double-check your hand, bro. Brendan Flaherty was the center of an outrageous three-way all-in hand after misreading what he actually had, mistaking 10♥6♦ for pocket tens.
It was Level 5 of Day 1a with blinds at 200/400/50. The hand began with a raise of 1,000 before a short-stacked player moved all in for 7,000. A player in later position re-raised all in for 20,000. Flaherty, next to act, looked once at his cards and snap-called. The short-stacked player held pocket nines and the raiser held ace-king.
Flaherty tabled ten-six, and explained that he misread his hand. The flop was great for the short-stacked player when it came J♣5♠7♠. The 4♠ on the turn gave both the raiser and Flaherty some outs, before the 8♥ fell on the river to give Flaherty a runner-runner straight with his three-gap unsuited hole cards.
4. Trap you like a Venus flytrap. Steve Zolotow has dozens of WSOP cashes and two gold bracelets, making him one of the more seasoned veterans in the field. So on Day 1b, he used his experience to carefully plant a trap to capture an opponent.
One amateur player had run his stack up to 45,000. Now booming with confidence, he was revealing his strategic plans to the table. Zolotow laid the bait by saying, “Don’t give away your strategy now. Just keep doing what you’re doing … it’s working.”
A short while later, the veteran and the amateur were facing off in a heads-up situation. The flop showed 2♦5♠3♦ with a bet already laid in front of the amateur player. Zolotow raised to 6,500 and sat still. The opposing player tried to get in Zolotow’s head trying to pick up a read before moving all in. Zolotow snap-called with pocket threes for a flopped set. The once confident player turned over A♥Q♥ for air. The J♥ turn and A♦ river was of no help to the amateur, giving Zolotow the double-up he had so patiently been waiting for.
5. Although not every hand was recorded, we can thank social media for providing us with interesting stories left by a variety of players from Day 1c.
Sam “SquidPoker” Grafton was one of the more lively players posting his fun stories. In one tweet, Grafton posted, “Just made a straight after raising 6♥3♥ under the gun. My table literally hates me.”
A couple of hours later he provided a more descriptive post telling his story of how he boated up.
Just made back door boat with 75cc on KQ575 Craised river to 7k and got looked up Now have 57k. Playing 80% of hands table pretty breathless
— Sam Grafton (@SquidPoker)
6. Amit “amak316” Makhija was another who posted a tell-all story on Twitter. Apparently there was a four-way all-in pot resulting in zero bust outs.
Just saw AA vs QQ vs KK vs JJ. All found a way to get it in except for JJ. JJ woulda made Quads. QQ wins, no one busts everyones tilted.
— Amit Makhija (@amak316)
Unfortunately, Makhija couldn’t provide further information, telling PokerNews, “I have no idea was the bet sizing was preflop or the exact run out.” Still makes for a good story, though.
7. What a fold, if it’s true. Apparently in Level 2 of Day 1c, a player somehow managed to fold top set of queens after an ace spiked on the turn.
Initially, a player in seat one opened to 300. Jeff Sarwer, in seat three, called, and Shane Schleger called from the cutoff. The flop came down Qx9x5x. Seat one checked to Sarwer, who bet 500. Schleger called before seat one reraised to 1,500. Both players called. The turn was an Ax and Seat 1 led for 5,000. Sarwer made it 10,000 and Schleger reraised all in for roughly 25,000. Seat one folded, while Sarwer called the all in bet for less.
Schleger tabled pocket nines for a flop set and Sarwer turned over pocket aces for a set of aces on the turn. Interesting enough, the player in Seat 1 told the table he folded pocket queens for a flopped top set.
Not too long after, both the player in Seat 1 and Schleger busted from the Main Event.
8. A royal flush is tougher to make than hitting a hole in one in golf. The odds of seeing a royal flush are roughly one in 650,000. An average golfer is more likely to make a hole in one at approximately 12,500 to one.
But for a table of nine players, all were blessed with seeing a royal flush run out right before their eyes. The sound of cheers spread through the room like a wild fire with onlookers snapping a shot of a rare occurrence.
Two players were heads up on a board of K♥10♥Q♥J♥A♥. A royal flush was on the board. One player moved all in, and the other called.
Pictures were being snapped from every direction by players both on and off the table. Now the players will have to wait about another 649,999 hands to see this phenomenon again.
9. Not so fast, Glazier. IveyPoker Pro Jackie Glazier has dozens of cashes for nearly $1 million in lifetime tournament-career earnings. With as much experience as she has, it was a surprise that she misread her hand for elimination on Day1c but instead unknowingly knocked out a player.
It was level four of Day 1c with blinds set at 150/300/25. After back-and-forth bets preflop, Glazier six-bet shoved all in. Her opponent tank called to show pocket kings against Glaziers pocket queens.
The board ran out five under cards, as she reached for her chips to pay her opponent. Matt Affleck, a pro player sitting across the table said, “Umm, you made a flush.” Glazier had hit a four-card flush on the river, sending her opponent home without even realizing he was already out the door.
Be sure to follow the PokerNews Live Reporting page for more exciting hands from the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event.
