2010 World Series of Poker

Event #57: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Championship
Event Info

2010 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
aj
Prize
$8,944,310
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$68,798,600
Entries
7,319
Level Info
Level
41
Blinds
800,000 / 1,600,000
Ante
200,000

This Tournament is Now Lunkin-less

Vitaly Lunkin
Vitaly Lunkin

Dragan Galic was all in for about 340,000 before the flop, and he was put to the test by Vitaly Lunkin who had him covered by just a single T1,000 chip.

Showdown
Galic: {A-Diamonds} {K-Spades}
Lunkin: {10-Diamonds} {10-Clubs}

Let's race, shall we? Galic stormed out to a big, early lead on the {A-Spades} {8-Clubs} {J-Diamonds} flop, and Lunkin could not catch up. The turn {A-Clubs} left him dead to his two-outer and the river {2-Hearts} secured Galic's double up to about 680,000.

Lunkin's last lonely chip went in as the ante on the next hand, and he managed to find a decent {A-Spades} {6-Diamonds} to work with. The board was {K-Clubs} {Q-Clubs} {6-Hearts} {3-Clubs} {Q-Hearts}, though, and an oppoenent with {K-Diamonds} {J-Hearts} made the winning kings up to sent Lunkin to the exit.

Nguyen-ing and Grinning

Scotty Nguyen
Scotty Nguyen

Scotty Nguyen had been sliding slowly over the last couple of hours, folding a lot of hands as he moved down toward the quarter-million mark.

Just now came a hand in which he was up against Edward Ochana, and by the time the pair had reached the turn -- the board showing {4-Diamonds}{A-Clubs}{7-Hearts}{9-Hearts} -- all of Nguyen's chips had made their way to the middle.

The crowd let out a big roar when the players' hands were tabled. Ochana had {A-}{4-Clubs} for two pair, but Nguyen had {7-Diamonds}{7-Spades} for a set of sevens. The river was the {3-Diamonds}, and Nguyen had doubled up.

"That's why you're the Prince!" yelled a fan from the rail. "You know it, baby," said Nguyen, his smile a mile wide. The crowd had been waiting for something to happen with Nguyen over at the secondary feature table for some time, and clearly were enjoying this turn of events.

Nguyen now has 620,000 -- below average at present, but out of the danger zone. Ochana, meanwhile, slides to 560,000.

Tags: Edward OchanaScotty Nguyen

Starting to Slow Down

The action thus far today (and really, for the duration of the tournament) has been unrelentingly furious, and we're all a little surprised to find ourselves down around 300 players left as the dinner break approaches. Just in the last hour or so, however, the pace has begun to slow noticeably. It's the first time in days that things have been calm and steady, and the clip of the eliminations is finally starting to taper off a tad.

The average stack is about 70 big blinds deep, and there just aren't many dangerously short stacks left in the room. Most of the middling stacks have plenty of chips to be patient and pick favorable spots, and it seems they're mostly content to do so for the time being.

We're about ten minutes from the dinner break.

Matt Keikoan Doubles

Rory Monahan raised to 23,000 from the button and Matt Keikoan shoved for 113,000 from the small blind. Larry Karambis called from the big blind and Monahan folded.

Keikoan {K-Diamonds}{J-Diamonds}
Karambis {K-Spades}{Q-Diamonds}

Karambis hit middle pair on the {A-Clubs}{Q-Hearts}{3-Diamonds} flop, but Keikoan turned a Broadway straight when the {10-Spades} fell. The river was the {4-Clubs} and Keikoan doubled to 265,000 while Karambis fell to 475,000.

Tags: Matt Keikoan

Morris Done Bluffing

Eric Morris sees his WSOP come to an end.
Eric Morris sees his WSOP come to an end.

Eric Morris has been grinding a short stack all day, and he made his last stand with {a-Clubs}{7-Hearts} against Kevin Stani's {10-Clubs}{10-Diamonds}. "One time! One time, dealer! I'm using my one time card," Morris said. But let's hope this wasn't his one time since the flop came {10-Spades}{6-Spades}{4-Clubs}, giving Stani a set. The {4-Spades} on the turn filled up Stani's boat, and after the {9-Spades} river, Morris wished the table luck and made his exit.

Tags: Eric MorrisKevin Stani

Ahmadian Survives Flip

The all-in confrontations are a little more nerve-wracking for players now that we're a few hundred players into the money. Elia Ahmadian got it in with pocket nines pre-flop and had to sweat a flip against Ryan Milisitis' {a-Diamonds}{q-Spades}. An eight-high board, {2-Diamonds}{8-Spades}{6-Clubs}{3-Hearts}{4-Hearts}, was just what Ahmadian was looking for. He and Milisitis basically switched spots in the counts.

Tags: Elia AhmadianRyan Milisitis

Galfond Update

Phil Galfond
Phil Galfond

Over on the main feature table, Phil Galfond started the day with a bit of a rush, quickly climbing up over 2 million chips by the first break. Things haven't gone quite as well for Galfond since then.

When we returned from that first break, Galfond lost a small chunk in a hand in which a short stack doubled through him. He lost some more later on a failed bluff attempt. He's mostly kept quiet since, folding to three-bets and hovering around the 1.3 million-chip mark.

Just now came a hand in which Galfond opened with a raise to 23,000 from middle position and got one caller behind. The flop came {6-Diamonds}{4-Hearts}{A-Spades}. Galfond continued with a bet of 25,000 and his opponent called. The turn brought the {7-Spades}, and both players checked.

The river came the {6-Hearts}, pairing the board. Galfond checked, and his opponent quickly bet 42,000. Galfond thought for a short while, then released his hand.

Galfond has about 1.25 million at the moment.

Tags: Phil Galfond

Small One for Lodden

On a {J-Spades}{3-Hearts}{2-Diamonds} flop, Johnny Lodden led out for 45,000 and Evgeny Shnayder called. Both players checked the {3-Spades} on the turn. The river fell the {Q-Diamonds} and Lodden bet 110,000. Shnayder made the call.

Lodden showed {K-Spades}{Q-Clubs} for the win and Shnayder mucked. Lodden is up to 700,000.

Tags: Johnny Lodden

Gerber Loses to Unlucky Turn

As poker players ourselves, we feel a touch of commiseration for Stephen Gerber right now. He five-bet all in pre-flop for 948,000 out of the big blind. His opponent, cutoff player Robert Pisano, tanked and tanked. He took so much time for his decision that Gerber finally called for a clock. When the clock was down to twenty seconds, Pisano made the call to put Gerber at risk of elimination.

Gerber: {k-Clubs}{k-Hearts}
Pisano: {a-Clubs}{k-Diamonds}

The ten-high flop was clean for Gerber, {10-Hearts}{2-Clubs}{9-Clubs}, but a brutal ace spiked on the turn, {a-Hearts}. A shell-shocked Gerber was off to the rail after the river came {j-Clubs}.

By the time Pisano was done stacking that pot he was up to 2.31 million in chips.

Tags: Stephen GerberRobert Pisano