The last deep run by Ben Lamb in the World Series of Poker Main Event came in 2009 when he finished in 14th place. Lamb earned himself a ton of poker recognition thanks to that deep run and pocketed $633,022 in prize money, but where did he finish on Day 1 during that quest?
Well, we checked back in our archives and found that Lamb played Day 1a in 2009 and bagged up 53,275 chips to end the day. Right now, he's sitting at approximately four times that amount as the day moves to a close here in the last level. That begs the question: Will bagging up nearly four times as many chips this year lead to an even deeper run in the Main Event?
In many, many tournaments, it's not so common that one of the early chip leaders goes on to win. In fact, in the WSOP Main Event, no Day 1 chip leader has ever gone on to victory. For one thing, it's quite a long ride to the end and plenty of things can happen along the way. Still, Lamb is setting himself up with the chance to do just that if he can hold onto the chip lead and emerge at the top of the pack when the day is done. Of course, he'll have to top the stack of 209,500 that Fred Berger bagged up last night and also hold off the other competitors from Day 1c and Day 1d in order to be the overall chip leader, but that could all very well happen.
If you'd like to relive Lamb's final hand from the 2009 WSOP Main Event, check it out here. He was eliminated by Jeff Shulman who went on to make the November Nine and finish in sixth place. Lamb has one other WSOP Main Event cash on record and that's in 2007 where he placed 156th for $58,570.
Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for our ongoing coverage of the 2011 Main Event just to see how far Lamb can go. He also currently sits second in the race for WSOP Player of the Year and we'll be keeping an eye on that, too.
Ricky Fohrenbach raised to 1,050 from middle position and the woman in the big blind called. The flop came and the big blind checked to Fohrenbach who tossed out a bet of 1,300. She quickly called and the turn brought the . Both players checked and they saw the fall on the river. The big blind bet out a rather small bet of 1,500 and Fohrenbach thought for a moment before releasing his hand into the muck.
After the hand Fohrenbach's stack was down to around 62,000.
Perry Friedman came in for a raise under the gun, and action folded around to the hijack, who raised it up to 3,000. Action folded around to Friedman, who instantly went all in for 10,225, and the hijack called. The cards were flipped, and Friedman was on the right side of a classic cooler.
Friedman:
Hijack:
The flop came out , and Friedman stayed out in front. The changed nothing, as neither player held a heart. The river brought the , and Friedman scored the double up to get closer towards his starting stack once again.
With each player putting up $10,000 and going after the most prestigious prize in the poker world, you might think that the mood in the room would be tense and serious.
Quite the contrary, at least in the purple section, many of the tables are filled with smiles and laughter and the players seem to be having a really good time. One player who identified himself as "Big Ron" has his table (and the dealer) in stitches with his humorous banter.
We're only 45 minutes away from the end of the day so perhaps everyone is starting to (happily) realize that they've got a good shot of making Day 2 and are just trying to enjoy themselves.
We caught up to a hand to find Leo Fernandez checking on a flop, a player in late position then bet and made it 1,500 if Fernandez wanted to see a turn. Instead of simply calling Fernandez opted to raise and made it 5,000 straight. After some careful thinking the player in early position made the call.
A fell out of the deck for the turn and both players checked. The river lead to Fernandez going all in fairly quickly and the player in late position folding.
Nicolas Levi three-bet shoved for less than 10,000 chips, and was called by Robin Mitchell preflop. Mitchell's had Levi's crushed, and Levi was unable to catch up, eliminating him from the tournament.
Right after doubling, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow returned the favor to a player at the table. Matusow flopped a set of tens with on a board, and called an all in after the turned. His opponent held for the nut-straight however, and the river bricked.
Just like that, Matusow is back below 30,000 chips.