2011 World Series of Poker

Event #58: $10,000 Main Event
Event Info

2011 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
ak
Prize
$8,715,638
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$64,531,000
Entries
6,865
Level Info
Level
43
Blinds
1,200,000 / 2,400,000
Ante
300,000

Praz Playing Poker

Level 4 : 150/300, 25 ante

We've found a very familiar face over here in the Purple section of the Amazon Room, a face that just missed out on being the November-Nine kind of familiar. It's Brandon Steven, the 10th-place finisher from last year's Main Event, the last player shut out of Jonathan Duhamel's November party. He earned $635,011 for his run through the 2010 field, and he's done some good work on the felt in the meantime too. In January, he came close to the final table in the $25,000 PCA High Roller Event. He finished -- you guessed it -- tenth.

Steven is back inside the Amazon Room today, and he's giving this Main Event thing another go. Day 1c had been going along rather swimmingly for him, but he just ran up against Praz Bansi in a hand that fouled up his stack.

It began with a player on the button opening with a raise, and Steven called from the small blind. Bansi squeezed to 2,450 from the big, the button folded, and Steven called to go heads-up. The board ran {4-Hearts}{k-Hearts}{j-Clubs}{j-Diamonds}{q-Hearts}, with Steven check-calling bets on both the flop and the turn. On the river, there was about 25,000 in the pot when Bansi shoved all in for just less than 19,000. Steven would spend a long while in the tank, long enough that he had to apologize for taking so long. "Sorry guys, I got a real hand here." He repeated himself again, this time folding as he did. "I got a real hand here," and the {J-Spades} appeared on the felt as he mucked. Bansi took the opportunity to flash his airball {10-Spades} {8-Hearts} as he pulled in the pot, moving up to about 44,000.

We've apparently missed some other drama between the players, because they don't seem to be best of buddies right now. Steven got a little peeved about the Bansi needle, and Praz told him, "If you'd told me what you had when I asked, I wouldn't have done it." It might have been about how much Steven was playing, or a hand prior, we're not exactly sure. Whatever the backstory, Steven wasn't buying the explanation.

"That's the biggest load of..." he trailed off.

"It's the truth," Bansi said.

"Well go tell it to someone else," was the last word from Steven, glaring down forlornly at the ~13,000 chips he has left.

Tags: Brandon StevenPraz Bansi

"You Don't Have to Bet"

Victoria Coren
Victoria Coren

With about 5,000 in the pot and a board reading {5-Hearts}{2-Diamonds}{2-Hearts}{4-Clubs}, Victoria Coren bet 2,700 and was called by her opponent on the button. When the {8-Clubs} appeared on the river, Coren thought for a few moments before checking as she said, "Alright, you can have it. You seem like a really nice person."

The button did not immediately check behind, instead opting to consider his options. "You don't have to bet," Coren insisted. After a few more moments, Coren shot up in her chair as if she had just experienced and epiphany. "Oh my god, maybe you don't have anything. If you have a really bad flush draw, you have to bet," she concluded.

The button remained silent before putting out a bet of 5,300. Coren seemed as if she wanted to make the call, but instead pushed her cards to the dealer. "If I had a queen high, I might have called," she confessed. The button did not show his cards.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Victoria Coren
Victoria Coren
30,400
2,400
2,400

Tags: Victoria Coren

Floor To Table #368!

Level 4 : 150/300, 25 ante

Normally when we hear something like this, you'll see one of the members of our team scurrying to get to the table before the tournament director so we can catch all of the action and the full ruling. But this is the Main Event. When we heard it this time, five members of the ESPN crew came along with us, as did some other media personnel creating quite a cluster around the table.

On a {10-}{8-}{6-}{3-} board, seat four had declared himself all in for 13,375 into a pot already worth at least 20,000. The confusion came from the six seat, who was the last remaining player in the hand, because he had been unclear about what his intended actions were. The dealer told the tournament director that he heard the six seat say, "I call," and then a few seconds later ask, "How much?" The dealer had already instructed the hands to be turned face up, the four seat obeyed these instructions and tabled {6-}{6-} for a set. The six seat, however, denied ever saying, "I call."

The tournament director asked some of the players around the table and one confirmed what the dealer had heard. A couple of other players seemed more hesitant to get involved but everyone seemed to agree he said something along the lines of "I call." After the player refused for a couple of minutes to make the call, his {q-}{10-} was forced up by a second tournament director who confirmed the ruling and the last card was dealt.

Eventually, the six seat tossed in the necessary chips but still seems to be steaming about the decision. Luckily for him, he still has a very healthy stack with about 50,000 and this decision did not directly cost him his chance to win the tournament.

Fricke Treading Water

A player in middle position raised to 700 and both the button and Jimmy Fricke in the big blind called. The flop came {j-Diamonds}{9-Spades}{7-Clubs}, Fricke checked, and the preflop raiser bet 1,250. The button folded but Fricke called. The turn brought the {8-Hearts} inducing a check from both players and the river was the {6-Spades}. Fricke took the lead betting out 4,000 and his opponent thought for a minute before flashing the {j-Spades} and tossing his hand into the muck.

Fricke didn't reveal his hand but scooped up the pot. His stack has been stuck just over 20,000 since the dinner break but we wouldn't be surprised to see him make some big moves before the end of the night.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Jimmy Fricke
Jimmy Fricke
23,000

Tags: Jimmy Fricke

Not So Crazy Mike Caro

Level 4 : 150/300, 25 ante

Mike Caro, one of the elder statesmen poker strategy writers, earned the nickname "Crazy" Mike Caro decades ago. These days Caro is a bit more subdued and today he is a bit more subdued than normal. We've caught him napping in between a few hands and he's not conversing with the players at his table.

Maybe he's developing a new book of tells based upon projecting disinterest in what's going on around you.

Tags: Mike Caro

Poking Fun at the POY Leader

Level 4 : 150/300, 25 ante
Phil Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth

T.J. Cloutier -- who played Day 1a and made it through with a below-average stack of 16,000 -- has come over to visit the players at the secondary feature table.

"You'd think some star is on this table or something," said Cloutier with a smile, momentarily ignoring Phil Hellmuth who looked on. "I see Mimi is here," he added, referring to Mimi Tran.

Finally he went over to Hellmuth and mentioned something about how the Poker Brat currently leads the WSOP Player of the Year race. "I shouldn't say I don't care about it, because I do," answered Hellmuth. "But I want a bracelet!"

"Can't say you haven't had your chances," cracked Cloutier, and the table broke up.

Cloutier was referring, of course, to Hellmuth's three second-place finishes this summer. While Cloutier has won six WSOP bracelets, he also knows something himself about the pain of finishing second, having been runner-up not once but twice in the WSOP Main Event (1985, 2000).

Tags: Phil HellmuthT.J. Cloutier

Garrett Wins a Big One

Level 4 : 150/300, 25 ante

We caught the action with the button having 2,300 in front of him and a player in middle position raising to 4,750 with Brad Garrett still to act sitting behind the raise. He flatted, as did the button.

The {9-Hearts}{j-Hearts}{j-Spades} flop was seen three ways and the player first to act bet 6,000. Garrett called, as did the player on the button.

The turn was the {4-Spades} and the first opponent thought for awhile before finally checking. Garrett and the player in position both quickly checked. The river was the {2-Hearts} and once again all three players checked. Garrett tabled {k-Hearts}{k-Diamonds} which was good enough to win him the over 30,000-chip pot.

Garrett sits with 67,000 now and while we all knew that he was funny, we are quickly learning that we should take his poker skills very seriously.

Tags: Brad Garrett

Kitai Out but Here are Some Chip Counts

Davidi Kitai
Davidi Kitai

We didn't catch the hand, but we can confirm that Davidi Kitai has been eliminated from the tournament. In the meantime, here are some various chip counts from around the Orange Section of the Amazon Room.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Connor Allisen
Connor Allisen
117,000
-8,000
-8,000
Profile photo of Adam Junglen
Adam Junglen
95,000
30,000
30,000
Profile photo of Ted Forrest
Ted Forrest
84,000
1,000
1,000
Profile photo of Yann Dion ca
Yann Dion
70,000
28,000
28,000
Profile photo of Dan Shak
Dan Shak
59,000
-11,000
-11,000
Profile photo of Shaun Deeb
Shaun Deeb
58,000
31,000
31,000
Profile photo of Jeff Sarwer
Jeff Sarwer
50,000
5,000
5,000
Profile photo of Gavin Smith
Gavin Smith
46,000
-7,000
-7,000
Profile photo of Phil Gordon
Phil Gordon
45,000
-13,000
-13,000
Profile photo of Bobby Baldwin
Bobby Baldwin
42,000
-4,500
-4,500
Profile photo of Gavin Griffin
Gavin Griffin
40,000
3,000
3,000
Profile photo of Marcel Luske nl
Marcel Luske
39,000
4,000
4,000
Profile photo of Minh Ly
Minh Ly
39,000
9,000
9,000
Profile photo of Cody Slaubaugh
Cody Slaubaugh
35,000
22,000
22,000
Profile photo of Victoria Coren
Victoria Coren
28,000
-2,000
-2,000
Profile photo of Blair Rodman us
Blair Rodman
27,000
1,000
1,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Vitaly Lunkin
Vitaly Lunkin
25,000
4,000
4,000
Profile photo of Todd Witteles
Todd Witteles
24,000
12,275
12,275
Profile photo of Scotty Nguyen
Scotty Nguyen
22,000
-26,000
-26,000
Profile photo of Ronald Lee
Ronald Lee
19,000
-8,000
-8,000
Profile photo of Bernard Lee
Bernard Lee
15,000
-33,000
-33,000
Profile photo of Marco Traniello
Marco Traniello
10,000
-1,300
-1,300
Profile photo of Heather Sue Mercier
Heather Sue Mercier
9,000
-1,000
-1,000
Profile photo of Davidi Kitai be
Davidi Kitai
Busted
WSOP 3X Winner
Winamax

The Update of the Chips in the Section of the Purple

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Marc-Etienne Blais
Marc-Etienne Blais
84,000
4,000
4,000
Profile photo of Tyler Bonkowski
Tyler Bonkowski
60,500
-1,600
-1,600
Profile photo of Ryan Young
Ryan Young
58,000
6,000
6,000
Profile photo of
55,000
Profile photo of Justin Schwartz
Justin Schwartz
52,000
-2,000
-2,000
Profile photo of
44,000
Profile photo of Chris Moorman
Chris Moorman
44,000
15,500
15,500
Profile photo of
43,000
Profile photo of Andrew Teng
Andrew Teng
41,000
14,000
14,000
Profile photo of Eric Baldwin
Eric Baldwin
35,500
4,500
4,500
Profile photo of Steve Brecher
Steve Brecher
35,000
3,000
3,000
Profile photo of Hoyt Corkins us
Hoyt Corkins
34,800
9,800
9,800
WSOP 2X Winner
Profile photo of Steve Gross
Steve Gross
33,000
9,000
9,000
Profile photo of
33,000
Profile photo of Zo Karim
Zo Karim
31,000
Profile photo of Allen Kessler
Allen Kessler
23,500
200
200
Profile photo of Chris Bell
Chris Bell
18,500
-14,300
-14,300
Profile photo of Russell Carson
Russell Carson
8,400
-24,900
-24,900
Profile photo of Thomas Middleton gb
Thomas Middleton
Busted