LA Lakers Kobe Bryant pays tribute to Dr. Jerry Buss on a video screen in the Amazon Room at the WSOP.
Day 1 of Event #23: $2,500 Seven-Card Stud has come to a close. A small, but stout field of 246 competitors took to the felt today, and it was Kenn Wittock who proved to be the player soaring the highest at day's end. He finished with 48,900. Adam Friedman, who won the $5,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi/Lo event last year, bagged up 48,300 in chips and is right there with him.
Following not too far behind on Friedman's heels are Freddie Ellis, winner of the $10,000 World Championship Seven-Card Stud in 2009, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, winner of the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship in 2011, Rex Clinkscales and Mike Leah. Outside of that group of players, Gary Benson, David Chiu, Greg Raymer, Daniel Negreanu, David Bach, Bill Chen, Andrey Zaichenko and Cyndy Violette.
On the flip side of the coin, Jason Mercier, Phil Ivey, Sam Grizzle, Joe Cassidy, David "Bakes" Baker and Barry Greenstein were all eliminated.
While some great poker was played today, much of the news came from just before play. The World Series of Poker honored the late and great Dr. Jerry Buss with a few special words from WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel and poker pro Chad Brown. Then, an extremely special "shuffle up and deal" announcement was given via video by none other than Kobe Bryant to kick things off. A special framed photo of Buss was placed behind an honorary stack next to Ivey's seat to begin the day, and there were a lot of warm feelings in the room as the players exchanged stories throughout the day about Buss and his love for the game of poker.
With just over 100 players remaining, the action will resume on Thursday at 2 p.m. local Las Vegas time. Be sure to head right back here to PokerNews for all the live coverage.
For now, we'll leave you with Kobe Bryant's "Shuffle Up and Deal" to begin the day today, as well as some words of tribute for the late Dr. Jerry Buss:
With the tournament now down to the last few orbits of the night, a quick look around the room sees Adam Friedman still remain on top with over 40,000.
However Friedman now has a few other players snapping tightly on his heels; one of which is previous Seven Card Stud Championship winner Freddie Ellis.
With a completion ahead of him, Allen Kessler raised it up and three players came along for the ride; two of which were Freddie Ellis and Greg Mueller.
Kessler bet out on fourth and found two folds as Mueller was the lone caller before both players checked fifth. Kessler bet out on sixth with Mueller calling before both players checked seventh.
Ellis: / (folded on fourth)
Opponent: / (folded on fourth)
Mueller: / /
Kessler: / /
Kessler tabled his for a pair of aces while Mueller flashed the and folded his hand.
Rex Clinkscales had the bring-in and Phil Ivey completed. Both Michael Mizrachi and Clinkscales made the call before Ivey bet fourth and both players called. Fifth street saw Mizrachi take the lead with only Clinkscales calling as Mizrachi fired again on sixth with Clinkscales once again making the call.
After a complete then a raise from Calvin Anderson, Dario Minieri three-bet and was called by both the active players before he bet fourth and was again called round. On fifth street Minieri bet 300 and was raised by the original completer as Anderson folded. Minieri smooth-called as we went to seventh.
Minieri shuffled his cards for a few moments before peeking down at . He threw out a bet of 300 and his opponent swiftly called before mucking at the sight of Minieri's flush as the Italian moves to over 15,000 in chips.
After folding four hands in a row, David Singer completed all-in for his last 75. Both the bring-in and a third player called the additional 50 before checking fourth and seventh streets while fifth and sixth saw bets of 200.
Singer: / /
Opponent: / /
Opponent: / /
The original bring-in tabled his for fives-full to eliminate Singer.
Welcome back to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino and the 2013 World Series of Poker for Day 1 of the Event 23: $2,500 Seven-Card Stud. Last year’s World Series didn’t feature this buy-in for seven-card stud, but did have a $1,500 and $5,000 version which saw Andy Bloch better Barry Greenstein for $126,363 in the former, and John Monnette captured $190,826 for beating Huu Vinh in the latter. Vinh also also managed a fifth place in the one Bloch won.
The likes of David Williams, Stephen Su, Timothy Finne, Perry Friedman, Jeffrey Lisandro and Bryn Kenney each made the final of one of those events, and these players — as well as many other notable pros and amateurs — are expected to take to the felt later today.
With a total of four events running today, the three that already have cards in the air will more than likely feature a plethora of players that will be planning on playing Event 23. You can expect a continuous influx of competitors until registration closes at 9:40 p.m. as we are down to the final day of Event 20: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low 8-or-Better, the penultimate day of the Event 21: $3,000 Six-Handed and the start of Event 22: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha.
Event 23 is set to kick off at 5:00 p.m. local time with the PokerNews Live Reporting Team providing continuous live updates throughout the day of every split pair, rolled up aces and lucky seventh street, so stay tuned!
![[user80015]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
(folded on fourth)
(folded on fourth)
/ 
/ 
for a pair of aces while Mueller flashed the 
and folded his hand.
/ 
/ 
, but it would be Clinkscales' 
/ 
. He threw out a bet of 300 and his opponent swiftly called before mucking at the sight of Minieri's flush as the Italian moves to over 15,000 in chips.
/ 
