Today we will see players gather for Event #31: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em at the 45th Annual World Series of Poker. The price of registration gets you a starting stack of 4,500 chips, 60-minute levels, and a chance to be smiling proudly with one of those enviable gold bracelets at the end of it all, not to mention the prize money that comes with it.
This is the third full-ring, $1,500 buy-in, no-limit hold’em event of the 2014 WSOP besides the Millionaire Maker. Both of the previous ones have had fields of over 2,000 players and we expect the same or better for this event.
Last year, Jason Duval won this event. Duval, from Quebec, Canada, earned $521,202 when he became the last player with chips in a field of 2,115 players. It’s quite possible that we will see Duval entering this tournament today to try to defend his title, as we’ve seen him playing several other events in the series already.
Action gets under way at 12 noon and players will have to survive 11 levels before they will bag up their chips for Day 2. Follow the PokerNews live update blog throughout the day to stay caught up on the action.
We just caught the tail end of a big hand in which Justin Young managed to knock a player out. Young was kind enough to give us some the details as we barely scribbled down the board and the cards.
Young had raised preflop and called the three-bet from the player on his left after which the flop brought out . Young check-called a 300-chip bet and on the turn the popped up. Young checked again and this time his opponent bet 1,000 with about 1,000 left behind.
Young put his opponent all in with and he was called by . The river brought the and Young raked in this big pot in the second level of the day.
Barry Greenstein tossed in some chips in the small blind to call a raise preflop and four players went to a flop. The dealer dealt out and Greenstein led out for 400. The player on his left in the big blind pushed all in and everyone folded except for Greenstein, who made the call.
Greenstein:
Opponent:
The turn of paired the board but made little difference to the hand. But the on the river gave Greenstein the flush and his opponent surrendered all of his chips to Greenstein's stack.
On a flop of , Mark Reilly was thinking of what action to take with a bet of 2,000 sitting in front of his opponent, Allen Kessler. After a minute, he raised to 6,500 and Kessler snap-shoved hardly a second after the raise hit the felt. Reilly called and showed the nut flush draw with to Kessler's flopped set with . The turn was the to add a straight draw to Reilly's outs. The river fell and Reilly completed the straight to win the pot, eliminating Kessler from the tournament.
"So disgusting," Kessler muttered as he walked away from the table.
Antonio Esfandiari was all in on a flop of with to his opponent's . The dealer dropped an on the turn and completed the board with a river , and Esfandiari scored the double up.
After the hand, Antonio said "I guess I won't be making the 10K before dinner..." and then followed that up with, "I'd love to get it in dark with somebody."
The PokerNews Podcast crew covers several huge stories, including the PokerStars sale, Mike Matusow's penalty, and the decline of pot-limit hold'em. They are then joined by defending Main Event champion Ryan Riess to talk about his banner, his recent run bad, and much more.
Kitty Kuo opened to 800, and action folded around to Antonio Esfandiari, who called in the big blind. The dealer fanned out a flop, and Esfandiari check-raised a bet of 700 from Kuo, to 2,050. Kuo announced all in and Esfandiari thought for a moment before making the call, putting Kuo at risk.
Kuo:
Esfandiari:
Kuo had flopped a set and had Esfandiari in big trouble. The turn and river changed nothing and Kuo crippled Esfandiari with the double up.
Esfandiari has chipped up a small amount as he shoved preflop the next three hands, winning the blinds and antes.
The PokerNews MyStack App is available for players here in the 2014 World Series of Poker, allowing players to directly update their chip count on the PokerNews Live Reporting page for their friends and family to see.
You can download the app for iPhone or Android now to get started. Then, create a new PokerNews account or update your current one to start updating your status immediately. Your followers can see all the live action that you're involved in.
Be forewarned, however, any abuse of the app will result in account suspension or termination.
Niall Farrell raised to 1,700 from under the gun and Perry Friedman on the button was the only player to call him. The flop was and Farrell led out for 2,000. Friedman raised it up to 7,000 and Farrell pushed all in. Friedman snap-called and the two were set for a sweat.
Farrell:
Friedman:
Farrell's top two pairs were the best but at risk against Friedman's top pair with a flush draw. The on the turn was harmless, but the on the river completed the flush and Farrell was sent home for the night.
Day 1 of Event #31: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em at the 45th Annual World Series of Poker is in the books. After 11 levels of play, the field is down to 187. The total amount of entries reached 1,631, creating a prize pool of $2,201,850. The field was quite a bit smaller than last year when, in 2013, Jason Duval won this event. Duval, from Quebec, Canada, earned $521,202 when he became the last player with chips in a field of 2,115 players.
This year, the champion will take home $418,435. There will be 171 places paid and a min-cash is worth $2,906. Earning a seat at the final table will have you walking away with no less than $29,658.
Leading the way on Day 1 was Jason Pritchard with 142,400. Other top stacks at the end of play were Kyle Weir (130,000), Guillame Fourcade (116,400), and Mike Del Vecchio (115,100).
Also returning for Day 2 will be Kitty Kuo and Bryan Reisner, and these two were involved in the largest pot of the tournament in one of the last hands of the night.
With a pot of around 30,000 and a flop reading , Kuo check-called a bet of 13,500 from Reisner. The turn brought the , Kuo checked, Reisner announced all in for his last 27,500, and Kuo went into the tank. After a few moments, Kuo apologized for taking the time, and eventually made the call.
Reisner:
Kuo:
The board finished off with a blank on the river and Reisner dragged in the 100,000-plus chip pot.
Event #31 attracted a lot of big pros and familiar faces. Some notables that bagged up stacks for Day 2 included Nenad Medic, Erik Cajelais, Ray Qartomy, Alex Bolotin, Vinny Pahuja, Ankush Mandavia, Adam Levy, Lauren Kling, Matt Stout, Ty Reiman, Daniel Idema, Max Pescatori, and Jackie Glazier.
Familiar faces not so fortunate were Vanessa Selbst, Darryll Fish, Antonio Esfandiari, Andre Akkari, Greg Mueller, Greg Raymer, Barry Greenstein, Faraz Jaka, Mike Leah, Tony Dunst, Jason Duval, Alec Torelli, Marc-Etienne McLaughlin, Allen Kessler, Liv Boeree, Phil Collins, Ami Barer, Xuan Liu, and Dominik Nitsche.
Day 2 will resume on Sunday at 1 p.m. PT inside the Amazon Room. The money bubble is sure to bust very quickly as the field is only 16 eliminations away from a cash. From there, it will play down a 10 full levels or until the final table is reached, whichever happens to come first. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all of Day 2’s big pots and bust outs.