"Have fun," Randy Ohel told Table 350 before collecting his things and exiting the tournament floor.
Ohel had just been victimized by John "Kicker" Roveto, who had made an eight-low. Ohel double paired, and he left Event #7: $1,500 Seven-Card Razz short of the money.
Way back in 1986, Berry Johnston won the WSOP Main Event. He was a staple at Binion's Horseshoe before and after that win, and for the past ten years he has been a familiar face here at the Rio. Today Johnston is looking for his sixth gold bracelet and his first since 2001 when he won $83,810 for his victory in Event #13 $1,500 Razz. That's the same variant as today's tournament, so the veteran certainly knows how to win in this game.
In a recent hand, which we picked up on fourth street, Steven Wolansky bet 1,000 and Johnston called. The latter proceeded to call bets on both fifth and sixth, and then both players checked seventh.
Wolansky: /
Johnston: /
Despite having two pair showing, Johnston caught good on the river. He played it safe though with a check and was awarded the pot.
Michael Block started the day with a healthy stack of 30,200, while Scott Adaska only had 17,700. Razz can be an extremely frustrating game to some, as Block found out here in Level 11 after hemorrhaging chips. On the flip side, Adaska has done nothing but add to his stack.
We missed the elimination hand of Block, who was sporting a Baltimore Ravens cap, but we do know that he fell with an eight-low to Adaska's seven-low.
Jean Gaspard got off to a bad start here in Level 11 and immediately saw his stack dwindle. A short time later, his tournament life would be at risk.
It happened when Gaspard completed with a and Michael Block and Matt Waxman both called showing a and respectively. Gaspard then bet his last 900 on fourth street, both his opponents called, and fifth street was checked. Block then check-folded to a bet on sixth.
"I made my jack," Waxman said.
"I made my ten," Gaspard responded.
Gaspard: / /
Waxman: / /
Block: (x-x) / fold
"We both caught a king," said Gaspard, who is nicknamed "The Prince." Indeed they did, and that meant Gaspard stayed alive.
Two men who did not though were Michael Gathy and Jason Whiddon, both of who fell over at Table 350.
Bryan Campanello topped a field of 301 players to win this event (or at least it's $2,500 buy-in counterpart) last year for his first WSOP gold bracelet. He also became the youngest player to ever win the razz title. Campanello, who was fresh off winning the WSOP Circuit Harrah's New Orleans Main Event for $175,459 and cashing in the National Championship, managed to make Day 2 in his title defense, albeit as a short stack.
Unfortunately Campanello was unable to spin it up and was recently eliminated by Alex Dovzhenko. We missed the hand, but from what we were told, Campanello got it in on fifth street with a draw to a six. He missed and that was the end of his title defense.
We missed when the chips went in — it appeared to be on either fourth or fifth street — but we do know that Hal Rotholz scored the first elimination of the day after making a nine-eight low against his opponent's ten-nine.
Rotholz: / /
Opponent: / /
Meanwhile, Keith Sexton, who began the day on the short stack, has been eliminated from the tournament.
The crew is back for another episode of the PokerNews Podcast from the 45th annual World Series of Poker. Jason Somerville talks about his 18th-place finish in the $1,000 buy-in pot-limit Omaha event, and the crew discusses the Jason Mo vs. Vanessa Selbst heads-up match along with Darren Elias' affinity for North Faces and the 2014 Scripps National Spelling Bee.