Back to the Grind
The tournament has resumed after a 90-minute dinner break, with 600 players left in contention and nearly 2,000 entrants in the books.
The tournament has resumed after a 90-minute dinner break, with 600 players left in contention and nearly 2,000 entrants in the books.
Moments after taking his new seat in the Brasilia Room's Blue section, 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Greg Merson took notice of fellow pro Roland Israelashvili's massive stack.
Sitting on more than 45,000 at the moment, Israelashvili holds 4.5 times the current average and is likely the chip leader with just under 600 players left in the field.
"You have a lot of chips there," said Merson by way of introduction. "A lot of chips."
"What do you know about a lot of chips," replied Israelashvili with a devilish grin. "How many did you have back then, one hundred million?"
"A hundred and eighty million..." said Merson, referring back to the moment he eliminated Jesse Sylvia to win the Main Event. "Something like that."
With two highly experienced pros now at the same table - one short-stacked and the other chip leader - it will be interesting to see how this dynamic plays out as the tournament continues.
Jogador | Fichas | Progresso |
---|---|---|
Roland Israelashvili |
45,750
1,750
|
1,750 |
Greg Merson |
3,800
3,800
|
3,800 |
|
Well that was quick.
A short time after noting Greg Merson's presence in the Brasilia Room, we saw him stand and make a quick exit from the table, his attempt to run up a short stack thwarted by Michael Merichko.
According to Merichko, he was holding the button when he woke up with , and with a pocket pair in the hole he open-shoved for his last 7,000.
Merson had a pocket pair of his own in and he called off his last 3,500 or so, but a clean runout left him with the second-best hand.
Jogador | Fichas | Progresso |
---|---|---|
Michael Merichko |
9,700
9,700
|
9,700 |
Greg Merson | Eliminado | |
|
After winning the WPT World Championship back in April for a $1.35 million payday, Keven Stammen is back for more here at the World Series of Poker.
We just caught the tail end of a confrontation which resulted in Stammen sending an unfortunate player to the rail, after the "Stammdog" caught a fortuitous four-flush runout to come from behind and steal a pot.
Stammen held , while his unlucky opponent had , and although the flop came king-high, hearts on the turn and river gave the pro a winning flush.
Jogador | Fichas | Progresso |
---|---|---|
Keven Stammen |
32,000
32,000
|
32,000 |
|
We heard a collective shout at the sight of a river card while recording Keven Stammen's recent elimination of a player, and after heading over to take a look, it turned out Idris Drief had cracked jacks with his pair of threes.
According to an extremely relieved Drief, he raised before the flop and one opponent flatted to see the dealer fan . With in the hole and a baby card board, Drief read his man for ace-king and fired away with a c-bet of 800.
The other player in the hand liked his holding, however, and he raised to 2,500, leaving Drief to make an all-in shove for 5,825 hoping he had caught a big slick bluff. Unfortunately for him the read was off base, as he was actually up against .
The turn card came to provide the requisite sweat, as Drief picked up a gutshot straight draw, but it was the on the river that left the table gasping at the suckout.
Jogador | Fichas | Progresso |
---|---|---|
Idris Drief | 12,350 |
Nível: 8
Blinds: 200/400
Ante: 50
A total of 1,940 entries were recorded in Event #9: ($1,000 No-Limit Hold'em), generating a prize pool of $1,746,000.
The eventual winner will take home $323,125, with the runner-up earning $199,829.
A min-cash in this event will be worth $1,972 and 198 players will make the money.
For full payout information for places 1-198, take a look at the Payouts tab to see the stakes.
With the field dwindling on every hand dealt and just 400 runners remaining, take a look at the updated chip counts for as many pros and notable names as we could find.
Jogador | Fichas | Progresso |
---|---|---|
Roland Israelashvili |
62,000
16,250
|
16,250 |
Amnon Filippi |
48,600
48,600
|
48,600 |
|
||
Chris Hunichen |
36,500
-13,500
|
-13,500 |
Faraz Jaka |
26,000
16,200
|
16,200 |
|
||
John Holley |
26,000
12,000
|
12,000 |
Mark Radoja |
23,400
13,600
|
13,600 |
|
||
Tony Dunst |
22,300
13,200
|
13,200 |
|
||
Paul Volpe |
22,000
15,700
|
15,700 |
|
||
Micah Raskin |
17,000
17,000
|
17,000 |
Shannon Shorr |
16,700
13,700
|
13,700 |
|
||
Amanda Musumeci |
15,500
-6,500
|
-6,500 |
Mukul Pahuja |
15,500
9,800
|
9,800 |
Rob Salaburu |
15,000
-6,500
|
-6,500 |
James Woods |
12,600
-750
|
-750 |
Tyler Patterson |
12,500
9,500
|
9,500 |
|
||
Lauri Pesonen |
12,000
-5,400
|
-5,400 |
Sean Getzwiller |
10,100
10,100
|
10,100 |
|
||
Joe Cada |
7,000
1,700
|
1,700 |
|
||
Olivier Busquet |
6,700
6,700
|
6,700 |
During the first break of the day Kyle Cartwright took to the bracelet ceremony stage to celebrate his first World Series of Poker win, after the young circuit legend took home the title in Event #4: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em for a $360,435 score.
Cartwright is no stranger to collecting jewelry though, as the five WSOP Circuit rings he has already won can attest, but the bracelet ceremony was obviously a special moment in his career. And while he was once christened the "Poster Boy for the WSOP Circuit," Cartwright is hoping to become a poker superstar period.
If he wins two bracelets in a week, that should just about a do it, and with double the starting stack at the moment, he is squarely in contention for another deep run.
A recent hand saw Cartwright shove all in on the flop with the board reading . He was acting from the small blind, and from what we could gather he had come over the top of a 2,800 wager which was either a bet or a raise. In any event, Cartwright soon had the "all-in" button in front of his 20,000-chip stack, and his opponent diving deep into the tank to assess his spot.
Eventually though, that player surrendered and the sizable pot was sent Cartwright's way, giving him about double the average late in this first day of play.
Jogador | Fichas | Progresso |
---|---|---|
Kyle Cartwright | 27,000 | |
|
With his good friend Emad Alabsi standing by to sweat from the rail, James Woods just shoved all-in to force two players off the pot, but to hear Alabsi tell it the move was ill-timed. Here's what we saw:
The board read by the turn and Woods was riding a short stack of 3,150 while sitting in the small blind. He knuckled the felt and elicited a bet of 1,400 by the big blind, a bet which the button decided to flat.
That's when Woods sprung his trap and raised all in for 1,750 more, a move which Alabsi seemed to approve of.
"I love that shove..." he told us as Woods' opponet's contemplated their options. "Love it."
Alabsi is no slouch on the felt himself, as a man with more than $1 million an earnings and two recent titles on the East Coast - including a $164,469 score at a $1650 Parx Casino Big Stax V event - knows how to play the game.
Soon enough, Woods' power play worked its magic and both of his opponent's laid down to the pressure, and with this reporter's hovering gathering attention, the table beckoned Woods to "show the bluff to PokerNews."
Woods called Elabsi over to the table and flashed his hand to his good friend, showing the for the stone cold nuts. Having seen Woods scare off two opponents with the best hand possible at the time, Alabsi's previous enthusiasm over the play was dampened, and he began to offer his own opinion on the hand to the actor and poker enthusiast who served as his best man a few years back.
Jogador | Fichas | Progresso |
---|---|---|
James Woods |
7,200
-5,400
|
-5,400 |