Yesterday, 2014 World Series of Poker Event #9: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em attracted 1,940 players, but after 14 hours of play just 161 advanced to Day 2 and remain in contention for the $323,125 first-place prize.
Cards will be in the air at 1 p.m. local time, which is about an hour from now. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand as the field looks to play down to a final table, or at least close to it. While you wait for action to reconvene, check out this video featuring do-it-yourself safety and stocks by Faraz Jaka, who will return today with a stack of 62,000.
On Episode 81 of the Thinking Poker Podcast, Nate and Andrew discuss strategies for the World Series of Poker that will assist you both on and off of the felt, and they also break down a hand from Nitcast favorite Gareth Chantler and another from the Sunday Million.
Gregg Merkow got his last 15,000 all in preflop and was racing against Steve Gross.
Merkow:
Gross:
Merkow was on his feet to see if he could find an ace, queen, or hearts, but he was left shaking his head when the flop gave Gross a set and a hammerlock on the hand. The turn paired Merkow, but it was of no consequence and actually left him drawing dead. The meaningless completed the board on the river and then Merkow took his leave from the tournament in 73rd place.
Action folded to Simeon Naydenov in the cutoff and he raised to 5,000. The button folded, and then Elish Patel announced that he was all in for 29,700. The big folded and Naydenov, who had some chips to spare, thought long and hard before making the call.
Patel:
Naydenov:
It was a good call by Naydenov as he had Patel dominated.
"Sit down, it's going to be a chop," someone at the table told Patel when he stood up. The flop suggested otherwise. Patel didn't look hopeful, and what little hope he may have had disappeared after the dealer burned and turned the to leave him drawing dead.
The meaningless was put out on the river for good measure, and then Patel was escorted to the payout desk to collect $3,893 for his 64th-place finish.
After Jeff Cote opened the action with a raise to 6,000, Randal Flowers shoved all in for 58,000 from the button. Rachel Kranz, who had just a few more chips than that, then moved all in from the small blind and both the big blind and Cote got out of the way.
Flowers:
Kranz:
"You'd better stand up," someone at the table told Kranz, clearly referencing something that had happened earlier in the day. Kranz listened and got up out of her chair, but she reversed course when the flop came down !
Kranz had flopped trips and Flowers shot out of his chair and began collecting his things. Neither the turn nor river helped Flowers, and he was sent out the door in 41st place.
Steve "gboro780" Gross opened for 9,000 from middle position and was met by a three-bet to 20,000 from Rene Angelil, famously known as the husband and manager of singer Celine Dion. Action folded back to Gross and he paused a few beats before announcing that he was all in for 80,000 or so. Angelil made a quick call.
Angelil:
Gross:
It was a bad spot for Gross, and he failed to get lucky as the board ran out clean.
Meanwhile, Greg Konrad has been eliminated from the tournament on 37th place for $6,390.
After the recent battle with BigHuni, Nathan Fair moved all in for 32,000 with and was picked up by Chris Haugo with . A king on the turn put an end to the tournament for Fair and he went to collect his money from the payout desk.
Jeff Smith raised to 13,000 and Debbie Kim called, Jorge Vergara made it 50,000 more to go. Roland Israelashvili then moved all in from the big blind and the two active players behind him folded. Vergara asked for a count and it was another 162,500 for him, which eventually resulted in a call.
Israelashvili:
Vergara:
Only two jacks in the deck or a miracle straight could save Israelashvili but the board ran out and Vergara is our new chip leader.
Vanessa Selbst, winner of Event #2: $25,000 Mixed-Max No-Limit Hold'em and her third World Series of Poker gold bracelet, joins the show to talk about her heads-up matches, the Twitter beef with Jason Mo, and her two small dogs. Rich, Donnie, and Jason then take a look at all of the recent bracelet winners and dissect the idea of a $20 million guarantee tournament.
A short stacked Perry Lin got the remainder of his stack in with and Frank Patti made the call with . The flop allotted Patti more outs, which he got to on the turn. A blank river resulted in the third elimination in five minutes.