Poker Blog

The 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event kicked off on Monday with the first of four Day 1 starts. Greg Raymer was on hand to give the customary “shuffle up and deal” command and play was underway.

Unfortunately for Raymer, his Main Event run would be the shortest of his poker career as he was knocked out in the first level. He lasted less than 90 minutes. Other players that were on hand during Day 1a were Michael Mizrachi, Billy Baxter, Jimmy Fricke, Chino Rheem, T.J. Cloutier, David Allen Grier, Ray Romano, and 2003 Champion Chris Moneymaker.

1,125 players turned out for Day 1a and by the end of the day, Michael Mizrachi was 2nd in chips with over 142,000. Mizrachi still has a shot at Player of the Year, but only if he can win the Main Event. Chris Moneymaker, Beth Shak, Dutch Boyd, Tiffany Michelle, and Lacey Jones were among the players that moved onto Day 2a play.

Day 1b kicked off on Tuesday with a crowd of 1,489 players looking to work their way to Day 2b play. Liv Boeree, Phil Galfond, Dan Harrington, Robert Williamson III, Annette Obrestad, Barbara Enright, Erica Schoenberg, and Erick Lindgren was among the players in the Day 1b field. Among the players that made Day 2a play from Day 1b were Phil Laak, Brandon Cantu, Matt Stout, James Dempsey, Jason DeWitt, and Phil Galfond. DeWitt and Galfond finished among the chip leaders and both had over 140k.

Day 1c was a much more upbeat affair as this day saw the largest crowd out of the four days. Many of the big names decided to play on this day to avoid being shut out. Phil Hellmuth made his customary entrance to the Main Event heralded by hot women and rappers. Hellmuth was dressed as a UFC fighter and announced by UFC ring announcer and amateur poker player Bruce Buffer.

Others in the Day 1c field were Daniel Negreanu, Annie Duke, Tom Dwan, Johnny chan, Men Nguyen, Huck Seed, Jerry Yang, Howard Lederer, Tom Mcevoy, and Kathy Liebert. Phil Hellmuth was not able to make it through the day and was not able to extend his WSOP Main Event cash streak to three years in a row.

Johnny Chan finished the day 2nd in chips with 163,700. Lauren Kling held 149,650 and was the high woman so far through three Day 1’s. Robert Mizrachi was also among the chip leaders, making this yet another event both Mizrachi brothers were in contention.

Day 1d kicked off on Thursday with future NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith kicking off the event. The entire Brunson family played on this day with Doyle, Pam, and Todd all battling it out. Chris Ferguson, Vanessa Rousso, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman, Scott Montgomery, Andy Bloch, Phil Ivey, Shannon Elizabeth, Josh Arieh, and Archie Karas were among those in the field. Jack Ury was also in the field. He is still going strong at 97 and actually finished the day with 39,000 in chips.

The final numbers for the Main Event were revealed on Day 1d. 7,319 players turned out for the Main Event, making it the 2nd largest Main Event in history. 747 players will cash in this event, and the eventual winner will take home $8,944,138. Several media members also determined that Harrah’s pocketed $4,391,400 from the prize pool, or the equivalent to finishing 3rd place in the Main Event this year.

By the end of Day 1d, several big names were at the top of the leaderboard. Steve Billirakis was the chip leader with 187,150. Archie Karas finished with 137,775, David Benyamine with 133,600, and Vanessa Rousso finished with over 111,000 in chips.

Day 1a and 1c combined to form Day 2a that kicked off on Friday. Day 1b and 1d will form Day 2b which will be played Saturday. There is still quite a ways before we reach the money in this event, much less the final table. Stay tuned as we bring you recaps from all of the action at the WSOP Main Event.

Play Online Poker

Subscribe to PokerBloggs.com

Jungleman12 experienced what can only be deemed his “best day ever” at the online poker tables. On May 1st, he took down a staggering $1,054,288 over the span of around 8,700 hands. While taking down a Million in a single day is not that big of a deal to some pros such as Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan aka durrrr, it is still a newsworthy event. However, the impressive part of this feat isn’t the fact that he won over $1 Million, but the fact he took over $600,000 of that win from Tom Dwan.

The game of choice for these two was $200-$400 Heads-Up NL Holdem. The two started with four tables and then moved on to six tables. The two moved tables during the session and in total the duo played on nine total tables.

The first two tables, Alaqua and Loleta were good to Dwan. He took down a combined $600,000 from the two. About $250,000 of that came off of two hands. The first table hand saw durrrr check-call bets on the flop, turn, and river from Jungleman12. Jungleman12 had flopped top pair with As-Js and durrrr called on the flop with 9c-8s for a gutshot straight draw. He hit his draw on the turn. At the river, Jungleman12 moved all-in and durrrr called to take the $105k pot and stack Jungleman12.

The next hand saw both go to a flop of 2h-3h-4s. Durrrr held Jd-5d for an open-ended straight draw and Jungleman12 held Ah-Qd for the gutshot wheel draw. Durrrr raised a $2,000 bet to $6,400 and jungleman12 called. The turn fell the Jc to give durrrr the lead. Jungleman12 bet out $12,400 and durrr flat called. On the river 2s, durrrr checked to Jungleman12, who moved all-in for $42,194. Durrrr made the call with his pair of jacks and took down the $124k pot to stack jungleman12 yet again.

Durrr probably had wished that these were the only tables that he played at because out of the nine tables, those two were the only ones he won at. To say that he got his virtual tail handed to him was an understatement.

Menagerie $94,088.25 over 167 hands

Bugle $125,586 over 179 hands

Spinal $333,239.25 over 699 hands

Box Canyon $170,033 over 1,363 hands

Tissue $116,862.25 over 1,349 hands

Casa Anita $87,610.25 over 1,261 hands

Clear Lake $287,814.30 over 1,059 hands.

The largest pot of the session resulted in a $169k pot on Spinal. Dwan three-bet with Qh-10c pre-flop and jungleman12 called with pocket eights. On a flop of 3d-Kh-8c, jungleman12 checked-called an $8,800 bet from Dwan. The turn fell the Ac and jungleman12 again check-called a $17,400 bet from Dwan. The river fell the 7c and jungleman12 once again checked to Dwan. This time durrrr moved all-in for $45,898.50 and jungleman12 made the call. Jungleman12 showed his set of eights and durrr’s bluff resulted in a $169,596.50

After his epic win on the 1st, junlgeman12 has run his winning up to $1,894,326. During that time, he had a session with Isildur1 where he practically broke even. Will jungleman12 be able to continue his run or will he drop his winnings back to durrrr or even Phil Ivey? To find out, check out the nosebleed stakes at Full Tilt Poker.

Play Online Poker

Subscribe to PokerBloggs.com

The biggest online poker games in the world have frequently featured both Tom Dwan screen name ‘durrrr’ and Ilari Sahamies screen name ‘Ziigmund’ in high stakes Pot Limit Omaha games. Tuesday afternoon was no different as Sahamies and Dwan took each other on in the $500/$1000 PLO game. It was to the surprise of no one that these stakes led to some massive pots. Tom Dwan took the first big pot winning both the runs of this hand with a full house.

Sahamies answered right away. When the two moved to a private table, the action followed as they got all Dwan’s money in on the flop. Sahamies flopped two pair and it held to win this $100,000 hand.

Dwan countered here. After flopping the nut flush draw, they got it all in. Dwan hit his diamond on the river to win the $98,000 hand.

Dwan again took a big hand doubling his previous stack here. This was the biggest pot of the day, worth nearly $200,000.

Another big hand followed as Sahamies took a $102,000 pot by flopping a set.

Sahamies used a big raise on the flop to take down this hand.

Another bold play won Sahamies another pot here. A $30,000 bet forced Dwan out, winning Sahamies the hand.

This is the point in the match where Sahamies took over. After flopping two pair, the hand held, winning Sahamies a $120,000 pot.

The biggest hand of the entire session came here. Top set held for Sahamies, who took a monster pot of $290,000.

Sahamies busted Dwan on the other table as well. A straight was all it took to win this $70,000 pot.

On the session, the final hands of the day said it all. Although Dwan was up, he lost it all back and then some, losing $200,000 on the session to Sahamies.

Play Online Poker

Subscribe to PokerBloggs.com

Tom Dwan aka Durrrr just posted on his blog about playing 500/1000 with Ilari Sahamies screen name Ziigmund and winning 800k. It appears that Tom Dwan has just filmed a few commercials for Full Tilt Poker. In the teaser that was posted, Tom Dwan is looking in the mirror and sees other Full Tilt pros like Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson. Looks like the post was posted prematurely or by error, because there is no hyperlink. The music for it is really cool and reminds me of the original music from the GTA 4 trailer. Tom Dwan is slowly but surely getting his losses back from the Isildur1 train wreck. He sits atop the leader board at PokerTableRatings.com for the year with $2,800,000 in winnings.

Play Online Poker

Subscribe to PokerBloggs.com