Event 15 - $5,000 No Limit Hold'em Day 1 | 2009 World Series of Poker

Event 15 - $5,000 No Limit Hold'em

Day 1 Completed

06-06-2009 19:32 UTC-12

Day 1 Complete

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A $5,000 buy-in attracted an all-star line-up to Event 15. In all, 655 professionals and amateurs anted up to compete for a share of prize pool worth $3,078,500.

A number of big names fell throughout the day, with pros like Howard Lederer, Scotty Nguyen and Humberto Brenes leaving early and others like Tiffany Michelle and Phil Hellmouth nursing short stacks for as long as possible.

While many departed, others built massive chip stacks that will serve them well when we start Day 2 at 2PM tomorrow. Some of the healthier stacks belong to pros like Nenad Medic, Victor Ramdin, Gavin Griffin, and Vanessa Rousso and Jimmy Fricke who spent much of the day at the Killer Table which was packed with talent from the very first hand of the day.

The biggest stacks of the day are all well over 100,000 chips and are, in order:

Alexander Toryanski - 175,000
Faraz Jaka - 170,000
Brian Lemke - 160,000
Fabian Quoss - 135,000
Luke Staudenmaier - 133,000

Join us tomorrow as we play our way toward the final table and see which of the 165 returning players finishes the day on top.

06-06-2009 19:30 UTC-12

Play is Winding Down

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Play will be ending shortly. Players will complete four more hands before bagging their chips for the night.

06-06-2009 19:13 UTC-12

A Little Less Star Power

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Gavin Smith has been eliminated from Table 1 and the tournament.

06-06-2009 19:07 UTC-12

A Fun Conversation

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Victor Ramdin and Allen Bari are now at the same table.

After stealing the blinds from Bari, Victor complimented his level of play. "You Internet kids are really something. You're making me take my game to another level to try and keep up."

Bari's response - "I'm not an Internet kid anymore. I'm a live guy. There are too many Swedes on the Internet."

06-06-2009 18:53 UTC-12

Mike Gracz Wins a Small Pot

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Mike Gracz moved to the same table with Blair Hinkle and Nenad Medic, and didn't waste any time in getting involved.

Gracz raised to 2,600 from middle position and got called by Anh Van Nguyen in the big blind. Both players checked the flop of {9-Diamonds}

and Gracz called Nguyen's 5,100 chip bet when the {3-Clubs}

fell on the turn. Both players checked the {4-Clubs}

on the river, and Nguyen mucked after Gracz turned over {A-Diamonds}

for a pair.

Gracz now has 45,000.

06-06-2009 18:44 UTC-12

Andy Black is in Good Spririts

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Andy Black stepped away from his table to stretch his legs and we took the opportunity to ask him how he's doing.

"I've got 72," he said. "I turned 40 into 2 bluffing, and turned 2 into 72. I'm OK."

06-06-2009 18:40 UTC-12