For many of the 170 players who entered tonight's $10,000 Stud Hi-Lo event, the cards in front of them were little more than an afterthought. A distraction. The best they could do to keep their minds off the tens or even hundreds of thousands in prop bets they stood to lose should Tom Dwan win his first WSOP bracelet tonight.
As our Stud-8 players completed their last hand of the night, Dwan was all-in for the last of his chips and as his Q-6 went up against Simon Watt's pocket nines, about half a dozen players from this tournament sprinted across the room to watch the board run out. When Watt's nines held, Negreanu and Matusow came running back to bag their chips flailing their arms and squealing like little kids as they narrowly avoided financial ruin.
Oh, as for the tournament we're supposed to be covering here? Approximately 112 of our 170 starters are bagging and tagging their chips and will return for Day 2 tomorrow at 3 p.m. Although bracelet winners Greg Raymer, Matt Hawrilenko, Annie Duke, Ted Forrest, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and Todd Brunson found themselves on the rail during the early levels, the field is still chock-full of poker luminaries, two of whom are sitting pretty near the top of the leaderboard. Phil Ivey ended the evening with about 109,800 in chips and right behind him is the tiny but mighty Jennifer Harman, who ended the night with 93,500. Also still in contention is defending champion Jeffrey Lisandro who has 40,500 in chips.
Join us again tomorrow at 3 p.m. local time as we play down to a final table. For all of us at PokerNews, thanks for following along. Good night and good luck from Las Vegas.
Instead of pausing the clock in the last level with 10 minutes left on the clock and drawing a card to see how many hands will be played out, the tournament staff has informed the players that they will just play out the level. They told the players that because this isn't a flop game, the rules are different. That said, there's 10 more minutes left in the day.
Raymer was all in and when the cards were turned up, he showed the -X for just a pair of eights. Kelly showed the for two pair, tens and sevens. Seagle held the in the hole for a pair of fives and a low. Raymer was not only chopped up in the pot, he was chopped out of the tournament. Kelly's up to 95,000 and Seagle's on 52,000.
Raymer always gives out an autographed fossil to the player who busts him. Two players happened to bust him in this hand and Raymer said, "Well, I only have one fossil, but both of you knocked me out."
"Just owe one of them a fossil, how about that?" suggested Kessler.
We picked up the action on fifth street where everyone checked around. On sixth street, Clements bet, Hansen raised, Lisandro called, Zolotow tank-folded and then Clements called as well. On seventh street, the dealer dealt Lisandro's card face up instead of down. The floor was called and it was ruled that because Lisandro was first to the left of the dealer and received the first card, the other two players in the hand would get their seventh-street cards face up as well. After all the cards were dealt out, Clements and Hansen checked to Lisandro. The defending champion fired a bet and only Hansen called.
Lisandro turned up the for a flush draw that turned into two pair, kings and fives. Hansen couldn't beat it and mucked, dropping to 47,600. Lisandro improved to 43,000. Clements was left with 52,200.
Christopher George: (X)(X) / / (X)
Tommy Vedes: (X)(X) / / (X)
Vedes check-called bets on every street from George. When it was time to show down, George tabled the for a low and a pair of fives. Vedes held the in the hole and had a better pair of aces with no low. Another pot was chopped up as we move into the last 20 minutes of play for the night.
/ (X)
/ (X)
/ (X)
-X for just a pair of eights. Kelly showed the 
in the hole for a pair of fives and a low. Raymer was not only chopped up in the pot, he was chopped out of the tournament. Kelly's up to 95,000 and Seagle's on 52,000.
)
- fold
)
in the hole and had a better pair of aces with no low. Another pot was chopped up as we move into the last 20 minutes of play for the night.