2012 World Series of Poker

Event 45: $50,000 Poker Players Championship
Day: 1
Event Info

2012 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
qj98
Prize
$1,451,527
Event Info
Buy-in
$50,000
Entries
108
Level Info
Level
22
Blinds
0 / 0
Ante
0

Event 45: $50,000 Poker Players Championship

Day 1 Completed

Official End-of-Day Chip Counts

Player Chips Progress
Matt Glantz us
Matt Glantz
310,700 5,700
Ali Eslami us
Ali Eslami
WSOP 1X Winner
286,900 33,600
Keith Gipson us
Keith Gipson
281,500 11,500
Lyle Berman us
Lyle Berman
WSOP 3X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
275,200 63,200
Andy Bloch us
Andy Bloch
WSOP 1X Winner
265,600 35,600
Alexander Kravchenko ru
Alexander Kravchenko
260,700 17,700
Jeff Lisandro au
Jeff Lisandro
WSOP 6X Winner
254,600 12,600
Jon Spinks gb
Jon Spinks
254,000 71,000
Joe Cassidy us
Joe Cassidy
WSOP 1X Winner
252,400 -22,600
Daniel Alaei us
Daniel Alaei
WSOP 5X Winner
246,800 16,800
Ben Yu us
Ben Yu
WSOP 4X Winner
242,900 34,900
Chad Brown us
Chad Brown
238,000 -10,000
Viktor Blom se
Viktor Blom
231,700 36,700
Minh Ly us
Minh Ly
224,200 28,200
John Hanson us
John Hanson
218,300 22,300
Huck Seed us
Huck Seed
WSOP 4X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
212,400 8,400
Jason Mercier us
Jason Mercier
201,000 -15,000
Jared Bleznick us
Jared Bleznick
197,100 27,100
Luke Schwartz gb
Luke Schwartz
WSOP 1X Winner
196,100 36,100
Bill Chen us
Bill Chen
WSOP 2X Winner
195,600 40,600
John Hennigan us
John Hennigan
WSOP 6X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
195,600 25,600
Richard Ashby gb
Richard Ashby
WSOP 1X Winner
195,400 75,400
Antony Lellouche fr
Antony Lellouche
193,000 -5,000
Tom Chambers us
Tom Chambers
190,400 19,400
Bruno Fitoussi fr
Bruno Fitoussi
189,600 -20,400

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Glantz Leads Day 1; Singer the Lone Elimination

Level 5
Matt Glantz
Matt Glantz

On Sunday, the 2012 World Series of Poker continued with the seventh incarnation of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, which was played in an eight-game format for the third consecutive year. The tournament is designed to test players’ skills in a variety of games, while providing deep stacks and a kind structure to allow for maximum play.

That’s exactly what we got on Day 1 as 104 players packed the Tan Section of the Amazon Room for five levels of play; however, that number is sure to go up as registration is open until the start of play on Day 2.

Among the players was a laundry list of notables including former champs Brian Rast, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and David Bach; former Main Event winners Doyle Brunson, Huck Seed and Phil Hellmuth; and 2012 WSOP Player of the Year contenders Phil Ivey and John Monnette.

While all of those players remained at the end of the night, they all trailed the big stack of Matt Glantz, who bagged up a healthy 310,700 and is primed to improve upon last year’s fifth-place finish.

Day 1 featured plenty of action, but due to the deep stacks, eliminations were scarce; in fact, only one player hit the rail, two-time Poker Player’s Championship final tablist David Singer. His elimination came relatively early in Level 3 during pot-limit Omaha when he was in the hijack with an orange T1,000 chip out in front of him. It appeared Bruno Fitoussi had raised to 2,300, Lyle Berman called from the button, Michael Mizrachi did the same from the big blind, and action was back on Singer, who announced a pot-sized three-bet. Mizrachi immediately said the total bet was 11,800, and Singer threw out the chips. Fitoussi tanked for a bit before calling after which Berman and Mizrachi folded.

The flop came down {A-Spades}{5-Diamonds}{4-Clubs}, and Singer bet 17,000. Fitoussi only needed five seconds to make up his mind, and he put in the call. The turn was the {6-Spades} and Singer checked quickly. Fitoussi grabbed a big stack of chips and announced a pot-sized bet. The total bet was 52,500 and Singer went into the tank. After a solid minute Singer moved all in, and Fitoussi snap called.

David Singer{A-Clubs}{A-Hearts}{K-Spades}{K-Clubs}
Bruno Fitoussi{9-Diamonds}{8-Hearts}{7-Spades}{6-Hearts}

Fitoussi had the nut straight, but he still needed to dodge the board from pairing. Singer was looking for an ace, five, four or six in order to stay alive, but the river was the {8-Spades}. No luck for Singer who quickly got up and left the tournament area. Fitoussi grabbed the chip lead as he moved up to 275,000. Unfortunately for him, he would only decline from there and by the end of the night he bagged 189,600.

Other big stacks include Ali Eslami (286,900), Lyle Berman (280,300), Andy Bloch (265,600) and Joe Cassidy (252,400); meanwhile, the defending champ, Rast, is still in contention with 119,200.

Who will become this year’s Poker Players Champion? It’ll take four more days, but eventually someone will be adding his name to the David “Chip” Reese Trophy.

Past WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Champions

YearPlayerPrize# of EntrantsTotal Prize Pool
2006Chip Reese$1,716,000143$6,864,000
2007Freddy Deeb$2,276,832148$7,104,000
2008Scotty Nguyen$1,989,120148$7,104,000
2009David Bach$1,276,80695*$4,560,000
2010Michael Mizrachi$1,559,046116$5,568,000
2011Brian Rast$1,720,328128$6,144,000

*Event was not televised

Action is set to recommence at 2:00 PM PST, so be sure to join us then as we bring you all the happenings from Day 2 of the 2012 WSOP $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship.

Tags: Matt Glantz

Great Value For Lellouche

No-Limit Hold'em

On one of the last hands of the day Antony Lellouche opted to raise it up to 2,100 from the cutoff and Chris Klodnicki three-bet to 6,700 from the small blind. Chris Lee gave up his big blind and Lellouche made the call.

The flop came down {7-Spades}{7-Hearts}{9-Spades} and Klodnicki bet 7,100. Lellouche called and the turn was the {J-Spades} which got checked by both players. The river was the {10-Clubs} and Klodnicki checked again. Lellouche casually flicked out three 5,000 chips, and Klodnicki went into the tank. After around one minute Klodnicki called and Lellouche quickly turned over {A-Clubs}{10-Diamonds}.

Klodnicki sat in silence for five long seconds before releasing his hand. He was left with around 57,500 while Lellouche is doing very well.

Player Chips Progress
Antony Lellouche fr
Antony Lellouche
198,000 26,000
Chris Klodnicki us
Chris Klodnicki
WSOP 2X Winner
57,500 -88,500

Tags: Antony LelloucheChris Klodnicki

Habib Puts the Pressure On

Pot-Limit Omaha

Hasan Habib limped for 800 after which Rami Boukai made it 2,000. Nick Schulman called from the button, as did Chad Brown from the big blind. The action was back on Habib and he announced a raise to 10,000. Boukai snap-folded his cards as did Schulman, and Brown was the only caller.

The flop came down {Q-Diamonds}{2-Clubs}{8-Clubs} and Brown check-folded to Habib's 20,000 chip bet.

Player Chips Progress
Chad Brown us
Chad Brown
248,000 28,000
Nick Schulman us
Nick Schulman
WSOP 4X Winner
181,000 62,000
Hasan Habib us
Hasan Habib
WSOP 1X Winner
178,000 19,400
Rami Boukai us
Rami Boukai
WSOP 2X Winner
121,000 -11,500

Tags: Hasan HabibChad BrownNick SchulmanRami Boukai

Mosseri Insta-Mucks To Glantz

Level 5

Stud

Matt Glantz just relayed a hand to us that he played against Abe Mosseri in Seven Card Stud.

Matt Glantz{x-}{x-} / {A-Clubs}{Q-Clubs}{8-Diamonds}{3-Hearts} / {x-}
Abe Mosseri{x-}{x-} / {J-Hearts}{9-Spades}{K-Spades}{9-} / {x-}

On third street, Glantz completed and Mosseri raised. Action got back to Glantz and he called. On fourth and fifth, Glantz led and was called before Mosseri paired with nines on sixth. That's when Mosseri led, but Glantz put in a raise. Mosseri called.

On seventh street, Glantz said he bet out of turn and Mosseri raised him. Glantz reraised and Mosseri insta-mucked his hand. "He mucked faster than Flash Gordon," said Glantz.

Tags: Abe MosseriMatt Glantz

Walking Sticks for Alaei

Limit Hold'em

Daniel Alaei raised from early position and cleared the field all the way around to Danny Fuhs in the big blind. He opted to defend and then check-called a bet on the {3-Hearts}{9-Hearts}{Q-Spades} flop before the duo checked both the {J-Spades} turn and {J-Diamonds} river.

"Three," Fuhs announced. Alaei then rolled over {7-Hearts}{7-Clubs} to take down the pot.

Player Chips Progress
Daniel Alaei us
Daniel Alaei
WSOP 5X Winner
230,000 6,000
Danny Fuhs
Danny Fuhs
180,000 -58,000

Tags: Danny FuhsDaniel Alaei