2010 World Series of Poker

Event #12: $1,500 Limit Hold’em
Day: 1
Event Info

2010 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
q8
Prize
$189,870
Event Info
Buy-in
$1,500
Entries
625
Level Info
Level
26
Blinds
0 / 0
Ante
0

Still Trickling In

A few more tables are forming over in the orange section, and they look to be some of the toughest in the tournament.

Barbara Enright is over there, sharing a table with Victor Ramdin. Another table features the mighty Brock Parker and for some reason rather sleepy-looking Allie Prescott. On another table, Noah Boeken, Lauren Kling and Barry Greenstein are waiting for a few more players to turn up so they can get going.

But the blue section just keeps on swelling, too - new arrivals there include Lisa Parsons, Rui Cao, Roberto Romanello, Bill Chen and Cristiano Blanco.

Level: 2

Blinds: 50/75

Ante: 0

Big Slick No Good for Chen

With circa 500 in the middle, Bill Chen sees a {K-Clubs}{8-Clubs}{7-Clubs} flop from the big blind, and raises the small blind's lead of 50 to 100. An early position player then raises again; just Chen calls.

The turn is the {Q-Diamonds} and Chen check-calls a single bet, before checking-calling again on the {9-Hearts} river. "Aces," announces his foe confidently before showing {A-Clubs}{A-Hearts}. Chen turns {A-Spades}{K-Diamonds} face-up as the pot sails in the opposite direction.

Tags: Bill Chen

Flying Dutmen Hits the Runway

Towering above the table with two seats stacked on top of each other ("Iz good for zi back," he claims, in his familiar Dutch twang that sounds nothing like how I wrote it), Flying Dutchmen and Team PokerStars pro Marcel Luske is beginning to gather speed by raking in a few small pots.

On his last encounter, he limped under the gun before seeing a three-way flop of {6-Hearts}{7-Diamonds}{8-Spades} with the button and the small blind. The small blind bet, Luske raised to 100, and both opponents called. Luske then took it down with a single bet on the {5-Clubs} turn before flashing what I believe was the {9-Diamonds}.

Meanwhile, fellow countryman and 2008 bracelet winner Rob Hollink is plugging away quietly a few tables down. He currently has around his starting stack.

Tags: Marcel LuskePokerStarsRob Hollink

Hawrilenko Prepared for the Long Haul

Matt Hawrilenko has brought some entertainment to his table in the form of a book on his ipad - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, for those who are interested in what top pros read at the table.

He confessed to his tablemates that he doesn't really know how to play 10-handed, so brought a book along to amuse himself while he learns.

Tags: Mat Hawrilenko

A Dark Horse

With a near five million in tournament winnings and a record that would induce RSI if scrolled through, Dewey Tomko is perhaps one of the most underrated players in the game, and a dark hose for snapping up a bracelet. Today, he's giving limit a go, and is currently residing on a table in the very centre of the quadrant.

Passing through, I spotted Tomko engulfed in a hand, calling an UTG+1 raise preflop from middle position and reaching a three-way {7-Clubs}{A-Clubs}{K-Diamonds} flop along with the big blind. The initial aggressor continuation bet, but then checked down a {5-Hearts} turn and {5-Diamonds} river upon receiving two callers. In the end, it was the big blind who took it down, showing {A-Diamonds}{10-Diamonds} to scoop a small, but handy pot.

Tags: Dewey Tomko

Taking the Rapp

Phil Gordon and Stefan Rapp have been tangling in what amounts to a fairly serious way, for level 1.

Phil Gordon was the opening raiser, and Rapp reraised; Gordon called and they went heads up to the {k-Diamonds}{7-Spades}{10-Diamonds} flop.

Gordon checked in the dark but called a bet from Rapp; Gordon checked again on the {k-Spades} turn and this time Rapp checked behind. The river was the {8-Diamonds} and Gordon check-called another bet from Rapp. They turned their cards over.

Rapp: {q-}{q-}
Gordon: {j-Spades}{9-Spades}

"You checked the turn?" said Rapp incredulously.

"I was gonna check-raise you," Gordon lamented as the pot went to Rapp.

The back-and-forth between them continued, as Gordon told Rapp about a limit hand he'd once played, where he'd had his opponent so tilted that he got 27 bets in after the queen-high, rainbow flop. Gordno was holding pocket queens to his opponent's {a-}{10-}. The turn was a king, the river a jack, making his opponent a Broadway straight.

Such is poker.

Tags: Phil GordonStefan Rapp

Ace in the River.

Maria Ho, who went deep in the 2007 Main Event, is one of few female players to have taken their seat here today. Ho's enjoyed a solid start, four-betting {A-}{Q-} preflop before being called on all three streets of an {8-Clubs}{9-Diamonds}{Q-Spades}{7-Diamonds}{A-Clubs} board. You'd assume she was ahead all the way, but her foe flipped {K-}{K-} to signify that he'd been pipped to the post on the river.

Tags: Maria Ho

Trickling In

In the absence of Phil Hellmuth, who remains entwined in his battle for bracelet gold across the other side of the room, several players have trickled in fashionably late, the likes of Roberto Romanello, Cristiano Blanco, Bill Chen, Michael Craig and Flying Dutchman Marcel Lukse all taking their seat.

Also in the thick of the action is Justin Bonomo: I just saw get three streets of value with {A-Clubs}{K-Spades} on an {A-Hearts}{3-Clubs}{9-Spades}{J-Hearts}{2-Diamonds} board, his defeated foe check-calling all the way throwing his hand into the muck on the river.

Tags: Justin Bonomo

Official Entrant LIst

Player Chips Progress
Davis Aalvik us
Davis Aalvik
4,500
Marwan Abdelal
Marwan Abdelal
4,500
William Abel
William Abel
4,500
Ahmad Abghari
Ahmad Abghari
4,500
Al Adler us
Al Adler
4,500
Moni Advani
Moni Advani
4,500
Eric Afriat ca
Eric Afriat
4,500
Bahador Ahmadi ca
Bahador Ahmadi
4,500
WSOP 1X Winner
Ahmad Alashkar
Ahmad Alashkar
4,500
Eugene Albanesi
Eugene Albanesi
4,500
Robert Albrecht us
Robert Albrecht
4,500
Gerardgary Alfonso
Gerardgary Alfonso
4,500
Sameer Aljanedi us
Sameer Aljanedi
4,500
Todd Alvarez
Todd Alvarez
4,500
Louis Ampola
Louis Ampola
4,500
Jerrod Ankenman us
Jerrod Ankenman
4,500
WSOP 1X Winner
Adil Ansari
Adil Ansari
4,500
Thamas Anson
Thamas Anson
4,500
Demetrios Arvanetes
Demetrios Arvanetes
4,500
Erik Aude us
Erik Aude
4,500
Donald Auger
Donald Auger
4,500
Harminder Aujla
Harminder Aujla
4,500
David Bach us
David Bach
4,500
WSOP 3X Winner
David Baker us
David Baker
4,500
WSOP 3X Winner
Eric Baldwin us
Eric Baldwin
4,500
WSOP 2X Winner

Read full