L.J. Klein of Colorado ended Day 1 as our chip leader, and remained near the top of the counts for most of the day yesterday as well. Klein has a handful of WSOP cashes to his credit already, including a 14th-place finish in this same $2,500 PLO event last year, his best previous Series performance.
Miguel Proulx of Quebec, Canada has just one previous WSOP cash to his credit, a 50th-place finish in the 2007 $1,500 short-handed no-limit hold'em event. Regardless of where he finishes today, his final tabling this one will mean a substantial increase in his overall WSOP earnings of $4,188 for that previous cash.
Patrick Hanoteau of France comes to the 2010 WSOP having made several final tables in low buy-in events in Paris, plus one previous cash at the Series, a deep run in last year's Main Event where he finished 227th for a $32,963 payday.
On the first hand of the final table, Stephane Tayar was all in before the flop with against Michael Greco's . Tayar spiked a king on the flop and his hand held, pushing him up to 170,000 and knocking Greco down to 59,000.
On the very next hand, Trevor Pope raised to 40,000 from early position, and Greco reraised all in from the button. Karl Gal called from the big blind, as did Pope.
The flop came , Gal bet the pot, and Pope got out. Gal showed for a set of sevens, and Greco was in tough shape with his . But the turn brought the , giving Greco the better set, and after the he had more than tripled back to 201,000. Gal now has 365,000.
It folded to Tommy Le on the button who raised to 54,000, leaving himself just 46,000 behind. Karl Gal folded from the small blind, but Stephane Tayar made the call from the BB.
The flop came . Tayar checked, and Le bet the rest of his chips. Tayar thought a moment and let it go.
Le showed his hand -- -- as he dragged the pot. Le has 162,000 now, and Tayar 114,000 (eighth and ninth in chips, respectively).
Our short stacks continue to survive as we still have all nine of our final tablists with chips.
Just now one of those short stacks, Stephane Tayar, opened with a raise to 56,000 from middle position and got one caller in Miguel Proulx from the button. The flop came , Tayar moved all in, and Proulx made the call.
Proulx
Tayar
The turn brought the and the river the , and Tayar ended with nines and sixes to double up to about 250,000. Proulx meanwhile tumbles to about 700,000.