Hellmuth On the Scene
![[user140525]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Phil Hellmuth has arrived and launched straight into his usual "I'm the greatest player alive" monologue. After nearly two hours of blinding away at the smallest levels, he's in perfectly good shape with 28,350.
2010 World Series of Poker
WSOP Tournament of Champions
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2010 World Series of Poker
Prize Pool
$1,000,000
Entries
27
Level
19
Blinds
8,000 / 16,000
Ante
2,000
Chan Sets Up Harman
Up on Table Ivey/Harman/Cada/Seidel/Fergus on/Chan/Barton, not a great deal of note was happening.
Huck Seed just wandered away from the table to tell Nolan Dalla about how difficult he finds noon starts. We're with you there, Huck. There was a fair bit of yawning around the table. Multiple coffees were being consumed.
But then...
Action!
Johnny Chan opened for 600 in mid position and Phil Ivey called in the cutoff. Jennifer Harman made it an additional 2,000 to go on the button, and both Chan and Ivey called.
The three of them saw a 
flop and Chan bet out 3,600. Ivey folded, but Harman flat-called and they went heads up to the turn.
The turn was an innocuous-looking 
and this time Chan bet out 9,500. "All in," announced Harman in a suddenly very clear and loud voice. Chan promptly called all in for 24,100 and they were on their backs.
Harman: 
for a pair of aces
Chan: 
for a set of nines
River: 
Chan doubled to 63,000, within sight of the chip lead at this early stage. Harman dropped right down to 24,000.
Break It Down
Our players are off on a ten-minute break.
End of Level 2 Chip Counts - Featured Table
Joe Hachem - 60,375
Doyle Brunson - 21,125
Howard Lederer - 28,175
T.J. Cloutier - 25,675
Scotty Nguyen - 33,925
Annie Duke - 11,975
Daniel Negreanu - 38,350
Antonio Esfandiari - 25,300
End of Level 2 Chip Counts - Table 372
Huck Seed - 34,050
Phil Ivey - 19,575
Jen Harman - 25,325
Joe Cada - 16,150
Erik Seidel - 60,600
Chris Ferguson - 28,600
Johnny Chan - 62,900
Andrew Barton - 24,300
Level: 3
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 25
Break Time Comedy
Those of you following along at home missed some comedic gold during the break. Mike Matusow's mother meeting Phil Hellmuth - extremely entertaining. Doyle Brunson and TJ Cloutier scooter racing each other to the bathroom - there are no words.
And here are two break time tweets to that capture the TOC play pretty accurately:
Daniel Negreanu - 38,350 so far feel like I'm in complete control despite folding two winners so far. This is like time machine old school poker.
Erik Seidel - Off to a good start in TOC. Started w 30k, now 60k. Lots of sets being flopped, u can see how all these guys became champions
Esfandiari Cuts into Hachem's Stack
Antonio Esfandiari opened for 625 from the button and Joe Hachem called from the small blind.
Hachem checked to the raiser on the 
flop. Esfandiari bet 950 and Hachem called. Both players checked the 
on the turn. The river was the 
and Hachem led out for 725. Esfandiari raised to 4,000 and Hachem made the call.
Esfandiari showed 
for a rivered pair of kings and took it down.
Tales from the Red Section Table
Erik Seidel may have tweeted, "You can see how all these players became champions," but there is one wild card at the table - our online qualifier, Andrew Barton. Since play started, we believe that not one of the other players has said a word to him. You'd think it might be a bit more friendly, but this is apparently all business.
Meanwhile Phil Ivey was the only player who didn't manage to make it back from break on time. We can only imagine he thought it was going to be 20 minutes instead of 10, or perhaps he felt confident enough with his 19,000 stack that he didn't mind blinding off for a little while - the blinds are still very small, after all. Either way, he's taken his seat again now, and play continues.
Raymer Misclicks His Way Out
Greg Raymer is the second person to hit the rail today, and this is one he'll be kicking himself about for awhile.
Mike Matusow limped under the gun, and Mike Sexton called from middle position. Sammy Farha joined from the small blind, as did Greg Raymer from the big. The flop came 
, and Farha, Raymer, and Matusow all checked. Sexton bet 800, and Farha folded. Then Raymer check-raised to 6,000. As soon as Matusow check-raise three-bet to 15,000, Raymer said he'd intended to raise to 2,000 but had thrown in one T5,000 pink chip and one T1,000 orange chip instead of two orange chips. Tough luck, and after Sexton quickly folded, Raymer was pot committed. He moved all in for some extra loose change, and it was time for showdown.
Raymer: 
Matusow: 
The turn brought the 
, giving Raymer two more outs to go with his flush draw, but the river was a blank. Matusow's top two held up to eliminate Fossilman and boost Matusow to 65,000.
As soon as Raymer left, the table started laughing, all certain that he'd raised to 6,000 intentionally.