2011 World Series of Poker

Event #15: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em
Day: 1
Event Info

2011 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k9
Prize
$227,232
Event Info
Buy-in
$1,500
Prize Pool
$1,032,750
Entries
765
Level Info
Level
25
Blinds
20,000 / 40,000
Ante
0

Spades Still an Issue

Level 10 : 500/1,000, 0 ante

Back in Event #8: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em, PokerNews reported an issue with the decks in use. Jon Turner had spotted a marked card in that event while at the final table and upon review, all of the decks that were checked had a mark on the {4-Spades}. You can read about the incident here and here.

The tournament staff moved the players to a standard table in the Amazon Room rather than on the feature table. The lighting was a bit less and the "marked" cards were unable to be found once the players relocated to the new table. Now there seems to be another incident in this event.

On the table with Steve O'Dwyer, Ali Eslami, Matt Hawrilenko and Noah Schwartz, the players brought some markings on cards to the attention to the floor staff. The players complained in order to get a new setup for the table, but is this issue really squashed? Here are some tweets from some of the players at that table.

Ali "@Indigoae" Eslami: #WSOP cards are marked! There's a minor printing error on the BACK of small spades. Do those cards matter in the NL 2-7 main on now?

Steve "@steveodwyer" O'Dwyer: .@WSOPTD it is insane that the @wsop has not replaced the decks. when I sit in the 1 or 9 at almost any table I can see the marked spades.

@WSOPTD I first noticed it in the 5k nl and called the floor but they dismissed my concerns and I forgot about it until the 1k nl ft

@WSOPtd I'm now in the 9 seat in the plhe and am clearly able to identify the 2-5s when they are at the center of the tbl under the light...

@WSOPtd ...and I've been able to point them out when they are face down in front of me. if this isn't fixed by the morning @wsop is pathetic

Todd Terry and Jon Aguiar played in this event earlier, but have since busted. Still, they voiced their opinions on Twitter as well.

Todd "@toddbterry" Terry: After reading @steveodwyer re being able to identify marked cards, I join him in calling for @WSOP to bring in new decks immediately @WSOPTD

Jon "@JonAguiar" Aguiar: follow @steveodwyer for some scary info about how many of the WSOP decks are marked due to a printing error, 2s-5s easily visible face down

WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel repsonded on Twitter shortly after.

Jack "@WSOPTD" Effel: Dennis just gave you guys three pulls to draw one of the defective cards, & nobody could find them.

Will this be a reoccurring issue here at the 2011 World Series of Poker? Or will the WSOP swap out the entire thousands of decks of cards for new ones? Only time will tell. One thing is for certain, there's plenty of money on the line that could warrant all precautionary measures to be taken.

Tags: Ali EslamiJon AguiarMatt HawrilenkoNoah SchwartzSteve O'DwyerTodd Terry

Flitz Finds Chips

Level 10 : 500/1,000, 0 ante

From late position, Justin Flitz raised the action to 1,600. He was called from the player on the button as well as Paul Magriel from the big blind. The flop came {3-Diamonds}{8-Clubs}{2-Spades} and Magriel checked. Flitz fired out 3,000 which was called by the button, while Magriel mucked his cards. The turn came the {4-Clubs} and the action went check-check. When the {J-Hearts} rivered, Flitz moved out two large stacks of chips. His opponent folded his {10-Hearts}{10-Clubs} face up quite quickly, causing Flitz to win a pot and climb to 40,000.

Tags: Justin FlitzPaul Magriel

Newburger Takes a Hit

Level 10 : 500/1,000, 0 ante

Jason Newburger opened with a raise from the button and was reraised when the player in the big blind shoved in the rest of his stack. Newburger made the call and we were off to the flop.

Newburger: {A-Clubs}{3-Clubs}
Opponent: {Q-Clubs}{9-Spades}

The board fell {4-Hearts}{J-Clubs}{2-Diamonds}{9-Diamonds}{9-Clubs} and Newburger doubled up his opponent and was knocked down to 44,500.

Tags: Jason Newburger

That's a Wrap!

Level 10 : 500/1,000, 0 ante
Chip Leader Ronald Lee- 122,700
Chip Leader Ronald Lee- 122,700

We've officially wrapped up the first ten levels of play in today's $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em event. When the day began we had 765 entrants. Now, after ten strenuous hours of play, we're down to the final 88 . Ronald Lee, 3rd place finisher in the 2010 WSOPE Main Event, finished today as our chip leader with 122,700 in chips. Trying to stay on the heels of Lee is James Carroll with 92,300.

We saw several big names enter the tournament, only to hit the rail before play ended for the day. Notable eliminations from today's field include Layne Flack, David Sklansky, Paul Magriel, Antonio Esfandiari, Humberto Brenes, and Liv Boeree. That being said, there are still some big names still alive in the field including this event's defending champion James Dempsey with over 50,000. While his stack is not the biggest in the room, he has navigated the waters of this tournament before and it will be interesting to see how he fairs against the field in day two. Other notables still alive include Joe Sebok, Ali Eslami, John Racener, John Dolan, and Alessio Isaia.

Play will resume tomorrow at 2:30 PST in the Amazon Room here at the Rio. Join us for full coverage tomorrow as we play ten more exciting levels of pot-limit hold'em!

Official End-of-Day Chip Counts

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Ronald Lee us
Ronald Lee
122,700
Profile photo of Jeff Kimber gb
Jeff Kimber
95,500
Profile photo of James Carroll us
James Carroll
92,300
63,800
63,800
Profile photo of Luke Marsh gb
Luke Marsh
89,700
Profile photo of Eric Ladny us
Eric Ladny
83,700
Profile photo of Nick Davies
Nick Davies
82,000
Profile photo of Daisuke Endo
Daisuke Endo
77,600
Profile photo of Dennis Jeffrey
Dennis Jeffrey
69,800
Profile photo of Davidi Kitai be
Davidi Kitai
69,800
24,800
24,800
WSOP 3X Winner
Winamax
Profile photo of Bradley Craig us
Bradley Craig
69,700
Profile photo of Tommy Felice
Tommy Felice
66,400
Profile photo of Matt Widdoes
Matt Widdoes
65,700
Profile photo of Ali Eslami us
Ali Eslami
62,000
17,500
17,500
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Balazs Botond hu
Balazs Botond
62,000
-28,000
-28,000
Profile photo of Dajuan Whorley
Dajuan Whorley
61,900
Profile photo of Justin Daley
Justin Daley
61,100
Profile photo of Ariel  Celestino
Ariel Celestino
58,900
Profile photo of Sean Nolan
Sean Nolan
58,800
Profile photo of Elias Brussianos
Elias Brussianos
55,800
Profile photo of Nick Brancato
Nick Brancato
55,200
Profile photo of James Dempsey gb
James Dempsey
53,800
13,800
13,800
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of John Racener us
John Racener
52,200
2,200
2,200
WSOP 2X Winner
Profile photo of Stephen O'Dwyer
Stephen O'Dwyer
50,100
Profile photo of Christian Harder us
Christian Harder
46,500
-8,600
-8,600
Profile photo of John Dolan us
John Dolan
46,000

Event #15: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em

Day 1 Completed