2011 World Series of Poker

Event #30: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship
Day: 2
Event Info

2011 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
610
Prize
$557,435
Event Info
Buy-in
$1,000
Prize Pool
$3,376,800
Entries
3,752
Level Info
Level
30
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
10,000

Level: 12

Blinds: 600/1,200

Ante: 200

Isaacs Abuses the Bubble

Level 12 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

We walked by Susie Isaacs' table and noticed she had bet 4,000 on a board reading {A-Hearts}{4-Diamonds}{4-Hearts}{7-Spades}{Q-Spades} against a lone opponent. Her opponent had been tanking for quite some time and Issacs said, "I'll show you."

"I think you've got a big hand," Isaac's opponent said to her. He then mucked.

Isaacs tabled {K-}{8-} and scooped the pot.

"Made a bad fold," Isaac's opponent said with a smirk.

So far there have been two hands during hand-for-hand play and no bust-outs yet.

Tags: Susie Isaacs

Bubble Boy Table?

Level 12 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

With play now slowed to a crawl as go hand-for-hand to determine the bubble boy, we found one table with three extremely likely candidates. All three players have stacks under 1,500 chips, which means they have barely over one big blind to work with.

One of these players just went all-in on another micro-stack's big blind and the power play worked, to the disgust of the now even shorter stacked player.

The Bubble Has Burst! Seniors In The Money

Level 12 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

With a player on a nearby table about to be forced all-in on the next hand, due to his stack not equaling the impending big blind, Stephen Thacker looked down to see {A-Hearts}{K-Spades}. While big slick is a sight for eyes at almost any other point in a poker tournament, the money bubble is one time you would rather see deuce-seven offsuit.

Thacker decided to take a chance and opened for a raise of 3,000. The action folded around to Gary McDonald and he surprised Thacker by three-betting to 9,000. Rather than muck his cards and live to survive the money bubble, Thacker went for the gusto and shoved all-in for his near average stack.

McDonald insta-called and flipped up the dreaded {A-}{A-}, giving Thacker little chance of surviving the all-in confrontation. The final board rolled out {6-}{5-}{8-}{6-}{3-} and Thacker was eliminated in what he thought was 397th place, one away from earning the coveted WSOP cash. Fortunately for him, however, it was determined that a smaller stack somewhere in the Amazon Room had gone broke before Thacker did, and he was officially listed in 396th place, earning $1,823 for his run.

While he stood in shock near his former table, thinking he had been the actual bubble boy, Thacker's fellow seniors began to cheer and celebrate, taking photos of the TV screens which officially branded them as winners in this tournament. Cell phones were whipped out and relatives were called with the good news: the remaining players had survived the largest single-day opening field in poker history and made the money at the world's premiere poker event.

Tags: Gary McDonaldStephen Thacker

Double Quack Quack For Magriel

Level 12 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

After the player in the hijack went all in for 18,400, Paul Magriel re-raised from the cutoff.

"Double quack quack, 44,000," said Magriel.

The rest of the table got out of the way and Magriel showed {K-Hearts}{K-Spades}. His opponent tabled {J-Clubs}{J-Hearts}, but found no help from the board that ran out {10-Spades}{7-Clubs}{6-Hearts}{6-Clubs}{9-Spades}.

With that pot, Magriel is up to about 67,000.

Tags: Paul Magriel

Level: 13

Blinds: 800/1,600

Ante: 200