2012 World Series of Poker

Event 5: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em
Day: 1
Event Info

2012 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
1010
Prize
$189,818
Event Info
Buy-in
$1,500
Entries
639
Level Info
Level
27
Blinds
30,000 / 60,000
Ante
0

Event 5: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em

Day 1 Completed

Esfandiari Leads Stacked Field Into the Money

Level 11 : 600/1,200, 0 ante
Antonio Esfandiari on top
Antonio Esfandiari on top

It was an action-packed day here at the Rio for Day 1 of Event 5: $1,500 Pot-Limit Holdem. A field of 639 players bought in for the tournament and of those, 71 remain. When the last level ended, 77 players remained and that was supposed to be the end of the day, but since they were less than one table away from the money, they played down to the money (a new rule the World Series of Poker added this year).

At the start of the day, we had an absolutely stacked table that started with Jonathan Little, Shannon Shorr, Allen Kessler and Phil Ivey. Within the first two levels, they were joined by the likes of Gavin Smith, Sean Getzwiller, Vitaly Lunkin and Faraz Jaka. Unfortunately for all of these players, none of them survived the day. Other victims included Dan Kelly, Barry Greenstein, Chad Brown, Scott Seiver and Shaun Deeb.

Leading the way above everyone else is none other than "The Magician" himself Antonio Esfandiari, who bagged a whopping 112,600 in chips. He is followed closely by Zach Jiganti with 102,500 in chips and Jonathan Aguier, who will be coming back to a stack of 100,900 tomorrow.

These aren’t the only big names we have left. James Mackey (37,900), Nam Le (31,600), Steve Brecher (23,600), John Juanda (53,800), Terrence Chan (37,700), Tommy Vedes (58,800) and Daniel Negreanu (94,000) are all still alive as well.

The remaining 71 players are all in the money and they will return tomorrow at 1:00 PM to hopefully play down to a final table. PokerNews will be here to bring you all of the action. Thanks for staying tuned and good night from Las Vegas!

Tags: Antonio Esfandiari

Vayo and Wiedemann Chop 72nd-Place Money

Level 11 : 600/1,200, 0 ante

It doesn't happen too often, but it did in this case — both Gordon Vayo and Barry Wiedemann were elimination on the same hand during hand-for-hand play and will chop up the $2,432 that would be awarded to 72nd place. Each will take home $1,216, so it was a total loss for them here in Event 5.

Vayo was all in preflop with the {A-Diamonds}{Q-Spades} against Clayton Mozdzen's {K-Diamonds}{9-Spades} on the bubble. Vayo was all in for 11,000. The flop came down {K-Hearts}{10-Spades}{10-Clubs} and Mozdzen took the lead with two pair, kings and tens. The {J-Clubs} on the turn gave Vayo a Broadway straight, but the {K-Spades} on the river filled Mozdzen up and sent Vayo out the door in 73rd place.

On another table, Wiedemann was all in preflop with the {A-Spades}{Q-Spades} versus an opponent's pocket eights. The flop, turn and river ran out {K-}{10-}{6-}{4-}{2-} and Wiedemann was eliminated.

With those eliminations, the remaining 71 players are now in the money. Play has stopped for the night with 41:53 left on the clock in Level 11 and that's where things will resume tomorrow at 1:00 PM. We'll have a recap coming shortly, so stay tuned.

Tags: Clayton MozdzenGordon VayoBarry Wiedemann

Bubble Time

Level 11 : 600/1,200, 0 ante

The field is officially down to 73 players and is on the bubble. Only one more player will head home empty handed while all of the others will lock up a minimum of $2,432. Once the bubble breaks, the remaining competitors will bag and tag for the night.

And We're Back!

Level 11 : 600/1,200, 0 ante

The players are back in their seats, and the cards are in the air. Once we lose five more players, we will be done for the day.

Level: 11

Blinds: 600/1,200

Ante: 0

Break

Level 10 : 500/1,000, 0 ante

The players are on a 20-minute break. When they return, it'll be time to bust the bubble and lock up $2,432 in prize money.

Playing Until the Money

Level 10 : 500/1,000, 0 ante

The World Series of Poker has a new rule this year that if a tournament is within one table of the money at the end of the night, the event will continue to play until the bubble has broken. That means in approximately 10 minutes this event will be taking a break and then coming back to play until the money. There are currently 79 players left and 72 cash.

One of the players at Antonio Esfandiari's table asked him how long he thought the event would last after the break. "I just play until I lose all my chips, I don't think about the other stuff. Who gives a sh*t?" was Esfandiari's response.

Tags: Antonio Esfandiari

Aguiar Still Leading

Jonathan Aguiar
Jonathan Aguiar

Jonathan Aguiar has been keeping himself at the top of the counts here in the last bit of the night and just picked up a few more chips to add to his stack. After action folded to the small blind and he raised to 2,600, Aguiar potted it to 7,800 from the big blind. The small blind gave a long, hard tank before eventually folding and Aguiar won the pot.

Aguiar has over $860,000 in live tournament earnings. His best World Series of Poker finish was in 2008 when he took sixth in a $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em for just over $130,000. He has 11 total WSOP cashes. The largest single score of Aguiar's live career was a fourth-place finish in the 2008 $9,800 Caesars Palace Classic Championship Event for $206,946.

Player Chips Progress
Jonathan Aguiar pt
Jonathan Aguiar
WSOP 1X Winner
103,000 8,000

Tags: Jonathan Aguiar