Welcome back to PokerNews' coverage of Event 7: $1,500 Seven Card Stud. Yesterday saw 367 players come out for the event and the first eight levels of play concluding. At the end of the night, 110 of them remained. The top three stacks are Rogerio Sousa with 41,000, Kevin McGuinness with 36,700 and Chau Giang with 35,800.
With defending champion Eugene Katchalov not playing this event, we've been guaranteed a new champion. That winner will receive $126,363. The top 40 spots will be paid out and we'll aim to reach a final table today.
Play for Day 2 will kick off at 2:00 PM, so stay tuned for the coverage.
After Barry Greenstein brought in with the up, Shane Douglas was next in line with the showing and completed. Chau Giang was the only caller.
Douglas: (x)(x) / / (X)
Giang: (x)(x) / / (x)
On fourth street, Douglas bet and Giang called. The same action happened on fifth, but then Giang picked up the leading hand with a pair of nines showing on sixth. He led with a bet and Douglas called. On seventh, Giang bet again. Douglas took a bit of time and then finally made the call.
Giang turned over the for nines full of jacks. Douglas showed that he made three queens with the , but it was a losing hand. The table were astonished by how disciplined Douglas was in not raising on seventh and saving some bets.
After the players kicked action back off at the final three tables, Sam Grizzle was the first to head out the door. He was eliminated in 24th place by Jesse Martin and earned a payday of $3,814.
Jesse Martin was the next player eliminated and he fell at the hands of Timothy Finne.
Martin: (x)(x) / / (x)
Finne: (x)(x) / / (x)
Martin completed on third and Finne raised. Martin made the call and then called the bet from Finne on fourth street. On fifth street, Finne bet again and Martin called. On sixth street, Finne bet and Martin called.
On seventh street, Finne's final bet put Martin all in. Martin called, but lost to Finne's for was eliminated in 20th place for $3,814.
David Williams is now up to 290,000 and absolutely crushing. He just picked up a couple of nice pots that sent him way out in front and doesn't have anyone close in his rearview mirror.
On the first hand, Williams made tens full of fives against Scott Abrams, who claimed to have sixes full. On the second hand, Williams had a pair of aces in the hole and got his two opponents to fold on fifth street.
Chris Tryba's run has come to an end in 17th place and he was done in by none other than David Williams who continues to crush and is now over 300,000 in chips.
Tryba had two queens buried in the hole, but they couldn't hold up against Williams who improved to make two pair of eights and sixes and then a full house by the end of the hand after a third eight fell.
Williams completed the bet on third after a player with the showing brought in. Grapenthien raised and action folded back to Williams. He called.
On fourth street, Williams check-called a bet from Grapenthien before check-raising on fifth street. Grapenthien made the call. On sixth, Williams fired a bet and Grapenthien made the call before Williams bet in the dark on seventh. Grapenthien called.
Williams tabled the from his hand for aces and jacks. Grapenthien gave a slight nod and mucked his holding.
Chau Giang — a living legend in the game of poker — has just hit the rail in 14th place. He was eliminated by Matt Grapenthien.
Giang was all in on fifth street with the () / for a split pair of tens. Grapenthien held the () / for a buried pair of fives.
On sixth street, Giang pulled the and Grapenthien the . That ace gave Grapenthien the lead with two pair of aces and fives.
On the end, Giang picked up the and Grapenthien the . Having come from behind to take the lead on sixth, Grapenthien stayed there and busted Giang with aces up.
Steve Billirakis got crushed down to 2,000 in chips in a hand against Andy Bloch where Bloch made kings and sevens. Billirakis had a pair of queens on board, but mucked when he saw Bloch table his winning two pair.
Shortly thereafter, Billirakis was eliminated in 11th place for $7,144.
The champion of last year's $10,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. Championship, Fabrice Soulier, has just been eliminated in 10th place for $9,046.
Soulier was all in on fourth street with the () / for a split pair of eights. he was up against Barry Greenstein holding the () / for a split pair of queens. Soulier couldn't improve and therefore was eliminated in 10th place.
The final nine players then voted to play out the final 13 minutes of the night or call it quits. After some back and forth, one player — Lee Goldman — objected to stopping for the night and voted to play on. And with that, we'll have the "unofficial" final table redraw for you in just a few moments.