Martin Staszko, the runner-up in the 2011 WSOP Main Event, is alive and thriving in Event 9. Since his outstanding 2nd place finish last November, Staszko has racked up a number of cashes, most notably finishing 16th in the EPT Copenhagen Main Event last February.
Staszko came as close as one can get to winning the most important poker event of the year, and fell just short of attaining the championship bracelet. That being said, Staszko is back in the hunt, looking for another opportunity to try and take down a bracelet.
We found Staszko call a raise of 200 from the cutoff. Two more players opted to join from both the button and the big blind.
The four players saw a flop and it checked around to Staszko who fired out 400. The button mucked and the big blind tossed out a call. The original raiser mucked his hand and it was heads up to the turn.
Fourth street brought the and Staszko's opponent checked once again. Staszko threw out a bet of 1,000 and his opponent responded by throwing his cards toward the muck. Staszko is now sitting on a stack of about 6,800.
One player who has gone under our radar for the early part of the day is Erik Seidel. He's certainly not the loudest player in a tournament field, but that's because his results speak for themselves. Seidel currently has just shy of $17 million in tournament winnings, which includes 8 WSOP bracelets. He seems to be doing well so far seeing his chip stack at around 7,000.
Tom Schneider has had plenty of success at the World Series of Poker, being the proud owner of 2 gold bracelets and having the title of 2007 WSOP Player of the Year. He will be looking to see similar success in 2012 and he is certainly trying his best here in Event 9, currently holding around 16,000 in chips.
Bryan Micon is one of the players who is currently doing very well as we caught a recent hand that saw his chip stack rise to around 16,000.
When we arrived at the table, Micon was in the hand with one opponent and three cards were spread across the felt: . By the time we were standing by the table Micon was saying, "I call" and turning over . Micon's opponent turned over and was needing some help as his tournament life was on the line.
The turn hit with a and the completed the board on the river and with that, it was all over for one player as Micon took down the nice pot.
Dan Smith and Chris Moorman are two of the players who have arguably had some of the best form in the lead up to the 2012 WSOP.
Smith took down an unprecedented 3 titles at the recent EPT Monte Carlo, along with winning the $100,000 Challenge for over $1 million at the Aussie Millions earlier in the year. Those scores bring Smith's 2012 tournament winnings alone to $ 1,767,832 - accounting for well over half of his lifetime winnings.
Just over six months ago Moorman finished in 2nd place in the World Series of poker Europe Main Event, taking home more than $1,000,000 for his effort. Since then Moorman has posted a few final tables in various places around the world. That's not to mention his very impressive WSOP last year that saw him right in the hunt for the Player of the Year title.
Unfortunately in this event both of these players are struggling, with Smith on around 2,700 and Moorman also under 2,000. Regardless of today's result though, Smith and Moorman will be two players to watch this summer.
We caught up to find four players staring down at a flop of . Antonio Esfandiari led out for 375 from the small blind. One player threw away his hand and another player quickly moved all in for 3,375. It folded back to Esfandiari who made the call.
Esfandiari:
Opponent:
Esfandiari quickly fell behind when the turned. His opponent actually improved his straight on the river, with the giving him broadway.
"Just in case you missed on the turn," said Esfandiari as he counted out chips that were pushed the way of his opponent. Esfandiari is still sitting on a very healthy stack of 16,600.
flop and it checked around to Staszko who fired out 400. The button mucked and the big blind tossed out a call. The original raiser mucked his hand and it was heads up to the turn.
and Staszko's opponent checked once again. Staszko threw out a bet of 1,000 and his opponent responded by throwing his cards toward the muck. Staszko is now sitting on a stack of about 6,800.
![[user162117]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. By the time we were standing by the table Micon was saying, "I call" and turning over 
. Micon's opponent turned over 
and was needing some help as his tournament life was on the line.
and the 
completed the board on the river and with that, it was all over for one player as Micon took down the nice pot.
. Antonio Esfandiari led out for 375 from the small blind. One player threw away his hand and another player quickly moved all in for 3,375. It folded back to Esfandiari who made the call.
turned. His opponent actually improved his straight on the river, with the 
giving him broadway.
