The buzz inside the walls of the Rio extends beyond just the tournaments on the 2013 World Series of Poker schedule. Online poker in Nevada is a very, very hot topic right now, and WSOP.com is making a lot of noise.
While the site has yet to launch, you can head to the Lambada Room of the Rio or look for one of the beautiful and friendly WSOP.com ladies walking the hallways to sign up for a free, personal WSOP.com online poker account. This is a great way to get a jump on the site's registration, and plenty of people have already taken this opportunity.
What's more is that the WSOP will be hosting daily raffles for everyone that has taken the time to register for WSOP.com at the Rio. What can you win? Plenty of fantastic prizes including 36 WSOP seats!
Players 21 years of age and older who sign up for a WSOP.com account will automatically be entered into the “36-Seat Giveaway” where a randomly-selected winner will win a seat into the next day’s first WSOP gold bracelet event. One of the events eligible in this promotion is the $111,111 One Drop High Roller No-Limit Hold’em tournament that is expected to feature a $10,000,000 prize pool and allow you to play poker with the biggest names in the game. In total, $182,333 in WSOP seats, including a seat to the WSOP Main Event, are being given away during this one-of-a-kind WSOP.com promotion.
In addition to the 36-Seat Giveaway, a “Hot Seat” promotion will allow any player who signs up for a WSOP.com online account and wears their WSOP.com patch on their chest at the table while playing an event to be randomly selected to receive 500 bonus dollars deposited directly into their WSOP.com online account once the site has received all regulatory approvals and launches.
With 62 WSOP gold bracelet events and three winners promised for the Main Event, this promotion includes $32,000 worth of value to those participating.
A short-stacked Dao Bac moved all in for his last 9,300 under the gun and cleared the field to Garry Gates in the small blind. Gates, who finished 173rd in the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event for $47,107, made the call and the big blind got out of the way.
Gates:
Bac:
Bac, who won a bracelet in the 2007 WSOP Event #51 $1,000 S.H.O.E. for $157,975, was in trouble and looking for a little bit of luck. According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Gates was a 66.25% favorite in the hand, which meant Bac would win 28.27% of the time with a 5.48% chance of a chop. The flop was disastrous for Bac as Gates flopped trips and became the overwhelming 98.28% favorite. The turn flatlined Bac's chances of survival, and after the was run out on the river, he was sent to the rail.
"You know who that was?" Gates asked aloud. "The legendary Dao Bac. He won a bracelet. He's a S.H.O.E. legend."
We didn't see the hand happen, but we saw that Russia's Maxim Lykov was gone and World Series of Poker Circuit regular David Nicholson was kind enough to tell us about it.
According to him, Peter Males moved all in for 21,000 holding and Nicholson moved all in over the top for 55,000 with . Lykov then called off with and the board ran out . Males, who had the worst hand going in, came from behind to take down the sizable pot while Lykov was sent to the rail.
Ali Eslami opened for 3,200 from the hijack only to have PokerNews' own Frank Op de Woerd three-bet all in for right around 15,000. Joe Elpayaa then moved all in over the top from the small blind and Eslami folded.