2008 WSOP Event #46, $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed: Kitai, Grospellier Chase Petersen

June 27, 2008

Shari Geller

2008 WSOP Event #46, $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed: Kitai, Grospellier Chase Petersen 0001

Day 1 of Event #46, $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed, drew 805 players hoping to capture the gold bracelet and the first-place prize money, a whopping $911,855. The field was narrowed to 96, almost reaching the money bubble. 18 players will finish tomorrow out of the money, but the rest will battle on until the final six-person table is set. Going into Day 2, Jesper Petersen sits atop the leaderboard, followed by a pro-heavy field including recent bracelet winner Davidi Kitai, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Nick Binger, Eugene Todd and Dan Shak.

The six-handed event brought out many of the biggest names in poker. Dan Harrington, Jeff Madsen, Lee Watkinson, Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, Dan Shak, Joe Hachem, Gavin Griffin, Jordan Morgan, John "The Dragon" Pham, and Marco Traniello were all in attendance, some having better days than others.

Jordan Morgan's "iMsoLucky0" screen name was rendered ironic when he was knocked out early due to an unlucky river. Morgan had gone all in with K-Q on a 8-6-K-6 board. His opponent had A-8, and it was looking good for Morgan until an ace spiked on the river. Sharing in Morgan's bad luck was David Pham. Pham's exit hand started oddly; Pham had folded not realizing he was the big blind. His cards were returned and he posted. Action folded around to Alex Miller on the button, who open-raised. Pham called, defending his blind, with just 6-8. The flop came 6-8-A and Pham ended up putting all his money in. Unfortunately for Pham, Miller held pocket aces and he was out.

Dan Shak had a good run after the dinner break. In one hand, he moved all in on a flop of A♦J♥5♥ and his opponent called, turning over A♣4♠. Shak had K♦Q♥ and was in need of help. None came on the 6♦ turn, but he hit a 10♠ on the river for the straight. A few hands later, he eliminated two players in one hand, thanks to a major cooler. With a flop of 10-9-8, Shak had Q-J for the nut straight, Victor Ramdin had 7-6 for the low end of the straight, and a third player had pocket tens for a set. The board failed to pair on the turn and river and Shak scooped a big pot.

Nick Binger, who finished third in the $1,500 Mixed Hold'em event, took down a nice pot to move up in the chip counts. His opponent raised to 3,000 and Binger called, preflop, which came 7♠4♠3♠. After being check-raised, Binger moved all in. His opponent called, only to see Binger show A♠Q♠ for the nut flush. With 10♠10♣ his opponent was going to need runner-runner to win, but the turn was the 2♥ and Binger was up to 112,000 in chips,

Joe Hachem and his brother went in opposite directions in Event #46. Joe was out when he took his A-Q up against A-K for all his chips. A king on the turn sealed his fate and he departed just before the end of the day. Tony Hachem will be back for Day 2, thanks to a timely double-up. Tony moved all in with A♦K♥ against a player holding Q♠J♠. The 4♠6♠10♥ flop gave his opponent plenty of outs, but the K♦ turn took some of them away, and the Q♣ river left both players paired but with Tony's the better hand, and ensured he would move on to Day 2.