2008 WSOP Event #6, $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo, Day 1: Van Alstyne Tops Tight Pack
Omaha Hi/Lo made its 2008 World Series of Poker debut with Event #6, $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. 833 players plunked down their buy-ins and took their shots in the first non-hold'em event at the 2008 WSOP. Among the entrants going after their piece of the $1,249,500 prize pool were "Amarillo Slim" Preston, Josh Arieh, Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler, 2007 WSOP Player of the Year Tom "DonkeyBomber" Schneider and 1998 World Champion Scotty Nguyen.
Even with the limit format, the action in Omaha Hi/Lo was fast and furious with several notable players heading to the rail early. Marcel Luske, Chip Jett, Kristy Gazes, Sabyl (Cohen) Landrum and Chad Brown were all eliminated well before the dinner break. Ted Forrest got all his chips in on the turn with the board reading A♦K♣6♣2♦. Forrest held A♠6♥7♦7♥ for two pair, aces up, and a weak low draw. He was ahead of his opponent's 2♠3♦6♦7♣ for the high, but the 2♥ river gave his opponent deuces full of sixes and a 7-6-3-2-A low to send Forrest to the rail.
Other notable eliminations from Day 1 included Men Nguyen, Amarillo Slim, Gabe Kaplan, Tom Schneider and Todd Brunson. Brunson found himself crippled after a big hand where four players saw a flop of K♣4♣4♦. After a bet and three calls, the turn came down K♦. Brunson fired at the pot and all three opponents called again. Brunson called a bet from the small blind when the 5♦ came on the river, only to see his opponent table A♠5♥4♦A♦ for the nut flush. Brunson was left crippled, and got the rest of his chips in preflop on the next hand. Rick Burke was his lone caller, and Burke rivered quad fours on the 4♦K♣4♣J♥4♥ board to send Brunson to the rail.
Shannon Elizabeth went on a tear early in the event, accumulating chips and busting opponents seemingly at will. Her luck ran out as the day grew late, running her nut full house into the one hand that had her beat – quads. The final board read J♣5♥5♦5♠4♠ and Elizabeth held 4♣K♥J♥J♦ for jacks full, but her opponent tabled A♣Q♣5♣7♦ for the quad fives to send Elizabeth to the rail.
Jimmy "gobboboy" Fricke had an up-and-down ride on Day 1, but finished strong to hold one of the top chip stacks at the end of the day. Fricke joined Robert Mizrachi and Scott Clements and chip leader James Van Alstyne aong the strongest notable survivors as Day 1 drew to a close. The top ten chip stacks looked like this as the players bagged their chips in the wee hours of the morning:
James van Alstyne 39,200
Richard Ashby 38,800
Ben Tang 32,000
James Hinton 30,800
Bryan Devonshire 29,100
Carl Restifo 27,600
Rick Burke 26,200
Jimmy Fricke 25,700
Roland Isra 25,700
Yuebin Guo 25,100
Join PokerNews today at 3PM for all the live updates as the remaining 205 players winnow down to a final table of nine in their quest for a WSOP bracelet.
