2010 World Series of Poker Day 9: Men "The Master" Nguyen Wins 7th Bracelet, Dwan in Good Shape for His 1st
Day 9 of the 41st Annual World Series of Poker is in the books and it was chock full of excitement. Men "The Master" Nguyen won his seventh WSOP bracelet, James "Flushy" Dempsey won his second, and Tom "durrrr" Dwan is making a serious run for his first.
Event #9: $1,500 pot-limit hold'em
James "Flushy" Dempsey has helped the British get off to a fast start here in Vegas, winning his second WSOP bracelet on Saturday night by besting a field of 650 runners to take home the $197,470 first-place prize. Dempsey's win comes on the heals of countryman Praz Bansi's win earlier this week, and it was fitting that the British National anthem was played for Bansi's bracelet ceremony just before Dempsey's final table began.
Dempsey battled Steve Chanthabouasy heads up for more than two hours before finally closing out the victory on a hand that saw Chanthabouasy raise it up to 150,000 with A♠7♣, and Dempsey re-raise to 450,000 with A♦10♠. When Chanthabouasy, who would not be deterred, put the rest of his chips into the pot, Dempsey decided it was go-time and made the call. The 6♠5♥4♠ flop brought the crowd to a frenzy, wildly cheering for their respective rooting interest's cards. Miraculously, Dempsey's hand held as the Q♥ hit on the turn and the 4♦ on the river was harmless for Dempsey.
Read a full recap of the tournament by checking out hand for hand coverage in our WSOP Live Reporting pages.
Event #10: $10,000 seven-card stud Championship
When the final day of play began on Saturday, all the buzz was surrounding the possible heads-up rematch between Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and Vladimir Schmelev who had battled it out for the $50,000 Players Championship earlier this week. As fate would have it, they finished back to back again, but this time it was Schmelev finishing seventh and Mizrachi in sixth, leaving room for a new 2010 WSOP champion this go-round.
It was Men "The Master" Nguyen who eventually took the second championship-event WSOP bracelet this year, winning his seventh career WSOP bracelet and putting him even further up on the list of the greatest players of all time. Nguyen beat out a field of 150 of the toughest poker players in the world and walked away with $394,800.
Runner-up, Brandon Adams battled back from the short stack all day but in the end was unable to capture his first WSOP bracelet.
Find out exactly how it all went down in our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #11: $1,500 no-limit hold'em
Just days ago, we told you about Tom "durrrr" Dwan's big WSOP bracelet prop bets. Well, he will have his first opportunity to cash in on them on Sunday as the chip leader going into the final day with 1,068,000 in chips. To take the title, Dwan will have to beat 20 other players still in the field including Alex Bolotin, Antoine Amourette, and the man directly on his heels with 953,000, Marvin Rettenmaier.
Dwan, who was also playing in the 2-7 event Saturday, built his chips in both events, running back and forth between the two. He told PokerNews early on Sunday that he was going to three-table that day. It would make more sense, however, for him to just focus on going after bracelet number one before trying to build a stack for number two.
Knowing he had to go big or go home throughout the day encouraged some extremely aggressive play from Dwan, and in one huge pot with Amnon Fillipi, his aggression looked as if it was going to do him in. After a series of preflop raises, Dwan finally five-bet shoved all-in with pocket tens only to get looked up immediately by Fillipi holding two kings. A ten right on the flop was all it took for Dwan to move into the chip lead and hold it for the remeainder of Day 2.
Can Dwan score his first WSOP bracelet win? Tune in to our WSOP Live Reporting pages to find out.
Event #12: $1,500 limit hold’em
After two days of limit hold'em, 625 players have been whittled down to just 13, all led by Jason Potter with a stack of 371,000. Potter already has several six-figure scores to his name, as well as a cash this year in Event #9. Also in contention for the WSOP bracelet are Terrence Chan, Jameson Painter, Matt Matros and Frank Kassela.
The remaining competitors will join back at the Rio at 3 p.m. to play down to a winner. Follow it hand for hand in our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #13: $1,000 no-limit hold’em
The second $1,000 buy-in of the WSOP attracted 1,922 runners on Day 1A, and all but 304 were eliminated before day's end. Andy Black leads the field with 90,275 and is joined by Phil Gordon, Marc Naalden, Jared Hamby, Paul Wasicka, Shaun Deeb and John Cernuto who will all see Day 2 action on Monday.
Black's run began when he built his stack up to about 24,000 holding Q♠10♠ on a 7♣10♣2♦ board by moving all-in over the top of a player who made it 3,300 to go from the big blind. Black, whose hand held against his opponent's J♦10♦, will look to continue his solid run on Monday when the two Day 1 fields combine.
Day 1B gets under way Sunday afternoon at the Rio where we can expect another huge field of players. Our WSOP live reporting pages will bring you all the action.
Event #14: $1,500 2-7 draw lowball
In what will probably be looked upon as the most star-studded $1,500 event of this WSOP, the 2-7 draw lowball got under way Saturday with 250 players and ended early Sunday morning with only 67. Nick Binger is leading the field into Day 2 after taking some crucial pots off Brandon Cantu and has amassed 54,300 in chips. Snapping at his heels, however, are Scott Seiver, David "Chino" Rheem and Josh Arieh.
Also still in the chase are Team PokerStars pros Dario Minieri, Chad Brown and Alex Kravchenko, along with Erick Lindgren, Jeffrey Lisandro, Tom Dwan, Erik Seidel, Brandon Cantu and Ted Forrest.
Play resumes Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Amazon Room and the field will play down to a final table. Get all your updates from our WSOP live reporting pages.
On Tap
In addition to Day 1B of Event #13 getting under way, Event #15, the $10,000 seven-card stud hi-lo championship event will begin on Sunday at 5 p.m. You can follow it live in our WSOP live reporting pages.
Video of the Day
In some rare non-WSOP action, Phil Laak broke the Guiness Book World Record for the most hours of playing poker in a row. Kristy Arnett caught up with Laak to discuss the marathon session.
