WPT Championship Main Event Day 1a | WPT $25,000 Championship - Bellagio

04-21-2007 20:10 UTC-8

30 Minutes and 230 Players

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Half an hour to go and the bustouts are ever so slowly picking up.

04-21-2007 20:16 UTC-8

Anna Wroblewski = 200K Woman

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Anna Wroblewski is one of the first players past the 200K mark as Shannon Shorr slipped to 144K.

Tags: Anna Wroblewski

04-21-2007 20:17 UTC-8

Alan Smurfit Eliminated

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After a flop of {A-Hearts}

, Alan Smurfit was all in with {A-Spades}

against another player's {Q-Hearts}

. Smurfit was behind with top set against his opponent's flush, and needed the board to pair to stay alive. But the last two cards were {6-Diamonds}

, and Alan Smurfit was eliminated.

Tags: Alan Smurfit

04-21-2007 20:25 UTC-8

An astute observation from BJ Nemeth... all four WPT World Champions played on Day 1a and are all still alive. Tuan Le and Martin de Knijff are sitting right next to each other, while Alan Goehring and Joe Bartholdi are still in the mix.

Tags: Alan Goehring Joe Bartholdi Tuan Le

04-21-2007 20:27 UTC-8

Winding Down

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Empty cups litter the floor, chip bags are being passed out and the "Bellagio Finish" is in place. With 15 minutes to go in the last round of the day, one card is drawn and that determines how many more hands will be played tonight.

Three more hands tonight.

This in theory prevents stalling at the end of a day.

As BJ says: "a good solution to a non-problem."

04-21-2007 20:31 UTC-8

Tuan Le Eliminated by Hoyt Corkins

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BJ spoke too soon. 2005 WPT World Champion Tuan Le just headed to the rail after he ran into Hoyt Corkins' pocket Aces.

Tags: Hoyt Corkins Tuan Le

04-21-2007 20:33 UTC-8

Barry Shulman Eliminated

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04-21-2007 20:34 UTC-8

Chip Counts

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Chip Counts for the entire field will be available on Monday morning after both Day 1A and Day 1B are combined.

04-21-2007 20:37 UTC-8

Day 1a Completed

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Action is over for today. There are about 228 players remaining in Flight 1a. Day 1b will start at Noon on Sunday.

Don't forget to check out our Photo Gallery, Videos, and Feature Hands section.

04-21-2007 20:39 UTC-8