$5,150 Championship Main Event Day 1 | 2008 World Series of Poker Circuit - Atlantic City

$5,150 Championship Main Event

Day 1 Completed

12-15-2008 02:35 UTC-4

That's a Wrap for Day 1

[user66118]

With 17 minutes remaining on the clock in Level 11, play has come to a close for the night as we have slipped under the requisite number of runners left.

What started with 179 entrants some 13 hours ago is now just a sparse field of the 35 remaining players. The day started off slow as expected, but things gradually picked up as 75 players were knocked out before the dinner break. The pace certainly continued to quicken after supper as well. In the last five levels, we lost another 69 players to end up with our final number, despite the usual slowdown towards the end of the night.

Some of the big-name casualties of the first day include Al Krux, Shaun Deeb, Jason Young, Doug "Rico" Carli, Eric "sheets" Haber, and Bret "Gank" Jungblut. Sirous Jamshidi staved off elimination, and he will return tomorrow with the short stack of 23,700.

On the other end of the spectrum, Bill Gazes is our overnight chip leader, bagging up a whopping 336,700 chips. That is, if he can squeeze all of those checks into the bag. Mike Leah is hot on his heels though with just under 275,000, and Allen Bari is just a few thousand behind that. Full chip counts straight off the bags are available in the tab to the right of this page.

Play was scheduled to start at noon tomorrow, but the staff has decided to push that back two hours at the behest of the majority of the players. With that, Day 1 is concluded. We hope you'll join us tomorrow at noon -- errr, 2:00pm -- as we play down to our final nine. Until then, goodnight from Atlantic City!

Tags: Bill Gazes

12-15-2008 02:20 UTC-4

Two Players Go on the Day 1 Bubble

[user22113]

Nearly simultaneous eliminations occurred on the Day 1 bubble. Joanne Monteavaro eliminated one player when her {8-Hearts}

defeated her opponent's {Q-Diamonds}

when a third eight hit the turn.

At another table, Mike "GoLeafsGoEh" Leah called an opponent's all-in bet on a board reading {6-Hearts}

. Leah held {Q-Hearts}

while his opponent tabled {Q-Diamonds}

. The

came on the river and Leah made a better two pair to win the pot.

12-15-2008 02:12 UTC-4

More Love for the Lady

[user66118]

Our lone lady, Joanne Monteavaro got things started with an early-position raise to 9,000. Action passed all the way around the table to the blinds, where a player moved his whole stack in -- a total of 42,900. This sent Monteavaro deep into the tank and she asked the table to give her a minute.

"This would be a bad call," she said, "but there's 60 thousand in the pot." She continued to debate her decision as she cut out the calling chips from her stack. She leaned back in her chair fingering the chips before standing up to get a different perspective of the table. "This would be a bad call," she repeated. "But maybe I'm tired." Finally, she splashed the chips into the pot with a not-so-sure, "I call."

Showdown:
Monteavaro: {A-Spades}

Opponent:

With a nearly 100,000-chip pot up for grabs, the dealer burned a card and spread out the flop. Right in the door came the {A-Hearts}

, followed by the {J-Hearts}

and the

.

Talk about crushing the flop.

Left drawing extremely thin, the all-in player saw his final two cards of this tournament, as the turn and river came {6-Spades}

and

respectively. Monteavaro looked almost upset as she shook her head and offered a conciliatory, "Nice hand," to her opponent. "Bad call," she reiterated.

Her "bad call" turned to gold for her though, as she eliminates the 38th-place finisher from the field. With that sizable pot, Monteavaro has become a force to be reckoned with, sitting now on a stack of just over 160,000.

With that elimination, we are now just one knockout away from the conclusion of Day 1.

Tags: Joanne Monteavaro

12-15-2008 01:52 UTC-4

Jason Young Sent to the Rail

[user22113]

A short-stacked Jason Young moved all in under the gun for 12,900 and was called by Minh "RMG" Nguyen in middle position. Nguyen showed {A-Diamonds}

and Young, having only looked at his {A-Spades}

, slowly peeled the {10-Clubs}

. The board came {A-Hearts}

and Jason Young's night was over.

Minh "RMG" Nguyen now sits with over 90,000.

12-15-2008 01:38 UTC-4

Shaun Deeb Busts

[user22113]

After an opening raise by Mike "GoLeafsGoEh" Leah, Shaun Deeb shoved for 49,000 with {6-Hearts}

, but Leah called with {J-Spades}

. The board ran out {4-Clubs}

and Deeb was eliminated.

Mike "GoLeafsGoEh" now has nearly 200,000.

Tags: Mike Leah Shaun Deeb

12-15-2008 01:32 UTC-4

Play Has Resumed

[user66118]

Cards are in the air once again, and we're just five eliminations away from the conclusion of Day 1.

Level: 11

Blinds: 1,500/3,000

Ante: 400

12-15-2008 01:20 UTC-4

Break It Up

[user66118]

The clock has been paused, and the players are taking their last 15-minute break of the evening.

12-15-2008 00:55 UTC-4

The Story So Far

[user66118]

The pace of play has slowed considerably in the last hour or so, as each decision takes on a much greater significance at this stage.

Oh there is plenty of action. The pace of the short-stack all-ins is blistering, but the decisions of the other players who follow are extremely pensive and drawn out.

We are just about to break to our final five tables, meaning we need 9 more eliminations before play can conclude for the night.