Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2011-12 World Series of Poker Circuit - Horseshoe Hammond
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2011-12 World Series of Poker Circuit - Horseshoe Hammond
Buy-in
$1,500
Prize Pool
$2,349,825
Entries
1,615
Level
35
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
30,000
Paul Bianchi Ends Day 1a with Commanding Chiplead; Luce & Crain On with Big Stacks
![[user196975]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Level 15
: 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
Day 1a of the WSOPC Hammond Main Event saw 912 entrants pony up the $1,600 entrance fee, but only 184 would survive the day. The Day 1a field eclipsed the 872 entrants that entered the 2010 event and there is still Day 1b to account for. Paul Bianchi ended the day as your chipleader with 358,500 after making a charge late in the evening.
Joining him atop the counts are Tom Luce with 263,500, Eric Crain and Bryan Dillon each with 251,500.
Notables Chad Brown (87,000), Dwyte Pilgrim (137,000), Josh Brikis (147,500), Mohsin Charania (51,800) and Kenny Nguyen (125,000) still remain in the field.
Notables that did not survive the day were Kathy Liebert, Steve Brecher, Allen Kessler, 2010 WSOP Hammond Main Event winner Kurt Jewell, Faraz Jaka, Kevin Saul, Aaron Massey, Mark “Pegasus” Smith and Mark “P0kerH0” Kroon.
With only 20 minutes remaining in the day, a hand unfolded that all the players at the table agreed might be the sickest hand they’ve seen. Pavlin Karakikov opened from early position and thought everyone folded and exposed pocket jacks to the table; however, Voytek Glab was in the big blind and made the call. The flop came 
and Glab bet 6,000. Karakikov called and the turn came 
. Glab then moved all in for 44,600. Facing three over cards to his jacks and an all in, Karakikov tanked, eventually making the call. Glab tabled pocket fives and was dead to rights from Karakikov’s hero call, but the river was a cruel 
sending the pot to Glab. To make matters worse, Karakikov was given an orbit penalty for exposing his hand.
The early part of the day saw Nguyen soar to the chiplead, at one point having 130,000 – a full 80,000 more than the next closest stack. But Nguyen’s wild style caught up with him and was on an average stack shortly after dinner.
We expected to see Dennis Phillips in the field after winning his first WSOPC ring last night, but he fell ill. Phillips’ appendix burst late last night shortly after winning and was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. We have been told he is stable and is expected to make a full recovery.
Any player that busted during Day 1a is allowed to re-enter on Day 1b. We expect to see many of the notables that busted today with a fresh chipstack at the start of play tomorrow. Both fields will combine on Sunday at 2 p.m. CST for Day 2 with the goal of playing down to a final table.
You can follow all the Day 1b action live on Pokernews.com when the cards hit the air at 12:00 noon CST, about 10 hours from right now.
A Few End of Day 1a Photos
Notable End of the Night Chip Counts
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
358,500 | |
|
263,500 | 3,500 |
|
251,500 | 96,500 |
|
215,500 | 500 |
|
|
201,000 | 74,000 |
|
|
172,000 | |
|
147,500 | 19,500 |
|
138,000 | 41,000 |
|
125,000 | 40,000 |
|
87,000 | 14,000 |
|
51,800 | -54,200 |
Saul a Late Night Casualty
We're not sure how it happened, but Kevin Saul was recently eliminated from the tournament. He was explaining his bustout to a friend, but unfortunately we weren't able to hear the specifics. We'd be surprised if he didn't try again tomorrow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Busted |
Three More Hands
Level 15
: 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
The tournament staff just announced that the remaining players will play three more hands before calling it a night. The surviving field will then return on Sunday at 2 PM CST, along with tomorrow's survivors, for Day 2.
Sickest. Hand. Ever.
Pavlin Karakikov opened to 5,600 and thought everybody folded. He exposed his hand to show the table -- 
. But Voytek Glab was in the big blind and called. Karakikov was stuck playing the hand face up.
The flop came and Glab bet 6,000. Karakikov called and the turn came . Glab then moves all in for 44,600 and sent Karakikov into the tank. With three over cards on the board Karakikov made the hero call and Glab tabled 
.
The table was up in arms over Karakikov's call, but then the river came....
!
The table exploded and prompted Dwyte Pilgrim to call it "the sickest hand ever."
Karakikov lost a huge chunk of chips and then received a one orbit penalty for exposing his hand prematurely. Now that's poker folks!
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
120,000 | |
|
|
110,000 |
Parrish's Flopped Set Leads to Elimination
A bunch of groans just originated from the table closest to us. Jennifer Parrish turned around and laid out the situation: "I flopped a set of sixes, he turned a set." Downtrodden, she collected her things and made her exit with just 20 minutes left in Day 1a.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Busted |
A Few Counts
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
260,000 | 150,000 |
|
|
215,000 | |
|
|
128,000 | 48,000 |
|
|
117,000 | -78,000 |
Verrett Two Outed on the Turn
Steve Verrett has had an up and down day, one that just ended on the latter note. Verrett was kind enough to tell us of the hand that lead to his demise. It began when he opened, a short stack moved all in over the top for 35,000, a big stack called, and Verrett moved all in for 42,000. The big stack called and it was three-handed action:
Showdown
Verrett: 
Short Stack: 
Big Stack: 
The flop delivered an ace to give Verrett a huge lead, but a on the turn crushed his hopes of winning the 110,000 pot. While Verrett took down the small side pot, he was ultimately eliminated a few hands later.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Busted |