Earlier we mentioned that one table held Rex Clinkscales, Jeff Fielder, David "ODB" Baker, Ryan Riess, and Raymond Dandrea. Well, you can add another circuit ring winner to the mix: Michael "Life" Taylor.
Taylor won a ring at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles in January, pocketing $15,505 in the process. Taylor adds another element to this intriguing, and down right brutal, table.
Level: 3b
Blinds: 75/150
Ante: 0
It didn't take long for Kevin Boudreau to get involved in a big hand, but unfortunately for him, he wound up on the short end.
We didn't catch the action that led up to it, but here's what we saw when we arrived. The board read 
, and there was already about 11,000 in the pot. Boudreau was left facing an all in bet of 11,350 from his opponent, and Boudreau spent quite some time in the tank. After about 90 seconds of thought, Boudreau tossed in the call.
Opponent: 
Boudreau: 
Boudreau could only shrug and laugh when he saw what his opponent had. Boudreau would need another jack to secure the hand, but the turn and river both bricked out.
Boudreau was still alive after the hand, but he's hurting with a stack of just 3,500.
The final numbers on the clock for Day 1a say that there were 178 entrants, and 54 of them made it through to Day 2.
We just had a chance to walk through the Day 1b section, and one table in particular stood out to us. In the one seat, we have Rex Clinkscales, who is the current leader in the WSOP-Circuit Player of the Year race. In seat 3, we have Jeff Fielder, who built a giant stack in 1a before busting shortly before it ended. We also have David "ODB" Baker in Seat 4, Ryan Riess in Seat 6, and Raymond Dandrea in Seat 8. We will be sure to keep an eye on this murderer's row of players.
Level: 2b
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
We have just three hands left in Day 1a. When the players are bagging their chips, we will go around and get counts for our notables, as well as the big stacks.
We only caught the hand as the chips were being counted for Ralph Massey's double, but according to table mate Ray Henson, the two got in a raising war preflop that saw all the chips go into the middle. Hwang held 
, and he was well ahead of the 
of Massey.
However, the board was kind to Massey, coming down 
. Massey caught a straight on the river, and notched a huge double up to 130,000, while Hwang tumbled down to 76,000.
Level: 1b
Blinds: 25/50
Ante: 0
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