Event 13 - $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em | 2008 World Series of Poker

06-09-2008 13:42 UTC-8

Hand #2-- Steve Merrifield Eliminates Nicolas Levi (Ninth Place $59,442)

Nicolas Levi moved all in for his last 227,000 and Steve Merrifield made the call. Levi turned over pocket sevens to Merrifield's {A-Hearts}

. The

on the flop gave Merrifield the lead, and when the board ran out {8-Hearts}

Merrifield took the pot and Nicolas Levi was eliminated in ninth place.

Tags: Nicolas Levi

Level: 22

Blinds: 15,000/30,000

Ante: 4,000

06-09-2008 13:38 UTC-8

Hand #1-- Brent Hanks

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Under the gun Brent Hanks raised to 65,000 and Jason Sanders called in the big blind. The flop came {K-Diamonds}

, Sanders checked and Hanks bet 80,000. Sanders raised to 300,000 and Hanks announced that he was all in for 688,000 more. Hanks rested his face in his hands as Sanders pondered his move.

In the end Sanders mucked his hand and Hanks drew first blood (and a lot of it) in today's event.

Tags: John Roveto

Level: 21

Blinds: 12,000/24,000

Ante: 3,000

06-09-2008 13:32 UTC-8

Shuffle Up and Deal

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The cards are in the air and we're under way!

06-09-2008 13:29 UTC-8

Almost Ready to Go

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The crowd is filing in and the players are being introduced, so we'll be starting in just a few minutes. PokerNews Editor-in-Chief John Caldwell is providing some color commentary right now on ESPN360 (he's joined in the booth by Ali Nejad) so that's something you might want to check out before we start.

06-09-2008 13:16 UTC-8

Fifteen Minutes

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We're been told we'll be ready to go in about 15 minutes.

06-09-2008 13:09 UTC-8

Maybe More Than a Few

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OK, it might be more than "a few" minutes before we're ready to go. The players have to be miked up, the chips arranged on the table, and the cameras zeroed in. So while it won't be long, our start isn't imminent.

06-09-2008 13:00 UTC-8

A Testy Start

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When play concluded early this morning the players were told that their final table would be held on the ESPN stage and broadcast on ESPN360. They (and we) arrived to find that wasn't the case, and many of the players were NOT happy about it. They'd told their friends and family they'd be able to follow their progress online...and not that wasn't going to happen.

Well, hold on...now it seems that this final table WILL be shown on ESPN360! Some miscommunication back and forth, the players are now racking up their chips and are preparing to make the short trek from the feature table by the rail to the TV stage. We'll pack up too and be ready to start in just a few minutes!

Tags: Final Table

06-09-2008 09:54 UTC-8

2pm Start Time for $2,500 NL Finale

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Duncan Bell starts as the final table's big stack

Due to broadcast commitments and the unexpected length of Day 2 action, the nine players making it into today's final table of Event #13, $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em, will have to make due with a just hair less time than the normal "10 hour rule" would provide. Action concluded just a bit after 4am in this one with the tenth-place elimination of Adam Katz, but the players will return at 2pm Monday as this final gets underway.

Duncan Bell widened his margin late at the expense of his tablemates. Here is today's final-table lineup:

Seat 1: Brent Hanks (Las Vegas, Nevada) 755,000
Seat 2: Steve Merrifield (Fairmont, West Virginia) 1,109,000
Seat 3: Shawn Buchanan (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada) 1,133,000
Seat 4: Duncan Bell (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) 1,966,000
Seat 5: Jason Sanders (Simi Valley, California) 1,099,000
Seat 6: Nathan Doudney (Bend , Oregon) 113,000
Seat 7: Brent Ditzik (Phoenix, Arizona) 384,000
Seat 8: Nicolas Levi (London, United Kingdom) 233,000
Seat 9: Ariel Soffer (Hollywood , Florida) 191,000

Tags: Duncan Bell