Event 50 - $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship Day 1 | 2008 World Series of Poker

06-29-2008 12:44 UTC-7

Gamble Up!

[user75032]

"Well, I guess I'm going to be broke," said Sam Farha with a smile upon seeing a flop of {8-Diamonds}

. He put his whole stack of 6,800 in the middle, along with his red rebuy chip.

Phil "OMGItsClayAiken" Galfond folded, but the button player made the call and tabled {A-Spades}

. He had a pair of aces. Farha opened {9-Spades}

for top pair and an open-ended straight draw. The turn and river came {4-Diamonds}

, making Farha's straight.

He is up to 26,000.

Tags: Sam Farha

06-29-2008 12:42 UTC-7

As we take the first sweep across the room with our eyes, two tables stick out as being particularly treacherous. Table 7 holds Bill Edler, Alex Kostritsyn, Jeff Shulman, and Bill Chen. That was the winner until recently, when the late registrants were seated together at Table 36: John Juanda, Michael Mizrachi, Tom Dwan, and Emad Tatouh make for a very tough table as well.

06-29-2008 12:37 UTC-7

Announcement from the Tournament Staff

[user75032]

The tournament staff have just instructed the players in today's field that they must make sure their rebuy chip (if unused) is visible at all times. They also made the second "No flash photography" announcement of the day. We can expect that one another three dozen times before the day is done.

06-29-2008 12:32 UTC-7

Nothing But the Best

[user75032]

Bill Chen raised to 200 preflop and was called only by Alex Kostritsyn in the big blind. Both players checked to the river. On a board of {9-Hearts}

, Kostritsyn bet 600 and Chen called.

"Good?" Kostritsyn asked, opening {A-Clubs}

for two pair, kings and sevens.

Chen laughed on seeing Kostritsyn's hand. "Yeah," he said. "It's good."

Tags: Alex Kostritsyn Bill Chen

06-29-2008 12:29 UTC-7

And Just Like That...

[user75032]

We have a double-up. Alex Kravchenko called the all-in bet of his opponent, for over 4,000 chips, on a board of {A-Hearts}

. His opponent came up with the {8-Diamonds}

and

for two pair, eights and sixes. Kravchenko opened {A-Clubs}

for two pair, aces and sixes.

Tags: Alex Kravchenko

06-29-2008 12:14 UTC-7

Tournament Logistics

[user75032]

We're in the Blue Section of the Amazon Room today, currently occupying tables 1 through 37. Most of the tables are playing seven-handed to start, with the empty seats filling in with late registrations as we go.

Level: 1

Blinds: 50/100

Ante: 0

06-29-2008 12:02 UTC-7

Shuffle Up and Deal!

[user75032]

Cards are in the air.

06-29-2008 11:50 UTC-7

Almost Set to Go

[user66118]

We are almost set for action here in the Amazon Room with the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship. We expect to have right around 300 players in the field by the time registration closes at the end of the second level.

A note about chip counts: Players begin the tournament with 10,000 in tournament chips plus a red reload chip that is good for another 10,000 chips at a time of the players' choosing. Some will choose to use it right when they sit down; others will wait until they need the extra chips. If they do not use their reload by the end of level three, the chips will be added to their stack at that time, for a total of 20,000 starting chips. Be aware that our chip counts do not indicate whether a player has reloaded or not, so they may be misleading up until the mandatory add-on at the end of level three.

Players are filing into their seats, and we should be underway in just a few minutes, so sit tight!

06-29-2008 09:48 UTC-7

PLO World Championship Begins at Noon

[user33020]

Robert Mizrachi in the recent H.O.R.S.E. championship

It's Pot-Limit Omaha's biggest day of the year -- the start of Event 50, $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship. Poker's biggest names will be out in force for this one, the last major buy-in tourney before next week's Main Event.

The action begins at noon today in the Amazon Room. In 2007, Robert Mizrachi conquered a 314-player field in this event, pulling down a winner' check for $768,889.

Tags: Robert Mizrachi