Event 26 - $1,500 Limit Hold'em Day 1 | 2009 World Series of Poker

Event 26 - $1,500 Limit Hold'em

Day 1 Completed

06-12-2009 19:56 UTC-12

Day 1 Concludes

"My brain is fried, man."

So said a player here at Table #1 as he bagged his chips along with the other players who survived Day 1 of Event No. 26, the $1,500 Limit Hold'em event.

We started the day with 643 hopefuls, each of whom began with plans to accumulate all 2,893,500 chips -- bet by bet by bet. According to the big board, 124 of them still have a chance of doing so.

As mentioned before, official chip counts will be posted overnight. Play resumes tomorrow at 2 p.m. Vegas time. Come back here to PokerNews to follow along as we find out which of the remaining players will take all of the chips and the WSOP gold bracelet.

06-12-2009 19:49 UTC-12

Where'd All the Chips Go?

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Official chip counts will be posted overnight, but here are a few of the bigger stacks we saw around the room during the last level:

Dominik Kulicki -- 58,000
Marco Escuandolas -- 48,000
Jon Van Halle -- 45,000
Nikki Harris -- 44,000
Justin Bonomo -- 40,000
Bill Chen -- 39,000

Tags: Dominik Kulicki

06-12-2009 19:47 UTC-12

The End Is Nigh

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Tournament officials have stopped the clock with ten minutes left in the level and, as is customary, drawn a card from a stack of nine (ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) to determine how many more hands will be played.

A six was drawn, so six more hands at each table and the day is done.

06-12-2009 19:43 UTC-12

Everybody Loves a Happy Ending

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Not seeing as many flops here as we wind down for the night. After 12-plus hours at the Rio, most players are looking for positive ends to a long, arduous day of poker.

But with certain hands action is inevitable.

We just saw one in which the betting between two players was capped preflop. The flop came 10-J-Q, which slowed things down a bit with a check-bet-call. The turn was a nine, which again induced a check-bet-call. Then both players checked the king on the end.

The first player showed pocket aces -- he'd checked the nuts on fifth street. The other showed pocket kings, victimized by a two-outer.

06-12-2009 19:38 UTC-12

The Advance of Attrition

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With just 15 minutes or so left to play, we're down to 135 players -- about 1/5 of the starting field. A little less than half of these players will cash, as Event No. 26 will be paying the top 63 spots.

06-12-2009 19:22 UTC-12

Checking the Chips

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Here are a few stacks as we wind down toward the end of play tonight...

Over in the back corner, Shannon Elizabeth has 15,500, Victor Ramdin has 28,000, Karen Manfrede has 13,000, Justin Bonomo has 37,000, Lisa Parsons has 12,000, and Paul Damany 30,000.

Toward the center of the room, Bill Chen has 41,000, Todd Witteles 11,500, Rami Boukai 12,000, Barry Greenstein 24,000, Rayan Nathan 6,500, and Katja Svendsen 14,000.

And Mimi Tran has a single 100 blue chip. No, wait... she just tripled up to 300. But her chances of surviving the night remain slim.

06-12-2009 19:02 UTC-12