Event 39 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Day 1 | 2009 World Series of Poker

Event 39 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em

Day 1 Completed

06-20-2009 19:55 UTC-12

Day 1 Over and Done!

It seemed like we might never get there, but the chip bags and pens are finally out on the tables. 2,715 dreamers entered Event 39 today. They started the day spread across three separate rooms - the Amazon Room, the Brasilia Room, and the Miranda Room. At the end of the day, the tournament clock showed 333 remaining, all consolidated in Amazon Blue. The actual number is probably a few less than that.

Whatever the number is, those 300-odd players will return at 2pm tomorrow in the Brasilia Room to play through the money bubble (270 places paid) and play down to a final table. Mohsin Charania is our presumptive overnight chip leader. He went on a tear right at the end of the night and bagged up 144,100 chips. We didn't see anyone else within 20,000 chips of that number.

Most of the notables that we had today fell by the wayside, but a few managed to slip through. Nam Le is still with us. So is Justin Bonomo and Jon Van Halle. The tallest German in the room, Benjamin Kang, will also return tomorrow.

The action kicks off at 2pm. See you then!

06-20-2009 19:41 UTC-12

Six More Hands

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The clock is paused. A six has been drawn. That means we'll play six hands and then bag the chips.

06-20-2009 19:40 UTC-12

Von Halle Pushing Chips

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First into the pot from late position, Jan Von Halle raised it up to 3,800. The small blind called, but the big blind opted to commit half his stack with a reraise to 7,000. Von Halle stuck in a third raise, making it 22,000 straight. That was enough to fold the small blind out of the way, but the big blind called all in for a total of 15,000.

Showdown
Von Halle: {A-Spades}

Big blind: {Q-Diamonds}

Von Halle would strike gold on the flop, pairing up his ace to take a big lead. In the end, the board ran out {2-Hearts}

, giving Von Halle the knockout and moving him up to 95,000.

Tags: Jan Von Halle

06-20-2009 19:36 UTC-12

By the Way

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In all of the confusion of trying to figure out who the chip leader is, we seem to have lost Dutch Boyd. And I don't mean "Where did he go?" I mean "he's out". Boyd had been leading this thing for a while, but went on a run where, according to his table, he called several all-in bets in the span of about 45 minutes and lost all of them.

06-20-2009 19:30 UTC-12

Six Figures to Be at the Top

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We're still here. We were just making the rounds trying to figure out who's leading this thing. We count four or five stacks that are hovering around 100,000 chips. There's one player significantly above that.Chairud Vangchailued seems to be our chip leader with roughly 130,000 chips. Of course, with 19 minutes still on the clock, anything can happen between now and the end of the day.

06-20-2009 19:09 UTC-12

More Chips for Bonomo

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Three players including Justin Bonomo were in for 2,000 preflop. One of the three bet 3,000 after the dealer spread {A-Clubs}

. Only Bonomo called.

Both players checked the {9-Spades}

turn. When the river paired aces, the action was checked once more. Bonomo showed a winner with {Q-Hearts}

to climb to 87,000.

Tags: Justin Bonomo

06-20-2009 19:06 UTC-12

"And Another Thing..."

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Ray "Columbo" Eiffler has hit the rail to start Level 10. After an early-position player opened for 2,200 and was called, Eiffler moved all in for about 14,000 total. The button player called, taking us to showdown after the first two players into the pot folded.

Eiffler: {J-?}

Button:

"Oh!" said a surprised Eiffler. He probably thought he was behind when the button called the preflop all in. That wasn't the case, but it became the case when the flop brought an ace and a king but no jack. Two blanks on the turn and river ended Eiffler's day.

06-20-2009 19:06 UTC-12

Mimi Finally Finds Chips

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After big preflop action with one player already all in, two other live players saw a flop come down {10-Diamonds}

. Mimi Tran moved all in on that flop, and the table big stack called her down to put two players at risk. Tran held {10-Hearts}

versus the big stack's {10-Spades}

and the all-in player's {8-Clubs}

. The turn {3-Hearts}

was safe for her, as was the {2-Spades}

that hit the river, and she took down a big pot.

After riding the short stack for much of the day, Mimi Tran now has some chips to work with. She knocked one player out in that hand, nearly tripling up to 45,000 in the process.

Tags: Mimi Tran

06-20-2009 19:00 UTC-12

Diesel!

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In a battle of the blinds, the small blind raised first into the pot, and Alex "Diesel" Bolotin moved all in from the big. It was 19,000 total, and the small blind wasted little time calling.

Showdown:
Small blind: {A-Clubs}

Bolotin:

The board would run safe for Bolotin, managing to dodge an ace and the clubs. He's earned himself a double up, crawling ever so close to 40,000.