Event 45 - $10,000 World Championship Pot Limit Hold'em Day 1 | 2009 World Series of Poker

06-23-2009 08:14 UTC-12

Too Early For Small Talk

It's taken a little bit of time, but the room is finally starting to come to life a bit. For the first half hour of play, Greg Raymer was just about the only player in the room interested in carrying on a conversation. He's always wide awake. The rest of the field were still rubbing their eyes, stretching and yawning, ordering coffee and flicking through music on their iPods. There still isn't much chit-chat, but it seems like everyone is slowly waking up.

The board shows 241 players registered and counting.

06-23-2009 08:13 UTC-12

Ravi Raghavan Folds A Set

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After a flop of {K-Clubs}

Ravi Raghavan checked and Rob Hollink bet 1,050 from late position. Jani Sointula raised from the button to 2,650.

Raghavan then threw out a check-raise to 6,500. Not phased with the check-raise, Hollink four-bet to 19,500. Sointula folded, although he did not look too happy about it.

Raghavan went into the tank for several minutes while he shuffled his chips. With about 10,800 behind, Hollink had him covered.

Finally, Raghavan folded his cards face up - {2-Hearts}

for bottom set.

Hollink took down the pot without showing and moves to 34,200.

Tags: Ravi Raghavan Rob Hollink

06-23-2009 08:10 UTC-12

Late Arrivals

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Gavin Smith is here. We're not sure where he's sitting just yet, but judging by the direction of the shouting, Smith is somewhere in the far corner of the room.

We've also had another lady join in the fun. PokerStars pro Sandra Naujoks has just brightened our day a bit by taking her seat. And what a table:

Seat 1: J.C. Tran
Seat 2: Brandon Adams
Seat 3: Sandra Naujoks
Seat 8: Scotty Nguyen

And that's just seven-handed so far.

06-23-2009 07:58 UTC-12

Familiar Faces

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At first sweep of the field, there are familiar faces scattered like confetti throughout the room. So far, the top-tier pros are pretty well spaced out, but we expect many of the empty seats will be filled with sharks within the next two hours.

Here's a partial list of some of the notables who've already taken their seats. Many more to come.

Roland de Wolfe (wearing neon green headphones)
Jason Mercier (sitting to de Wolfe's left)
Bill Edler
Theo Tran
Erik Seidel
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (the very first player to arrive today)
Marc Naalden (still wearing his new bracelet)
Noah Schwartz
Ivan Demidov
Thomas Wahlroos
Shaun Deeb
Toto Leonidas (sitting to Deeb's left)
David Pham
Greg Raymer (very talkative already)
Nenad Medic (defending champion)
Josh Arieh

There are also four women in the field so far:
Kathy Liebert
Vanessa Rousso
Liya Gerasimova
Vicky Coren

06-23-2009 07:52 UTC-12

Tollerene Gives Rope, But Khan Refuses to Hang

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Hafiz Khan raised to 525 from middle position and Matt Brady called from the small blind. Ben Tollerene then raised to 3,200 from the big blind. Khan called and Brady got out of the way.

The flop came {8-Clubs}

and Tollerene bet 3,000. Khan called.

The turn was the {9-Clubs}

and both players checked.

The river brought the {4-Hearts}

. Tollerene checked again, possible trying to induce a bet from Khan, but he just checked behind.

Tollerene showed {A-Clubs}

for the nut flush.

Khan, showing that he had a good read on the situation, flipped over {10-Diamonds}

for the over pair to the board, dodging a bullet.

Tags: Ben Tollerene Hariz Kahn

06-23-2009 07:38 UTC-12

A Stacked Field

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As expected, this field appears to be stacked with well-known pros. However, with about half of the seats unoccupied, more are sure to show up in the next level or two.

Currently the board reads 197 players have registered for this event, but that number is expected to grow somewhere in the 300 player range.

As empty seats are occupied, we will bring you some of the tougher table draws in the field.

06-23-2009 07:33 UTC-12

Let's Go!

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The morning announcements today included a little bit of a lecture from Jack Effel. Apparently, when noon came around, there weren't even enough players in the room to put two at each table in play. "You guys know the events start at noon," he said, "and we'd appreciate it if you'd make an effort to show up on time."

After the rest of the rundown, he gave the "Shuffle up and deal," and the cards are in the air!

Level: 1

Blinds: 100/200

Ante: 0

06-23-2009 07:03 UTC-12

A Little Delay

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We're not exactly sure what the holdup is, but we're still waiting for the players to enter the room. The floor person gave the 10-minute call about nine and a half minutes ago, but the room is still empty. We expect to be underway shortly, but it looks like it'll be a little past the scheduled high noon kickoff.

06-23-2009 06:40 UTC-12

Event #45 - Pot Limit Hold'em Championship

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2008 Pot Limit Hold'em Champion - Nenad Medic

The 2009 Pot Limit Championship kicks off today at noon. This will be the last $10,000 tournament until July 3rd, the Main Event, and many will view this as a precursor to big one.

Last year, this event attracted 352 entrants with Nenad Medic taking it down, earning his first WSOP bracelet and $794,112.

Players will start with triple stacks of 30,000 with opening blinds of 100-200. Levels will last 60 minutes. Since this is a Pot Limit event, the maximum opening raise will be seven times the small blind.