Event 52 - $3,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold'em Day 1 | 2009 World Series of Poker

06-28-2009 08:11 UTC-12

Esfandiari Working His Magic

[user75032]

"1,500," said the player in the 3-seat at Antonio Esfandiari's table.

"2,000," replied Esfandiari. "Going up." He jerked his thumb towards the ceiling.

"2,100," his table mate replied.

"2,300."

"2,500."

We didn't hear the final number that they settled on, but it was in the high 2000s. They then turned to Neil Channing.

"So doctor?" Esfandiari inquired.

"28,000 dollars," said Channing as the table erupted in laughter. It seemed that Esfandiari and his opponent had bet $600 on how much Neil Channing thought that the player in the 2-seat would ask to be paid in order to shave the huge nest of hair he had on the top of his head.

Esfandiari won the bet. He's also up to 18,000 in chips.

Tags: Antonio Esfandiari

06-28-2009 08:18 UTC-12

Early Eliminations

[user75032]

Unless we've missed the mark, Theo Tran and Vanessa Rousso are among the earliest ranks of the departed. Certainly, their seats are empty and there are no chips or rebuy buttons on the table in front of their chairs.

06-28-2009 08:35 UTC-12

Last Wave?

[user75032]

Players are running out of time to register. People who've recently been picked out of the 800+ player field include: Nam Le, Jared Hamby, Thomas Keller, Layne Flack, and Chino Rheem.

Then there are some players that we may have missed on our first pass through the Orange section: Alexandre Gomes, Sandra Naujoks, David Daneshgar and Michael Tureniec.

06-28-2009 08:50 UTC-12

Overheard at the Tables

[user75032]

PokerNews blogger Marc Convey recently joined Noah Schwartz's table. "Not working today?" Schwartz asked. Convey's working, just not in his usual way.

At the front of the Blue Section, Tony Dunst was giving his views on playing limit hold'em. "Either you can play a limit tournament or you can take a trip to the dentist," explained Dunst.

Surprisingly, Humberto Brenes isn't talking to anyone at his table. We've caught him with his head bowed and eyes closed a few times.

And then there was the Texan explaining to a European player what life is like in Texas. "I've got a huge ranch in Dallas -- like you've seen on TV."

"Really? I want to come over!" the European player responded.

"Yeah it's a solid one-third of an acre," the Texan added, to laughter from the table.

"Where do the cows go?" another player asked.

06-28-2009 09:00 UTC-12

Action Starting to Pick Up

[user75032]

Now that we're about two levels in, we're starting to see some action. Allie Prescott and Liv Boeree tangled. We picked up the action on the turn, the board showing {8-Clubs}

. With 4,200 already in the pot, both players checked. Boeree led out for 2,100 on the river {10-Spades}

. Prescott smirked as if he knew he was about to make a bad call, then made it anyway. Boeree showed top set, {K-Diamonds}

. Prescott flashed {A-Clubs}

.

At a different table in the Orange Section, JC Alvarado was all in preflop with {A-Clubs}

against John Juanda's {9-Hearts}

. Alvarado made aces and kings on a board of {A-Spades}

to double up. He's up to 7,300 while Juanda is down to 4,150. Neither has any rebuy buttons in his stack.

06-28-2009 09:03 UTC-12

Break Time

[user75032]

Players are on the first 20-minute break of the day. At the end of the break, registration for this event will be closed.

06-28-2009 09:27 UTC-12

Play Resumes

[user75032]

After a brief delay for today's bracelet ceremony (awarded to Brandon Cantu for his victory in Event 48, $1,500 PLO-8), cards are back in the air.

Level: 3

Blinds: 75/150

Ante: 0

06-28-2009 09:33 UTC-12

Neverwin Full of Win

[user75032]

Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf lost a huge pot in the first ten minutes of the day. Since then he's been grinding a short stack, trying to re-balance himself and try again.

Shortly before the break he led out for 600 chips on a flop of {K-Diamonds}

. One opponent called to see a fourth diamond hit the turn. Woolf checked, then snap-called when his opponent pushed all in. Woolf's opponent had the {Q-Diamonds}

in his hand for the second nut flush, but Woolf was one better with {A-Diamonds}

, the nut flush.

Woolf is now back to the starting stack of 9,000 chips.

06-28-2009 09:38 UTC-12

Demidov's Stack Moves in Right Direction

[user75032]

Players still have rebuy chips, so it's a bit difficult right now to peg a player to a count. Effectively each rebuy chip is worth 3,000 chips, but until it's redeemed a rebuy chip is not considered part of the stack.

Ivan Demidov has one rebuy chip behind his stack of 7,700 chips. That stacked was doubled by an opponent in a recent hand. The opponent raised the button to 325, then called Demidov's small blind reraise to 1,450. Demidov moved in on a flop of {K-Spades}