There's no slow starting at Orange 327. With the game starting at limit hold'em, there have already been several showdowns. Mike Matusow's pocket jacks got the best of Erick Lindgren's big slick by rivering a straight, . A few hands later Ted Forrest and Brian Townsend both showed down unimproved ace-broadway, but Forrest's queen out-kicked Townsend's ten.
The circle was completed when Townsend's raked a pot against Matusow at showdown on an ace-high board. The usually garrulous Matusow didn't have anything to say as he mucked his hand.
He was not in costume, nor was he trailed by a gaggle of models, but Phil Hellmuth has entered the Amazon Room.
Carrying a take-away sandwich like a waiter might hoist a silver platter, Hellmuth entered the Orange section of the Amazon Room trailed instead by ESPN's cameras as he took his seat at Table 329 alongside James Van Alstyne, Erik "erik123" Sagstrom, and last year's champion David Bach. Hellmuth broke with tradition and abandoned his usual Johnny Cash-inspired wardrobe, accessorizing his black hat and jacket with a bright lime green polo shirt. Advice from his new life coach, perhaps?
Here's how the Day 1 of this event is going to unfold. Players are playing five 90-minute levels today. There will be a 20-minute break at the end of each level except for Level 2. At the end of that level, players will receive a 60-minute dinner break.
By my gorilla math, given our 5:15pm start time, that means the survivors will bag their chips at 2:45am.
Table Orange 309 is up at the front of the Amazon Room. Dan Shak, seated at that table in the 1-seat, somehow dropped a chip on the floor. It was a gray chip, denomination of 100, the smallest on the table, but that didn't stop an arm of people from scouring the area around the table in a search for the wayward chip. One of the floor supervisors eventually located the chip underneath a nearby side table and it was restored to Shak's stack.
Speaking of Michael Binger, we've just found out (from some some handy recon work by our own Gloria Balding) that he's playing tonight's event thanks to a last-minute satellite here at the Rio earlier in the day. Michael's $2,250 feeder didn't have enough players to get a full seat out of it, but it covered half his buy-in and that was apparently enough to lock up a seat for him.
We've also spotted brother Nick Binger in the field, and we learned that he too qualified via a $2,250 satellite today, and his was big enough to take care of the full entry price. Good luck to the Brothers Binger today.
Marc Karam, David Steicke, Robert Mizrachi, David Oppenheim, Vitaly Lunkin, Tuan Le, John D'Agostino and David Baker -- OK, no soft spots at that table. Let's move one over...
Phil Ivey, Ted Lawson, Chau Giang, David Benyamine, Pat Pezzin and two guys who have won this event before-- Freddy Deeb and Scotty Nguyen. Nope, wouldn't want to sit there either. Moving on...
2009 Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro, Doyle Brunson, Hasan Habib, Michael Binger, and Bill Chen. Lord help the three latecomers who have to fill those empty seats.
Andy Bloch, Matt Glantz, Justin Bonomo and Greg Mueller are playing four-handed over on Table 314 while "Miami" John Cernuto, David Singer, Isaac Haxton, and Alex Kravchenko are doing the same one table over.
Registration is open through the end of Level 2 so more familiar faces should continue to filter in and take those open spots.
You probably have a good idea who some of the faces are in the field right now. About half of the players are in their chairs, and we expect to see the rest of the high-rolling flock trickle in over the course of the next three hours.
So here's what we can see from our perch on the media tower. Dan Shak is sitting in the one seat at the far left table. He's got Dan "djk123" Kelly on his left, followed by Dario Minieri, Scott Seiver, Greg Raymer, and Jen Harman.
Across the way we found Steve Sung, Scott Clements, and Jason Mecier all sharing space on the same felt.
Another tough table -- okay, they're all tough tables here, but this one might be the toughest in the room -- has Brian Townsend, Alex Kostritsyn, Daniel Alaei, Ted Forrest and Mike Matusow seated together and chatting vigorously. Sorel Mizzi also joined that table a few minutes late, and now Erick Lindgren is sitting down as we speak. We can hear Mike Matusow's voice from here: "Yes! All the internet fish are at this table!"
With those last two additions, Table 327 is now officially the Table of Doom.
This tournament is clearly a centerpiece of the 2010 World Series of Poker. It was prefaced by fifteen minutes of introductions.
Tournament Director Jack Effel got things started by welcoming everyone in the room to the 2010 WSOP. "The big day has arrived," he said.
"We've had four winners of this event to date. I'd like to ask them to stand and be recognized." Those four winners are Chip Reese (now deceased), Scotty Nguyen, Freddy Deeb and David Bach. Bach, as reigning champion, was brought to the dais next to the David "Chip" Reese trophy, presented to the winner of this event.
"I know Chip carried himself with a lot of class and grace," said Bach. "It's been an honor to be the champion for the last year."
Effel then offered an effusive introduction of Doyle Brunson, who also said a few words.
"Chip was the best player I ever played with. But more than that he was a class act. Everyone respected and admired him," he began. "But I guess life moves on. A poker writer came up to me today and asked me who was the best I ever played. I said Chip. He replied 'Who?'
"It reminded me of a plaque I have in my office. It says achievements and accolades are buried with their owner."
The lights were then dimmed so that a 3-minute video on the legendary Chip Reese could be shown to the assembled crowd (which already numbered three deep all along the rail). When the video was finished, Effel took back the mic.
"It's time to live on that edge and play the highest buy-in event at the WSOP," he said. "Let the gold rush begin."
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. A few hands later Ted Forrest and Brian Townsend both showed down unimproved ace-broadway, but Forrest's queen out-kicked Townsend's ten.
raked a pot against Matusow at showdown on an ace-high board. The usually garrulous Matusow didn't have anything to say as he mucked his hand.
