Break Time
Level 12
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
Players are now on their first 20-minute break of the day.
2011 World Series of Poker
Event #32: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Day: 2
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2011 World Series of Poker
Buy-in
$1,500
Prize Pool
$4,242,000
Entries
2,828
Level
30
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
10,000
Big Slick Seals Rocco's Fate
Marco Lang opened from middle position for 3,000 and received a call from Martin Green in the cutoff. Michael Rocco then moved all in from the small blind for around 35,000. Lang pushed all in over the top, which prompted Green to fold.
Lang: 
Rocco: 
It was a flip for a big pot and Rocco's tournament life. The 
flop kept Lang in the lead, as did the 
turn. Rocco began calling for a king on the river, but it was not meant to be as the 
peeled off.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Amak Loves His Aces
Amit Makhija raised under the gun to 2,700, and the next player to act, Jeff Sluzinski, went all in for 9,200 total. The next player, Martin Kabrhel, flat called, and it folded back around to Makhija. He thought for about 20 seconds before announcing all in. Kabrhel folded fairly quickly, and the players tabled their cards.
Makhija: 
Sluzinski: 
The flop provided no help for Sluzinski, coming 
. The turn came the , giving Sluzinski a shot at a miracle runner runner. The river was paint, but unfortunately for Sluzinski, it was the 
, and he was eliminated.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
91,000 | 49,000 |
|
Busted |
Karamalikis Hits the Rail
Level 12
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
We didn't catch the actual elimination, but we've lost one of our notables in Jonathan "xMONSTERxDONGx" Karamalikis, who was busted in 275th place for $2,786.
Carter Gil On A Tear
Level 12
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
Carter Gil entered the day with 55,000, but in less then two hours of play, he has amassed a stack of over 200,000 that can be compared to the Great Wall Of China. To put it in perspective, in the three hands it took us to count all of his chips, he won all three. Twice raising preflop and taking it, and the third time getting called and winning with a continuation bet. We will keep an eye on him as his stack could soon take over the entire table.
A Look at the Poker Hall of Fame
Level 12
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
Given that TJ Cloutier is still alive in today's field and adding another cash to his already impressive WSOP résumé , we thought it might be fun to take a look at the Poker Hall of Fame; after all, Cloutier did become a member of the prestigious club back in 2006.
The WSOP Poker Hall of Fame
| Year | Inductee |
|---|---|
| 1979 | Nick “The Greek” Dandolos |
| “ | James Butler “Wild Bill Hickok” |
| “ | Edmond Hoyle |
| “ | Felton “Corky” McCorquodale |
| “ | Johnny Moss |
| “ | Red Winn |
| “ | Sid Wyman |
| 1980 | T “Blondie” Forbes |
| 1981 | Bill Boyd |
| 1982 | Tom Abdo |
| 1983 | Joe Bernstein |
| 1984 | Murph Harrold |
| 1985 | Red Hodges |
| 1986 | Henry Green |
| 1987 | Walter Clyde “Puggy” Pearson |
| 1988 | Doyle Brunson |
| “ | Jack “Treetop” Strauss |
| 1989 | Fred “Sarge” Ferris |
| 1990 | Benny Binion |
| 1991 | David “Chip” Reese |
| 1992 | Thomas Austin “Amarillo Slim” Preston |
| 1993 | Jack Keller |
| 1996 | Julius Oral “Little Man” Popwell |
| 1997 | Roger Moore |
| 2001 | Stu “The Kid” Ungar |
| 2002 | Lyle Berman |
| “ | Johnny Chan |
| 2003 | Bobby Baldwin |
| 2004 | Berry Johnston |
| 2005 | Crandall Addington |
| “ | Jack Binion |
| 2006 | Billy Baxter |
| “ | T.J. Cloutier |
| 2007 | Phil Hellmuth |
| “ | Barbara Enright |
| 2008 | Henry Orenstein |
| “ | Duane “Dewey” Tomko |
| 2009 | Mike Sexton |
| 2010 | Dan Harrington |
| “ | Erik Seidel |
They Keep on Mounting
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
Rookie Roundup: Kyle Cartwright
Level 12
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
Back in May we featured a young man by the name of Kyle Cartwright in our Rookie Roundup predictions. For those who don't know, Cartwright emerged as this year's WSOP-Circuit superstar after capturing three gold rings in just three months. Today, Cartwright has accomplished another feat, earning his first WSOP cash. Could a gold bracelet be in store to compliment his three rings?
Here is the Rookie Roundup piece featuring Cartwright:
If you don’t know Kyle Cartwright, then you haven’t been paying attention to the 2010-2011 World Series of Poker Circuit. Cartwright burst onto the poker scene in February when he traveled to the WSOP-Circuit stop at Harrah’s Tunica. With less than $2,000 to his name, Cartwright decided to take a shot at a few ring events, which was quite the ambitious plan considering that he had never before played in a major tournament. To say that Cartwright experienced a Cinderella experience would be an understatement.
By the end of the stop, Cartwright had played four events and claimed the gold ring in two, resulting in $56,789 in prize money. Winning two out of four tournaments was simply an amazing feat, which locked up the “Casino Championship” and a guaranteed spot in the WSOP-C National Championship. As if that wasn’t enough, Cartwright traveled to the WSOP-C Harrah’s St. Louis and entered the $1,600 Main Event. That event drew 449 players and created a $646,762 prize pool, the largest poker tournament prize pool in Missouri state history. Amazingly, Cartwright captured that title, too, along with the $142,290 first-place prize.
That means that within three months, Cartwright captured three WSOP-C gold rings and $199,830 in cashes. Not too bad considering that the record for most rings is four, shared between Mark “Pegasus” Smith and Men “The Master” Nguyen. What’s more, he did so against some pretty stiff competition that included Chris Viox, Greg Raymer, Dennis Phillips, T.J. Cloutier, and Dwyte Pilgrim, all of whom Cartwright outlasted in his big Main Event win.
Speaking of Pilgrim, poker experts have already drawn comparisons between him and Cartwright. Both have three rings and have found amazing success on the WSOP-C. With Pilgrim graduating to the big leagues, courtesy of a World Poker Tour win at the Borgata Poker Open, the role of WSOP-C poster boy seems to have fallen on Cartwright.
While the 23-year-old Cartwright has been of legal age to play in Vegas for a couple of years, this will be his first jaunt to the World Series of Poker. We had the opportunity to ask the University of Memphis graduate about his summer plans: “Well, I’m flying out for the [National Championship] freeroll on May 26 and staying until June 13. I’m definitely going to play most of the $1k and $1,500s. I'm going to try to satellite into some $5ks and maybe some $10ks. Still debating on the Main Event, but if I do play it I’m going to fly home [to Tennessee] then go back.”
Clearly, Cartwright is an early favorite in the 100-player National Championship where he will have a shot at winning his first WSOP bracelet. If he manages to do so, or even makes a decent cash, you can be sure that the number of events he plays this summer will go up. The only concern is that Cartwright didn't experience the usual run of good luck when he was last in Las Vegas, which was for the WSOP-C stop at Caesars Palace. In fact, he played four events and didn't make a single dinner break. Not a good precedent to set in Sin City.
The recent WSOP-C stop at Caesars Palace notwithstanding, Cartwright clearly has a knack for no-limit hold'em, which is complemented by the favor of lady luck. Combine that with the fact that he has nothing to lose (heck, he only had $2,000 to his name a few months ago), and Cartwright will certainly be a force in the no-limit hold’em events at this year’s WSOP.
Young Busts One
Level 12
: 600/1,200, 200 ante
Justin Young raised in early position to 2,800, and got one caller in the hijack. Action folded to the big blind, who went all in for 14,000 total. Young thought about it for about 30 seconds before cutting out a call and putting it in the middle. The hijack folded, and the cards were flipped up, with Young in a dominating position.
Young:
Opponent:
The board ran out 
, and Young collected the bounty and bumped his stack up to 80,000 after the hand.
More Eliminations
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
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Busted | |
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Busted | |
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Busted | |
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Busted | |
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Busted | |
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Busted | |
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Busted | |
|
Busted |