Tom Dwan raised on the button and Richard Ashby called from the big blind. Ashby took two cards and bet while Dwan drew three and raised. Ashby made the call as the players went to the second draw.
Ashby drew one and checked to Dwan who stood pat and bet. Ashby threw in a check-raise and Dwan came back with a three-bet which Ashby called.
Both players stood pat on the third draw and Asbhy check-called another Dwan bet. Dwan turned over for number one and raked in the pot when Ashby mucked.
David Bach won this event (then called the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship) in 2009, banking $1,276,806 and the David "Chip" Reese Memorial Trophy for his efforts. Bach is in the field today, but is off to a slow start after losing a hand to Fabrice Soulier.
Bach raised from the cutoff, and Fabrice Soulier called with the button. Bach drew one, Soulier drew two, and Bach led out. Soulier called.
Both players drew one on the second draw, and again Soulier called a bet from Bach.
Both players stood pat on the third draw, and Bach then checked for the first time. Soulier bet, and Bach folded.
Justin Smith raised from the cutoff, only to be re-raised by John Hennigan on the button. After the blinds folded, Smith four-bet. Hennigan called and watched Smith draw one to his two. A bet from Smith followed by a call from Hennigan led to each drawing one. Smith bet, Hennigan raised, and Smith called. He drew one while Hennigan stood pat.
Both checked, leading to Hennigan showing . Smith couldn't beat it and Hennigan won the pot.
Hennigan - Up to about 154,000
Smith - Down to roughly 146,000
Welcome to what many call the most prestigious and elite event the world has to offer — the $50,000 Poker Player's Championship at the World Series of Poker. You can expect nothing but the best of the best to be on hand for this event and PokerNews is proud to be the ones bringing you all the live coverage from the floor.
Back in 2006, this event was first put on the map. The late David "Chip" Reese won the inaugural event and the trophy has since been named after the poker hall of famer. Reese is widely considered the best all-around player to ever have lived by fans and peers, making it quite the honor to win his trophy for taking down this event.
The event was originally a $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event that played as No-Limit Hold'em at the televised final table. In 2007, 2008 and 2009, the event was played in its complete format at the final table. The event was not televised in 2009 when David Bach won due to viewing numbers being down since the event's final table was aired in its complete H.O.R.S.E. format. Last year, the event went back to No-Limit Hold'em at the final table and was back on ESPN for everyone to see Michael Mizrachi claim gold. Also last year, the event was changed to an 8-Game format, which is also what it will be this year.
Let's take a look at this event's history.
Past WSOP $50,000 Poker Player’s Champions
Year
Player
Prize
# of Entrants
Total Prize Pool
2006
Chip Reese
$1,716,000
143
$6,864,000
2007
Freddy Deeb
$2,276,832
148
$7,104,000
2008
Scotty Nguyen
$1,989,120
148
$7,104,000
2009
David Bach
$1,276,806
95*
$4,560,000
2010
Michael Mizrachi
$1,559,046
116
$5,568,000
*Event was not televised
Numbers were up last year from the previous year, but the field size has never grown to reach the 148 entrants that came out to play in 2007 and 2008. Hopefully, that will all change this year. One thing is for certain no matter the size of the field, and that's that there will be nothing but the biggest names in this event.
One of those big names is Phil Ivey and it has been speculated that with all of the recent developments involving Full Tilt Poker he'd be on hand for this event (FTP Suspended, FTP Reported Sold, FTP Class Action). Well, Erick Lindgren seems to have squashed those rumors on Twitter earlier today.
@EdogPoker: "For those speculating, Phil Ivey will not be playing the 50k today. He is still in Europe working to get things done."
Even without the phenom that is Ivey, you won't be disappointed with this field. You can expect Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Tom Dwan, Jason Mercier, Doyle Brunson, Chad Brown and many, many more to be here for the event.
Play is set to kick off at 5:00 PM PT. Be sure to grab some snacks and kick back behind your computer screen with your finger on the refresh button as we'll be popping out content all day long. While you wait for things to kick off, check out the July 2nd update from our very own Sarah Grant.
for number one and raked in the pot when Ashby mucked.
