2011 World Series of Poker

Event #56: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em
Day: 1
Event Info

2011 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
a4
Prize
$777,928
Event Info
Buy-in
$1,500
Prize Pool
$4,575,150
Entries
3,389
Level Info
Level
32
Blinds
80,000 / 160,000
Ante
20,000

Event #56: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

Day 1 Completed

Official End-of-Day Chip Counts (full)

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Benjamin Volpe
Benjamin Volpe
156,200
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of David Zemel
David Zemel
127,700
Profile photo of David Eldridge us
David Eldridge
118,000
WSOP 2X Winner
Profile photo of Bryn Kenney us
Bryn Kenney
113,000
WSOP 2X Winner
Profile photo of Tyler Patterson us
Tyler Patterson
109,500
51,000
51,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Brett Jungblut us
Brett Jungblut
100,500
96,000
96,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Dan Kelly us
Dan Kelly
99,300
53,300
53,300
Profile photo of Aleksandr Mozhnyakov
Aleksandr Mozhnyakov
94,800
Profile photo of Brandon Meyers us
Brandon Meyers
93,200
26,500
26,500
Profile photo of Simon Lam us
Simon Lam
90,100
Profile photo of Stephen Williams
Stephen Williams
89,200
Profile photo of Justin Cohen
Justin Cohen
87,100
6,100
6,100
Profile photo of Simeon Naydenov bg
Simeon Naydenov
85,900
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Rayan Nathan
Rayan Nathan
83,800
Profile photo of Jonathan Davis
Jonathan Davis
81,200
Profile photo of Balazs Botond hu
Balazs Botond
81,000
Profile photo of Justin Schwartz us
Justin Schwartz
80,500
8,500
8,500
Profile photo of Daniel Boender nl
Daniel Boender
80,500
Profile photo of Steven Michaelis
Steven Michaelis
80,400
Profile photo of John Cook
John Cook
75,400
Profile photo of Thomas Ieronimo
Thomas Ieronimo
74,500
Profile photo of Brian Suchand
Brian Suchand
74,400
Profile photo of Florian Langmann de
Florian Langmann
74,100
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Jake Flores
Jake Flores
73,400
Profile photo of Jerry Anderson
Jerry Anderson
73,200

Read full

Day 1 in the Books; Volpe - Veni, Vidi, Vici!

Level 10 : 400/800, 100 ante
Ben Volpe - the overwhelming Day 1 chip leader!
Ben Volpe - the overwhelming Day 1 chip leader!

There was no doubt in anybody’s mind that today was going to be a big day here in the Pavilion Room. Given that this was the last $1,500 event on the schedule before the Main Event, there was going to be plenty of interest from everyone – whether it was your Average Joe or Joe Cada, everyone has eyes on just one prize – the gold bracelet.

Oh, and some life-changing money, let’s not forget about that.

Nevertheless, all 3,389 players faced the Herculean challenge of conquering Day 1 of this event. By the dinner break, one man bolted out in front and coasted through to the finish – Ben Volpe.

He’s bagged up a whopping 156,200 in chips, followed by David Zemel in second place with 127,700. Bryn Kenney (113,000), David Eldridge (111,800) and Tyler Patterson (109,500) round off our top five. Others to have made it through today’s massive field include Brett Jungblut (100,500), Dan Kelly (99,300), Justin Schwartz (80,500), Nick Holbrook (70,900), Gavin Smith (46,500), Eddy Sabat (56,300), Haibo Chu (55,100), Randy Lew (15,200) and Kenny Nguyen (15,000).

Of course, with only 465 players returning for Day 2, naturally, the casualty list was always going to be looooooooong. Just some of the names to have been written into the tournament obituaries were Vanessa Selbst, Humberto Brenes, Scott Montgomery, Antonio Esfandiari, Andre Akkari, Liv Boeree, Sam Trickett and Nacho Barbero.

This concludes our broadcast day! Once again, PokerNews will be back tomorrow from 2.30pm PST (GMT -7) live from the Amazon Room to bring you all the updates, but in the meantime, please stay with us as we burn the midnight oil with both the $50,000 Player’s Championship and the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Event.

Until then, in case we don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening and goodnight!

Tags: Ben Volpe

Mizzi Eliminated

Sorel Mizzi was on the button with only a one limper in front of him when he moved all in for 5,550. The blinds released, despite a short speech about the big blind's favorite hand, and the limper called. Mizzi tabled {3-Clubs} {3-Hearts} and was up against {A-Hearts} {4-Spades}.

The board ran {A-Clubs} {5-Hearts} {4-Hearts} {7-Hearts} {J-Spades} and Mizzi left the tournament area.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Sorel Mizzi ca
Sorel Mizzi
Busted

Tags: Sorel Mizzi

Maria Ho Got Rivered

Level 10 : 400/800, 100 ante

A player in middle position opened the action with a raise to 2,300 followed by a reraise to 7,000 from a late position player. Maria Ho was in the big blind and moved all in for her final 10,000 chips. The original raiser got out of the way but the final opponent made the call.

Ho: {q-Hearts}{q-Spades}
Opponent: {10-Hearts}{10-Spades}

The board ran out a brutal {j-Hearts}{4-Diamonds}{4-Spades}{3-Hearts}{10-Diamonds} and the river killed Ho's tournament life. As her opponent was offering his regrets, Ho told him not to worry and that it, "wasn't the first time that's happened this series."

"But hopefully the last," her opponent responded. Maria smiled and exited the tournament area.

Tags: Maria Ho

Kurita KO'ed

Yu Kurita (during Event #53): eliminated
Yu Kurita (during Event #53): eliminated

As the PokerNews Live Reporting Team made the rounds through the White section of the Pavillion, we spotted a rather forlorn-looking Yu Kurita railing her Japanese countryman, Waki Waki. When we asked her what happened, the former child psychology student from Tokyo was happy to take us through her story.

Holding around 25,000 in chips, she first called a player's all-in bet with {5-}{5-} after flopping a full house on a board of {Q-}{Q-}{5-} against her opponent's {Q-}{J-}. However, another {J-} spiked on the turn to give her opponent a bigger full house and she lost almost half her stack in that hand.

She then lost another chunk of change when her {K-}{Q-} was outdrawn by another opponent's {K-}{J-Spades} when he caught running spades for a flush, then ran her {A-}{J-} into a shorter stack's {K-}{K-} before finally getting the last of her money in with {A-}{K-}, only to lose the flip for her tournament life against {3-}{3-}.

With deep runs in both this year's and last year's WSOP Ladies Events (13th and 16th place respectively), plus more than $23,000 in tournament cashes since her live tournament debut in Macau in 2010, Kurita could be a big name in the future. Watch this space!

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Yu Kurita
Yu Kurita
Busted

Tags: Yu Kurita

Jacques Chases Down Seglem

Level 10 : 400/800, 100 ante

Kirsten Seglem opened for 1,800 in late position and was called by Vincent Jacques on the button and Jennifer Leigh in the small blind. The flop came out {Q-Hearts} {4-Hearts} {5-Clubs}, Leigh checked, Seglem bet 1,700 and Jacques called. Leigh let her hand go and the turn came {5-Diamonds}. Seglem led out with 2,000 and after some short consideration Jacques called. The river came {A-Clubs} and Seglem bet 3,000. Jacques tossed in the call and Seglem was visibly not happy with the call as she tabled {10-Spades} {10-Hearts}. Jacques showed {A-Hearts} {J-Diamonds} and chased down Seglem's pair.

Tags: Vincent JacquesKirsten SeglemJennifer Leigh

Scramble & Gamble!

Level 10 : 400/800, 100 ante

The cards are back in the air! A few players were bolting back to their seats, to which the tournament supervisor responded: "No running - there is a speed limit!"