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

Floor!

Level 4 : 75/150, 0 ante

Certainly one of the most interesting things about poker is the amount of random situations that arise in which it is necessary to go deep into the rule book to figure out how to proceed. At least once a day, sometimes once a level, we hear a dealer cry, "Floooorrrr!"

Just now, we heard a floor call for Table 19. From what we can gather, Player A and Player B were heads up and reached a river showdown for a pot worth around 1,500 chips. Player A told Player B that he had ace-high to which Player B responded, "That's good." Player A then threw his cards to the dealer face down, expecting to be shipped the pot. However, he never showed his cards and Player B still had his. The rule is that the winning hand must be shown at a showdown and Player A could no longer do that.

The first floor man that was called over was unsure of what to do so a second floor man was called over. He ruled that since the cards had not yet hit the muck (one was in the rack while the other was sitting next to a random players chips), the hand was not dead. He also ruled that the dealer was not allowed to table a hand. Player A looked confused for a second before taking the hint, reached across the table and flipped over his cards. Player B mucked his hand and the pot was shipped to ace-high.

Kagawa KO'ed

Level 4 : 75/150, 0 ante

We only just managed to find Japanese high stakes player Masa Kagawa in the field, but no sooner had we approached him over at his table, he was already up out of his chair and heading to the exits.

As it turns out, it was Blake Kelso that was responsible for Kagawa's demise. Kagawa got the last of his money into the middle with {Q-Clubs}{J-Clubs}, but found himself trailing Kelso's {A-Spades}{3-Spades}.

Kelso kept the lead after the {2-}{4-}{9-} (one club) flop, but Kagawa picked up the flush draw with the {8-Clubs} on the turn. However, the {5-} on the river was not a club and it gave Kelso the wheel and Kagawa his marching orders.

The tables have been breaking in the Pavillion Room at ludicrous speed, with hundreds of players still either lined up for registration or still waiting for their tables to start. And yes, that was a Spaceballs reference. Watch that movie if you haven't yet. You'll laugh, you'll cry, it'll change your life.

Tags: Masa Kagawa

Ho Gets No Respect

Level 4 : 75/150, 0 ante

Maria Ho opened for 375 under the gun and got not one, not two, not three but four callers -- including the small and big blinds. The flop came {4-Diamonds} {5-Diamonds} {3-Clubs} and the small blind immediately bet out 1,600. The big blind folded and Ho snapped her cards and then tossed them to the dealer. The other players followed suit, although they took much longer than Ho.

"I know I had the best hand preflop. I know it for sure," Ho remarked to her neighbor.

Tags: Maria Ho

Level: 5

Blinds: 100/200

Ante: 0

Amazonian Chip Counts

Here's just a small sample of players we've seen in the Amazon Room. We obtained their chip counts for your viewing pleasure.

Player Chips Progress
Liz Lieu us
Liz Lieu
12,200
Christina Lindley us
Christina Lindley
11,400
1,400
1,400
Yevgeniy Timoshenko ua
Yevgeniy Timoshenko
11,100
Liv Boeree gb
Liv Boeree
10,800
6,300
6,300
Brock Parker us
Brock Parker
9,500
2,800
2,800
Sorel Mizzi ca
Sorel Mizzi
8,800
2,800
2,800
Maria Ho us
Maria Ho
7,800
3,300
3,300
Marsha Wolak us
Marsha Wolak
7,100
WSOP 1X Winner
Jennifer Cowan
Jennifer Cowan
6,600
Billy Jordanou
Billy Jordanou
3,800

Durrrr Cruising

Level 5 : 100/200, 0 ante

After calling an initial raise Tom Dwan and another player called the small blind's all in for around 2,000. Dwan went to a flop of {K-Spades} {J-Hearts} {K-Hearts} and bet the other player out of the pot. The all in small blind tabled {A-Clubs} {J-Clubs} and Dwan held {Q-Diamonds} {Q-Hearts}.

The turn and river came {8-Diamonds} {4-Hearts} and Dwan is up to around 20,000.

Tags: Tom Dwan