Men "The Master" Nguyen has been eliminated from the tournament.
He raised preflop to 1,100 and Sam Phillips re-raised all in for 8,425. Nguyen had slightly less chips and opted to call, putting his tournament life on the line.
Nguyen:
Phillips:
The board ran out and Nguyen was sent to the rail. After the hand Phillips bragged that he had busted two pros so far today. In addition to "The Master," Phillips claimed to also have busted Andy Bloch.
We've spotted a massive stack of chips at one of the tables that must have escaped our attention for most of the day. Jason Koon, who took 4th place in the WPT Fiesta Al Lago event in 2010, has amassed a castle of chips equaling 59,000. This puts Koon near the top of the leaderboard for this Day 1b and we will be sure to track his progress as the end of the day approaches.
Players are back from break and will now play the first 40 minutes of level nine before play is halted for the night. There are currently 385 players left.
As the rest of the players exited the Pavilion Room for their last break of the day, we caught up with two players fervently counting their chip stacks to determine if one had indeed busted the other.
The final board read and Reagen Rich was standing up, with his laying in front of him. His opponent looked crestfallen and soon it became evident why: he had gone all-in with and the dagger that was the turn card had slashed his hopes of capturing a WSOP bracelet.
The dealer patiently counted out both players stacks as the player with kings silently hoped to have some ammunition remaining. Unfortunately, both he and Rich had exactly 9,025 chips and the defeated player was sent to the rail for a permanent break.
Marc Karam is continuing to add to his chip stack. Another player raised to 1,200 preflop, Karam re-raised to 3,300 and the other player contemplated for a bit before deciding to shove all in for around 15,000. Karam snap called with the and was well ahead of the other player's .
The board ran out giving Karam an unnecessary flush and the win. After the hand Karam had around 52,000.
As we were making our rounds throughout the cavernous Pavilion tournament area, a conversation caught our attention that reminded us why the World Series of Poker is the one of the most uniquely special spectacles in all of sport.
Jason Mencher of New York, NY was overheard telling a fellow player how excited he was to be competing, and surviving the first day of play, in a WSOP bracelet event. We heard the young player mention that his mother Marla and girlfriend Lauren were anxiously awaiting an update as to his status thus far, and that they would be absolutely ecstatic to know that he is entering Day 2 with 24,525 chips.
While his stack may not be one of the biggest in the room, the sheer joy that Mencher showed while telling his tale reminded us of one thing. While the professional players and their pursuit of prizes and prestige may dominate most of the WSOP coverage, it is amateur players like Mencher and the thousands of others like him who are truly the lifeblood of this two-month poker extravaganza.
We caught up with the action with the flop reading and two players all-in. Vince Insalaco tabled the for top pair but found himself dominated by better kicker of his opponent, who held the .
Insalaco could only win the pot with running fives, an extremely unlikely occurrence, but any of the remaining aces or nines in the deck would be good for a chopped pot. The turn card came and Insalaco was down to his last chance for survival in this event.
River:
The dealer found the right card for Insalaco, who offered a fist pound to his disappointed opponent in congratulations. The dealer split the pot in two and both players sat back down to resume play.
![[user198205]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Nguyen was sent to the rail. After the hand Phillips bragged that he had busted two pros so far today. In addition to "The Master," Phillips claimed to also have busted Andy Bloch.
and the dagger that was the turn card had slashed his hopes of capturing a WSOP bracelet.
.
giving Karam an unnecessary flush and the win. After the hand Karam had around 52,000.
and two players all-in. Vince Insalaco tabled the 
for top pair but found himself dominated by better kicker of his opponent, who held the 
and Insalaco was down to his last chance for survival in this event.