Time flies when you're having fun! It seems like just yesterday that Event 1, the Employees event, kicked off and here we are today starting Event 14: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'emShootout already.
We've had Mixed-Max tournaments and we've had Heads-Up tournaments that had a scent of shootout to them but today is the pure thing. Ten players will line up at each table today and only one will progress. Do the same thing three days on the trot and you have yourself a bracelet.
Here's a look back at previous year's winners:
Year
Player
Prize
# of Entrants
2007
Donald Baruch
$264,107
900
2008
Jason Young
$335,565
1,000
2009
Jeff Carris
$313,673
999
2010
Steven Kelly
$381,927
1,397
2011
Andrew Badecker
$367,371
1,440
Play is due to start at 12:00 PM local time. Join the PokerNews team back here then.
With a flop spread on the felt, David Sands and his opponent managed to get all in. Sands' opponent was the one who was at risk, but this would basically be the pot that determines the winner due to the players being so close in chips.
Cards were tabled and it was Sands' opponent who possessed the lead with his . Sands looked to be in poor shape as his couldn't compete with with his opponent's kicker for the moment. A on the turn though changed all of that and Sands took a stranglehold on the hand. The on the river brought with it a win for Sands.
Both players graciously shook hands and commended each other on the match they played. "One suck out each" remarked Sands. According to Doc, earlier in the heads up match he possessed a four to one chip lead which evaporated after his lost versus his opponent's all in preflop.
The $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout event is always a popular tournament at the World Series of Poker. The players look at the structure and see that you only have to win three tables to win a bracelet. That is easier said than done, but there is the possibility of spending less hours at the table in winning a bracelet in this event than it takes to get through some day ones of other events.
A total of 1,138 turned up to play today and they were spread across 120 tables spilling into a second room. There is no outright chip leader heading into tomorrow as this was a shootout format. All 120 remaining players will bring back roughly the same stack tomorrow where they will shootout one more time. For a complete of who’s through click on the chip count tab or click here.
Some of the notable players who won their tables to advance included: Phil Ivey, Joe Cada, Blair Hinkle, David “Doc” Sands, Scott Clements, Erik Seidel, Terrence Chan, Gavin Smith, Jeff Madsen, Melanie Weisner and John Eames.
Eames had a table of “grinders” and was one of the last ten tables to finish. He had to overcome the sturdy force of Tony Cousineau in a long heads up battle. The final hand came when Eames pushed with and was called by Cousineau and his . The board ran out to give Eames a straight and Cousineau was gracious in defeat.
Others who failed to make it through the day included: Liv Boeree, Viktor Blom, Joeseph Cheong, Jonathan Duhamel, Chris Moorman, Jake Cody, Steve O’Dwyer, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Jose “Nacho” Barbero, Daniel Negreanu, and a whole load more we could mention in this class.
The restart for tomorrow is scheduled for 1pm in the Amazon room. The remaining 120 players will be spread over 12 tables of ten players each. Each table will play to a winner and the remaining 12 players will return on Friday. There they will play on two tables of six until the remaining ten play on one table down to a winner.
It’ll be no surprise to you by now that the PokerNews reporting team will be on hand to bring you all the action as we work towards our 14th bracelet winner of the summer.