2012 World Series of Poker

Event 17: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em
Day: 1
123
Event Info
2012 World Series of Poker
Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
aj
Prize
$445,899
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$1,682,600
Entries
179
Level Info
Level
30
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
0
Players Left 1 / 179
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Update: The Defending Champion - Amir Lehavot

Amir Lehavot
Amir Lehavot

Last year this event drew in 249 entries thus creating a first prize of $573,456. That prize money now resides in the bank of choice of Amir Lehavot. The former number one is sat at Table 1 and he is joined by Nicolas Levi. The pair should be familiar with each other because Levi finished in 6th place in last years final table earning $114,525.

Here is a short update on Table #1.

During the time that we observed the table Lehavot was extremely quiet. The man with all of the green 25 chips is Brandon Meyers, a sure sign that he is one of the most active players at the table. Meyers is seated in the 9 seat with a stack of around 42,000 chips.

Guillaume Darcourt is occupying seat number 4 and is up to 48,000 after winning this three-way flop. Meyers raised to 700 from middle position, Darcourt called in the small blind before the big blind squeezed to 2,600. Both Meyers and Darcourt made the call and we were three-way to the flop of {J-Diamonds} {9-Diamonds} {9-Hearts}. Darcourt checked, the big blind bet 5,600, Meyers folded and Darcourt made the call. The turn {3-Hearts} was checked through and the last card was the {4-Diamonds}. Darcourt bet 8,500 and the big blind folded his hand.

Seat number 3 goes to Andy Lichtenberger who has 49,000 chips. Lichtenberger has two 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) cashes to his name already, finishing in 124th place in Event #2 and 32nd in Event #12. Here he is taking a pot away from the aggressive Meyers.

Meyers raised to 700 in early position and four callers later a quintet shared a flop of {A-Spades} {9-Hearts} {5-Clubs}. Meyers was the first to bet, when he made it 1,500, and only Lichtenberger made the call. The turn card was the {6-Diamonds} and Meyers surrendered his hand after Lichtenberger bet 3,000 when checked to.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Andrew Lichtenberger us
Andrew Lichtenberger
49,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Guillaume Darcourt fr
Guillaume Darcourt
48,000
18,000
18,000
Profile photo of Brandon Meyers us
Brandon Meyers
42,000
Profile photo of Nicolas Levi fr
Nicolas Levi
30,800
Profile photo of Tony Cousineau us
Tony Cousineau
30,600
600
600
Profile photo of Amir Lehavot il
Amir Lehavot
20,000
WSOP 1X Winner

Tags: Andrew LichtenbergerBrandon MeyersGuillaume DarcourtNicolas Levi

Counts From Around The Room

This field is absolutely stacked, so we'll do our best to keep up with the chip counts today. Here's a look at some of the notables midway through Level 4.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Humberto Brenes cr
Humberto Brenes
44,000
3,000
3,000
WSOP 2X Winner
pokerstars
Profile photo of David Benyamine fr
David Benyamine
41,500
6,500
6,500
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Andy Bloch us
Andy Bloch
36,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Antonio Esfandiari us
Antonio Esfandiari
33,800
3,800
3,800
WSOP 3X Winner
StakeKings
Profile photo of Jason Mercier us
Jason Mercier
29,500
WSOP 6X Winner
pokerstars
Profile photo of John Juanda id
John Juanda
29,000
1,000
1,000
WSOP 5X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
Profile photo of Liv Boeree gb
Liv Boeree
28,000
800
800
WSOP 1X Winner
pokerstars
Profile photo of Eric Froehlich us
Eric Froehlich
27,500
WSOP 2X Winner
Profile photo of Nenad Medic us
Nenad Medic
26,200
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Daniel Negreanu ca
Daniel Negreanu
23,400
WSOP 7X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
pokerstars
Profile photo of Dwyte Pilgrim us
Dwyte Pilgrim
23,000
Profile photo of Jeff Lisandro au
Jeff Lisandro
22,600
WSOP 6X Winner
Profile photo of Shawn Buchanan ca
Shawn Buchanan
19,500
500
500
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Tommy Vedes us
Tommy Vedes
11,000
Profile photo of Viktor Blom se
Viktor Blom
8,000
pokerstars

Roberto Romanello is an Early Casualty

Earlier we reported how Roberto Romanello started the day in the worse way, losing large percentage of his stack in a hand against Robert Mizrachi. We have just been back to his table to see how he has reacted to that loss and he is gone. Eugene Katchalov filled us in with details of the demise of the dragon.

The action was in the first level and Romanello raised to 300 from the cutoff, the small blind called, the big blind raised to 1,050, Romanello made it 3,000, the small blind folded and the big blind called. The flop was {J-} {7-} {4-} (two spades) and all of the money went into the middle after the big blind had check-raised to 12,000 and Romanello moved all-in for his remaining 16,000. Romanello turned over {K-} {K-} for the over-pair and the big blind turned over {Q-Spades} {9-Spades} for the flush draw. The turn and river were both ladies and Romanello was eliminated against the trips of the big blind.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Roberto Romanello gb
Roberto Romanello
Busted
WSOP 1X Winner

Tags: Roberto Romanello

Level: 4

Blinds: 150/300

Ante: 0

Crowe Coolered by Busquet

Olivier Busquet
Olivier Busquet

We walked over to Table 11 to find Owen Crowe, Olivier Busquet and another player staring at a flop of {9-Spades}{8-Spades}{4-Spades}. Busquet was on the button and after action had checked over to him, he led out for around 1,200. Crowe check-raised to 3,600 from the big blind, and the other player cold-called. Busquet , however, wasn't deterred; he put in a three-bet worth 9,000. The entire table was now watching intently.

Crowe opted to call with around 17,600 chips behind and the other player released. The {5-Clubs} fell on the turn and Crowe checked again. Busquet slid 10,000 into the middle and Crowe went into the tank. He hemmed and hawed over his options before moving all in. Busquet took no time in making the call.

Busquet: {A-Spades}{K-Spades}
Crowe: {J-Spades}{10-Spades}

Both players had flopped flushes, and while Busquet held the nut flush, Crowe had two outs to a straight flush. As Crowe stood up from hit seat the dealer rolled over the {10-Diamonds} on the river, sending Crowe to the rail. Busquet is one of the early leaders with around 70,000.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Olivier Busquet us
Olivier Busquet
70,000
Profile photo of Owen Crowe ca
Owen Crowe
Busted

Tags: Oliviet BusquetOwen Crowe

Boeree Joins Table #6

Griffin "Flush_Entity" Benger
Griffin "Flush_Entity" Benger

Liv Boeree has just joined the glittering array of talent on Table #6. Boeree, who finished 2010 in 14th place in the all time money list earning $1,827,732, has taken the 9 seat. Boeree has one cash under her glitzy 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) belt, finishing in 84th place in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry event.

Also seated on that table is Griffin Benger. Now that name may not be that familiar to the thousands of live poker fans out there so let's bring you up to speed. Benger is one of the biggest online multi-table tournament professionals on the planet. Under the moniker of Flush_Entity, Benger has won over $3 million taking down some of the biggest tournaments online.

Here are a few hands with Benger and Boeree in action.

After just losing a small pot to Humberto Brenes, Benger opened up the action with a 450 bet from early position. The action folded around to Brenes in the big blind, "you wanna play with me?" Brenes mouthed before making the call. The flop was {10-Diamonds} {7-Diamonds} {4-Hearts} and Brenes check-called a 525 Benger c-bet and that endeth the action. Both players checked down the {3-Diamonds} and {6-Spades} on the turn and river respectively and Benger won the pot with {J-Spades} {7-Spades} for a pair of sevens. Brenes showed {J-Clubs} {9-Clubs}.

Next we had Boeree tangling with Dan Kelly. The WSOP bracelet winner Kelly raised to 500 in the cutoff and Boeree made the call from the button. Both blinds folded and we were heads-up to the flop. The dealer laid the {A-Clubs} {J-Diamonds} {3-Clubs} on the felt and Boeree called a 700 Kelly c-bet. The turn was next and the {10-Diamonds} and this time the action was reversed as Kelly check-called a 1,000 Boeree bet. Finally, the pair saw the {5-Diamonds} and both players tapped the felt. The hand went to Kelly who tabled {A-Diamonds} {9-Diamonds} for the nut flush that got there on the river.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Humberto Brenes cr
Humberto Brenes
47,000
7,000
7,000
WSOP 2X Winner
pokerstars
Profile photo of Allen Cunningham us
Allen Cunningham
34,000
WSOP 5X Winner
Profile photo of Dan Kelly us
Dan Kelly
33,000
3,000
3,000
Profile photo of Griffin Benger ca
Griffin Benger
30,000
Profile photo of Jon Turner us
Jon Turner
29,000
$25K Fantasy
Profile photo of Liv Boeree gb
Liv Boeree
28,800
WSOP 1X Winner
pokerstars
Profile photo of Shawn Buchanan ca
Shawn Buchanan
20,000
3,000
3,000
WSOP 1X Winner

Tags: Dan KellyGriffin BengerHumberto BrenesLiv Boeree

Tough Beat For Mori Eskandani

ESPN Head of Production Mori Eskandani has had to leave Event 17 $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em due to a family emergency. The table have just been told that his 35,000 stack will be blinded away unless Eskandani returns. Everyone at Pokernews wishes Eskandani the very best.

The Eskandani stack is standing tall and proud at Table #15 and it is surrounded by talent. Former November Niner and super-talented cash game coach Jason Senti is seated in seat 1 with 20,000 chips, Tom Marchese has the 2 seat with 26,000 chips, Matt Marafioti has the 3 seat with 39,000 chips, David "Bakes" Baker is in seat 4 with 38,000 chips, Andrey Pateychuk takes seat 6 with 37,000 chips and Mickey Petersen closes the table in seat 9 with 33,000 chips.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Matt Marafioti ca
Matt Marafioti
39,000
Profile photo of David "Bakes" Baker us
David "Bakes" Baker
38,000
$25K Fantasy
WSOP 3X Winner
Profile photo of Andrey Pateychuk ru
Andrey Pateychuk
37,000
Profile photo of Mori Eskandani us
Mori Eskandani
35,000
Poker Hall of Famer
Profile photo of Mickey Petersen dk
Mickey Petersen
33,000
3,000
3,000
pokerstars
Profile photo of Tom Marchese us
Tom Marchese
26,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Profile photo of Jason Senti us
Jason Senti
20,000

Tags: Mori Eskandani

Benyamine's Curiosity Pays Off

David Benyamine
David Benyamine

Martins Adeniya opened with a raise to 425 from the cutoff and David Benyamine put in a three-bet to around 1,300 from the button. Action folded back around to Adeniya, who made the call, and the dealer rolled out a flop of {Q-Hearts}{2-Diamonds}{2-Clubs}. Adeniya check-called a bet of 1,750, and the {J-Clubs} fell on the turn. Both players slowed down with a check, leading to the {6-Diamonds} on the river. This time, Adeniya took the lead by firing 2,150. Benyamine thought for a minute before cutting out enough chips for a call and tossing them into the pot. He tabled {6-Spades}{4-Spades} for a rivered pair of sixes, and Adeniya mucked.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Martins Adeniya gb
Martins Adeniya
40,000
Profile photo of David Benyamine fr
David Benyamine
35,000
5,000
5,000
WSOP 1X Winner

Tags: David BenyamineMartins Adeniya

A Double Up For Erik Seidel; Josh Arieh The Victim

Erik Seidel looking happier with 50k in front of him
Erik Seidel looking happier with 50k in front of him

We have just glided past Table #7 as the dealer was handing Erik Seidel a nice pot. After some discussion with a watching journalist we understand that Seidel and Arieh got all of their money into the pot pre-flop; Arieh raising to 500 and then after four players called, John Juanda made it 3,200 to play. Erik Seidel then made it 6,000, Arieh bumped it up to 22,500, Juanda folded and Seidel called.

Seidel{A-Spades} {A-Diamonds}
Arieh{Q-Spades} {Q-Clubs}

Board: {8-Diamonds} {4-Diamonds} {2-Spades} {4-Clubs} {K-Spades}

Erik Seidel moves up to 50,000 and Arieh is down to 8,000 and change.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Erik Seidel us
Erik Seidel
50,000
20,000
20,000
WSOP 10X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
Profile photo of Josh Arieh us
Josh Arieh
8,000
22,000
22,000
Team Lucky
WSOP 7X Winner

Tags: Erik SeidelJosh Arieh