2012 World Series of Poker

Event 39: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha
Day: 1
Event Info

2012 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
a542
Prize
$661,000
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$2,754,200
Entries
293
Level Info
Level
25
Blinds
20,000 / 40,000
Ante
0

Racener Doubles, Then is Joined by the Champ

After being crippled in a previous hand, John Racener was able to double up through his neighbor, Mohsin Charania. We only caught Racener's hand and the board, and the 2010 November Niner's {k-Spades}{k-Hearts}{q-Hearts}{9-Hearts} was good for a flush on the {j-Hearts}{3-Hearts}{2-Hearts}{q-Hearts}{5-Diamonds} board.

Racener doubled to around 42,000, while Charania now has 54,000.

Joining them at the table now is the winner of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event; Jonathan Duhamel. Duhamel is two seats to Racener's left, and the two have combined for over $15 million in prizes here at the WSOP.

Player Chips Progress
Mohsin Charania us
Mohsin Charania
WSOP 1X Winner
54,000 -94,000
John Racener us
John Racener
WSOP 1X Winner
42,000 21,000

Tags: John RacenerMohsin CharaniaJonathan Duhamel

Parker KO's Opponent

Brock Parker opened to 2,000, a player on his left called, and George Lind III called out of the blinds. The flop came {9-Clubs}{8-Clubs}{j-Hearts}, and Lind III checked to Parker, who continued for 4,200. The player on Parker's left called, and Lind III released.

The turn was the {a-Diamonds}, and Parker led for the pot (14,900). His opponent only had around 20,000 behind, and moved all in. Parker called.

"You have the nuts?" the player asked Parker.

Parker nodded, and tabled {q-Clubs}{j-Clubs}{10-Spades}{3-Spades}. We only saw three of the other players' four cards ({k-Spades}{9-Hearts}{7-Spades}), and the river was the {6-Spades}. The player was eliminated, while Parker pulled in the pot.

Player Chips Progress
Brock Parker us
Brock Parker
97,000 55,000

Tags: Brock Parker

Kihara Triples Up in Another Big PLO Pot

Kihara after winning Event 35
Kihara after winning Event 35

On the {10-Clubs}{6-Spades}{4-Spades} flop, Naoya Kihara, John Racener and Cary Katz all got the money in. Kihara held the {A-Hearts}{Q-Spades}{10-Hearts}{10-Diamonds} for top set, Racener held the {A-Clubs}{K-Spades}{6-Hearts}{6-Clubs} for middle set and Katz held the {A-Spades}{8-Spades}{7-Hearts}{4-Hearts} for a big draw.

The turn was the {4-Clubs} and paired the board to give both Kihara and Racener a full house. Even despite them filling up with Kihara being in front, Katz could still spike the case four to quad up and win the hand.

The river was the {8-Hearts} and Kihara's full house won the pot. He was all in for 37,200 in chips on the flop, which covered Katz's 33,000 and eliminated him. Racener had both the players covered and was forced to send over the double-up chips for Kihara. Racener was left with about 21,000 in chips.

Last night, Kihara won Event 35: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha - Six-Handed for over $512,000. Not only did he win his first-ever gold bracelet, but he became the first Japanese player to do so. He's up to about 125,000 now in this event and looks to be making another run at a PLO title. Here is his winner interview from last night.

Player Chips Progress
Naoya Kihara jp
Naoya Kihara
WSOP 1X Winner
126,000 96,000
John Racener us
John Racener
WSOP 1X Winner
21,000 -41,000
Cary Katz us
Cary Katz
Busted

Tags: Cary KatzJohn RacenerNaoya Kihara

Level: 10

Blinds: 600/1,200

Ante: 0

Updated Chip Counts

Player Chips Progress
Joe Kushner
Joe Kushner
340,000
Benjamin Sage us
Benjamin Sage
242,000 18,000
Jan-Peter Jachtmann de
Jan-Peter Jachtmann
WSOP 1X Winner
195,000 93,000
Nikolai Yakovenko ru
Nikolai Yakovenko
165,000 8,000
Hans Winzeler us
Hans Winzeler
162,000 55,000
Matthew Kirk au
Matthew Kirk
161,000 35,000
Mohsin Charania us
Mohsin Charania
WSOP 1X Winner
148,000 4,000
Robert Williamson III us
Robert Williamson III
WSOP 1X Winner
103,000 -12,000
Andy Seth us
Andy Seth
100,000 35,000
Dominykas Karmazinas lt
Dominykas Karmazinas
95,000 -79,000
Romik Vartzar us
Romik Vartzar
88,000 29,000
Konstantin Buecherl
Konstantin Buecherl
75,000 -18,000
Josh Tieman us
Josh Tieman
74,000 14,000
Andrew Brown us
Andrew Brown
73,000 -2,000
John Racener us
John Racener
WSOP 1X Winner
62,000 5,000
Michel Abecassis fr
Michel Abecassis
62,000 22,000
Jan Collado de
Jan Collado
58,000 32,000
Joe Beevers gb
Joe Beevers
47,000 -13,000
Chris DeMaci us
Chris DeMaci
46,000 4,000
Richard Ashby gb
Richard Ashby
WSOP 1X Winner
37,000 -113,000
Naoya Kihara jp
Naoya Kihara
WSOP 1X Winner
30,000 12,000
Brett Richey us
Brett Richey
29,500 4,000
Ryan Schmidt us
Ryan Schmidt
28,000 -22,000
Phil Hellmuth us
Phil Hellmuth
WSOP Main Event Champion
WSOP 17X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
28,000 -8,000
Cary Katz us
Cary Katz
25,000 -4,500

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RW3 Busts Opponent

RW3 wasn't the first overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, but he does have over 100K chips.
RW3 wasn't the first overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, but he does have over 100K chips.

After a series of preflop bets and raises, Robert Williamson III was faced with an all-in bet from an opponent. RW3 reluctantly called, and the hands were opened.

RW3: {9-Spades}{8-Diamonds}{5-Diamonds}{4-Spades}
Opponent: {a-Hearts}{k-Hearts}{4-Clubs}{2-Clubs}

"I should've examined your stack more carefully," RW3 admitted. "At least I have two live suits."

It's a good thing his diamonds were live, because the board ran out {9-Diamonds}{10-Hearts}{q-Diamonds}{7-Clubs}{j-Diamonds}, giving him a winning flush. His opponent was eliminated, while RW3's stack ballooned to over 100,000 chips.

Player Chips Progress
Robert Williamson III us
Robert Williamson III
WSOP 1X Winner
115,000 30,500

Tags: Robert Williamson III

Big Pot for Sage as He Doubles Through Rast

From under the gun, Benjamin Sage raised to 2,500. David "Doc" Sands was in the next seat and made the call. Action then folded a couple of spots over to Brian Rast in the hijack seat. He put in a reraise to 10,500. Play folded over to the big blind and that's where Matthew Kirk was positioned. He tanked for a bit, but eventually folded his hand, although it seemed as though he didn't want to. After that, Sage called and Sands called.

The flop rolled out {A-Clubs}{K-Spades}{4-Clubs} and both Sage and Sands checked to Rast. He fired a bet of 21,000. Sage went into the tank for a minute or two before grabbing a pile of chips and tossing them into the middle for a reraise. Sands quickly folded and then Rast requested a count. Sage's reraise was for 68,000 and he had a little under 30,000 behind.

Rast tanked long and hard, looking pained by the decision he was confronted with. After a few long minutes, he announced that he was all in and Sage quickly called.

Sage turned over the {A-Spades}{A-Hearts}{5-Clubs}{2-Hearts} for top set of aces and a gutshot straight draw to the wheel. Rast held the {A-Diamonds}{K-Hearts}{J-Hearts}{3-Hearts} for top two pair.

After the turn brought the {4-Spades} to pair the board and give Sage a full house, Rast was drawing dead. The river completed the board with the {Q-Hearts}.

Sage was all in on the flop for 95,500 total and doubled to nearly 225,000 in chips. Rast was knocked all the way back to approximately 20,000.

Player Chips Progress
Benjamin Sage us
Benjamin Sage
224,000
Brian Rast us
Brian Rast
WSOP 6X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
21,000 -169,000
David Sands us
David Sands
20,000 -5,000

Tags: Benjamin SageBrian RastDavid SandsMatthew Kirk

Cada Doubles

2009 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Joe Cada, who just finished runner-up to Carter Phillips in Event 31: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em, recently doubled up over on Table 7. We unfortunately missed the action, but when we arrived at the table, the board was {3-Hearts}{10-Spades}{q-Hearts}{3-Clubs}{q-Spades}, and Cada had {a-Clubs}{a-Diamonds}{q-Clubs}{5-Clubs} spread out in front of him.

Cada was all in for 31,800, and with around 10,000 chips in the pot, he's up to roughly 74,000 chips.

Player Chips Progress
Joe Cada us
Joe Cada
74,000 53,000

Tags: Joe Cada

Raise or Call?

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 0 ante

When we reached Table 6 moments ago, there was an orange T5,000 chip laying in front of Dylan Kovachev. After examining the table, we could see that there were two limps in front from David Benyamine and Keith Lehr. Evidently, Kovachev had tossed out the oversized chip and said, "raise" a little too late.

"He said it after the chip hit the deck," the dealer told a floorperson.

Lehr agreed, saying that the player had intended to raise, but didn't act accordingly. Aubin Cazals, who won Event 6: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mixed-Max, sided with Kovachev however, saying that he announced raise before the chip hit the felt.

The floorperson asked Leif Force, another 2012 WSOP bracelet winner, for his opinion, but he didn't want to get involved because he wasn't in the hand. Eventually, the floor ruled it a call. Sam Trickett proceeded to complete from the small blind, and the player in the big blind checked.

The dealer fanned {j-Clubs}{a-Diamonds}{4-Spades}, and the action checked to Kovachev.

"How much is in the pot?" he asked the dealer, irritated.

The entire tabled laughed, and Kovachev opted to bet 2,200. The action folded to Lehr, who raised the pot.

"Let me guess," Kovachev blurted. "You have jacks?"

Kovachec folded.

"You've got a lot of imagination," Kovachev added. "Making sure you can limp in with jacks."

"I do have a lot of imagination," Lehr agreed.

"I like your imagination," Kovachev spat. "And your jacks."

The beef was quickly squashed, when the two decided to literally hug it out.

"I like this table," Force interjected after the miniature altercation. "I don't need to text or listen to music anymore."

Tags: Leif ForceDavid BenyamineKeith LehrDylan KovachevSam TrickettAubin Cazals