In a field like this many players will know each other, since the amount of rookies is very, very, low. The combination of these two tournaments isn't something for the young internet wizards, and by playing in this one you show your peers that poker is not just about No Limit Hold'em.
So far the day has been fairly quiet, but as it goes on scooping that one big pot could mean the difference between contending and seeing your tournament ending.
It doesn't happen too often that we get to cover a hand with three World Series of Poker winners. But we just saw one between Matt Graham, Allen Bari, Joe Hachem and an unknown player. Bari and Graham both took half of this player's chips as he got eliminated.
We caught the action on fifth street when the short stack in this hand moved all in after a series of raises. All three of his opponents stayed in the pot. On sixth street there was betting on the side and Hachem folded his cards. Seventh street got checked down, and Graham turned over for a six-five-four-three-ace low. Bari showed and had made aces up.
The all in player showed the , but his two pair came up short. He was knocked out and both Bari and Graham took his chips.
We caught the action on the turn in a hand between Barry Shulman, Yuebin Guo and Konstantin Puchkov when the board read . Shulman was in the small blind and he bet 300. Guo, who finished third in the 2007 $5,000 H.O.R.S.E., made the call as did the 2010 $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. winner Konstantin Puchkov.
The river was the and Shulman checked. Guo fired out 300, Puchkov tank-folded and Shulman made the call. Guo turned over and mucked when Shulman tabled . The 2009 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event winner added some chips to his stack, and he's now up to 10,000.