2012 World Series of Poker

Event 5: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em
Day: 2
Event Info

2012 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
1010
Prize
$189,818
Event Info
Buy-in
$1,500
Entries
639
Level Info
Level
27
Blinds
30,000 / 60,000
Ante
0

Chan Captures The Chip Lead

Wow. Just 30 minutes ago, we reported that Gnatenko Oleksander was 2nd in chips with 120,000. So you can imagine our surprise when we went to the WSOP website and saw that Oleksander was the 58th place finisher. We assumed it was a misprint, but when we went to the table, we saw that indeed his seat was empty, and it appeared that Terrence Chan was the benefactor of his downfall. We talked with Chan after, and he filled us in.

Action started with Oleksander on the button, and he raised it up to 3,500. Chan called from the small blind, as did the player in the big blind. The dealer fanned out a flop of {q-}{5-}{3-} with two diamonds, and it was checked to Oleksander, who bet out 5,500. Chan check raised to 17,000, and the big blind folded. Oleksander made the call, and the two went heads up to the turn.

That card was a non diamond {10-}, and this time, Chan led out for 17,000. Oleksander raised to 45,000, and it was back to Chan, who moved all in for 77,000 total. Oleksander made the call, and when the cards were tabled, Oleksander was drawing dead.

Chan: {3-}{3-}
Oleksander: {q-Spades}{6-Spades}

Chan had flopped a set, while Oleksander held just top pair. Chan scooped the massive pot, and is now sitting on the chip lead, with over 150,000!

Player Chips Progress
Terrence Chan ca
Terrence Chan
WSOP 1X Winner
155,000 80,000
Gnatenko Oleksander
Gnatenko Oleksander
Busted

Tags: Terrance ChanGnatenko Oleksander

Nam Sliding, Aguiar Gliding

Action began with Nam Le, who raised under-the-gun to 3,300. Action folded around to Jonathan Aguar, who called from the big blind.

The flop came {8-Diamonds}{5-Spades}{3-Hearts} and Aguiar check-called a 4,000 continuation bet from Le. Both players checked the {5-Clubs} turn.

Things got interesting on river. A {K-Hearts} fell on the river and Aguiar deliberated a while before chipping out a bet to 10,500 and sliding it into the middle. Le fell deep into the tank and appeared to go over the hand in his head several times. Le chipped out his remaining chips a couple times before rapping the table twice and folding his hand.

"Bluff!" a fellow table-mate said.

Aguiar mucked without showing.

Le is down to 35,000 while Aguiar is hovering around 95,000.

Player Chips Progress
Jonathan Aguiar pt
Jonathan Aguiar
WSOP 1X Winner
95,000 -5,900
Nam Le us
Nam Le
35,000 -13,000

Tags: Jonathan AguiarNam Le

Chan Flush With Chips

We caught up with action on a {6-Hearts}{J-Spades}{3-Clubs}{A-Hearts}{2-Hearts} board. Terrence Chan had a bet in front of him from the big blind position and he was raised by his lone opponent from middle position to 29,500. Chan tanked for a bit, but eventually made the call. His opponent revealed {5-}{5-} for a pair of fives and Chan flipped over {7-Hearts}{8-Hearts} for a flush, which was more than good enough to scoop the pot.

Chan, well-known for his limit hold'em prowess, is making a run at this thing. He is up to 75,000.

Player Chips Progress
Terrence Chan ca
Terrence Chan
WSOP 1X Winner
75,000 24,500

Tags: Terrence Chan

Gardenhire Gains The Chip Lead

Justin Gardenhire was one of the more interesting stacks to keep an eye on yesterday. He jumped out to a big chip lead early on, then slowly trickled down for most of the day, until he secured a big double up towards the end of the day when his kings held against his opponent's ace jack.

Well we didn't see him today until our last walk through, and we noticed that he has amassed a mountain of chips, including four of the orange T5,000 chips that are now in play, the most we have seen in the field. By our estimation, he has about 135,000, which is the chip lead right now with 60 players left. We will be sure to keep an eye on his progress as the day goes on.

Player Chips Progress
Justin Gardenhire us
Justin Gardenhire
135,000 64,000

Tags: Justin Gardenhire

Level: 12

Blinds: 800/1,600

Ante: 0

The Magician Missteps Early

Yesterday, Antonio Esfandiari was cruising the whole day, collecting chips with ease. He made a late surge, and ended the day as our chip leader. However, he is off to a rough start today, as he doubled Steve Brecher up early. We only got to the table as the dealer was counting out Brecher's chips for the double, but we did catch the following.

The board: {7-Hearts}{2-Spades}{j-Diamonds}{k-Spades}{4-Spades}

Esfandiari: {k-Hearts}{q-Clubs}
Brecher: {q-Spades}{j-Spades}

Brecher doubled up with his flush to 57,000, while Esfandiari drops down to 82,000, giving up the chip lead in the process.

Player Chips Progress
Antonio Esfandiari us
Antonio Esfandiari
WSOP 3X Winner
82,000 -30,600
Steve Brecher us
Steve Brecher
57,000 19,000

Tags: Antonio EsfandiariSteve Brecher

"Juanda is squeezing!"

Level 11 : 600/1,200, 0 ante
Antonio Esfandiari - rarely shy about speaking his mind.
Antonio Esfandiari - rarely shy about speaking his mind.

Well-known for his banter and playful table talk, our current chip-leader Antonio Esfandiari is one of the more notable characters in poker today. In a recent hand, action folded over to fellow poker pro John Juanda on the button, who mulled his decision over a bit before folding. Immediately after from the small blind, Esfandiari playfully remarked, "Man! Juanda is squeezing today! You okay?"

Juanda could only shrug and smirk.

An uneventful hand, but we expect that the two will tango several times before the day's end.

Tags: Antonio EsfandiariJohn Juanda

Rough Redraw

Level 11 : 600/1,200, 0 ante

So far this tournament, we have seen some very stacked tables. Yesterday, one table started with Jonathan Little, Shannon Shorr, Allen Kessler, Faraz Jaka, and Phil Ivey.

Today, all 71 players redrew for new seat assignments, and table 435 stands out as easily the toughest. Here's what we're looking at.

Seat 2: John Juanda
Seat 3: Steve Brecher
Seat 4: Antonio Esfandiari
Seat 7: Joe Kuether(2012 WSOP-C Harrah's Rincon Main Event Winner)

The good news for these players is that they will be the second to break, but for now, they will have to deal with each other.