Frank Kassela is Among the Chip Leaders After Day 1
With a total of eleven hours now in the books, Day 1 of this $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em tournament has ended with a number of notable pros still in ownership of their stacks. Of the 1,819 hopefuls who took their seats this afternoon, only 206 players survived the carnage typically associated with the WSOP's large field, low buy-in events.
Among them are WSOP bracelet holders Nick Schulman (58,200), Erick Lindgren (54,500), Steve Zolotow (44,800), Dan Kelly (36,000), each of whom has bagged and tagged an arsenal for tomorrow's race for the final table.
It is a two-time bracelet winner, however, who leads the list of pros after a full day of action, with WSOP staple Frank Kassela (121,800) topping the century mark midway through Day 1 and never looking back.
Grant Curnow ended the day as our unofficial chip leader, amassing a stack of over 138,000 chips and putting himself well ahead of the average heading into the second day of play. He will have to use those chips wisely if he hopes to compete with the swarm of professional sharks still lurking in the field.
With just eight eliminations to go until the money bubble bursts, the beginning stages of Day 2 action promise to be filled with fireworks, with everyone in the room hoping to secure a WSOP cash and a few thousand clams to boot.
Play will resume tomorrow at 1:00PST here at the Rio, so check back with us here at PokerNews for continuous coverage as Event # 14, $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em rolls onward.
For now, we'll leave you with Kristy Arnett who has the highlights from across the Rio today:
Professional Paul Wasicka, who you may remember as the runner-up at the 2006 WSOP Main Event and the winner of the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, just missed his draw but still managed to take a major pot from fellow pro Dan Kelly.
With the board reading and the action on him to act first, Wasicka shoved for his last 14,900 and waited as Kelly ran through his calculations. After thinking it over for a minute or so, Kelly decided to look him up, but his cards went into the muck when Wasicka rolled over for a runner-runner straight. He had been drawing on a flush, but when the turn and river came perfect-perfect, Wasicka ended up with a well disguised straight, and a double through an especially dangerous opponent.
After Dan Kelly opened for 1,600 for the second time in three hands, Erick Lindgren's must have looked like the right hand with which to test the young wunderkind's mettle. Lindgren three-bet shoved for his last 5,700, and when the action folded around to Kelly, he didn't hesitate before making the call with .
Lindgren smiled in resignation, telling Kelly "I waited until you had a hand, I'm an idiot," while he awaited the flop's arrival.
When the hit the board, Lindgren had found a dry well, and he would need to catch lucky to keep his chips.
The on the turn provided additional chop outs to the wheel straight, as both players would play their ace, but instead of the four players at the table called for, the fell in its place.
With that, Lindgren had made a pair and it was good enough for the win. Kelly's stack absorbed a slight dent, something tells us a few more opens to 1,600 will have him stacking again in no time.
A huge cheer went up over in the Silver section of the Brasilia Room, and we rushed over to find a slightly intoxicated rooting section expressing their undying admiration for one Melanie Weisner. With her tabled against an opponent's . and the board reading , it appeared to be yet another preflop all-in between identical hands ending in a chopped pot. Appearances, however, can be deceiving.
According to the stunned onlookers on the rail, who were treating Weisner like a rock star after this play, the pro check-called bets on the flop and turn, before her opponent shoved all-in on a bold river bluff.
After what was reported to be a five-minute dive into the tank, Weisner made the call with just ace-queen high, earning her half of the pot as only a professional can.
While the dealer stacked the chips in even proportions, Weisner told her opponent "too bad you didn't have ace-ten." The man responded by saying simply "you know you're sick, right?" With her newly burnished table image and a mountain of chips at her disposal, Weisner looks to be a force as Day 1 heads to its conclusion.
Andy Frankenberger Has Emerged as One of Day 1's Chip Leaders
Andy Frankenberger just dragged a huge pot his way, and with it, Cassandra McCarville's first chance at WSOP glory.
According to Frankenberger, he raise-called with and the flop fell as pretty as a picture: . He had flopped his set, and after McCarville bet the turn and river with , her stack was shipped to Frankenberger.
While McCarville no doubt hoped to extend her first WSOP bracelet event to a second day, losing to a former WSOP and WPT champion is nothing to feel ashamed of, as Frankenberger has knocked plenty of people out in his day.
Russell Crane has a long record of cashing in major tournament series, and if he keeps up his pace today, he will likely add another cash to his impressive resume.
Crane has already cashed at this year's edition of the WSOP, earning #32,882 in Event # 6, the $1,500 "Millionaire Maker" event, and he has more than a million dollars in live cashes to his name.
As he is seated directly in front of the PokerNews Live Reporting station, we have been watching Crane lift stacks to to assemble the chip castle he currently presides over, and we wouldn't be surprised to see him here on Day 2 of this event.
Preflop from under the gun +1, Melanie Weisner raised to 400. A player one to her left made a reraise to 1,200. One player called that raise before the player in the big blind moved all in for 2,575. Weisner took her time to think and count out a call, which she eventually made. The reraiser in seat 1 moved all in for roughly 10,000 chips. The other player to call the raise, folded and it was back on Weisner who snap called with a covering stack.
Weisner:
Seat 1:
Big Blind:
The dealer dealt the board of and that was good enough for Weisner to bust both players and scoop the pot. After that hand Weisner moved among the chip leaders.
Being seated next to Phil Ivey can be a frightening experience. Recently he was moved to a table near the rail in the bronze section.
In a recent hand, one player limped in middle position. The player in the small blind called, and Ivey checked his option. The flop came down and action checked to Ivey who bet 350. Everyone folded without giving it much thought.
Ivey may have just entered the Brasilia room but he's already off to a good start.
Phil Hellmuth (Seen Here in an Earlier Event) Has Hit the Rail
Mere moments after arriving here in the Brasilia Room, Phil Hellmuth just whisked by the PokerNews Live Reporting Desk, heading to the exits after failing to dodge those infamous bullets.
We headed over to Hellmuth's former table to find out the details of his demise, and apparently, Tony Dam did the deed with on the board. Hellmuth's legendary hand reading radar must have been on the fritz in this one, as he was unable to sniff out Dam's straight.
We didn't catch the hand but we did catch the aftermath of Antonio Esfandiari's bust out. Esfandiari was standing up from the table talking to the player who busted him. "You wanna flip for a dime?" he asked the player. "One thousand dollars, what color do you think your first card will be?"
"I think it's gonna be red," he said.
"Ok let me sweat it with you," Esfandiari said. Esfandiari stopped packing his things and moved over to where he and the other player could both sweat the card. "Ship it!" Esfandiari said seeing that it was black. "Alright, when you bust tonight we're going out to a fancy dinner ok?"
"I'm not gonna bust though," the player said. "I busted another pro. I got quads on you. Life is good." The table erupted in laughter.
"Yo, Antonio, are you out?" someone shouted from another table.
"Yeah," he responded. "The hillbilly got me." With that, Esfandiari collected his belongings and hit the rail.
![[user253757]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and the action on him to act first, Wasicka shoved for his last 14,900 and waited as Kelly ran through his calculations. After thinking it over for a minute or so, Kelly decided to look him up, but his cards went into the muck when Wasicka rolled over 
for a runner-runner straight. He had been drawing on a flush, but when the turn and river came perfect-perfect, Wasicka ended up with a well disguised straight, and a double through an especially dangerous opponent.
must have looked like the right hand with which to test the young wunderkind's mettle. Lindgren three-bet shoved for his last 5,700, and when the action folded around to Kelly, he didn't hesitate before making the call with 
hit the board, Lindgren had found a dry well, and he would need to catch lucky to keep his chips.
on the turn provided additional chop outs to the wheel straight, as both players would play their ace, but instead of the four players at the table called for, the 
fell in its place.
tabled against an opponent's 
. and the board reading 
, it appeared to be yet another preflop all-in between identical hands ending in a chopped pot. Appearances, however, can be deceiving.
. He had flopped his set, and after McCarville bet the turn and river with 
and action checked to Ivey who bet 350. Everyone folded without giving it much thought.
on the 
board. Hellmuth's legendary hand reading radar must have been on the fritz in this one, as he was unable to sniff out Dam's straight.
