The buzz inside the walls of the Rio extends beyond just the tournaments on the 2013 World Series of Poker schedule. Online poker in Nevada is a very, very hot topic right now, and WSOP.com is making a lot of noise.
While the site has yet to launch, you can head to the Lambada Room of the Rio or look for one of the beautiful and friendly WSOP.com ladies walking the hallways to sign up for a free, personal WSOP.com online poker account. This is a great way to get a jump on the site's registration, and plenty of people have already taken this opportunity.
What's more is that the WSOP will be hosting daily raffles for everyone that has taken the time to register for WSOP.com at the Rio. What can you win? Plenty of fantastic prizes including 36 WSOP seats!
Players 21 years of age and older who sign up for a WSOP.com account will automatically be entered into the “36-Seat Giveaway” where a randomly-selected winner will win a seat into the next day’s first WSOP gold bracelet event. One of the events eligible in this promotion is the $111,111 One Drop High Roller No-Limit Hold’em tournament that is expected to feature a $10,000,000 prize pool and allow you to play poker with the biggest names in the game. In total, $182,333 in WSOP seats, including a seat to the WSOP Main Event, are being given away during this one-of-a-kind WSOP.com promotion.
In addition to the 36-Seat Giveaway, a “Hot Seat” promotion will allow any player who signs up for a WSOP.com online account and wears their WSOP.com patch on their chest at the table while playing an event to be randomly selected to receive 500 bonus dollars deposited directly into their WSOP.com online account once the site has received all regulatory approvals and launches.
With 62 WSOP gold bracelet events and three winners promised for the Main Event, this promotion includes $32,000 worth of value to those participating.
Paul Wasicka moved all in for his last 65,000 from early position, and it folded around to Sam Stein in the small blind. He peeked down at his cards, and after just a few moments of thought, he moved all in over the top. The big blind folded, and Wasicka saw that he was in trouble.
Wasicka:
Stein:
The flop brought Wasicka some help, coming down . He was now looking for a king or a jack to win the hand, but the turn was the , and the river brought the . After taking that one, Stein jumped up to 250,000.
Everyone mucked in turn until Gregory Josifovski had to act from his seat in the cutoff. The bright orange jacket sporting Josifovski made it 16,000 to play. To his immediate left was Salvatore Dicarlo on the button and he looked at Josifovski's stack and the stacks of the players in the blinds before three-betting to 37,000.
Both blinds folded quickly, but Josifovski took a few moments longer to act. Eventually, Josifovski folded and Dicarlo won another pot without showdown.
Rob Brewer has around 120,000 chips and is looking for a spot to get his stack into the middle in an attempt to double up.
We thought such a spot had appeared moments ago when Steve Tripp opened to 16,000 from middle position and it was up to Brewer to act from the big blind. Brewer stared intently at Tripp like he was going to move all in, but he just couldn't quite pull the trigger and he sent his cards back to the dealer.
Thayer Rasmussen's stack now has a little more substance to it thanks to picking up the blinds and antes.
Rasmussen open-shoved for 140,000 from the cutoff but none of the active players were prepared to look Rasmussen up, especially Gareth Teatum in the big blind who held the lowly .
Scott Powrie and Tavish Margers got in a preflop raising war that saw all of Powrie's chips go in the middle. Powrie held , but he was well behind the of Margers. However, that all changed when the dealer fanned out a flop of . Margers was now the one looking for a two outer, but he didn't get it as the board completed and .
Mohsin Charania rarely needs an excuse to open a pot and he did so, to 16,000, from under the gun. His only customer was Steve Tripp in the big blind seat who defended his big blind with a call.
The flop saw Tripp check-call a 15,000 continuation bet from Charania, which progressed the hand to the turn. The fourth community card was the , which made a couple of straights possible and, whether he was representing one or not, Tripp led out for 26,000. Charania dug his heels in and called.
The river put a potential heart flush onto the board and Tripp fired another barrel. This time he set the price at 53,000 chips. Charania took a second peek at his hole cards before replaying the hand in his head for around one minute. Eventually, Charania decided he was beaten and he flicked his cards back to the dealer.