![[user101598]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
The crew is back to discuss all of the recent bracelet winners at the 2013 World Series of Poker, including Tom Schneider, Jason Duval, and Isaac Hagerling. They also talk with Jason Koon, who reached the semi-finals of the Mixed Max event and made the final table of a $1,000 buy-in event.
Justin Bonomo was all in for his last ante, and he caught a 
in early position. A player in front of him folded.
"Raise." he said, eliciting chuckles from the table. Steve Diano completed from late position, and the bring-in came in for a discount.
Diano folded to a bet on fourth, and it was down to Bonomo, who hadn't looked, and the other player.
Bonomo, who had caught a four, flipped over his first card: 
. Then he turned over his second: 
. He had the nuts after four cards, and his opponent had a ten-low. Unfortunately for Bonomo, he caught two pair and a king on his last three, while his opponent made 
, and Bonomo was out.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted | |
|
||
Seven-time bracelet winner Billy Baxter, known for his specific aptitude in 2-7 Triple Draw, is pulling ahead in today's Razz tournament.
Baxter, a true poker legend and one of the remaining members of poker's "old-guard," is not known just for his jolly table presence and fierce competitiveness. He is one of the quintessential ambassadors of poker, having won the landmark case William E. Baxter Jr. vs. the United States, allowing players to declare their poker winnings as earned income, avoiding an upwards of 70% tax on "unearned" income. Baxter was also a friend and backer of poker legend Stu Ungar, having staked Ungar in several events, including his epic WSOP Main Event win in 1997.
Baxter is leading the field with 94,600 chips, nearly 15,000 more than than the rest of the field.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
94,600
24,600
|
24,600 |
|
||
Chris "Fox" Wallace may not be a household name, but you've probably come across it a time or two. That's because Wallace, who hails from the Twin Cities in Minnesota, has been a poker player, columnist, commentator, coach, ambassador and noted author in the industry for years.
In addition to serving as a commentator on the MSPT and writing article for various poker media outlets, Wallace has authored or co-authored numerous poker books including No Limits: The Fundamentals of No-Limit Hold'em and The Tournament Rules.
What's more, Wallace is an accomplished Razz player; in fact, he used to make his living playing the game online. While thousands of players used to play online, how many can say they successfully grinded at the Razz tables? Last year Wallace, who has made Day 2 of this event for the fifth straight year, had his best performance yet when he finished in 17th place for $5,904.
With all of that experience it's no surprise that this tournament is Fox's favorite of the year. He even wrote about his Day 1 experience in his blog:
Today was day one of the Razz event at the WSoP, my favorite tournament of the year. I’ve cashed the last three years in a row, and last year’s 17th place finish was my deepest run yet. I’m hoping this is my breakthrough year. It was a long day, which leads to short blog posts, and lists are easy, so…
Stuff you might care about -
1. I bagged up 23,000, well above average, and will be restarting tomorrow with around 130 players left at 2 pm Vegas time. You can follow my progress on twitter @foxpokerfox or on pokernews at https://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2013-world-series-of-poker/event-33-2-500-seven-card-razz/chips.htm
2. Also still in contention at Tom Hammers with a short stack and Adeel Qureshi with an average stack. Both are strong players and I wouldn’t be surprised to see either of them deep in the money.
3. My table was fun today, with Brett ‘Gank’ Jungblutt, Tom McEvoy, Cindy Violette, Marco Traniello, and a number of other well known players.
Wallace is looking for yet another deep run but will have his work cut out as he sits with a below-average stack of 16,000.
Mike Matusow completed with a 
and was raised by an opponent showing 
. Matusow made the call, and he took the lead with a when his opponent paired his ace. Matusow's opponent called, and the see-saw continued when Matusow caught a 
and his opponent a 
.
"I paired it," Matusow said, folding and showing a five after his opponent bet.
"A monkey could win a Razz tournament," Matusow said in a conversation we overheard shortly before that hand. It's certainly a fairly basic game, but we're not sure about all that.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
25,300
1,200
|
1,200 |
|
||
It looks like it will not be back-to-back Razz victories for Phil Hellmuth. The Poker Brat won this event last year, marking his 12th bracelet win, but his tournament came to a short end today when he was eliminated by Tim Burt.
When we caught the tail end of the hand, here is how the boards read:
Hellmuth: 
Burt: 
Hellmuth was very low in chips (around 2,300) the last time we walked around the table. "Good luck everybody," he quietly muttered as he walked away from the tournament area.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted | |
|
||
We didn't catch the final hands or action, but we did see Allen Kessler get it all in against two players with the last of his short stack, and Elyahu Dror, in Seat 1, scooped up the pot at the end.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
If you're following Razz updates, you'd better know how to play so you can make sense of it all. If you're unfamiliar with the game, we've put together a synopsis on how it's played. Check it out below.
Razz, played between two and eight players, is essentially Seven Card Stud low. The objective of Razz is make your lowest five-card hand using any combination of the seven cards you are dealt. Unlike Texas Hold’em and Omaha, Razz is a forced-bet game that features antes instead of blinds. Every player must ante up before the hand begins. The ante does not count towards any future bets.
Every player is dealt a total of seven cards over the course of a hand beginning with two hole cards and one up card. A round of betting occurs and then three more cards are placed face up, each followed by a round of betting. The seventh and final card is then dealt facedown to each player, giving him or her three down cards. A final round of betting ensues.
1.) The Goal—Make the lowest five-card hand using any combination of the seven cards you are dealt.
2.) The Ranking of Hands—Razz uses the same ranking system as Ace-to-Five Triple Draw, meaning straight and flushes do not count and aces are always low. That means the best possible hand in Razz is a wheel (A-2-3-4-5). A hand like 6-5-4-3-2 is known as a “Six-Low” because its highest card is a six, while a hand like 8-6-5-4-3 is known as an “Eight-Low”. Hands often take it one card further and would call it an “Eighty Six”.
Here are ten sample Razz hands ranked from best to worst:
(best possible hand) (second-best possible hand)
3.) The Bring In — Play always moves clockwise and starts with the players seated after the dealer button (typically represented by a plastic disk which moves every hand). After each player has anted and been dealt their hole cards and one up card, the person with the highest card must post the "bring in" (the opposite of Seven Card Stud), a required bet of either approximately half of the low-limit bet size in the pot or a full bet (the amount is determined by the player but it’s very rare to see it brought in for a full bet).
If two or more players share the lowest card, the suits will come into play. While there is no industry standard, the most common ranking of suits is reverse alphabetical order: clubs (lowest), diamonds, hearts, and spades (highest). The bring-in counts as your first round bet, so as long as nobody raises, you won't have to place any more money in the pot to see the next card.
In the rare case that the player with the high card is all in and cannot afford the bring in, the next player to the left (regardless of their card) becomes the new bring in.
4.) Betting rounds: There are five rounds of betting in Razz, one after you receive your two down cards and one up card, and then four subsequent rounds—the turn, fifth street, sixth street and seventh street (the last card is dealt face down). After fourth street, the player with the low hand showing acts first and then action proceeds clockwise around the table.
In fixed-limit Razz, which is the most common variant, all bets and raises must be equal to either the low limit or high limit bet size, depending on the round. In the first two rounds, all bets and raises must be equal to the low-limit bet size. In the third, fourth, and fifth rounds, all bets must be equal to the high-limit bet size.
In the rare case that all players in an eight-handed game make it to the end and cards run out before Seventh Street, a single community card will be dealt for all players to share.
8.) The Showdown— Anyone who has not folded after the last round of betting will showdown their hand in hopes of taking down the pot. When playing Razz, the person who bet last is the first to show their hand, and then it proceeds clockwise from there. Each remaining player has the choice to either show his or her hand or muck it. Often times a player will muck their hand if they aren't going to win the pot, and don't want their opponents to see what they played.
For more poker rules, be sure to visit PokerNews' Poker Rule Section.
Just under half of the 301-player starting field survived the rigors of Day 1 here at Event #33: $2,500 Seven-Card Razz in the 2013 Worlds Series of Poker, and the final 131 players will be taking their seats and battling it out here shortly. Well-known professional player and noted mixed game wizard David Bach holds the lead in the race for all of the chips, bagging 51,300 after a fruitful Day 1. He'll try to keep the momentum going in order to pick up his second bracelet and $178,052 in cash.
Though the field was small for this tournament, it's not lacking in star power, as many big names showed out. Though notables such as Antonio Esfandiari, John Juanda, Phil Ivey and Chad Brown fell on Day 1, there are still plenty of stars who bagged a solid chunk of chips. Marco Traniello (36,700), John Cernuto (31,400), Tom Schneider (30,400), Huck Seed (28,300), Mike Matusow (24,100), Scott Clements (23,700), Andy Block (23,100), John Hennigan (21,600) and David Singer (21,100) all enter Day 2 toting above-average stacks.
Ten levels are scheduled to be played today, and if you're a fan of Razz or any of a number of notable big name players, you don't want to miss the live updates we'll be bringing you throughout the day here at PokerNews.
