Event #40: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Day 1 | 2013 World Series of Poker

06-22-2013 09:33 UTC-8

Day 1 of Event #40: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Set to Begin

[user253725]

Welcome to Day 1 of Event #40: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em at the 2013 World Series of Poker. This is the fifth event at this year’s WSOP with this particular buy-in and format, and the first four were all extremely popular. The first attracted a field of 1,819, the second had 2,105 entrants, the third 1,731, and the fourth 2,115. Late registration is open through the first four levels of today’s action, so we’ll have to wait a few hours to see if this tournament once again eclipses the 2,000 player mark.

The most recent $1,500 no-limit hold’em event was won by Canadian Jason Duval, who earned his first WSOP bracelet along with $521,202. Athanasios Polychronopoulos also won an earlier $1,500 no-limit event, pocketing $518,755. With a large turnout expected today, it’s possible the first-place prize might once again exceed half a million.

Cards will be in the air at noon local Las Vegas time. Stay with us here at PokerNews.com as we bring you live updates throughout all ten levels of Day 1 action. In the meantime, here's Lynn Gilmartin to update you on all the recent and upcoming events at the 2013 WSOP.

06-22-2013 13:47 UTC-8

Reporting From the Felt Today

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Kevin Taylor

Level 3 : 50/100, 0 ante

You may not know the name Frank Op de Woerd when you first see it, but you probably know who I'm talking about when I say "Webjoker". Frank has been a live reporter at the WSOP for years now, and just this year starting working for the Pokernews.com site. He is originally from the Netherlands, where he is one of the most highly respected and admired members of the poker media world. There he runs a very popular poker forum that has many loyal followers. How loyal are they? Well, they put up his buy-in for this event.

Without him knowing, the members decided to pool their money together, and give him an entry to a $1,000 buy-in event. Well the donations were so popular that they easily raised enough money to put him in a $1,500 event, which is how he got his seat in this tournament today. His followers will be happy to know that Frank is off to a fantastic start today, as he is already up to over 14,000 so far! We will be sure to keep tabs on his progress as the day moves forward.

Player	Chips	Progress
Frank Op de Woerd	14,225

06-22-2013 15:02 UTC-8

Tilly Gets Two Outed

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[user217354]

Level 4 : 75/150, 0 ante

We were away for the initial action but we heard a loud commotion coming from Jennifer Tilly's table.

What we learned was that Tilly had and got all her money in against a player's on a board of . Tilly was in great shape to double and be one of the chip leaders in the tournament. Undoubtedly the unbelievable came on the river to give Tilly's opponent the incredible two out suckout.

Tilly's chips were counted and her opponent had her barely covered. Tilly packed up her things and she was sent away to swallow the bad beat.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jennifer Tilly	Busted

06-22-2013 23:21 UTC-8

Op de Woerd Cruising

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Kevin Taylor

Level 10 : 400/800, 100 ante

PokerNews's own Frank Op de Woerd had a great start at his first table, quickly building his stack up to 14,000 in the first two levels. He later got moved, and stayed fairly stagnant while at that table. However, he won a big pot to end his time at that table, and has just taken down another huge pot to vault to the top of the chip counts.

Action started with the player to Op de Woerd's right raising to 1,800. He flat called, as did the button. The flop came down , and when it was checked to him, Op de Woerd fired 3,600. The button was the lone caller, and on the turn, he fired out 8,400. Once again he was called, and the hit the river. Op de Woerd then shoved all in for around a pot sized bet, having his opponent covered. He was called off, and Op de Woerd showed for top pair top kicker. His opponent kicked his hand in, and after stacking up his chips, he was looking at a stack of 89,000, which is right at the top of the counts by our estimation.

Could there be a second bracelet in the works for Team PokerNews?

Player	Chips	Progress
Frank Op de Woerd	89,000

Tags: Frank Op de Woerd

06-23-2013 01:13 UTC-8

Nicolas Fierro Leads The Final 249; Matt Berkey Not Far Behind

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Kevin Taylor

Level 11 : 500/1,000, 100 ante

Today’s $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em tournament got more runners then any of the preceding $1,500 events, with the exception of the “Millionaire Maker”, as 2,161 players took to the felt today. After 11 grueling levels of poker, Nicolas Fierro leads the final 249 players, after bagging up a huge stack of 176,500. He is 30,000 clear of the next two stacks, Jonathan Driscoll (142,000) and Jeremy Menard (141,100), who were sitting elbow-to-elbow for the last half of the day.

As is always the case in these events, we lost a ton of notables on the way to completing the day. Some of the many who came and went today included David “ODB” Baker, Phil Ivey, Victor Ramdin, Bertrand Grospellier, Matt Waxman, Greg Raymer, Antonio Esfandiari, and Jake Cody, amongst many others.

It wasn’t all bad news for our notables, as there were plenty of familiar faces who bagged up tonight. This list includes Matt Berkey (126,600), Jake Balisger (85,600), Jeremy Ausmus (70,000), Tuan Le (59,000), Garry Gates (51,900), Matt Salsberg (35,400), and our very own Frank Op de Woerd, who will come into tomorrow with 43,600.

The 249 survivors from today will be back tomorrow at 1 PM to play ten more levels of poker, with the hopes of getting down to a final table, though it is unlikely. Only 243 of them will make the money, meaning six unfortunate players will be walking away empty handed. As always, we will be here the entire day bringing you all the action, so be sure to come back to check out our coverage. Thanks for tuning in, and good night from the Rio!