Well it was an exciting day for many of the most well known poker players in the world, as it marked the start of the Mixed Game tournaments here at the 2013 World Series of Poker. We are talking about Event 5, the $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-better, which just completed Day 1 after eight levels of play. The player at the top of the mountain with 178 left is Matthew Ashton, who bagged up 57,800 chips. By our counts, the only other player who cracked the 50k barrier was bracelet winner Allyn Shulman, who bagged up 51,500.
Play kicked off at 5 PM local time, and it wasn’t until we got near the first break that we had our first elimination. From there, we lost a few notables, including David Bach, Jason Mercier, Vanessa Selbst, Scotty Nguyen, and Phil Ivey. We also lost defending champion Oleskii Kovalchuk, who busted in one of the last hands of the night.
Despite losing these players, we have a laundry list of notables who will be moving onto day 2. This list includes Eli Elezra (38,700), Mike Matusow (29,200), Cyndy Violette (21,200), Todd Brunson (20,900), Robert Mizrachi (20,700), and Justin “Boosted J” Smith (18,900), amongst countless other notables.
The players have bagged and tagged for the night, and are off to get some much needed rest. They will return at 2 PM tomorrow to continue play. As always, the goal is to get down to a final table, but if that doesn’t happen, we will stop after ten levels of play, and come back the next day for the third and final day. Pokernews.com will of course have all the coverage of this event, and with all of the notables who are still left, it should make for an exciting, action packed day. Thanks for tuning in, and goodnight from the Rio!
Attention players and fans, if you frequent the PokerNews Live Reporting blog, then you've probably noticed a new tab here at the 2013 World Series of Poker. If you haven't yet, or you're new to our live coverage, then let us be the first to introduce you to the Player Updates tab powered by the PokerNews My Stack app.
You can download the app for iPhone or Android now to get started. Then, create a new PokerNews account or update your current one to start updating your status immediately. Your followers can see all the live action that you're involved in.
Be forewarned, however, any abuse of the app will result in account suspension or termination.
We look forward to your updates at the 2013 WSOP in Las Vegas!
We found the next table that we could deem the "table of death". Table 383, which just so happens to be right next to our other brutal table, is home to four players who are well known in the poker world.
The first in seat two is Brett Jungblut. While he doesn't travel much for poker these days, Jungblut is always a fixture at the WSOP. He loves to play the mixed games, and he may have an edge on this field, as his sole bracelet came in the $5,000 Omaha Hi-lo Championship in 2004. That score added $175,000 to his bankroll, and Jungblut has nearly $500,000 in live tournament earnings.
The player warming up seat three is two-time bracelet winner Scott Clements. Clements is no stranger to the tournament circuit, as he already had two legs of the triple crown, with WPT and WSOP titles under his belt. Like Jungblut, Clements also has a bracelet in Omaha Hi-lo, winning a $3,000 event in 2006 for a shade over $300,000. Overall, Clements has amassed over $5.2 million in lifetime tournament earnings.
Seat four is Phil Ivey, and well.....that's about all that needs to be said.
Rounding out the table is seat nine David Levi. While Levi doesn't have any major tournament titles to his name, he has been one of the most consistent and successful tournament grinders of the last decade. Overall, he has over $3 million in lifetime winnings, and just like the rest of his esteemed tablemates, he knows how to play the mixed games well.
Murderer's Row: Mike Leah, Jason Mercier, Vanessa Selbst
As we were walking through the tournament floor for the first time, we noticed that no table really stood out as the traditional "table of death." That is until we arrived at table 388. We didn't recognize the poor souls occupying the five, six, and seven seats, but we certainly were able to pick out the players in seats one through three.
Seat one is Mike Leah, who recently signed on with Ivey Poker. Leah might not be known to the poker masses, but he is certainly well known and respected in the poker community. The Canadian pro has over $1.5 million in tournament earnings, earning a majority of them in 2009, where he had three six-figure scores, including two major tournament wins.
Leah is rubbing elbows with none other then Team PokerStars pro Jason Mercier. Mercier needs no introduction, but we'll give you one anyways. Mercier is one of the most well known and respected poker pros, with two WSOP bracelets already to his name. Mercier struggled here last year, but he's coming into this series on a heater after two deep runs at the EPT Monte Carlo last month.
Lastly, we have another two time bracelet winner, and fellow Team PokerStars pro, Vanessa Selbst. Selbst is widely considered to be one of the best poker players in the world. While she was always known for her play in No-limit hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha, she showed last year that she can play all the games when she took down the $2,500 10-game 6-max event for just under $250,000. Just like Mercier, Selbst is on fired heading into this series, as she has already secured nearly $2 million in tournament earnings in 2013 alone.
We can't wait to see the action that this table will provide, and we will bring you all the details from it as the day goes on!
Welcome back to the Rio for Day 3 of the 2013 World Series of Poker! Today, we are kicking off the mixed game tournaments with the $2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better. Last year, 393 players sat down to try and win this bracelet, and at the end of three long days of split and scooped pots, Ukrainian poker pro Oleskii Kovalchuk outlasted them all, winning $228,014, along with a beautiful gold bracelet.
Kovalchuk had to best an absolutely stacked final table that included German pro George Danzer, veteran player Mark Gregorich, online legend Yuval “Yuvee04” Bronshtein, and WSOP commentator Norman Chad. There was a laundry list of pros who cashed in this event, including Jeff Lisandro, Bryan Devonshire, Allen Bari, Scott Seiver, and former November Niner Jeremy Ausmus.
Play is scheduled to get underway at 5 PM local time, and we will be playing eight levels today. After that, we will bag and tag the chips for the night, and the remaining survivors will come back tomorrow at two, and try to play down to a final table. We will have all the updates all night here at Pokernews, so don’t go anywhere!
