2013 World Series of Poker

Event #62: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info

2013 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Ryan Riess
Winning Hand
ak
Prize
$8,361,570
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Entries
6,352
Level Info
Level
40
Blinds
600,000 / 1,200,000
Ante
200,000

Event #62: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event

Day 1a Completed

Day 1a of the 2013 WSOP Main Event Concludes; Panesis Leads the Way

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante
Evan Panesis
Evan Panesis

The first day of the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event has come to a close, and what a way to kick off the greatest event on the face of the planet. Nearly 1,000 players took to action today, but it was Evan Panesis finishing on top of them all with 190,975 in chips. A couple hundred or so hit the rail before day's end, and official chip counts will be posted once received.

Day 1a is often known as the smallest and least star-studded of the starting days, but there were plenty of big names out in the field nonetheless. Arguably the most important player in the field today was the reigning champion Greg Merson, who delivered the "shuffle up and deal" speech before jumping in his seat for his title defense. Merson went on to finish with 81,650, giving him a very healthy stack moving forward.

Other notables in the field today were Joe Cada, Pius Heinz, Olivier Busquet, Brian Rast, Justin Bonomo, Elio Fox and Ivan Demidov, just to name a few. Heinz, the 2011 WSOP Main Event champion, was eliminated on the day when his opponent had rivered a Broadway straight against his trip sevens.

Things moved along nice and smooth in the event with not too much craziness happening, but then in the last level of the night, an insane five-way all-in pot went down on Table 443 in the Amazon Room that resulted in Mac Sohrabi winning a big main pot, Yurel Eminogla scooping a nice side pot, and the three other players being eliminated. You can read about that hand here. As if that wasn't enough fun in the final level, a three-way all-in clash was won by Brendan Flaherty over in the Orange Section of the room.

The advancing players will reconvene with those that survive from Day 1b for a joint Day 2 on Tuesday at 12 p.m. In the meantime, get some rest and come right back here tomorrow for more coverage from the 2013 WSOP Main Event right here on PokerNews. For now, we'll leave you with Lynn Gilmartin who had an exclusive invitation to the unveiling of the 2013 WSOP Main Event bracelet, valued at a whopping $500,000:

Tags: Brendan FlahertyBrian RastElio FoxEvan PanesisGreg MersonIvan DemidovJoe CadaJustin BonomoMac SohrabiOlivier BusquetYurel Eminogla

Official End-of-Day Chip Counts (full)

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante
Player Chips Progress
Evan Panesis us
Evan Panesis
190,975 190,975
Nicholas Crisp gb
Nicholas Crisp
184,075 184,075
Abdulaziz Almashal sa
Abdulaziz Almashal
180,575 22,575
Sergio Castelluccio it
Sergio Castelluccio
175,825 52,825
Michael Wehner gb
Michael Wehner
170,325 4,825
Jason Manger us
Jason Manger
158,150 1,650
Yucel Eminoglu tr
Yucel Eminoglu
147,425 -2,875
Gal Erlichman il
Gal Erlichman
146,875 48,875
Scott Wesley us
Scott Wesley
137,075 137,075
Jon Lane us
Jon Lane
137,075 137,075
Max Lehmanski de
Max Lehmanski
136,850 -18,150
Wilfried Harig de
Wilfried Harig
130,400 130,400
Tomas Macnamara gb
Tomas Macnamara
129,900 56,900
Matt Russell us
Matt Russell
129,450 129,450
Kyle Susala us
Kyle Susala
127,425 127,425
Patrick Renkers nl
Patrick Renkers
126,750 126,750
Charles Yamaguchi br
Charles Yamaguchi
125,500 125,500
Michael Nia us
Michael Nia
124,400 124,400
Sami Rustom us
Sami Rustom
122,550 122,550
Carlo Savinelli it
Carlo Savinelli
116,850 116,850
Darrell Ticehurst us
Darrell Ticehurst
114,050 114,050
Heinz Kamutzki de
Heinz Kamutzki
113,100 43,750
Larry Wright us
Larry Wright
112,900 -14,100
WSOP 1X Winner
Gilles Morihain fr
Gilles Morihain
111,725 111,725
Steven Begleiter us
Steven Begleiter
110,725 110,725

Read full

Crisp Wins Another

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante

Nick Crisp has added more chips to his impressive total and is now approaching 200,000 chips.

On a {6-Clubs}{q-Clubs}{3-Spades} flop the big blind checked and Crisp tried to bet 2,000. However,he made the motion as if to check and the floor ruled he had checked. The button checked, too.

The turn was the {5-Diamonds} and the big blind led for 2,000 and only Crisp called. The river brought the {A-Diamonds} into play and the big blind checked. Crisp bet 6,000 and his opponent check-raised to 16,900. Crisp studied the board for 5-10 seconds before calling with {6-Spades}{6-Hearts} and the big blind mucked.

Player Chips Progress
Nick Crisp
Nick Crisp
190,000 29,000

Tags: Nick Crisp

Bags of Chips

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante
Player Chips Progress
Jamie Rosen us
Jamie Rosen
79,600
Dominik Nitsche de
Dominik Nitsche
79,000 58,400
WSOP 4X Winner
Greg Merson us
Greg Merson
74,300 17,700
WSOP Main Event Champion
WSOP 2X Winner
Elio Fox us
Elio Fox
73,800 -12,200
WSOP 2X Winner
Olivier Busquet us
Olivier Busquet
73,500 5,500
Kevin Vandersmissen be
Kevin Vandersmissen
66,000 8,000
Ronnie Bardah us
Ronnie Bardah
61,150 38,850
WSOP 1X Winner
Dan Fleyshman us
Dan Fleyshman
60,300 18,050
Luca Pagano it
Luca Pagano
50,400 -7,600
Ben Wilinofsky ca
Ben Wilinofsky
48,700 -2,300
WSOP 1X Winner
Andreas Hoivold no
Andreas Hoivold
48,000 8,000
Phil Galfond us
Phil Galfond
44,000 -8,000
WSOP 3X Winner
Toni Judet ro
Toni Judet
39,400 -600
Mel Judah au
Mel Judah
32,000 -7,000
WSOP 2X Winner
Mike Sexton us
Mike Sexton
31,700 14,300
WSOP 1X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
Brian Rast us
Brian Rast
30,025 -15,975
WSOP 6X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
Joe Cada us
Joe Cada
23,825 2,525
Tony Dunst us
Tony Dunst
23,625 -13,075
WSOP 2X Winner
Justin Bonomo us
Justin Bonomo
20,100 2,100
WSOP 3X Winner
Matt Glantz us
Matt Glantz
17,075 -4,375
Josh Brikis us
Josh Brikis
16,600 -22,200
Vicky Coren gb
Vicky Coren
15,550 -10,050
Andras Kovacs hu
Andras Kovacs
10,800 3,400
Faraz Jaka us
Faraz Jaka
8,500 700
WSOP 1X Winner

Wehner Climbing

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante
Michael Wehner
Michael Wehner

Following a raise to 1,100 and a call from the lo-jack, Michael Wehner three-bet to 3,250 from the button. Both his opponent's made the call before checking the {J-Spades}{9-Spades}{4-Spades} flop to Wehner.

After taking a few moments to deliberate, Wehner dropped in a bet of 4,150 to prompt two quick folds as Wehner collected the pot to move to 157,000 in chips.

Player Chips Progress
Michael Wehner gb
Michael Wehner
157,000 157,000

Tags: Michael Wehner

Almashal Hits the River

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante
Abdulaziz Almashal
Abdulaziz Almashal

When we arrived at the table, a flop of {10-Clubs}{9-Clubs}{3-Spades} was in the middle of the table and Abdulaziz Almashal had 8,000 in front of him. His opponent had shoved all in for 23,050, and Almashal tank-called. Almashal had the {A-Diamonds}{10-Spades}, and his opponent held the {J-Hearts}{J-Diamonds}.

The turn was the {3-Hearts} and the river the {10-Diamonds}. With the ten on the river, Almashal smashed a full house and won the pot. He eliminated his opponent and moved to 158,000 in chips.

Player Chips Progress
Abdulaziz Almashal sa
Abdulaziz Almashal
158,000 34,500

Tags: Abdulaziz Almashal

Justice is Blind

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante
Brendan Flaherty
Brendan Flaherty

We just heard the tell tale signs of a bad beat in progress, as one player screamed out in exultation in one moment, before crying out in anguish when the river card fell.

Brendan Flaherty, meanwhile, shot out of his chair in unadulterated joy, pumping his fist and knocking his chair over as he celebrated what has to be one of the more improbable victories of the day.

According to multiple sources at the table, the drama began when a short-stacked player moved all in over the top of a 1,000 opening raise, putting his last 7,000 at risk. Another player decided to isolate in position, and he reraised all in for 20,000, putting the action on Flaherty.

The boisterous Flaherty checked his cards and snapped off with a call, putting the majority of his own chips at risk in the process. With three players all in for their tournament lives, we arrived to see the most of the players at the table stand as one, expecting to witness a momentous showdown of premium hands.

Short-Stack Raiser: {9-Hearts}{9-Spades}
Isolation Raiser: {A-}{Q-Spades}
Flaherty: {10-Hearts}{6-Diamonds}

While both of his opponents showed up with the goods, Flaherty went to war with a cap gun against two cannons. The dealer burned and turned one card, before revealing the players' destinies with the flash of three board cards.

Flop: {j-Clubs}{5-Spades}{7-Spades}

The short-stacked player had survived the flop, and his pocket pair was in the lead in its race against the overcards. Flaherty, meanwhile, was left grasping for straws, as his ragged hand failed to connect in any meaningful way.

Turn: {4-Spades}

With a third spade on board, the ace-queen added a slew of additional outs, while Flaherty's slim draw was drawn and quartered, leaving him with only non-spade tens, eights, and threes as potential saviors.

River: {8-Hearts}

Just like that, a blind squirrel found his nut in the form of a backdoor straight, while two players were eliminated from the Main Event in particularly brutal fashion.

For his part, Flaherty explained that he misread his hand, thinking he held {10-Hearts}{10-Diamonds} rather than a three-gap unsuited connector. Despite this lapse in vision, Flaherty can now see a seat at Day 2 on the horizon, as he has built a healthy stack with just thirty minutes to play here tonight.

"Can I just go home now?," Flaherty wondered aloud, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he had nearly stamped that ticket just minutes before.

Player Chips Progress
Brendan Flaherty us
Brendan Flaherty
103,500 103,500

Tags: Brendan Flaherty