Event #25: $2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low Day 1 | 2014 World Series of Poker

06-11-2014 03:16 UTC-7

Wong, Nichols & Tahmasebi Bag Top Three Stacks as 139 Advance to Day 2

Chad Holloway

Level 10 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Cameron Tahmasebi is the Day 1 chip leader.

The 2014 World Series of Poker continued Tuesday night with Day 1 action from Event #25 $2,500 Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low. The tournament attracted 470 runners, which was up considerably from last year’s 374 entrants. The big turnout created a prize pool of $1,069,250 that will be distributed to the top 40 finishers with $267,327 reserved for the eventual winner.

After ten one-hour levels of play, the field was reduced to 139 with Cameron Tahmasebi and his stack of 65,200 leading the way.

Others who survived the fracas with big stacks include Fu Wong (64,300), Brian Nichols (62,500), James Hoeppner (57,700), and Tom Schneider (57,600), who round out the top five.

Of course not everyone was so lucky. Samuel Touil was the first player to fall, and it happened early in Level 2. According to his table, Touil had been raising every single hand and eventually ran out of chips. That’ll happen.

Others who fell as the day progressed were 2004 WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer; three-time bracelet winner Brock Parker; reigning WSOP Player of the Year Daniel Negreanu; 1998 WSOP Main Event champ Scotty Nguyen; ESPN funnyman Norman Chad; 2014 bracelet winners Brandon-Shack Harris, Ted Forrest, and Paul Volpe; and a former winner of the event, Phil Ivey.

Ivey fell in the first hand after coming back from the last break of the night. It happened in the stud hi-low round when Ivey completed while showing the . Stanislav Parkhomenko from Bulgaria called with the showing and kept betting until fifth when Ivey got the remainder of his stack in.

Parkhomenko: / /
Ivey: / /

Ivey ended up with a measly pair of sevens, which failed to overcome Parkhomenko’s kings with a low.

While many fell a long list of notables will be returning for a second day of play. Among those to survive the night were John D’Agostino (54,900), Mike Leah (50,100), Michael Moed (46,300), Ashly Butler (40,800), Dutch Boyd (37,400), George Danzer (36,500), Mike Matusow (25,700), and Vanessa Selbst (22,300).

Day 2 action is set to get underway at 2 p.m. local time on Wednesday, and of course we’ll be there to bring you all the action and eliminations through ten more levels of play. While you wait, check out PokerNews’ latest edition of Ivey Stories, a video series dedicated to finding out players’ most interesting experiences with the nine-time bracelet winner.

https://www.pokernews.com/video/wsop-2014-ivey-stories-betting-big-on-the-golf-course-8769.htm

Tags: Brian Nichols Phil Ivey

06-11-2014 02:56 UTC-7

Hanson Falls at End of the Night

Chad Holloway

Level 10 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Omaha Hi-Low

In one of the last hands of the night, Bart Hanson got his extremely short stack all in against Mike Leah and George Danzer. We're not sure of the exact action, but we do know Leah was able to push Danzer off the hand with a board reading .

"Queen-jack," Leah said and tabled the for a full house. Hanson then showed his before taking his leave.

Tags: Bart Hanson Mike Leah

06-11-2014 02:11 UTC-7

Bonomo Won't Be Adding Any POY Points in Event #25

Chad Holloway

Level 10 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Stud Hi-Low

Justin Bonomo, who currently leads the 2014 WSOP Player of the Year race, has been nursing a short stack for awhile, and his time just ran out courtesy of John Lane. It happened in the last hand of Level 9 when Lane completed with the and then Bonomo raised to 1,200. Lane called and then bet fourth. Bonomo moved in for 900 total, and Lane called.

Bonomo: / /
Lane: / /

Bonomo ended up with kings and jacks, but it was no good as Lane made a better two pair in aces and sevens.

Player	Chips	Progress
John Lane	30,000
Justin Bonomo	Busted

Tags: Justin Bonomo John Lane

06-11-2014 01:07 UTC-7

Phil Ivey On The Rail

Christian Zetzsche

Level 9 : 600/1,200, 100 ante

Stud Hi-Low

It was the last hand in seven-card stud at the table of Ismael Bojang and Phil Ivey with the latter completing while showing the . Stanislav Parkhomenko from Bulgaria called with the showing and kept betting until fifth when Ivey got the remainder of his stack in.

Parkhomenko: / /
Ivey: / /

Ivey ended up with a measly pair of sevens, which failed to overcome Parkhomenko’s kings with a low.

Player	Chips	Progress
Phil Ivey	Busted

Tags: Phil Ivey

06-11-2014 00:15 UTC-7

Norman Chad Eliminated

Christian Zetzsche

Level 8 : 500/1,000, 100 ante

Stud Hi-Low

The action got around to Norman Chad and he completed with the showing, two players did so as well. They checked fourth and one opponent folded on fifth with showing. Howard Mann however didn't go anywhere and called the final bet of Chad for the last 300.

Mann:
Chad: / /

The fives and threes were not enough for Chad and before he left the table, he granted the request of the woman in seat two just next to him for a selfie.

Player	Chips	Progress
Norman Chad	Busted

Tags: Norman Chad

06-10-2014 20:54 UTC-7

"The Icon" Showing Them How It's Done

Chad Holloway

Level 5 : 250/500, 50 ante

After a player completed with the showing and another called with the , Bryan "The Icon" Micon raised to 500. Both his opponents called and then check-called a bet of 250 on fourth street.

Micon bet 500 when he paired on fifth, both his opponent called and then the action repeated itself on sixth. Micon tossed out a final bet on seventh, the player that had completed folded, and the other one made the call.

Micon: /
Completer: / / fold
Other Player: / /

"Three's full," an excited Micon declared before tabling his hand. His opponent shook his head, gathered his cards and mucked.

Player	Chips	Progress
Bryan Micon	17,000	2,325

Tags: Bryan Micon

06-10-2014 18:36 UTC-7

Bonomo Out to Early Lead in 2014 WSOP POY Race

Chad Holloway

Level 3 : 150/300, 25 ante

According to PokerNews' latest WSOP Player of the Year update, Justin Bonomo is out to an early lead in the 2014 World Series of Poker Player of the Year standings. Bonomo reached his eighth career final WSOP final table last week and finally claimed his first WSOP bracelet, removing his name from the list of the best players without poker's most prestigious piece of hardware.

Bonomo is followed closely in the standings by Brandon Shack-Harris, a cash game player who virtually came out of nowhere to win a bracelet of his own. Shack-Harris won the largest pot-limit Omaha event in Event #3, and followed that up with a runner-up finish in the $10,000 Razz Championship event.

Sitting third in the POY standings through 20 events is George Danzer, who defeated Shack-Harris heads-up in the Razz Championship on Sunday. It was also the first bracelet for Danzer, wideley considered one of the top mixed-games minds in the game.

Rounding out the top five through the first two weeks of the series are Brock Parker and Jonathan Dimmig. Parker picked up his third career bracelet in Event #10, and Dimmig collected the first seven-figure score of the 2014 WSOP with his victory in the Millionaire Maker.

WSOP PLAYER OF THE YEAR TOP 10 (through 20 events)

Place	Player	Points
1	Justin Bonomo	399.00
2	Brandon Shack-Harris	389.00
3	George Danzer	372.60
4	John Brock Parker	349.50
5	Jonathan Dimmig	300.00
5	Vanessa Selbst	300.00
7	Paul Volpe	272.25
8	Tuan Le	270.00
9	Kyle Cartwright	251.50
10	Jeffrey Smith	230.00

With more than 40 events still to come at the WSOP in Las Vegas, plus several events taking place later this year in Australia, the Player of the Year race is still wide open.

06-10-2014 17:03 UTC-7

Norman Chad is Looking for His Own Inconceivable Fairy Tale

Chad Holloway

Level 2 : 100/200, 25 ante

The 2014 World Series of Poker marks the tenth anniversary of the annual event taking place at the Rio All-Suite Casino in Las Vegas. One man that has been there all that time - and even a year before - is WSOP commentator and funnyman Norman Chad.

Since 2003, Chad has served as co-commentator alongside Lon McEachern. But how much do you know about him aside from that? We’re guessing not a whole lot, which is why we’ve decided to delve into the past of the man who uttered the memorable line: "This is beyond fairy tale - it's inconceivable."

Born in 1958 to Seymour and Perla Chad, little Norman grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. He attended Northwood High School and eventually graduated in 1976, but not before serving as the Sports Editor for the school paper.

He would continue writing sports-related material while at the University of Maryland, College Park, the institute where he would earn a degree in American Studies. After stints in stand-up comedy, writing for Sports Illustrated, two scripts for ABC's Coach and three more for HBO's Arliss, all of that lead to one place: the World Series of Poker.

"The first time I walked into Binion's (Horseshoe Casino) in 2003, I took one look around the room at the cast of characters and realized this job was going to be everything I'd ever dreamt of,” Chad has said in an interview with ESPN. “I swear, I asked myself, 'Where has this been all my life?' Then, after I watched the first show before it aired, I was so impressed at the gritty, real-life gambling feel these new producers had given it, it was just unbelievable."

It’s well known that Chad, who is a nationally-syndicated sports columnist with Couch Slouch, loves to play Omaha/stud hi-low, even making the final table of this event back in 2012 (he ultimately finished in sixth place for $36,093).

Chad, a prolific tweeter, is in today's field and already entertaining:

Norman Chad @NormanChad

I am in the $2500 O8/stud8 today, hoping to take my first step to WSOP history: Winning 4 bracelets in one year while playing only 3 events.June 10, 2014

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Norman Chad @NormanChad

They say if you look around the poker table and don't see the fish, it's got to be you. Heck, I don't even bother looking around.June 10, 2014

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06-10-2014 16:39 UTC-7

How to Play Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low

Chad Holloway

Level 1 : 75/150, 25 ante

Seven-card stud hi-low is a split pot game played with two to eight players. As in regular seven-card stud, every player is dealt a total of seven cards, three of them face down, and the other four face up.

Objective

To make both your best five-card high hand, and your best five-card low hand, using any combination of the seven cards you are dealt. The player with the best high hand wins half the pot, and the player with the best low hand wins the other half. If there is no qualifying low hand, the player with the best high hand wins the entire pot.

A qualifying low hand is made with five cards that are all eight or lower, an ace counting as the lowest. No pairs can exist in a low hand, but a straight and/or a flush may. The lowest possible hand is A-2-3-4-5. The highest possible qualifying low hand is 8-7-6-5-4.

Winning both the high and the low hand is called "scooping the pot".

Forced Bets

Ante - Seven card stud is normally played with an ante that is approximately 1/5th of the low limit bet size. Every player must ante up before the hand begins. The ante does not count towards any future bets.

Bring in - After the initial deal when every player has one card showing, the person with the lowest card must "bring in," which means he must place the low limit bet size in the pot. If two or more players share the lowest card, the one closest to the dealer's left side must bring in. This bet 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.

Betting Rounds

There are five rounds of betting. In limit seven-card stud, all bets and raises must be equal to either the low limit, or high-limit bet size, depending on what round it is. 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. If, for example, you're playing 5-10 seven-card stud, all bets in the first two rounds will be in increments of 5, and all bets in the last three rounds will be in increments of 10. A maximum of three raises are allowed per betting round.

3rd street - Two cards are dealt face down to every player, followed by another card face up. The player with the lowest card must bring in, by betting 1/2 o the low limit bet. He may choose to raise by betting the full the low-limit bet. Play proceeds clockwise around the table, with each player choosing to fold, call, or raise. All bets and raises must be equal to the low-limit bet size.

4th street - A fourth card is dealt face up to every player. The player with the highest hand showing (at this point, the highest possible would be a pair of aces) is the first to act. He may choose to fold, check, or bet. If two or more players are tied for the highest hand, the one closest to the dealer's left will be the first to act. Play proceeds clockwise around the table as before. If a player is showing a pair at this point, then he and all the other players have the option to bet either the low limit bet size or the high limit bet size. Otherwise, all bets and raises must be equal to the low limit bet size.

5th street - A fifth card is dealt face up to every player. Play proceeds as in the previous round, with the highest hand betting first, except now all bets and raises must be equal to the high-limit bet size.

6th street - A sixth card is dealt face up to every player. Play proceeds as in the previous round. All bets and raises must be equal to the high-limit bet size.

7th street - A seventh and final card is dealt face down to every player. Play proceeds as in the previous round. All bets and raises must be equal to the high-limit bet size. In the rare event that all eight players remain in the hand at this point, there would not be enough cards for each player to receive another one. If that occurs, instead of every player receiving a card face down, a single card is placed in the middle of the table face up which every player is free to use.

Showdown - Anyone who has not folded after the last round of betting will now have the option of showing their hand in hopes of taking down the pot. The person who bet last is the first to show their hand, and then it proceeds clockwise from there, with each remaining player either choosing to show their 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.

06-10-2014 16:10 UTC-7

How to Play Omaha Hi-Low

Chad Holloway

Level 1 : 75/150, 25 ante

Since today's tournament is half Omaha hi-low and half seven-card stud hi-low, we figured you'd better know how to play each to get the most out of our coverage. For those who may be new to the game or just need a little refresher, here's the gist of how to play Omaha hi-low (we'll have a separate primer for stud hi-low).

Omaha hi-low is a popular version of Omaha poker game. The basic rules are like in Omaha, which is based on Texas hold'em, but there are some differences which makes the game active and interesting.

In hi-low games, the pot is split between the high hand and the low hand. The same cards may be used in declaring high and low.

One hand may win both the high and the low halves of the pot. A frequent example of this is "the wheel," consisting of an A-2-3-4-5.

If there is no qualifying hand for low, the best high hand wins the whole pot.

In the division of the pot, the high hand receives any odd chip.

Otherwise, all the regular rules of each game apply except that a qualifier of 8-or-better for the low hand applies unless a specific statement to the contrary is made. This means that the winning low hand can only contain cards of the value under nine. Hence in flop games, the flop must contain three non-paired cards of the value of eight or lower.

In order to qualify for the low half of the pot, the low hand must be 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 or lower. That's why this game is called "8 or better," or simply "Omaha 8/O8".

Interesting moment of Omaha hi-low rules is that straights and flushes do not count against you when qualifying for low. Also you are permitted to use different cards in your hand for the high side and different cards for the low side or the same cards for both the high and low sides. In a split pot, any leftover odd chip goes to the high side of the pot.