Event #7: $1,500 Seven-Card Razz Day 1 | 2014 World Series of Poker

05-31-2014 03:13 UTC-7

Hellmuth Among 75 Survivors; Eyes Second Razz Title in Three Years and 101st WSOP Cash

Chad Holloway

Level 10 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

The 2014 World Series of Poker continued at 4 p.m. on Friday with Day 1 of Event #7 $1,500 Seven-Card Razz. The tournament attracted 352 runners (which was up from last year’s 301 players, though that was for a $2,500 buy-in), and created a prize pool of $475,200. That will be distributed to the top 40 players with $121,196 reserved for the winner.

After ten one-hour levels of play, which have stretched into the early morning hours of Saturday, just 75 players remained with Fabio De Francesco and his stack of 66,700 leading the way. Not far behind is Jordan Siegel, who bagged up 61,100; while Matt Waxman (42,300), Jared Koppel (41,700), and Phil Hellmuth (39,700) all finished the night with healthy stacks.

Of course not everyone was so fortunate on Day 1. Among those to fall were 2010 WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel; last year’s Millionaire Maker winner Brian Yoon; the all-time leading razz winner Frank Kassela; Daniel Negreanu, who is now 0-5 at the 2014 WSOP; Brandon Shack-Harris, who jumped into the tournament immediately after winning his first bracelet in Event #3 $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha for $205,634; and nine-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey.

Ivey late registered for the tournament and got off to a bad start. He managed a double against Ron “Schifty” Schiffman, but then fell a short time later in Level 7 at the hands of Phil "Unabomber" Laak. We missed the hand so we decided to ask Laak if he could recall any details.

"I don't remember, but it was lower than his," Laak explained when asked what his hand had been. Another player at the table offered help and reminded Laak that Ivey had made two pair to bust and that Laak actually had trips (oftentimes a worse hand in razz when combined with the other board cards). Laak, who went on to bag up 20,100, then launched into numerous tangents as he is prone to do.

While hundreds fell there were plenty of notables that punched their ticket to Day 2 including Huck Seed (28,000), Randy Ohel (22,600), Ali Eslami (19,200), Dan Kelly (17,900), Berry Johnston (17,500), Brandon Cantu (9,100), and the defending champ Bryan Campanello (7,000).

Day 2 will get underway at 2 p.m. local time on Saturday, and the plan is to play through the money bubble on the way to the final table, or at least as close as we can get in ten more levels. Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team then for all the actions and eliminations. In the meantime, find out what Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger’s plans are for the summer.

https://www.pokernews.com/video/wsop-2014-andrew-luckychewy-lichtenberger-s-summer-plans-8680.htm

05-31-2014 00:37 UTC-7

The 1983 WSOP Main Event Champ Falls to "Schifty"

Chad Holloway

Level 8 : 500/1,000, 100 ante

The day stated with quite a few former WSOP Main Event champs in the field, but one of them has just fallen in 1983 champ Tom McEvoy, who you may remember was the first satellite qualifier to win the "Big One."

We didn't pick up the action on the Poker Hall of Famer's final hand until fifth street, which is when he got the last of his chips in against Ron "Schifty" Schiffman.

"I'm not paired yet," McEvoy said optimistically.

"Me neither," Schiffman replied.

McEvoy: / /
Schiffman: / /

After sixth and seventh streets were run out, McEvoy ended with a jack-nine low while Schiffman made a nine-seven. A deflated McEvoy collected his things and exited the tournament just shy of the last break of the night.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ron Schiffman	15,000	15,000
Tom McEvoy	Busted

Tags: Ron Schiffman Tom McEvoy

05-30-2014 23:48 UTC-7

One Phil Eliminates the Other

Chad Holloway

Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante

Well it was a short and not-so-sweet stay for Phil Ivey, who was recently eliminated by Phil "Unabomber" Laak. We missed the hand so we decided to ask Laak if he could recall any details.

"I don't remember, but it was lower than his," Laak explained when asked what his hand had been. Another player at the table offered help and reminded Laak that Ivey had made two pair to bust and that Laak actually had trips (which is sometimes better for an overall razz hand).

Laak then launched into numerous tangents as he is prone to do. The point is Ivey has been eliminated from Event #7: $1,500 Seven-Card Razz.

Player	Chips	Progress
Phil Ivey	Busted

Tags: Phil Iveym Phil Laak

05-30-2014 21:33 UTC-7

2013 WSOP Bracelet Winners Do Battle

Chad Holloway

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante

Last year, Marco Johnson won his first gold bracelet when he took down Event #48: $2,500 Limit Hold'em (Six Handed) for $206,796. Likewise, Matt Waxman won his first bracelet in Event #7: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em, which came with a $305,952 first-place prize. Both of those men are at the same table here in the 2014 Event #7: $1,500 Seven-Card Razz, and they just played a big hand against one another.

It began when Frank Henderson brought it in with a and Waxman completed with a . Johnson then raised to 400 with a of his own, Henderson folded, and Waxman made the call.

Johnson then bet 200 on fourth street, Waxman called, and it was off to fifth street. Johnson paired his six, but that didn't stop him from calling when Waxman bet 400. Johnson then called a bet on sixth and seventh streets.

Johnson: / /
Waxman: (x-x) / /

"I made a six," Johnson said.

"You're good," Waxman admitted. "Nice river."

Player	Chips	Progress
Marco Johnson	12,000	8,500
Matt Waxman	4,200

Tags: Matt Waxman Marco Johnson

05-30-2014 19:50 UTC-7

Violette Violently Collecting Chips

Chad Holloway

Level 4 : 150/300, 25 ante

We happened upon Cyndy Violette's table just in time to see her take down a pot. She had bet 300 on fifth street and it was enough to get her opponent to fold.

Violette: /
Opponent: (x-x) /

Violette showed that she had a made ten before collecting the pot. Nothing too special there, but the reason we mention it is because Violette is up to a healthy 13,000 or so in chips.

One player told us she got a good chunk of them when his 6-5-4-3-2 fell to her 6-5-4-3-A. As he was telling his tale of woe, Robert Williamson III chimed in from across the table.

"We can all go around the table and tell stories about what she's done to all of us," he said, which elicited a round of laughter from the table, especially Violette.

The 2004 WSOP Event #10 $2,000 Seven Card Stud High-Low Hi-Lo champ is not only playing and running well, she's clearly having a good time.

Player	Chips	Progress
Cyndy Violette	13,000	8,500

Tags: Cyndy Violette

05-30-2014 19:05 UTC-7

PokerNews GPI Update Episode #19: WSOP Kickoff

[user101598]

Level 3 : 100/200, 25 ante

Rich and Eric finally get together in Las Vegas to break down the latest Global Poker Index rankings, try to project where Vanessa Selbst will land after winning her third WSOP bracelet, and discuss the Fantasy Poker Manager game and the new GPI Magazine.

You can subscribe to the entire iBus Media Network on iTunes here, or you can access the RSS feed here. The PokerNews family of podcasts is now available on Stitcher.

Tags: Vanessa Selbst GPI Update

05-30-2014 17:00 UTC-7

1989 WSOP Legends Battle It Out

Chad Holloway

Level 1 : 50/100, 75 ante

The 2014 World Series of Poker marks the 25th anniversary of Phil Hellmuth winning the Main Event. Everyone knows that he defeated Johnny Chan in heads-up play to keep the "Orient Express" from winning his third Main Event in a row, but do you know who came in third?

That would be Don Zewin, who actually finished runner-up to Hellmuth in this very event back in 2012 when the "Poker Brat" won his 12th bracelet.

"It was exciting, but when the end result isn’t first place, it’s just a huge letdown," Zewin previously told PokerNews in an interview. "Everybody was aware Johnny Chan was going for his third title in a row, but I was really tuned in that year, and I wasn’t intimidated at all. When you get that deep in that particular tournament, you’re just tuned in and nothing is really going to rile you."

The 2014 WSOP also marks the 25th anniversary of Frank Henderson's one and only bracelet win. It was at the 20th Annual World Series of Poker that he took down Event #4 $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/ rebuys for $184,000. All told the former electrical engineer has amassed 36 cashes for $825,076.

Both Zewin and Henderson are in action today and seated at the same table along with Marco Johnson, who won a gold bracelet last year.

In a recent hand, a player brought it in with a and Zewin raised to 50 showing a . Henderson then made it 100 with a , Johnson called showing a , and player that brought it in folded. Zewin called and three players went off to fourth street.

Zewin: / ()
Henderson: / /
Johnson: (x-x) / fold

Henderson bet 50 on fourth, both his opponents called, and then a bet followed on fifth. Again both Johnson and Zewin called, and then Henderson bet 100 on sixth. Johnson folded, Zewin called, and Henderson bet another 100 in the dark, which Zewin called without hesitation.

Henderson showed that he had a seven-five low, which beat Zewin's seven-six low.

"I was drawing dead," Zewin said. Indeed he had been.

Player	Chips	Progress
Frank Henderson	5,200	5,200
Marco Johnson	4,100	-400
Don Zewin	3,850	3,850

Tags: Don Zewin Frank Henderson Marco Johnson

05-30-2014 16:31 UTC-7

How to Play Razz: A Quick Tutorial for the Uninitiated

Chad Holloway

Level 1 : 50/100, 75 ante

Razz isn't the most popular of games, so there is a chance you don't know the rules. If you find yourself in that camp, fret not as we have dug back in the PokerNews archives to find a tutorial to catch you up in this game, which is sometimes called Seven-Card Stud Low.

Betting rounds

In razz every player starts with getting dealt three cards. Before receiving the cards, every player in the hand has to post an ante. In a $0.50/$1 razz game, the ante is usually $0.05, although this can vary. In all other examples in this article it will be also assumed that we're playing limits of $0.50/$1. After posting the ante, every player gets dealt three cards. The first two cards are dealt face down and can only be seen by you, while the third card, called the "door card" is dealt open for every player at the table to see.

The player with the highest door card is forced to pay the "bring-in." The bring-in in a $0.50/$1 game is half of the low-limit bet (in this case $0.25). However, the player also has the option to bring-in a complete bet, which is the full low-limit bet (in this case $0.50). All other bets and raises in the first round, also called third street, will be the size of the low-limit bet.

In all following rounds, the player with the lowest open cards starts the betting. If more than one player has the same combination of low cards, the player closest left of the dealer will start the betting. On fourth street, the next betting round, again all bets and raises will be the size of the low-limit bet. On fifth, sixth, and seventh streets, all bets and raises will be the size of the high-limit bet.

If the action continues all the way to seventh street, a player will have received seven cards at this point. Of these seven cards, the first two and the last one are face down, while four cards are facing up for everyone to see.

Hand Values

The lowest hand wins the pot at showdown. Aces count as the lowest cards in razz. The lowest possible combination of cards, the nuts, is A-2-3-4-5. Flushes and straights don't count. When deciding on who starts the betting on and after fourth street, the lowest hand is first to bet. On fourth street the lowest possible hand is X-X-A-2. A hand like X-X-A-K will also "win" here against a hand like X-X-2-2.

When deciding who has the best showdown hand, you start by looking at the third highest card in your hand (as you only play five of your seven cards and the two highest cards don't play) and start counting down. For example, a hand like 9-8-7-6-5 will win against a hand like 10-4-3-2-A, as the nine is lower than the ten. If the highest cards of two or more players have the same value, you look at the second highest cards and so on. So 8-7-5-3-A will win against 8-7-5-4-A, because one player has a 8-7-5-3 low against the other player with a 8-7-5-4 low. If two or more players have the exact same combination of cards, the pot is split.

05-30-2014 15:11 UTC-7

Are You Ready for Some Razzle Dazzle?

Chad Holloway

The 2014 World Series of Poker continues today with the start of Event #7: $1,500 Seven-Card Razz, the first of two razz events this summer. In recent years only one razz tournament graced the calendar, and it featured a $2,500 buy-in. Now, aficionados of the game can enjoy it twice if they so choose, first with today's $1,500 buy-in and from June 6-8 in Event #18: $10,000 Seven-Card Razz Championship.

Last year's $2,500 buy-in tournament attracted 301 players and was won by Bryan Campanello, who defeated David Bach in heads-up play to capture the $178,052 first-place prize. What's more, Campanello showed that a young player could compete in what has traditionally been known as an older person's game.

Among those who will be in action today are Matt Smith, who will be playing his first WSOP bracelet of the summer, November Niner Steve Gee, and Chris "Fox" Wallace who cut his chops playing online high-stakes razz. Of course others have stated their intentions of playing if they bust Event #6: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout, including European Poker Tour Season 8 Grand Final champ Mohsin Charania and the 2012 WSOP razz champ Phil Hellmuth, who won his 12th bracelet that year.

Cards are scheduled to get in the air at 4 p.m. local time, which is less than an hour from now. The plan is to play ten one-hour levels, which will take us into the early morning hours of Saturday.