Poker Digest

July 16th marked the 7th day of the World Series of Poker Main Event. 78 players started the day with the hopes of becoming the next world champion, but only 21 players survived to make it to Day 8.

There are still quite a few notable poker pros in the field, which could make for a very exciting final table. Some of the pros that remain, and are eagerly anticipating the chance of making the November Nine, include online poker sportsbook favorites, Michael Mizrachi, Scott Clements, Adam Levy, David Baker, John Racener, Matt Affleck, William Thorson, and Jason Senti.

While all of these well known players still in the hunt for the bracelet, there were a few pros that were not as lucky to make it through day 7. These unfortunate players include Tony Dunst, Josh Brikis, David Benyamine, and Jacobo Fernandez.

July 17th saw the last 21 players in the 2010 WSOP Main Event play an astonishing 17 straight hours of poker in order to see who would be this year’s November Nine.

Jonathan Duhamel is the lucky entrant who holds the chip lead with 65.9 Million chips heading into the Main Event final table. Here is the list of the lucky nine players, including seat number and chip count, who will come back to Las Vegas in November to play for the first place prize of $8.9 Million.

Seat 1: Jason Senti — 7,625,000

Seat 2: Joseph Cheong — 23,525,000

Seat 3: John Dolan — 46,250,000

Seat 4: Jonathan Duhamel — 65,975,000

Seat 5: Michael Mizrachi — 14,450,000

Seat 6: Matthew Jarvis — 16,700,000

Seat 7: John Racener — 19,050,000

Seat 8: Filippo Candio — 16,400,000

Seat 9: Soi Nguyen — 9,650,000

Michael Mizrachi has a chance to cap off an amazing run at this year’s World Series of poker. “The Grinder” has already won the $50,000 buy-in Players Championship tournament back in June and has the chance to win two of the most prestigious titles from this year’s WSOP.

All of the remaining players are guaranteed an $811,000 payday, but I’m sure they would all like the first place prize of $8.9 Million much more. It will be interesting to learn the stories of each of these poker players over the next few months as the poker world eagerly awaits a new world champion.

There was no shortage of action during the second flight of day 2’s and day 2B is finally in the books at the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event. For the first time this tournament after a scheduled day off on Sunday, the players who were lucky enough to survive day 2B will combine with the remaining players from 2A. On Monday, these two groups of players will form the remaining player pool and start day 3.

This day 2 is sure to be remembered for the large number of notable poker pros who saw their luck run out, while there was a ton of action during day 2B at the 2010 Main Event. In order to chase poker’s most prestigious title, players such as Roy Winston, Layne Flack, Chris Ferguson, Marco Traniello, Jeff Shulman, Phil Ivey and Doyle Brunson will have to wait another year. Brunson was eliminated holding pocket 7s against his opponent’s pocket jacks, when he received a standing ovation from players in his section.

There were some big names that were able to navigate the massive field of players and escape day 2, even though there were a large number of notable players who hit the rail. On Monday for day 3, Vanessa Selbst, Brynn Kenney, JJ Liu, Alexander Kostritsyn, David Sands, Florian Langmann, Phil Galfond, David Benyamine, and Jon Van Fleet will all be coming back.

While just about 1,200 players made it through day 2A, approximately 1,500 players survived day 2B. With their attention focused on the $8.9 Million first place prize, these2, 700 hopeful poker players will return from a day off on Sunday.

Day 2 of the second largest World Series of Poker field started with a bang, and continued to deliver exciting poker. 2,412 players started day 2A, while only 1,295 made it through today 3. Even with all of those players having been eliminated there are still a large number of well known poker players remaining in this year’s Main Event.

The current chip leader is a Chicago native Boulous Estanfanous. While he is not a household name, Estanfanous is poised to make a deep run in the 2010 WSOP Main Event. Currently Estanfanous holds 344,000 chips which is well above the chip average.

Even with an unknown amateur holding the current chip lead there are still plenty of well known players alive in this year’s field. Johnny Chan, who has had a quiet World Series thus far only playing a handful of events, is saving his best poker for the perfect time. Chan entered day 2 among the chip leaders, and that is where he still finds himself. Chan has been able to amass just over 281,000 chips, which is good enough for a top 10 position.

Other notable poker pros that are still alive and well in this year’s Main Event include Chris Moneymaker, Scotty Nguyen, reigning champ Joe Cada, Robert Mizrachi, Sam Farha, Hoyt Corkins, Michael Mizrachi and David Williams.

While there are still some popular players remaining in the field not all of the poker pros were able to escape day 2A. Players who saw their Main Event dreams vanish include Ted Forrest, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Alaei, Dennis Phillips, Dutch Boyd and Mike Sexton.

Day 3 is scheduled for Monday and is sure to be another wild day at the 2010 World Series of Poker.

Day 1c of the Main Event at the 2010 World Series of Poker is complete. 2,314 players entered the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Championship event, which was an increase from Monday’s and Tuesday’s day 1 flights. So far a total of 4,928 players have signed up for this year’s main event, and at least 1,567 players will need to show up for day 1d, the last flight, in order for the 2010 main event to surpass the size of the 2009 main event.

The third first day of competition was a good day for some former main event winners. Johnny Chan is among the chip leaders after his day 1 with about 150,000 chips. Chan was fortunate enough to have his set over set hold up early in the day to increase his stack size to about 60,000. From there he was able to gather more chips and put together an impressive first day of competition.

The 2004 main event runner up, David Williams, also had a nice first day as he sits at about the same stack size of 150,000. Last year’s winner, Joe Cada, survived day 1 of the 2010 main event, and doubled his chip count heading into day 2. Some other notable poker pros that are near the top of the chip counts include Sam Farha, Michael Mizrachi, Michael DeMichele, Patrik Antonious, and Hoyt Corkins.

While day 1c was kind to some players, it was not accommodating to some of the best pro poker and online poker players in the world. Some notable eliminations from yesterday include Phil Hellmuth, Men Nguyen, Dario Minieri, Isabella Mercier, and Jeff Madsen.

July 3rd was another crazy day that the World Series of Poker. There were several bracelets awarded today to some of the best poker players in the world. Event #54 ($1,000 No Limit Hold’em) was won by Marcel Vonk. This was Vonk’s second career cash at the World Series of Poker. He cashed in a $1,500 No Limit event back in 2009. After several hours of play Vonk was finally able to beat David Peters in a heads up match besting the field of 3,844 players for the top prize of $570,000.

Event #55 ($10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship) was one of the marquee events of this year’s Series. The large buy in of $10,000 attracted some of the biggest names in the poker world. After long, grueling poker sessions Daniel Alaei emerged victorious when he defeated Miguel Proulx heads up. Alaei won $780,000 to go with his WSOP bracelet for his efforts.

The other event that came to a conclusion today was event #56 ($2,500 No Limit Hold’em). This event was one of the largest prize pools in this year’s WSOP at $4.4 Million. Tomer Berda eventually emerged as the winner out of the 1,942 player field. This was actually Berda’s second final table of this year’s Series. He finished 5th place in event #5 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em) earlier this summer. Berda will be taking home $825,000 and his first ever World Series of Poker bracelet.

The 2010 World Series of Poker continues towards the Main Event with a handful of tournaments on July 2nd. There was one bracelet awarded today after the completion of event 53 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout.) Brendan Taylor was able to emerge victorious in this event winning his first WSOP bracelet and $185,000. Taylor was able to build a slight chip lead when the final table was down to four players which he then used to knock out the last three remaining players to take down the title.

While there was only one bracelet awarded today there was still a lot of other poker action. Day 1b of event 54 ($1,00 No Limit Hold’em) saw another 1500 players sign up for the event bringing the total field to just over 3500 players creating a $3.45 Million prize pool. Day 2 will be held July 3 with the final table on July 4. Event 55 ($10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship) saw a lot of high flying, crazy poker action. Well known poker pro Tom Dwan is the chip leader entering the final day of the tournament. Only 33 players remain with each player guaranteed a $19,000 payday. However, I am sure each one of them would love to win the $780,000 first place prize.

Only one event started on July 2, and that was event 56 ($2,500 No Limit Hold’em.) This is expected to be another large field No Limit event with a several million dollar prize pool. The final table for this event is set for July 4th.

June 28th was another exciting day at the World Series of Poker. Two events held their final table today, and two new poker players won their first WSOP titles.

In event #46, a $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better event that drew 284 players and a $1.33 Million prize pool, Chris Bell, online poker star, cashed for the 4th time in the World Series of Poker, and won his first bracelet along with $327,000. Bell was last in chips when the field was down to the final 6 players but he managed to battle back and get heads up with Daniel Shak. After several hours of play Bell was able to knock out Shak and take home the coveted WSOP bracelet.

The other final table today was for event #48 ($2,500 Mixed Event). This tournament saw 453 entrants create a $1.04 Million prize pool. The eventual winner was Sigurd Eskeland who won $260,000 for his efforts as well as his first World Series bracelet. This was not the first time Eskeland has made the money in a WSOP event. He has actually cashed two other times, but this was his first ever WSOP final table.

What makes Eskeland’s victory even more impressive where the number of notable poker pros Eskeland was able to defeat when 20 players returned for the final day of play. These top poker pros included Todd Brunson (10th), Alexander Kravchenko (11th), Dario Minieri (14th), Kirk Morrison (16th), John D’Agostino (17th) and Bill Chen (18th).

This past weekend at the World Series of Poker was one of the busiest of the summer. 5 new champions were crowned over the weekend including the prestigious $10,000 HORSE Championship which routinely showcases the world’s top poker players. Here are a few of the highlights.

Event #42 – $1,500 No Limit Hold’em

This tournament featured another enormous player pool with 2,521 players registering for the chance to become a poker world champion. In the end the winner was Dean Hamrick who has come close to poker glory before. In 2008, poker online star, Hamrick finished 10th in the Main Event, and in 2009 Hamrick made the final table of another No Limit event where he finished 5th. This year Hamrick finally took home his first bracelet and more than $604,000.

Event #43 – $10,000 HORSE Championship

One of the more prestigious events each year at the World Series of Poker is the $10,000 HORSE Championship. This even regularly draws the top poker professionals from around the world. While this year’s HORSE event was no different in that regard a relative unknown in the poker community, Ian Gordon, walked away with the first place bracelet. With only $4,345 in career winnings Gordon was not a heavy favorite to win this event. However, after surviving a tough final table that included Carlos Mortensen, Nick Schulman and Marco Taniello Gordon was able to win his first WSOP bracelet and take home $611,000.

Event #44 – $2,500 Mixed Hold’em

Always a fun event the $2,500 Mixed Hold’em tournament allows players to showcase their talents in both No Limit Hold’em and Limit Hold’em. Not many players can perform at a high level in both disciplines which is exactly what poker pro Gavin Smith can now claim. Smith can also take his name off of the list of notable poker pros who have never won a WSOP bracelet. After besting a field of 507 players and winning $268,000 Gavin Smith now has his first bracelet to show off as well.

Event #45 – $1,500 No Limit Hold’em

Event #45 was another of the massive field No Limit Hold’em events that the World Series of Poker has become famous for. After several days of play California native Jesse Rockowitz finally took home the bracelet and over $700,000 in cash. This is Rockowitz’s 7th career cash in a major event and 2nd of this year’s series. His largest previous cash was for $13,000.

June 24th was another exciting day at the World Series of Poker. There was only one champion crowned today. Steve Jelinek won the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi Low Split 8 or Better tournament, and was rewarded with $245,000 while beating 847 other players.

There was a lot of buzz surrounding this final table for the possibilities that lied ahead. Phil Hellmuth had a chance to win yet another World Series of Poker title, while Mandy Thomas was trying to become the first woman to win a WSOP event this event. Ultimately both would fall short of their goal, and Steve Jelinek would walk away with his first tournament victory.

Events #42 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em) and #43 ($10,000 HORSE Championship) continued with their tournaments today. Both of these events are slated to hold their final table tomorrow on the 25th. Only one new tournament started today and that was a $2,500 Mixed Hold’em tournament. This event drew 507 players for a $1.186 Million prize pool. This is one of the more unique events at this year’s World Series of Poker as both No Limit Hold’em and Limit Hold’em will be played during this event. The game being played will switch with every increase in blinds.

To win this type of event you to be a seasoned poker player in both the Limit and No Limit varieties. I will be interesting to see who comes out victorious and can lay claim to being the best in the world at both Limit Hold’em and No Limit Hold’em.

At the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, NV, June 17th, 2010 was another action packed day. The conclusion of 3 events was seen today and new multi-bracelet winner. Poker room star and online poker room favorite, David Warga was victorious in event #27, $1,500 7 Card Stud 8 or Better, to earn his second career World Series of Poker bracelet. Warga took home just over $200,000 for his efforts and he was able to outlast 644 entrants. Warga started the final day of this event in 6th place in which he outlasted popular poker players Blair Rodman, Brandon Cantu and Karina Jett to win the tournament.

In event #28, a $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha tourney, Miguel Proulx was victorious. By beating 596 other players for the top $315,000 share f the $1.37 Million prize pool, Proulx wins his first World Series of Poker title. The heads up portion of this event took only 45 minutes as Proulx was able to overcome L.J. Klein and take home the top prize.

The $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship was the last event that concluded today. For a prize pool of $1.607 Million, this high rollers event drew 171 of the best limit hold’em players in the world. After 3 long days of battle Matt Keikoan emerged the victor, and receives $425,000 for his efforts. Michael Mizrachi and David Chui who finished 8th and 9th respectively were other notable pros to finish at the final table in this event. Congrats to Matt Keikoan for winning this prestigious event.