Gold flows at WSOP

Kim Nguyen just missed becoming one of the exclusive band of women who hold a WSOP winner's bracelet this week, but had the consolation of a runner-up prize worth $131,900 after a spirited but unsuccessful one-and-a-half hour clash with Brit player Darren Woods, who took the bracelet for event 19 - the $2,500 Limit Hold'em Six Handed - and the $213,431 main prize.

354 entrants started on the first day of the event, including many experienced and respected top players, but by day three the field was down to just 12 survivors, among them the only bracelet winner left in the field, Matt Matros, and internet poker ace Richard “nutsinho” Lyndaker - both of whom were bundled out before reaching the final table.

Event 18: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em also saw the award of a bracelet Tuesday when 25-year-old Foster Hay prevailed in a thriller of a heads up against Casey Kelton. The win was worth $735,400 to Hay, who entered the heads up with a major chip lead, only to see it whittled away by his opponent in an exciting display of aggression and skill.

The result was so close that both chip counts had to be re-counted before the winner was announced.

The event took four days to finalise, with the action halted late on day three under the ten level rule, at which point Hay had a significant chip lead over Jeffrey Lavalle and Allen Le, neither of whom made it into the heads up on Day four.

Casey Kelton's second placing delivered a payday of $454,920.

The event attracted 3,157 entries and generated a prize pool of $2.26 million.

Yet another bracelet was awarded in event 20: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em when Jason Somerville pocketed $493,091 after besting an original field of 3,175 that created a prize pool of $2.85 million.

Going into the third day of the contest just 27 players remained in contention, and that was reduced to a final table in only three hours.

In the exciting exchanges that followed, the chip lead changed a number of times but in the end it was Somerville and Yashar Darian who faced each other in the heads up, with Somerville holding an overwhelming lead that he quickly translated into a win, leaving Darian with a consolation second placing check for $305,009.

Somerville has previously achieved four WSOP final tables, but this was his maiden bracelet.

Event 21: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship was drawing to an exciting close as midnight approached in Las Vegas Tuesday night, with Bertrand Grospellier locked in a tough heads up with Steve Landfish at level 23 on the third day of play.

Almost three hours into the heads up Grospellier looked to be in a strong position with a more than 2 million chip lead in the event, which attracted an original field of 126 and generated a prize pool of $1.18 million.

Earlier on the third day of the competition fourteen survivors returned to the tables, now all in the cash zone, and including John Hennigan, Chad Brown, Jason Mercier, Alexander Kostritsyn, Sorel Mizzi, Ville Wahlbeck, Nick Schulman and Men Nguyen.

Event #22: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha entered its second day of action with 117 survivors from an original field of 1,071 that created a prize pool of $1.44 million.

Among the first day's casualties were Victor Ramdin, John Juanda, Phil Hellmuth, Matt Stout, Liv Boeree, Annette Obrestad, Tom Schneider, Allen Cunningham, David Benyamine, Berry Johnston and Isaac Haxton.

Juha Vilkki held the chip lead at the start of the second day's play, well ahead of his nearest opposition but with plenty of strong opposition still active and threatening such as Michael and Nick Binger, David Chiu and Bill Chen.

Just after midnight Tuesday the field was down to 13 following the elimination of Ryan Welch, and Juha Vilkki remained the boss with a chip lead of almost 60,000 over his nearest rivals, Elie Payan and Rafe Kibrit.

38 players were still hammering away at each other at midnight Tuesday in event 23: $2,500 Eight-Game Mix, with Eric Buchman, John Racener, Eric Froelich and John Juanda all in the top ten chip counts and chasing leader Ben Yu.

The second day of action in the event commenced Tuesday with 210 survivors from an original field of 489 taking their seats, led by Ebrahim Mourshaki but with plenty of talent still left among the opposition, including Nikolay Evdakov, Brandon Cantu, Phil Hellmuth, Eugene Katchalov and last year's winner, Sigurd Eskeland.

Event 24, the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout kicked off Tuesday and again recorded an bigger field than last year with 387 registrations (2010: 358) creating a prize pool worth over $1.81 million. Predictably, the event attracted almost every big name around, generating a noticeable buzz as the stars took their seats at more than forty tables in the Amazon Room at the Rio.

Just after midnight Tuesday officials called for a halt for the day at level 11 with 40 players still chasing the bracelet and the first prize of $436,568.

Among the top ten going into the second day will be JP Kelly, James Dempsey, Justin Bonomo, Adam Junglen, Jordan Young, Gavin Smith, James Akenhead, Tommy Vedes, Erik Seidel and Maxim Lykov, which gives an indication of just how formidable the competition is in this event. Others still in the field include Tom Marchese and Dan Smith.

WSOP experts are claiming this is shaping up as one of the toughest competitions so far this year.

Event 25: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better also commenced on Tuesday with an entry field somewhat down on last year's at 606 (2010: 644) but still producing a prize pool of $818,110.

Spotted among the first day tablers were Frank Kassela, Maria Ho, David Steicke, Jerry Buss, Vitaly Lunkin, Justin Young, Daniel Negreanu, Alessio Isaia, Alex Kravchenko, Mike Matusow, author David Sklansky, Jon Turner, Ali Eslami, David Chiu, Karina Jett, Mike Sexton, Men Nguyen, Jeff Madsen, Scott Clements and two-time WSOP bracelet winner Mel Judah.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning play had reached level 8 and the field had been reduced to just 200 players, with Tom Dwan leading a top ten list that included Karina Jett, Mike Sexton, Cyndy Violette, Frank Kassela, John Cernuto and Alex Kravchenko.

Starting late afternoon in Las Vegas Wednesday will be one of the most keenly anticipated events this year - the $10,000 World Championship Limit Hold'em competition; preceding that will be the start at midday of the $2,500 No Limit Hold'em Six Handed event.

Source: InfoPowa News