WSOP: Fort Wayne pro best in field of 963

Aaron Steury, a 24-year-old poker pro from Fort Wayne, Indiana, demonstrated his mastery of Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo Split Eight or Better, Razz, Seven Card Stud, and Stud Eight or Better over the three tough days of the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. mixed game event during three intense days of poker action at the World Series of Poker this week.

The young pro bested a field of 963 that included most of the big names in the international game as he fought through the quality field and ultimately a final table to claim his first WSOP bracelet and a prize worth $289,283 in Event 17.

The third and last day of the event saw 17 survivors taking their seats, with Adam Friedman holding the lead and the field still carrying significant opposition in players such as David Chiu, Allen Bari, Svetlana Gromenkova, David Bach, Ryan Hughes, Victor Ramdin, Cyndy Violette, Max Pescatori, Brett Jungblut, and Todd Brunson.

By midnight Vegas time Sunday night it was down to the wire at level 29 with three players left in the hunt for the bracelet: Aaron Steury (2,400,000); Michael Chow (1,400,000) and Adam Friedman (500,000).

The culmination of the five hour final table was a heads up between Steury and Michael Chow, which the Indiana pro managed to carry by leveraging an almost 3 million chip advantage, leaving his opponent with a $178,691 take-home.

Event 18, the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em, attracted the biggest entry field yet at this year's World Series as 3,157 players registered, but by Day 2 less than 15% of the field was left, and when Day 3 play re-started on Monday that was down to just 34 survivors, led by Foster Hays.

Late Night Monday Vegas time action was well into level 28 and the field was down to the final nine, led by Allen Le.

To get this far, the nine finalists have had to best the likes of David Vamplew, Zach Gruneberg, Scott Montgomery, Jerry Yang, Jason Mercier, Kathy Liebert, Victor Ramdin, Jeff Madsen, Eric Baldwin, David Benyamine, Scott Clements, Kara Scott, Jennifer Tilly, Michael Mizrachi, Faraz Jaka, Humberto Brenes, Jon Turner, Erick Lindgren and Valdemar Kwaysser - no mean feat in itself.

When InfoPowa went to press, WSOP officials were anticipating that play would go over midnight in the quest for a winner.

130 players survived the first day's action in event 19: $2,500 Limit Hold'em - Six Handed after a hectic first day in which two thirds of the original field of 354 hopefuls was eliminated. It took ten levels of play to arrive at a final table of twelve led by Alexander Kuzmin, when play was discontinued until Monday.

The 12 survivors were split into two tables of six when the action recommenced, with Matt Matros the sole remaining bracelet holder from a field that had included a liberal sprinkling of the highly respected symbol of WSOP success.

Kim Nguyen did exceptionally well, maintaining her position right through the field to become the third woman this year to make a final table...and she was still in there slugging at level 25 late Monday night in a tough heads up against Darren Woods, albeit at a hefty 650,000 chip disadvantage.

If Kim does manage to pull a win this event, she'll join a short list of women players who have achieved a WSOP bracelet in an open event: Annette Obrestad (2007 WSOP-Europe Main Event), Katja Thater (2007 Razz), Kathy Liebert (2004 Limit Hold'em Shootout), Cyndy Violette (2004 Seven Card Stud Hi Lo Split 8 or Better), Annie Duke (2004 Omaha Hi Lo Split 8 or Better), Jennifer Harman (2002 Limit Hold'em & 2000 No Limit 2-7 Lowball), Nani Dollison (2001 Limit Hold'em), Jerri Thomas (2000 Limit Seven Card Stud), Maria Stern (1997 Limit Seven Card Stud), Linda Johnson (1997 Limit Razz), Barbara Enright (1996 Pot Limit Hold'em), and Vera Richmond (1982 Limit Ace to Five Draw).

Event #20: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em started with a star-studded field of 3,175 players on Sunday, but the action on the first day was frantic to say the least, with only 342 players still at the tables when officials called it a night just 20 places short of the money bubble.

The second day commenced Monday with Doug Lang in the lead but plenty of firepower still in contention, including Lex Veldhuis, Amnon Filippi, Yuval Bronshtein, Hoyt Corkins, John Phan, Scott Montgomery, Tim West, Shaun Deeb and Gavin Smith.

Among the less fortunate who did not survive a particularly bloody first day were Matt Jarvis, Randall Flowers, Galen Hall, Joe Cada, Faraz Jaka, Jeff Sarwer, Antonio Esfandiari, Josh Brikis, Scotty Nguyen, Justin Young, Jeff Madsen, Liv Boeree and Eric Baldwin.

With play at level 18 and approaching midnight Monday Vegas time there were 49 players left with Yashar Darian holding the lead.

Event 21: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship attracted only 126 players this year - well down on 2010's 150 registrations. It nevertheless generated a useful prize pool of $1.18 million and pulled in a rewarding selection of top poker pros that included Ted Forrest, John Cernuto, Erik Seidel, Jeff Lisandro, Mike Sexton, Eli Elezra, Al Barbieri, Daniel Negreanu and Jennifer Harman.

The first day saw few eliminations, leaving a competitive 87 survivors re-starting Monday, led by Sebastien Sabic, who was chased by Joe Cassidy, Mike Sexton, Jennifer Harman, Alexander Kostritsyn and Steve Zolotow.

By late Monday night there were 19 players still competing at level 16 with Sorel Mizzi in the lead, but some tough opposition still in a field that includes Alexander Kostritsyn, Matt Glantz, Chris Tryba, Chad Brown, Men Nguyen, Ville Wahlbeck and Jason Mercier - all in the top ten.

The first day's action in event 22: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha started on Monday with 1,071 entries - well up on last year's 885 registrations.

Heading into midnight Monday level 10 had been reached and there were still 134 players left with Juha Vilkke in the lead but a strong pack chasing him that included Nick Binger, Michael Moore, Jeff Sarwer, Michael Binger, James Akenhead, Melanie Weisner, David Chiu, Tommy Vedes, Dan Heimiller, Joe Serock, Shannon Shorr, and Dave Ulliott.

Event 23: $2,500 Eight-Game Mix also started Monday with 489 entries generating a prize pool of $1.11 million.

The Eight-Game Mix format calls for players to alternatively play Triple-Draw 2-7, Limit Hold'em, Omaha 8, Razz, Stud, Stud 8, No-Limit Holdem, and Pot Limit Omaha, and is a popular competition for the pros. This year's field is an improvement of 36 registrations over last year.

This year's starting lineup included a host of recognisable names like Phil Hellmuth, Vitaly Lunkin, David Williams, Joseph Cheong, Allen Bari, Eugene Katchalov, Marco Traniello, Jon Turner, Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Selbst, Justin Bonomo, Ted Forrest, John Cernuto, defending champ Sigurd Eskeland, Eric Buchman, Alex Kamberis, Jonathan Spinks, Gavin Smith, John Juanda, Jeff Shulman, Brandon Cantu and many more.

Going into midnight Monday the action was at level 7 in a planned night of 8 levels, with 280 players still surviving and a top ten chip count list that looked liked this: Abraham Mourshaki, Eric Buchman, Greg Mueller, KC Carlston, Nikolay Evdakov, John Racener, Nikolay Edvakov, Bryan Colin, Marco Traniello and Brett Richey.

Source: InfoPowa News