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2011 WSOP – The Main Event Kicks Off
Posted by: Randy Williams - Sat, 2011-07-09 12:10
Day 38 of the 2011 WSOP almost saw the last two side events wrap up. The highlight of the day was the first day 1 flight of the Main Event though, which kicked off with Doyle Brunson’s ‘shuffle up and deal’ call. Tex Dolly had nurtured thoughts of retiring from poker. He had tweeted several times about how bad a run he was having at the
WSOP and that he would mull retirement if he couldn’t get anything going. The poker community was saddened by the possible retirement of one of poker best-known and most respected faces, but apparently Doyle had eventually decided against retirement. He not only called the ‘shuffle up and deal’ he played on day 1A, despite the fact that he had said that he wouldn’t before.
Main Event day 1As are usually lighter as far as registration is concerned, because for some reason, everyone is looking to get going as late as possible. 897 players showed up this time, but the turn-out cannot yet be viewed as any kind of indication towards the eventual total number of participants.
Unfortunately for Doyle, his day ended rather soon yet again. He only lasted for about two levels. By that time, his stack began to dwindle and he eventually found himself with only 5k chips. He pushed the last one of those into the middle on a pair of 5s he’d picked up. Steve Costello made the call with A,Q and the coin-flip was on. The flop was rather cruel to Dolly: it fell A,Q,J, giving his opponent a two pair. The turn and the river both blanked and Doyle was eliminated.
Other ‘name’ players to fall on day 1A were: Jeff Papola, ex-
PokerStars pro and
WSOP Main Event Champ Greg Raymer, Faraz Jaka, Vanessa Selbst and Scott Montgomery.
556 players survived the first Day 1 flight of the Big Dance. Fred Berger finished with the chip lead: he built up a stack of 209k chips. Sebastian Ruthenberg and Filippo Candio made it through the day on decent stacks too.
