Home / Poker News June 2008 / Andy Garza takes early lead in $1,500 NL Holdem event
Andy Garza takes early lead in $1,500 NL Holdem event
Posted by: James Carter. - Wed, 2008-06-18 17:32
Another day brings another $1,500 NL Holdem event at the WSOP. Being one of the best buy-in/potential payout ratio events at the Series, this $1,500 tournament drew a massive crowd of 2,304 participants. At the end of day one though, out of all these contenders only 166 were left standing, the list of ‘casualties’ including names like Juha Helppi, Allen Cunningham, Humberto Brennes and Chris Ferguson. All of those who survived Day 1 made it into the money, which is good news for the Ultimate Bet Army as their ‘field-sergeant’, Phil Hellmuth was among the survivors too. He finished day 1 with 31,600 chips, which means that he is still in contention for his world-record 12th WSOP bracelet.
One of the most notable hands played by the ‘poker brat’ was when he went all-in on a pair of kings. People who are Hellmuth’s fans know that he hates KK, as once he stated that there would always be a fish to call him on Ace-rags and end up outdrawing him. The flop brought about an A indeed, but the turn landed a K which gave the brat the pot for good.
Another interesting hand had Hellmuth raising from the BB on 2s full of 8s. The SB moved all-in on him, sending Hellmuth into the tank for a while. He called eventually and took the pot, but he said he’d had a good mind to fold. Leroy Lee ended up bubble-boy, as he went all-in on an A,10 against an opponent’s QQ. At the end of day one, Andy Garza leads the hostilities with 169,200 chips, followed by Donny Carlton with 148,100 and Jonathan Jaffe with 134,700.
