Home / Poker News July 2008 / The Big Dance kicks off: Mark Garner takes lead in Day 1A
The Big Dance kicks off: Mark Garner takes lead in Day 1A
Posted by: James Carter. - Sun, 2008-07-06 09:23
I hope I needn’t iterate the importance the WSOP’s Big Dance has in the life of a poker professional. While it is no longer the only $10,000 buy-in event one can find during the year, it still carries a more than special significance for every poker player out there.
This year, Day 1A featured 1,297 competitors, and it was said to be one of the smallest flights as many mega satellites were still under way, and the bulk of the “bandwagon” would only get going later.
Despite the fact that the prize pool will only become available after the 4th flight gets rolling, some of the biggest names already got into the fray. Scotty Nguyen was among the starters as well as Dan Harrington, Billy Baxter, Barry Greenstein and Freddy Deeb.
Mark Garner had finished 25th in the Main Event last year, and he certainly appeared resolute to improve on that this time around. When the day was called, Garner stood triumphant, atop the leaderboard comprised of the 636 players who had survived the hostilities, with a stack of 194,900 chips.
Barry Clancy’s 2008 Big Dance only lasted for 20 minutes. He was the very first one to leave for the rail, as his pocket rockets got run into the felt on the river, by a caller with J,J.
Andrew Prock had reached the final table of the last side event earlier, but he wasn’t as lucky this time. He busted out as his A,K ran into a J,J and failed to improve.
Another noteworthy bust-out was David Benyamine’s whose A,J ran into Avdo Djokovic’s rockets and bled to death on a board of 3,8,J,A,8.
Dave Ulliott’s pocket 9s succumbed to Suhail Falchouri’s queens, and James Mackey’s set of Jacks to Joe Sebok’s flush.
Freddy Deep pinned his last hopes on a pair of sevens later in the day, which turned out to be no match for Grayson Physioc’s pair of Queens. Eli Elezra also left together with Lyle Berman and Raymond Rahme.
Other big names who had a very short Main Event this year were: Dan Harrington, Tuan Lam, Josh Arieh, and Joe Sebok.
