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WSOP Main Event – Day 1A
Posted by: James Carter. - Tue, 2009-07-07 15:15
Day 1A of the 2009 WSOP’s $10,000 Main Event saw a contingent of 1,116 players belly up to the tables. No question about it, the Main Event is slowly but surely turning into a popular poker festival. The opening day of the Big Dance featured a motley crew of actors, celebrities, amateur players and professionals. Brad Garret was there again, and so was Nelly, the rapper who had entered several WSOP side events and who had taken part in the EPT’s Monte Carlo Main event as well, earlier in the year. The pros were well represented too: Johnny Chan, Jerry Yang and Berry Johnston were joined by Vitaly Lunkin, Greg Mueller and Roland De Wolfe.
Tony G, Eli Elezra, Phil Laak and Jennifer Tilly were among the Day 1A starters as well.
John Phan was among the unluckiest players of the first day of Main Event action. He wasn’t cold starting hand-wise but his premium hands got slaughtered one after the other. First, he committed a large part of his stack on a pair of Qs he’d picked up and just to make it more interesting, he completed a set on the river. He got called all the way by a player though who’d picked up a straight on the turn. That move left him crippled, but he still looked good a few hands later when he shoved all-in on pocket rockets. His opponent caught two pairs on the river though to send him packing.
Nelly didn’t last long either, even though he had shoved all-in on Q,Q against an opponent’s 9,10. The flop fell J,9,9 though and Nelly’s fate was sealed.
Freddy Deeb took a really nasty bad beat to bust out early. He made a Broadway straight on the turn and committed his whole stack, only to see Keven Stammen table a boat to bounce him.
Mark Vos and Wooka Kim failed to survive the first day of action, as did Jerry Yang who busted out at the end of a tough day. He found himself short-stacked and compelled to make a move near the end of the day. He made his move holding Jd, 7d and got a call from an A,K. the flop gave Yang a pair of 7s to put him into the lead, but the K on the turn was a cooler. The river failed to bail him out and he too was eliminated.
Allen Cunningham and Isaac Haxton also became victims of the first day’s attrition as the initial starting field whittled down to 821. Tony G was among the survivors, together with Phil Laak, Roland de Wolfe, Eli Elezra, Billy Kopp and Sandra Naujoks. Redmond Lee finished the day on top of the provisional leader board with 134,275 chips, followed by Jean Docquier and Gianluca Marcucci.
Jason Alexander had also had a nice Day 1A run, and finished in 30th place.
