The 45th World Series of Poker is go and some big names are already in the hunt for gold
The 2014 WSOP kicked off on Tuesday with a bang – literally, as $10,000 worth of dollar bills were fired from cannons in the Rio. After the scramble for the money was over the hunt for bracelets began with the traditional opener, the $500 Casino Employees event. 876 players entered the two-day event and with the final table failing to reach a conclusion earlier today, the two remaining players will return to fight for the first bracelet tonight. Roland Reparejo is the chip leader with 1,795,000 and Corey Emery has 735,000 – both players are dealers.
Event 2: $25k Mixed-Max
If the Casino Employees event is a modest affair though, Event 2 lies at the other end of the WSOP spectrum. The $25k Mixed Max is the first open event and the third biggest buy-in event at this year’s World Series. It attracted 131 of the strongest players on the planet, including Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Vanessa Selbst, Michael MIzrachi, Sam Trickett and Daniel Negreanu.
At the end of Day 1 60 players remained and Vanessa Selbst was top of the pile with 562,800 chips, closely followed by Brian Rast. Selbst won a huge pot towards the end of the day when she flopped quad Jacks, eliminating Jake Schindler in a 450k pot.
Day 2
The Mixed-Max format meant the play switched from nine-handed to six-max on Day 2 and it played down to the money, with 16 people returning for Day 3 tomorrow. Both Phils were eliminated: Hellmuth in a flip with Brian Rast and Ivey just short of the cash in 18th when his flopped Broadway straight lost to JC Tran’s flopped flush.
That left just one more person who would leave without cashing, and it was John Juanda who fell, shoving Q-6 from the small blind and running into A-Q in the big blind. Juanda tweeted shortly after, ‘Finished 17th in WSOP 25k mixmax. Unfortunately they only pay 16.’
The remaining 16 players – all from the US – are now guaranteed $54,945 and will play four-handed down to the final four tonight. The first big final table of the WSOP will then stream live at WSOP.com on Friday night and it could be one to stay up for as well, with JC Tran (2nd) and Vanessa Selbst (3rd) looking to start their WSOP in the biggest possible way.
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Event 3: $1k Pot-Limit Omaha
With big bracelet bets on the go, Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu switched their attention to Event 3, the $1k Pot-Limit Omaha, but both busted before the end of Day 1. Notable names that survived to Day 2 include Phil Laak, Greg Merson, Maria Ho and Stephen Chidwick. 106 players remain from the opening field of 1,128 with $205,634 up top for the winner.
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Live action
Look our for live streaming of the first two open events from the 2014 WSOP, the $25k Mixed-Max and $1k Pot-Limit Omaha. Both play out Friday night with action due to start at 10pm UK time. The Mixed-Max heads-up action will be shown with hole cards.
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