The Big One part 2

Days 2A, Day 2B
Tuesday, August 1,
Wednesday, August 2

12.00
We’re off again, with $250/$500 blinds and a $50 ante.

15.31
After being near crippled earlier when his Kings were cracked by Queens, Barry Greenstein is eliminated on another bad beat and leaves the tournament. Full Tilt player John Juanda follows almost immediately.

16.15
TOC champion Mike Sexton won’t be donating any of his Main Event winnings to charity as he walks midway through Day 2.

17.20
Sklansky, the master theorist has his top pair cracked when his opponent hits runner-runner to make a straight. What were the odds on that Dave?

18.18
Top Brit, Dave Ulliott, swims allin with pocket Nines only to find himself up against pocket Aces. Neither hand improves and the Devilfish walks off.

18.52
Greg Raymer doesn’t make it three impressive showings in a row as he’s eliminated from this year’s Main Event.

00.00
Day 2A and 2B both end with around 600 players left in each. These are now combined for the start of Day 3.

Day 3
Friday, August 4

12.00
Reigning world champion Joe Hachem gets to utter the immortal ‘Shuffle up and deal’ and play gets under way with $600/$1,200 blinds with a $200 ante. There are 1,159 players left and the top 873 are set to make the money. Will HillyTheFish cash?

12.15
Erm…no. Going into Day 3 with one of the shortest stacks HillyTheFish is forced to push his chips in with a pair of ducks and has them quacked by pocket Nines.

14.46
Phil Ivey pushes in with Q♥-8♥, and is called by an opponent holding A♥-9♠. With a flop of J♥-9♥-5♠, he’s in with a shot at doubling-up, but he doesn’t improve and leaves the tournament before the cash.

16.37
The money is almost here but not before Freddy Deeb is eliminated.

17.30
It’s announced that everyone left in is in the money and a huge roar goes up. Anyone going out from this point gets $14,597 and this leads to 140 eliminations in the next 15 minutes as the previously tight play loosens up. This leads to a short suspension of play as the payout queue stretches all the way around the tournament room.

00.20
Brits John Gale (522nd) and Tony Bloom (512th) are eliminated earning $22,266 each.

01.10
Day 3 ends with 481 players left.

Day 4
Saturday, August 5

12.05
Play begins for the day with blinds at $2,000/$4,000 and a $500 ante.

15.11
Surinder Sunar is unlucky to go out in 324th place when his K♦-K♣ loses out in a three-way pot to A♥-K♠ on an A♣-3♠-2♦-9♦-A♠ board. Other notable exits are Ted Forrest (408th), Cyndy Violette (400th) and Tom McEvoy (371st).

18.44
He’s been perilously short-stacked for most of the day and another PokerPlayer dream is shattered when Negreanu finally hits the rail when his Q♥-10♥ is busted by K♣-J♣. Negreanu is out in 229th place earning $42,882.

23.35
Katherine Hartree is the top female finisher from the UK. She’s eliminated in 150th place and earns $47,006 for her troubles.

01.25
Play ends on Day 4 with 135 players left.

Day 5
Sunday, August 6

12.00
Blinds start at $6,000/$12,000 with a $2,000 ante. Annie Duke is the only notable name on Day 5 to go out when her A♥-3♣ is busted by Jeff Lisandro’s pocket Eights and she finishes in 88th to pocket $51,129.

23:30
Play ends for the day with just 45 players left.

Day 6
Monday, August 7

12.00
It’s getting serious now as play begins with the remaining 45 players. Nearly all of the ‘name’ players are out now and the blinds are $15,000/$30,000 with a $5,000 ante.

14.40
Hopes of a big name player winning the Main Event are halved when popular PokerStars player Humberto Brenes is eliminated in 36th place netting him $329,865. He pushes all-in with 8♠-5♠ only to run into pocket Kings.

17.05
It’s the end of the day as we’re down to 27 players and all of them are now guaranteed a bumper payout of $494,797.

Day 7
Tuesday, August 8

12.03
The blinds are $25,000/$50,000 with a $5,000 ante and Hollywood agent Jamie Gold is the massive chip leader despite rumours that he’s been sucking out more than Jenna Jameson. All we know is that if a pro’s going to win the Main Event now, the sole responsibility lies with Allen Cunningham. The sole UK survivor is Northern Ireland’s John Magill. Today we play down to the final table of nine.

12.42
John Magill gets so unlucky when his pocket Sevens are cracked by Richard Lee’s pocket Sevens on a board of K♥-9♥-6♥-8♥-8♠. Lee holds the magic 7♥ and takes the pot of half a million.

12.50
A plasma screen topples over and smashes in the tournament room. Like we needed some more excitement.

15.00
John Magill calls an all-in on a scary board of 7♣-7♦-4♥-A♥ revealing A♣-J♥. Richard Lee flips over his cards to reveal a bluff and is crippled, while Magill doubles up to over $5m.

16.39
David Einhorn (who has promised to donate all of his winnings to charity – see p27) raises pre-flop and is called by Allen Cunningham, Jamie Gold and Luke Chung. On a flop of Q♥-J♦-6♣, Einhorn bets out $1,000,000 and Jamie Gold raises to $3,000,000. Everyone folds, Einhorn pushes all-in and Gold reveals Q♦-6♦ to beat Einhorn’s K♥-Q♣. Einhorn is out in 18th place and gets $659,730. Jamie Gold’s stack is stupidly big at over $22,500,000.

18.55
We’re down to 12 players and everyone is now a guaranteed to win a million dollars.

21.55
Cunningham takes his stack up to $16,200,000 with a nut flush to beat Gold’s Ten-high flush. Gold’s down to $28,000,000.

02.17
Fred Goldberg is the final player to drop before the play stops for the day. We’re now down to the final nine players and play is due to begin at 2pm on Thursday, August 10, with an unscheduled rest day on Wednesday.