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July 30th 2006
WSOP Championship Event: Day One (B)
One down, three to go – and that’s just Day One of the 2006 World Series of Poker. For Day One B we saw another 2000+ players hit the fabled felt of the WSOP meaning we are well on our way to seeing a total field of around 9000 and a first prize of almost $12 million.
Sadly one player that won’t be coming back to vie for a slice of that pie is the winner of our WSOP freeroll – Tom Underwood. He busted out on a horror beat late into Day One A, when his pocket queens were cracked by pocket jacks after both players got their chips in preflop. Check out the podcast for his WSOP story.
Day One B the field was once again crammed full of pros, and a fair few celebrities, including Ron Jeremy - of porn superstardom! The pros were spread out evenly across the table, with hardly any sat two by two.
The early attention of those watching was mainly focused on the main stage, and on the missing player - amazingly, given the buy-in is $10,000, there was an empty seat. Soon however, all was revealed. It was of course the seat belonging to Phil Hellmuth, who made his traditional tardy entrance after two hours of play. Still, it only took him one hour to recoup his losses.
Elsewhere much attention was focused on Joe Seebok, dressed head to foot in a bear costume. He had lost a prop bet to the WPT Player of the Year Gavin Smith – who had the pleasure of deciding what Seebok should wear for the WSOP.
A number of big names fond the going tough today, including Doyle Brunson, who found himself shortstacked after a few bad pots and a dealer miscalculation that cost him a number of chips. He busted out after the diner break and received not one, but two standing ovations from players and audience alike.
Different player, same result, different story. Phil Hellmuth may have gained the respect and admiration of his peers after an excellent 2006 WSOP and his tenth WSOP victory but it hasn’t changed him from being the man everyone loves to hate. He was knocked out when his AQ failed to improve against his opponents pocket sevens (the same hand he lost with last year) and when the loudspeaker announced his exit the room erupted with laughter and jeers.
The day drew to a close at around 3am and as the finishing line came into view many of the remaining 900+ players were getting edgy and excited. One player bought three shots of tequila for himself, and a round for the table! When he end was finally announced it was greeted by a huge roar. Just under 900 players survived.
For some, however, it wasn’t about mere survival. Allen Cunningham was one such player and he spent the day amassing vast number of chips, to end the day in the top five chip counts with over $80,000. With one bracelet already this year, and plenty more from previous WSOP’s, he would be ecstatic if he could add “The Big One” to his roster of wins.
Here’s a quick list of some of the other pros who made it to the next stage. In descending order of chip counts: David Williams ($50,000), Men “The Master” Nguyen ($33,200), Jeff Madsen, (31,450), Humberto Brenes ($30,000), Padraig Parkinson ($26,100), Annie Duke ($26,000), Mike “The Mad Genius” Caro ($23,000), Dave “the DevilFish” Ulliot, David Grey, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Phil Ivey, John Juanda and Rob Hollink. Rob is shortstacked with around $5000.
Well, I’m exhausted just thinking about it, and there are two more days to go (and that’s just Day One!) Keep checking to see
Submitted: 30/07/2006 21:24:50
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