With only scant days remaining until the start of the $10,000 Main Event at the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), the race for the remaining bracelets is heating up in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
The final table of the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout, Event #50 on the WSOP schedule, played out deep into the evening on Sunday. A total of 571 players started the event on Friday, with the final eight survivors having won their way to the final table by winning two sit and gos over the previous two days. As with the shootout format, the players all started with the same number of chips (450,000 at the final table) and there were plenty of strong players in the mix.
Bodog’s David Williams, who famously finished second to Greg Raymer in the 2004 Main Event and has since captured his own WSOP bracelet, was joined by two other bracelet winners from this year’s play. Marc Naalden, who won only the second bracelet in WSOP for his home country of the Netherlands, and Full Tilt Poker’s Greg “FBT” Mueller, the former Canadian hockey player who picked up his first bracelet this year, led a contingent of players from around the world. Millie Shue, who was the runner-up in the Ladies’ event in 2004, the Netherlands’ Joep Van Den Bijgaart, Argentina’s Jose Barbero, Italy’s Flaminio Malaguti, and the United States’ Matt Sterling rounded out what was truly an international table.
The three bracelet winners got off to fast starts and, within two hours, had separated themselves from the pack. Mueller pulled into the chip lead when he drew the first blood at the table with the elimination of Barbero in eighth place. Prior to the table taking the dinner break, the two Scandinavians battled it out, as Naalden took out Van Den Bijgaart in seventh place.
After the dinner hiatus, Williams tried to mount an attack on Mueller’s chip lead. He vanquished Malaguti in sixth when he turned a five to match his A-5 against the Italian’s Big Slick, but couldn’t seem to find any traction after that point. He slowly slid down the leaderboard and was eventually eliminated by Shue in fourth place. Even with the knockout, Shue, who played conservatively through the final table, was eventually ousted in third place.
Heads-up play began between Mueller (who had dismissed Sterling from the tournament in fifth place) and Naalden, with the Canadian holding a 4:1 lead over the Scandinavian. With the two men reaching heads-up, it also guaranteed the fourth double bracelet winner of this year’s WSOP, setting a new record for most multiple bracelet winners.
Naalden attacked Mueller from the start of heads-up action and, through skillful play, was able to pull to even within 30 minutes of play. Over the next hour and a half, Mueller and Naalden, who both won their bracelets in Limit events this year, would swap the lead approximately a half dozen times before Mueller was able to go on a run. That run enabled Mueller, once his five kicker played over Naalden’s deuce after both paired a King on the final hand, to capture his second WSOP bracelet and the $194,854 top prize.
Most of the attention of the crowd at the Rio was focused on play in the Players’ Championship, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament. A total of 53 players came back to attempt to work down to the cashout level (the final 16 players), but were unable to do that as 19 remained by the time play ended for the day.
Vitaly Lunkin, who captured the title in the $40,000 Anniversary Event, leads the field with 1.5 million in chips. He is joined by internet legend Erik “Erik123” Sagstrom, 2007 H.O.R.S.E. champion Freddy Deeb, and David Bach as players who have all eclipsed the million chip mark. Lurking just under that level is Ville Wahlbeck, who captured his first bracelet earlier this month in the World Championship Mixed event. They are joined by such professionals as eight-time WSOP champion Erik Seidel, former World Champion and current National Heads-Up Champion Huck Seed, 2009 Pot Limit Hold’em World Champion John Kabbaj, and Gus “The Great Dane” Hansen, who has no WSOP jewelry in his career. The 19 remaining players returning for Day 4 will play through to a final table tonight and a champion determined tomorrow.
A championship will be determined tonight in Event #51, another $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament. Thirty-five players remain from the 2,781 who started the tournament, with newcomer Durand Thibaud holding the chip lead. He is joined by Owen Crowe as the only players over the million chip mark, with Josh Schlein on the verge of cracking that mark.
Two tournaments enter into Day 2 action today, the $3,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #52) and the $1,500 Seven Card Stud High-Low tournament (Event #53). Jeffrey Lisandro, who has already captured three WSOP bracelets this year, is looking for an unprecedented fourth in the Triple Chance event, although there are still 149 players left. Currently Lisandro holds a healthy stack of 113,800 and is in pursuit of Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, who has 127, 900. In the Seven Card tournament, Marcel Luske, Daniel Negreanu and Annie Duke are a few of the top names that have survived to play Day 2, with Allie Prescott holding the lead over the 143 runners remaining.
Two events will kick off action with their Day 1s that begin at Noon today. Event #54, another $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, should draw a sizeable crowd and Event #55, the $2,500 Deuce to Seven Triple Draw Lowball tournament, should be stocked with top professionals. Poker News Daily will be on top of this and all of the rest of the action at the Rio as the poker world prepares for the start of the Main Event later this week.
