FULL TILT POKER BLOG

#745 – 2009 WSOP #3 – Daily Tilt #1 – Friday, May 29, AM Edition

Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized

[Daily Tilt will be an update of how Full Tilt's pros are doing at the Series, including chip counts from the previous evening's close of play, a running money list, and summary highlights from the day before.]

It’s starting to feel like the World Series of Poker! Event #1, the $500 Casino Employee’s NLHE concluded. Event #2, the 40th Anniversary $40,000 NLHE commenced, and everyone is getting into place for Friday’s Event #3, $1,500 OEOB (the first full-field/non-millionaire event) and bracing for Event #4 over the weekend, the $1,000 Economic Stimulus NLHE.

FULL TILT MONEY LIST

No Full Tilt money list yet.

CHIP COUNTS

All counts are courtesy of the World Series of Poker. Transcription errors are mine and, though I’ll do my best to keep an updated list of who at the Series is affiliated with Full Tilt, apologies for misattribution. I will attempt immediately to correct any errors brought to my attention (mrchaotic@aol.com).

Event #2 – $40,000 No-Limit Hold ‘Em
End of Day 1
Starters: 201
Prize Pool: $7,718,400
Places Paid: 27
Remaining: 89
Chip leader: Bruno Fitoussi 812,500

6. Brian Townsend 609,000
10. Andrew Black 449,500
28. Joshua Arieh 339,000
34. Vitaly Lunkin 289,000
35. Phil Ivey  279,000
37. Huckleberry Seed 274,000
41. David Chiu  245,000
44. Markus Lehmann 229,000
45. Kenny Tran  226,000
51. David Pham  192,500
54. Lee Markholt 184,000
58. Steve Zolotow 172,500
60. David Singer 168,000
83. Chau Giang   87,500
84. Mike Matusow 87,000
85. David Benefield 70,500

Notes: Chris Moneymaker is second in chips … Brian Townsend doubled up on one of the last hands of the night with aces against kings … Ted Forrest is 16th in chips with 401,500. I heard a rumor that Ted was going to affiliate with Full Tilt for the Series and asked him about it as he bought into the event. It was clear no deal had been struck but he was non-committal. “I’m my own man,” he said, which is true beyond a shadow of a doubt. I bring it up because I saw Ted wearing a Full Tilt logo at the end of the night. It wasn’t, however, a Full Tilt patch but a stitched-on logo that was part of a long-sleeve pullover. Sponsorship deal in the works? Or was Ted cold (the Amazon Room, as always, was frigid) and this is what he fished out of the back of his car? … My pick to win, Eli Elezra, busted on Day 1. Other Full Tilt pros busting out included Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Andy Bloch, Erick Lindgren, John Juanda, Rafe Furst, Gavin Smith, Greg Mueller, Marco Traniello, Scott Montgomery, Eric Liu, and Vivek Rajkumar.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

1. I am, of course, far behind on reporting my news, adventures, and travels. I had planned on playing the $1,500 OEOB today but instead will try to catch up. I have some neat stuff to share, so stay tuned.

2. Event #1, the Casino Employee event, was won by Andrew Cohen, a bartender at N9ne at The Palms. He prevailed over a field of 866, a modest decline from last year’s event, which drew 930 players. Considering the condition of the economy and some scary tournament numbers from the most recent Bellagio event, I’m watching these opening numbers closely and with some concern (and I assume a lot of others are doing the same). But 866 isn’t too bad.

3. What about the 201 starters in the $40,000? First, that gave the event the largest prize pool outside the Main Event in World Series of Poker history (beating out the record set in the 2007 $50,000 HORSE). It’s reasonable to expect more players would enter a huge-buy-in NLHE event than HORSE but it was still gratifying that the number was so big. Being the first event, it’s possible some European high rollers didn’t play and some may have skipped it because, psychologically, they didn’t want to be stuck $40,000 right off the bat. (Howard Lederer suggested this to me, saying, “the same guy, stuck $50,000, wouldn’t think anything of it three weeks into the Series, wouldn’t consider it a big deal being stuck ninety. But to start stuck forty might deter some players.”)

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