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World Poker Tour - World Championship - Bellagio - Day 1A
by 2007 World Poker Tour Coverage   
Saturday, 21 April 2007


Day 1A of the World Poker Tour's World Championship

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 11:36 PM

That's it for Day 1A.  Check back tomorrow at noon PDT for Day 1B action!

End of Day 1A Chip Counts

First NameLast NameChip Count
1AnnaWroblewski211,325
2DannyAlaei187,050
3MarcGoodwin177,225
4JackKarban173,850
5AlanSchein171,575
6KeithGipson151,775
7PaulBegum151,650
8ShannonShorr151,575
9LyleBerman142,475
10RaymondDavis141,950
11PaulLee140,950
12GevorkKasabyan138,725
13HoytCorkins137,775
14BenSabrin135,350
15PeterMuller132,550
16NeilChriss132,250
17IsaacHaxton131,700
18JustinYoung131,475
19EricHershler131,325
20GrantLang128,400
21AlvinZeidenfeld126,525
22QuirtDavis124,875
23GavinSimms123,550
24BruceYamron120,300
25StevenMclaughlin115,275
26MattKeikoan114,350
27JaredHamby112,575
28MarcelLuske112,050
29ChrisKennedy111,650
30EliaAhmadian111,250
31ChristianKruel110,625
32CarlWong110,300
33JayHeimowitz109,450
34GeorgeMarlow107,500
35JohnBonetti105,575
36RobertMizrachi105,500
37JoeSebok104,125
38JakeMinter102,750
39DennisAlmasy102,250
40JasonEakes101,700
41BillyPilossoph101,700
42DavidGrey101,550
43JamieGold100,025
44MarkStubbs98,500
45RichardHarroch96,625
46PeterGould96,575
47JimMc Crink95,800
48PhilHellmuth93,800
49DustinWoolf93,675
50RickBarstow93,575
51JoshArieh93,325
52MatthewGlantz93,125
53Nek-PalSingh92,500
54SorelMizzi92,025
55JustinPechie91,400
56JaniSointula90,675
57VanessaRousso90,025
58RobertNehrayan89,975
59JamesMackey88,875
60JohnnyLodden88,825
61JohnCernuto88,700
62JosephPulliam88,650
63JoeBartholdi88,475
64JeffCabanillas87,450
65JohnShipley86,025
66HerbMontalbano84,300
67RossBoatman83,375
68AntonioSalorio82,525
69LoiPhan82,500
70RichardAnthony81,900
71ScottMayfield81,525
72BarneyBoatman80,850
73JohnMyung80,075
74AmirNasseri79,525
75AriGoott78,475
76JeremyJoseph78,275
77HertzelZalewski77,000
78JuhaHelppi76,575
79ChristianGrundtvig76,275
80DannyWong76,100
81BruceCorman75,825
82KyleCarlston75,800
83JenniferHarman75,600
84TomFranklin75,500
85DanielShak74,150
86FredDavid73,775
87PadreParkinson73,600
88SteveMandelbaum72,975
89DoronMalinasky72,550
90ThomasSchneider72,300
91RolandGentner70,875
92TonyCousineau70,325
93RolandDewolfe70,100
94JimmyD' Ambrosio70,025
95TedKearly69,750
96BenDoud69,675
97JesseJones67,400
98MartinDeknijff67,275
99GavinSmith67,225
100JohnHarris67,050
101MarkRose66,925
102GregoryAlston66,475
103KianKiarash65,875
104RichSalomon65,525
105PhilIvey65,400
106RockCloutier65,000
107DanielHarrington64,625
108PhilipMatthews63,400
109EricDeregt62,125
110ChuckPacheco62,125
111PaulAlterman60,750
112DavidStroj60,000
113DanielQuach59,750
114ChrisBjorin59,075
115TadJurgens59,050
116DanAlspach58,500
117CliffJosephy58,475
118TomBarkas56,750
119EricBeller56,675
120AndrewMicali56,250
121JohnNathan55,575
122AdeebHarb54,925
123JasonLester54,550
124BerryJohnston53,900
125TomLee53,850
126ScottClements53,775
127MichaelXu53,600
128TorGammelgard52,325
129BradleyHelm52,175
130TomWest52,025
131AlanCutler51,875
132Moto YukiMabuchi51,850
133RhynieCampbell51,675
134JonathanLittle51,675
135BenRoberts51,600
136EdwardGross50,950
137MartinWendt50,925
138AaronScott50,075
139EliEslami49,725
140GregBaird49,425
141DavidPeat48,000
142RamVaswani47,850
143StuartFox47,800
144JoeTehan47,575
145NickCassavetes47,525
146MaureenFeduniak47,200
147DavidLambard47,175
148SteveDunning46,625
149NoahBoeken46,450
150VincentProcopio45,925
151ReneAngelil45,650
152RonFaltinsky45,650
153ThorHansen45,500
154JimBechtel45,100
155TomMc Evoy44,975
156DavidPlastik44,950
157MatthewWolf44,950
158GaryHaubelt44,850
159AlexBolotin43,975
160JasonHardage43,475
161ChrisSantora43,325
162EdwardHansen42,750
163LizLieu42,725
164AbrahamMosseri42,675
165Binh QuocNguyen42,650
166AgisLeontakianakos42,600
167TimothyAnders42,550
168PeterHaslam42,225
169TedLawson41,000
170TomPniak40,475
171RobertBarnes40,275
172BobFeduniak39,825
173DavidDicken39,775
174SteveSimmons39,550
175BarryGreenstein39,100
176RobeertWazelle38,825
177LouisWerman38,750
178MikeLanders38,700
179VeronicaDunn37,525
180HaroldKirkpatrick37,000
181StevenZoine36,250
182KristyGazes36,175
183JeppeMikkelsen36,150
184DavidWilliams36,025
185CoryCarroll35,575
186AmnonFilippi34,975
187DavidSklansky34,975
188RickyCummings33,625
189EmelineBoich33,450
190SteveBrecher32,600
191SteveCrockett31,850
192GuyLaliberte31,375
193WayneBoich31,350
194HarryDemitriou30,975
195EugeneKatchalov30,650
196JustinBonomo29,575
197Wei KaiChang28,175
198AlanFixel27,400
199BurtBoutin27,350
200OmarSaeed26,175
201ManousosVourkoutiotis26,100
202DavidLevi25,225
203HaralabosVoulgaris25,225
204CaryKatz23,725
205TaiNguyen22,475
206AndrewBlack22,325
207ScottLundberg22,000
208StanFulton21,650
209Doa KimBac20,675
210DouglasMackinnon20,475
211PaulKraus20,300
212KevinSaul19,725
213ErikFriberg19,550
214J JLiu19,150
215TerricitaEvanowski18,750
216VadinTrincher18,475
217EliElezra17,000
218RehnePedersen14,675
219JosephRafferty14,300
220JamesVan Alstyne13,200
221JohnDuthie11,475
222PierreGarand10,925
223RalphPerry9,775
224AnnandRamdin9,175
225ScottFischman8,075
226KristianKjondal7,575


Saturday, 21st of April 2007 08:50 PM

That's it for Day 1A.  Check back tomorrow at noon PDT for Day 1B action!

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 08:46 PM

Anna Wroblewski finished the day with 211,325.  That may be good enough for chip leader status.  I'll know for sure when we get the official chip count list from the WPT.  When I have that, I will post it.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 08:42 PM

Burt Boutin lost most of his chips on the final hand.  With a flop of 7 4 7 , he reraised a big bet and then got reraised all-in.  With a look of excruciating pain, he folded.  His opponent did a noble thing and flashed his 4 4 .


 
 
Alan Goehring
Saturday, 21st of April 2007 08:35 PM

Just in time to save himself a trip back here on Monday, Alan Goehring busted out.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 08:31 PM

The tournament staff stopped the clock and had Joe Bartholdi (last year's champion) draw a random card.  It was a three, so all tables will play three more hands and then play will be complete for the session.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 08:13 PM

Down to the final thirty minutes now.  231 players remain.


 
 
Tale of Two Chipstacks - Williams and Luske
Saturday, 21st of April 2007 07:57 PM

With several limpers in the pot, David Williams pushed in with his last 14K but got no callers.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 07:49 PM

Anna Wroblewski is now up to 200K.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 07:40 PM

With the board of 3 7 6 8 5 , Jamie Gold bet 20K.  "I don't have a nine", he declared.  Hoyt Corkins reluctantly folded and Gold turned over just one card: 7 .

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 07:38 PM

With about 20K in the pot and a board of 4 8 9 2 , a player moved all in for 29K.  Alan Goehring took a long time and made the call with his T 8 .  His opponent showed J J for the overpair.  The 5 river changed nothing and Alan Goehring lost about 75% of his chips.  He now has about 14K.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 07:35 PM

John Juanda doubled up when his A-8 hit the A 8 4 flop and he got all-in against 8 6 .  The turn and river were blanks and Juanda now has 55K.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 07:32 PM

T.J. Cloutier and Chad Brown have busted.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 07:14 PM

We are now underway at level five.  250 players remain.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 07:02 PM

Alex Jacob busted before the break.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 06:59 PM

We are on our fourth and final break of the day.  When players return, they will play one more level: 300/600 with a 75 ante.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 06:48 PM

According to the tournament board, 259 players remain in this Day 1A.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 06:47 PM

Another table has broken from the main poker room.  Gavin Smith just came into the Fontana room and took his new seat to the right of Barry Greenstein.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 06:44 PM

Further busts included David Matthew (last year's runner-up) and Men "The Master" Nguyen.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 06:41 PM

Shannon Shorr just may be the tallest stack right now, with 197K.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 06:40 PM

On a flop of 8 Q 4 , a player bet 12K and David Pham reraised all-in.  He was instantly called by 4 4 .  Pham shook his head and turned over K K .  The 3 turn and A river couldn't rescue him.  David Pham has busted.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 06:27 PM

Steve Brecher took a 30K pot from David Grey when his pocket fives were best against Grey's unpaired A-Q.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 06:17 PM

Scott Fischman is down well below 10K in chips.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 06:14 PM

The Hellmuth/Gold situation is getting out of hand.  Phil bet Jamie an additional $500 that Jamie would not be willing to bluff for the rest of the day (due to the existing prop bet).  With the board reading Q 8 7 K 8 , Tuan Le bet 5K and Gold raised to 15K.  Tuan agonized and folded.  Gold called Hellmuth over to his table, turned over his A 7 .  Hellmuth asked Tuan, "Did you have that beat?".  He answered yes.  Hellmuth pulled out five Benjamins from his wallet and handed them to Gold.  Then they renewed the bet for $1000.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 05:59 PM

Anna Wroblewski just made a big river call with ace high, which proved to be good.  As she added the pot to her chips, she asked the table, "Don't you just hate that I keep doing the right thing?"  The table was silent.  Ouch.


 
 
Haralabos Voulgaris
Saturday, 21st of April 2007 05:54 PM

Haralabos Voulgaris pushed all-in with his remaining stack but got no callers.  He showed A-K unsuited.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 05:30 PM

Here we go at level four: 200/400 blinds with a 50 ante.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 05:14 PM

We are now on our third break.  According to the tournament board, there are still 281 remaining players out of the 304 that started.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 04:56 PM

Shane Shleger busted when his KK ran into AA.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 04:54 PM

Phil Ivey just knocked out a player.  Seat 7 pushed all-in on a flop of 8-6-3 and Ivey went ahead and made the call, showing 9-8 for top pair.  The player in seat 7 rolled his eyes as he tabled his pocket sevens.  No help on the turn and river, and Ivey scooped the pot.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 04:42 PM

Liz Lieu and Terricita Evanowski got all-in on the river, only to discover that they both held 8-6 for the nut straight.  As the dealer was chopping the pot, Liz laughingly asked, "How could you raise with that hand!?"

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 04:31 PM

HOT OFF THE PRESSES: Phil Hellmuth and Jamie Gold have just entered into a prop bet.  Gold wins $10K if he survives this Day 1 and Hellmuth wins 30K if Gold busts today.  Right now, Gold is the tallest stack at his table.  As soon they shook hands and sealed the bet, I asked Gold if Phil knew that we were only playing five levels today.  He said, "I'm not sure ... but that's his problem, not mine!"

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 04:18 PM

With the board of Q 7 J 2 , Miami John Cernuto bet 6K and David Williams called.  The river came 6 and John pushed his remaining 20.7K into the middle.  David Williams, who had John well covered, said, "This ain't no rebuy tournament, you know that, John?"  After a couple minutes, David made the call.  Cernuto turned over Q J for the flopped top two pair.  Williams shook his head and mucked.  David still has 65K+ chips.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 03:57 PM

John Bonetti avoided catastrophe earlier.  With the board of A-4-2-Q-4 with four clubs, he just called a 10K bet on the river, rather than raising.  He tabled his pocket queens, showing a full house, and didn't seem surprised at all when his opponent showed A-A, for a better full house.  I'm pretty sure that I would have had the rest of the tournament off if I had been playing John's hand.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 03:44 PM

We are now going at level 3: 100/200 with a 25 ante.


 
 
Fontana Room - Day 1A
Saturday, 21st of April 2007 03:28 PM

We are now on our second 15-minute break.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 03:27 PM

Cyndy Violette has busted out, courtesy of her pocket kings going up against Eric Hershler's pocket aces.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 03:18 PM

John Hennigan is out.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 03:00 PM

According to the WPT, there were 304 players in this first Day 1, so we are right on track to have about the same number (605) as last year.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 02:55 PM

Anna Wroblewski is on fire.  She bet enough on the river to put Jeff Madsen all-in.  Jeff had to have the clock called on him.  As the countdown finished, he made the call.  Anna showed pocket deuces, which had flopped a set and made a full house on the river.  Madsen said, "Nice hand", and left.  Anna now has 135K and is among the overall chip leaders.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 02:52 PM

David Williams has been reunited with Marcel Luske, his friend and mentor from the 2004 WSOP main event.  They are sitting next to each other in the 3 and 4 seats.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 02:42 PM

Dan Harrington won a nice 30K pot when his A-K flopped top two pair and he beat a weaker two pair.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 02:30 PM

Brian Townsend couldn't recover from losing that big hand to Andy Black.  He has been eliminated from the field.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 02:24 PM

Jon Friedberg just lost more than half his stack.  On a flop of Q3 6 , a player checked, Jon bet 11K and got called.  The turn came 2 .  The first player checked, Jon bet 15K and his opponent moved all-in for an additional 17.5K.  After about five minutes of contemplation, Friedberg folded, leaving himself just 22K in chips.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 02:11 PM

Jeff Madsen's table got broken down and he has taken the seat of the player knocked out by Anna.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 02:01 PM

We are back from our first break and blinds are now at 100/200.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 01:48 PM

Wow!  Anna Wroblewski just tripled up on a monster hand.  With a board of 9 A J 6 , one player bet 42K, a second player called by going all-in, and Anna moved all-in too.  Player one turned over A A for top set, player two showed J J for middle set, and Anna rolled over K Q for the nut flush.  All eyes were on the river, which came K .  Anna's flush held up and she now has over 120K.  "Don't worry," she told the table, "I'll probably donk it all off."

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 01:34 PM

Anna Wroblewski is having a good time.  She has been chatting up the table about her name, heritage, etc.  Now she just knocked her beer over and they had to get the floor to come over with a towel to clean it up.  "No more drinks (tee hee)", she said to no one in particular.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 01:23 PM

There is a noticeable difference in this field from some of the regular WPT tournaments.  While I might recognize one or two "name" professionals per table at a normal event on Day 1, here I am recognizing between three and six players at each table.  So this is a little like the Pro Bowl of the WPT.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 01:18 PM

The tournament tables right now are split between the Fontana Room, with 24 active tables, and the main poker room, with about 10 tables left.  The tournament staff are breaking tables only in the poker room, so we will eventually have all players together here in the Fontana Room.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 01:05 PM

Rene Angelil took a hit.  With the board reading 5 J Q T 7 , he bet 10K and his opponent jacked it up to 30K.  Angelil let it go.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 01:01 PM

Alan Goehring won a good-sized pot when his A-K flopped trip aces and he got a player to come along the whole way.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 12:47 PM

David Levi just took a hit.  On a board of 4 6 A, a player bet 600 and Levi raised to 1200 and got called.  The turn came 3 .  His opponent checked, Levi bet 4K and got check-raised to 10K.  Levi made the call.  The river came 8  and his opponent led out with 10K.  Levi, after an eternity, mucked.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 12:35 PM

Andrew Black took a huge pot from Brian Townsend (sbrugby).  With the board reading 4 K 7 J and a bunch in the middle already, Brian bet 5500 and Andrew called.  The river came T .  Brian checked, Andrew bet 10K, and Brian shrugged and made the call.  Black rolled over 4 4 for the set and Townsend mucked.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 12:18 PM

Anna Wroblewski, who earned $337K by winning the $3K buy-in event earlier in the week, is seated in seat 8 at the table right in front of my media table.  Phil Ivey is in seat 5.  G'luck, Anna.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 12:13 PM

Here we go!

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 12:10 PM

Mike Sexton welcomed the participants in this event.  Then Lyle Berman, as one of the World Poker Tour founders, gave a short speech, marking the milestone of this being the 100th WPT tournament.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 12:04 PM

We are under the big top here, in the circus that is a WPT Day 1.  Players, dealers, tournament staff, fans, and media are scrambling every which way.  Meanwhile, the clock says we are starting in 30 seconds.  Ha!  Stay tuned.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 11:33 AM

Just a half hour away now from getting underway.  This will be a very friendly blind structure, as players will start with 50K in chips and the first blind level will be just 50/100.  We are scheduled to play five 90-minute levels today, with 15-minute breaks in between.  By my math, that means we should be finished around 8:30PM today.

Saturday, 21st of April 2007 08:23 AM

We’re just a few hours away from the start of the most prestigious World Poker Tour event of the season. It’s the WPT World Championship, hosted by the Bellagio, and it’s the only $25,000 buy-in tournament of the year. The prize pool will be enormous, and the top spot will likely pay about four million bucks!

The satellites and super-satellites have been buzzing for the past several days, causing the field to swell. No word yet on an approximate player count, but it certainly looks like we will exceed last year’s 605 entrants.

This WPT title, in addition to being the richest, is also the most coveted. The winners from the first four seasons and their paychecks were:

2003 – Alan Goehring - $1.0 Million

2004 – Martin De Knijff - $2.7 Million

2005 – Tuan Le - $2.9 Million

2006 – Joe Bartholdi - $3.7 Million

Cards are scheduled to be in the air for this Day 1A at noon PDT today. Check back here for live updates of the action!



 
 
After successful careers in the financial and high-tech industries, Michael Cheser became fascinated with poker in early 2006. Defying all probabilities, he managed to cash in the 2006 WSOP Main Event. When not tournament reporting for PokerPages, he can be seen at no-limit tables in Las Vegas, cheerfully calling large river bets with second-best hands. Contact Michael.



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