Day 1B official end-of-day chip counts can be found here.

Combined Day 1A and 1B chip counts can be found here.

(Jackie Witt Reporting)

The night is almost over, and players are getting antsy to either double up or go home.  The blinds are 150/300 with a 25 ante, so even short stacks with 3,000 have ten bets and plenty of time in their rounds to play.  However, with some monster stacks and average stacks at the table, it is easy to get frustrated and impatient.  Either way, at some point players have to make a move with their short stacks if they have any hopes of gaining the lead in this tournament. 

On a 3  6  A  board, seat three placed a bet of 2k.  After some serious thinking, seat four raised to 7k.  Seat four only had about 2k left, so he would be committed it seat three came over the top which is just what he did.  Seat three tanked for a moment and then announced an all in.  Seat four made the call showing 8  7  for open ended straight draw.  However, seat three turned over 5  6  for two pair.  The turn and river came a T  and Q  which was no help to the guy in seat four.

Chris Ferguson is finding that his first day of the Main Event has been eventful in the wrong way.  The board was T  K  9 , and the short stack was all in.  Ferguson called holding K  T  for top two pair, but his opponent had Q  J  for the nut straight.  The turn and river were blanks for Ferguson, and he was forced to pass his chips across the table.  He is sitting at 16k.

At the table across from Ferguson the two big stacks at the table were going at it in a hand.  Bellows of, “How can you play so bad and get so lucky?!?”  The guy yelling had called a raise preflop and then flopped a straight on a 7 8 T board.  There was fireing back and fourth on the flop, turn, and river.  The turn was a T and the river was a T.  The young man to the bellower’s left turned over pocket jacks to take down the pot.

Greg Raymer seems to be in good spirits for this World Series.  At one point he grabbed the alligator that Billy Argyros had in front of him and started playing with it at the table.  Then he stated, “My goal at the World Series this year is just to have fun.”  He will have a pretty healthy chip stack heading into Day 2 which is always fun.

Players have concluded their play for the day, and are bagging and tagging their chips.  Some of the unofficial chip leaders appear to be Craig Hopkins, Jesse Rios, Nick Maimone, and Brandon Demes.  However, official chip counts will not be updated until later.  Day 1C starts tomorrow, and it is sure to have as much (if not more) excitement as the last two Day 1 starts.

(Kaelaine Minton reporting)

After a raise and re-raise, Ali Eslami (utg+1) was in for 15k and the player in seat 6 (utg) moved all-in. Ali asked for the count and it was 48k more to him to call. He had just a tad more than that in his stack. Ali tanked for a couple of minutes. He eventually flashed pocket Queens as he sent them sailing into the muck. His opponent didn't show anything as he slid his cards to the dealer and collected his pot.

On the river with the board showing 8 7 5 4 A Jason Lester bet 7,500. His opponent in the big blind gave it some thought, then folded.

On a flop of K J 9 Greg Raymer (bb) checked, seat 7 checked, and Alexander Kravchenko (button) checked. Turn was the K. Greg checked again, seat 7 bet 1,500, and both players called. River was the 8. Greg checked again. Seat 7 checked, and Alexander fired 3k. After a little thought, Greg called (seat 7 folded) showing a Jack for two pair. Alexander showed a King for trip Kings to take the pot, chipping up to ~33k. Greg is still good with ~45k. "Nice call on the turn there" Greg said to Alexander. He went on to explain that was why he called on the river. "Why is everybody so quiet?" Greg asked. The only response he got was stony silence. No one, other than Greg, seems in the mood for chatter at that table.

Seat 7 opened for 750 and Barry Greenstein made the call from the small blind. Both players checked the flop of A 9 6. Turn was the Q and again both checked. River was the 3 and Barry led out for 1k. Seat 7 called quickly and Barry showed KQ for a pair of Queens, but his opponent held A8 for a pair of Aces to take the pot.

Across the room, Tony 'Bagels' Cavezza is up to ~52k. "I had a good last level" he said. His table just broke and he got moved to table 71, two seats to the left of Joe Sebok.

Dustin 'neverwin' Woolf moved all-in and got no callers, collecting the blinds and antes. A couple of hands later, he was all-in again. This time he got called by the player in seat 7 (What is it about that seat?). Dustin rolled over AK offsuit. His opponent rolled over AK offsuit. Dustin would have been happy with a chop, but the flop came K 9 8 -- all diamonds -- and his opponent held the A. Dustin walked away from the table, so didn't see the killer 4 on the turn. River was the irrelevant A and Dustin 'neverwin' Woolf lives true to his nickname. He hit the rail before the half-way point of level 4.

About 720 of the 873 players who started today are still alive and kicking, with about one hour left to play.

(Jackie Witt Reporting)

Carlos Mortensen is no stranger to the Main Event.  In 2001, he became the champion of the Main Event and took home $1,500,000 for his first place finish.  This year, he is back again, and there is no doubt that if he takes first again he will win more than just $1.5 million.  However, he will have to due with some luck as he is sitting with less than the average stack.

He recently played a hand where under the gun player raised to 600.  Mortensen called and two other players called as well.  The flop came 9  4  Q .  It was checked around to the preflop raiser who bet 1,200.  Mortensen was the only caller.  The turn came a T , and the preflop raiser bet 2k.  Mortensen called again.  The river was a 4 , and the preflop raiser bet 4,100.  Mortensen pushed his opponent all in, and he was quickly called.  Mortensen tabled A  4  for trips while his opponent held Q  Q  for a full house.  He was down to around 14,800 left after the hand, but has been able to chip back up to around 26k.

There was a lot of excitement, players out of their seats, and shouts of, “Oh that’s so sick!”  Table #42 in the Amazon room had two people all in on a board of A T 3 J.  They were all in on the turn with one player holding pocket jacks, and the other holding A K.  It looked as though the player with pocket jacks was going to double up and leave his opponent crippled in chips.  However, the Q came on the river giving the A K broadway and knocking out the player with pocket jacks. 

Table #3 in the Blue area of the Amazon Room, does not look like a table most players would want to sit at.  It has Greg Reymer, Billy Argyros, and Alex Kravchenko taking stabs, bluffing, and playing the best poker they can.  Not the best recipe for the less experienced players sitting around them.

Kravchenko is making sure that none of the other professionals are going to take advantage of him on the table.  Kravchenko raised to 750 in late position, and Argyros popped it to 2,250 from the small blind.  Kravchenko looked Argyros up and down before finally making the call.  The flop came 9  8  5 .  Argyros threw one orange chip (5,000) and announced a 4k bet.  Kravchenko thought for a moment before reluctantly mucking his cards as if he didn’t believe Argyros. 

Table #82 had a bit of a squabble when the board came 3  Q  4 .  It checked around to the guy in the seven seat who wanted to bet, but it checked around before he had a chance to.  Everyone on the table, including the dealer, thought he had made a checking motion with his hand.  The floor person was called over, and the ruling was that he had checked.  “If you make any kind of checking motion, intentional or not, it will be considered a check so be careful.”  The turn card was delivered which was an 6 .  It checked to seat seven who announced, “I’m not checking!”  He made a bet of 1,125.  Seat six made the call, and the river came an 8 .  Seat seven bet 2,675 to which seat six mucked showing A 2.  Seat seven showed T  7  for a miss flush draw.

(Kaelaine Minton reporting)

Just as I was entering the Amazon room, David 'the Dragon' Pham was exiting. According to Jason Young who was seated at the same table, the Dragon got his chips in good holding pocket Aces against AK. Then after a player announced he had mucked a King, a King hit the flop and the case King hit the turn. The Dragon was snuffed.

Jason, meanwhile, has chipped up to about 32k. He just got a shorter-stack all-in holding pocket Queens. Jason held pocket Kings and was way ahead, then another King hit the board which ran out K 6 5 8 J to give him a hammer-lock on the hand. His opponent was busted and Jason stood up to shake his hand as he departed the table.

The Godfather of Poker has hit the rail. He flopped a set of 3s, but his opponent turned a straight. Doyle was unable to boat-up on the river and was busted, leaving the two Brunson offspring to carry on for the family name.

Nick Maimone has taken the chip lead with ~125k.

The player count for day 1B is 873, expected to be low due to this being a holiday, but still lower than expected. That brings the total player count for day 1A (1,116) and 1B (873) to 1,989. Compared to 2008, when day 1A seated 1,297 and 1B seated 1,158 for a combined total of 2,455. (Last year it was day 1C that fell on the July 4th holiday.)

(Jackie Witt Reporting)

As the dinner break started to wrap up, the halls started to fill again and players started taking their seats.  Most players spent their dinner breaks catching a bite to eat, chatting with other players, or just taking some time to reflect on their play.  For some players, this is their first World Series, and for others they have been here before.  However, everyone new and old to this event, have hopes of being the next world champion of poker.  For this reason, the dinner break can be a crucial hour and a half for players to come up with a game plan to dominate or survive the rest of the day.

The blinds after the dinner break have gone up to 150/300

As earlier reported, Joe Sebok was having a rough first half of the day.  He has since changed his tune and looks to be over 35k.  One hand that added a hefty chunk to his stack was when Sebok held A  K  and played his hand aggressive the whole way with one caller behind.  The flop came A  J  6  which Sebok bet and his opponent called.  The same happened on the turn and the river when the J  and A  came.  Sebok took down the hand after his opponent mucked after the river bet showing a jack.

Hoyt Corkins was sitting at a fairly small stack after the dinner break.  In a gentleman’s Alabama twang he said, “I’m just trying to hold on.”  He has recently done more than just hold on, he has managed to double up his stack.  He limped in for 300, and another player raised to 950.  When it got back around to Corkins, he moved in for his entire stack which was just under 20k.  He was called by the original raiser who held A  J .  Corkins looked to be in good shape with A  K .  The flop came K  T  9  6  T  to double Corkins up.

Jeremiah Smith was eliminated just after dinner break.  The board was A  9  3  7 , and Smith was all in with Jim Bookstaff calling.  Smith had flopped bottom set with pocket threes, but Bookstaff was sitting pretty with a set of aces.  The river was a 9  to give them both full houses, but Bookstaff’s boat was better and would be enough to knock Smith out of the tournament.

Jesse Rios has accumulated a large stack.  He looks to be safely at 90k (probably more).  He raised to 1300 under the gun.  It folded around to the player in the nine seat who was in late position, and he looked as if he wanted to raise but decided to fold his hand instead.  Everyone else folded too.  Rios looked disgruntled that no one called him.  Someone said, “What?  Did you have aces again?”  Rios flashed his aces and said, “I was just going to limp.  I should have just limped.”  The guy in the nine seat replied, “If you would have limped I was going to raise you.”  Rios responded, “I would have reraised.  See I should have limped.” 

(Elissa Harwood reporting)

With a 90-minute “dinner” break at 4:30, you may be wondering what the players do with their time off. Some grab a bite to eat at the Poker Kitchen or one of the many restaurants at the Rio. Others head off site for a break from the WSOP madness and search for food in the area. Many of the players are staying either at the Rio or across the street at the Palms, where all of the PokerStars qualifiers are housed, so some go back to their rooms for a quiet few minutes.

There are also several players lounges set up by overseas poker sites during the Main Event in addition to the VIP club open for paying members all Series long. The Mike Sexton suite is available for Party Poker players, and Everest Poker has one of the most extravagant lounges set up for its VIPs. 

Visitors can stock up on snacks and drinks, check out a giant LCD-screen chip count board with the latest numbers for all of the European stars, and relax on giant leather couches. There is always a big crowd in there playing Wii bowling or Rock Band (and we’ve heard, some pretty juicy prop bet action to go with the games.) There are even a few fabulous massage chairs to work out any kinks picked up at the tables.

If you can’t get into a lounge, don’t despair. There is plenty of entertainment to be found at the giant PokerPalooza. Browsing the rows of booths, you can find all kinds of poker-related gear for sale, including paintings, jewelry, card protectors, clothing (much of it covered in rhinestones), books, software, personalized “pimped out” poker tables, and much more.

If you win big in Vegas, you can buy a one-of-a-kind motorcycle and then move ten feet over to the two competing kiosks offering expert tax and legal services for players. One of my favorites is a booth offering samples of wine made by the poker-themed California company JAQK Cellers (very good, very cool, very high roller).

After you’ve done some shopping, there are always players available for autographs and interviews. Sorel Mizzi was at Poker Palooza this afternoon, greeting fans and getting in some camera time on top of the Betfair double decker bus.

Many online training sites have stands selling their services, and the top billed players often hang out to rep their products. You can always find David “The Maven” Chicotsky at his booth for themavenvt.com, and Daniel Negreanu has been spotted talking up his site, pokervt.com.

Today, there was a big crowd listening to Mark Seif lecture about reading opponents, an event sponsored by the WSOP academy. Kathy Liebert was also milling around talking to fans. 

Seif was competing with a card trick show put on by The NUTS Magazine. Andrew Lichtenberger (who finished 2^nd in the $5k No Limit Shootout) was one of many in the audience completely stunned by the sleight of hand.

If you’re in need of a break from poker, then head to the other side of the room, where you can take your aggression out in an inflatable boxing ring, climb a rock wall, and take a ride on the Jack Links mechanical bull. Then move a few feet over to check out the cooking and ice carving demonstrations put on by the Rio.

With so many choices, 90 minutes starts to sound too short. No matter what they did on their break, everyone will be all business when the return to the felt in half an hour. Check back to catch all the post-dinner action.

No Money, Mo’ Problems

Some of the big names in the mix today are building large stacks, but many are moving in the other direction. Chris Moneymaker ran Queens into Aces, and then lost several pots to drop to 8,400 in chips. He got them all in with pocket Tens only to realize he was up against Aces once again. The board fell Q 9 7 6 Q, and Moneymaker hit the rail.

Another former champion in the room, Greg Raymer, is down to 18K.

Bear and Cub on Endangered Species List

Barry Greenstein fired several rounds at a T 8 4 J T board, sticking one last 6,500 bet on the end. One of his two opponents made the call, showing a pair of Kings. Greenstein could only show Ace high. The Bear commented via Twitter, “Bluffed my way down to 11K!” Oops.

Joe Sebok isn’t doing much better, running like only the Cub can. First, he raised with AK and thought he was good on an A J 5 flop. Instead, he got clocked by a guy who had called his raise with J5. Then Sebok was forced to fold an overpair to a big bet on a 6 5 3 8 7 board after committing a chunk of his chips to the pot. He was down to 14K but is slowly grinding his way back up to around 18,000.

Feeding the Pham-ily

Jason Young is also having some stack-size issues. David Pham raised to 600 UTG, and Young called from middle position to see a 8 3 3 flop heads up. The Dragon bet 800, and Jason called. Pham checked the Ten on the turn, and Young bet 1,250. Pham paused, stopped to get change for a 5,000, and then called the bet. An Ace on the river made both players check, and Pham showed T9 for a pair of Tens. “Unlucky, unlucky,” said Young. He told Pham he had pocket 9s, meaning that the Dragon had three outs preflop. Pham didn’t appear to believe Young though. Jason is working with 12,300 at the moment.

It’s always tough sitting at the Main Feature Table on a Day 1. All the lights and cameras are enough to unravel the average recreational poker player and send him home with a story to share with his home game. Now imagine being at the table and having to worry about Doyle Brunson knocking you out of the tournament.  What about also having to worry about Ronald Winky Wright just knocking you out?  Wright now occupies the chair to left of Brunson.  In case you don’t know, Wright is the former undisputed light middle weight champion of the worrrrrrllllldddd!  Wright is known as a defensive counter-puncher in boxing, but his poker style is a little different.  Wright raised to 600 before the flop from the Cutoff.  He was called by the Big Blind and a player in middle position.  The Flop came A K Q and Wright bet 1200.  The middle position player folded and the Big Blind called.  Both players checked on the T Turn card.  The Big Blind checked and Wright bet 2K on the River 7.  The Big Blind called and Wright turned over AQ for two pair.  He had to be worried about the Big Blind turning over a Jack, but instead he turned over Big Slick to take the pot with a bigger two pair.

Alex Kravchenko looked at the board of T 9 8 Q Q and decided to bet only 200.  The pot was modest, probably about 800.  The sole remaining player in the hand called and then mucked after seeing Kravchenko’s Q J.  Raymer explained that Kravchenko had Queens, (three I assume).  That would have been enough to win, but Kravchenko actually had made a Queen high straight.

Jesse Rios had cashed four times already at this year's World Series.  He’s off to a good start today.  Rios raised preflop, and by the time it came back to him, the pot round was on its third raise.    The bet was 6,000, or 3700 more.  Rios called and one player folded, so it was heads up.  The Flop was T 94.  The re-reraiser moved all-in.  Rios thought for a while and folded.  The re-re showed his red pocked Tens for a set.  Rios yells, “What a laydown!  I had pocket Queens!”  Rios still has 42,000 left after that hand, saving 7,000 by not calling on the flop.

Greg Raymer and Alex Kravchenko are getting a lot of ESPN attention in the corner of the Blue section, the Kravchenko seems oblivious. He already has his head down, ignoring the table as usual while enjoying a massage. Raymer is doing enough talking for the both of them, however. One hand folded to Raymer in the small blind. “Blatant steal attempt,” he said as he limped. “Resteal attempt,” said the big blind as he made it 750 to go. Raymer called, then check-folded the flop. Greg said he was very surprised by how short the Day 1A chip leader was, especially given the triple chip format. But four levels with very small blinds doesn’t give players too much time to accumulate towers of chips on the first day. 

Also in the room are Chris Moneymaker, Erik Seidel, Barney Boatman, Hoyt Corkins, Amarillo Slim, Thor Hansen, Carlos Mortensen, Vickey Coren, Kara Scott, Joe Sebok, Jerrod Ankenman, and the Brunson trifecta (Doyle, Todd, and Pam).

The TD took some time during the first level to announce that Jack Ury, the oldest player at last year’s Main Event, is playing again this year at the age of 96.