Hellmuth and Trickett amongst $1m One Drop leaders
Monday, 2 July 2012
With a buy-in of $1m The Big One for One Drop was always going to be the most eagerly anticipated tournament of the 2012 World Series of Poker and the opening day didn't disappoint.
By the close of play, 37 of the 48 starters were still in contention for the $18,346,673 (no, that's not a misprint) first prize. Leading the way going into Day 2 is Brian Rast who will return with 10,710,000 followed by Phil Hellmuth on 8,395,000 and French amateur Frederic Banjout on 7,070,000.
Antonio Esfandiari sits in fourth with 6,880,000, just ahead of One Drop satellite winner Gus Hansen on 6,800,000 and Sam Trickett on 6,700,000. Many of the big names made it through the opening day including Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Galfond.
British hopes don't just rest with Trickett as triple crown winner Roland de Wolfe, businessman Paul Newey and Talal Shakerchi all made it through the opening day.
Perhaps the most remarkable incident on an incredible day involved semi-pro player Mikhail Smirnov. The Russian folded quads in the face of an all in river bet during the fourth level. Smirnov and John Morgan both called Tom Dwan's opening raise. Durrrr checked the Js-8c-7s flop. Smirnov bet, Morgan called and Dwan mucked. Smirnov bet 200,000 after an 8s appeared on the turn with Morgan snap calling. The river was the Ks. The Russian bet 700,000 with Morgan going all in for 3.4m. Smirnov tanked before eventually folding his pocket 8s face up, putting his opponent on precisely 9s10s for a straight flush. Morgan kept silent so whether Smirnov's was the best or worst fold ever remains a mystery. The action was ridiculous enough though for Phil Galfond to tweet “Just saw the craziest hand I've ever seen.”
The deep pocketed amateurs put up a decent show against the pros on the opening day with only two of the 11 players to hit the rail on the opening day not full time poker players. Opening day bust outs included Michael Mizrachi, ElkY, Justin Smith, Eugene Katchalov and Jonathan Duhamel.
The action will resume at 8pm UK time this evening when the field of 37 will play down to a final table of nine. All nine who make that final table will be guaranteed a pay day of at least $1,109,333.
The chip leaders going into day 2 are as follows:
1. Brian Rast – 10,710,000
2. Phil Hellmuth – 8,395,000
3. Frederic Banjout – 7,070,000
4. Antonio Esfandiari – 6,880,000
5. Gus Hansen – 6,800,000
6. Sam Trickett – 6,700,000
7. Guy Laliberté – 6,550,000
8. Ben Lamb – 5,770,000
9. Mike Sexton – 5,740,000
10. Tom Dwan – 4,810,000
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