WSOP Daily: Brent Hanks wins $1.5k NL, $3k HU mixed down to eight, Esfandiari and Negreanu lead $1.5k PLHE
Thursday, 31 May 2012
Brent Hanks is our first bracelet winner of 2012, Annette Obrestad and David Benefield are amongst the quarter finalists in the $3k heads up NLHE/PLO mixed event, Canada's Xuan Liu leads the way in the seven card stud with Antonio Esfandiari in pole posistion in the $1.5k PLHE.
Event#2 - $1.5k NL Hold'em – Hanks gives thanks
Brent Hanks has the honour of being the first bracelet winner at this year's WSOP (we don't really count the Casino Employees' event). The American beat a stacked final table that included double bracelet winner JP Kelly, Vanessa Selbst and last year's WSOP shootout winner Andrew Badecker to walk away with $517,725.
Hanks effectively sealed the victory when his A4 came from behind to beat heads up opponent, Jacob Bazeley's pocket nines. The end came on the very next hand when Hanks's A10 held against Bazeley's 10-4.
The final table positions and payouts were as follows:
1 Brent Hanks $517,725
2 Jacob Bazeley $322,294
3 Andrew Badecker $224,029
4 Vanessa Selbst $161,345
5 Ryan Schmidt $117,921
6 Abdyl Konjuhi $87,231
7 Michael Kaufman $65,377
8 JP Kelly $49,621
9 Richard Park $38,106
Event #3 - $3k Heads Up NLHE / PLO mixed - Just 8 left
Just 8 players are left in the $3k Heads Up mixed No Limit hold'em PLO event. The quarter finals will see Annette Obrestad take on Jason Koon, Simeon Naydenov face David 'The Raptor' Benefield, Aussie Julian Powell will battle Gregg Merkow and the wonderfully names Leif Force tackle Andy Frankenberger.
All eight are guaranteed $28,409 with the winner walking away $207,708 to the good.
The action resumes at 9pm this evening UK time.
Event #4 - $1.5k Seven-card stud hi lo eight or better - Bjorin riding high
Every year about this time we write something about just how accomplished a performer Chris Bjorin is. He flies under the radar and every year he's there or thereabouts in a host of WSOP events. This year looks like it will be no exception with the Londoner off to a great start in the $1.5k Seven-card stud hi lo eight or better.
Bjorin lies fourth in the chip counts with just 23 players left. Canadian woman Xuan Liu on 330,500 leads the way followed by Chris Tryba on 307,500 and Cory Zeidman on 261,500. Other notables left include Poker Hall of Famer Linda Johnson 175,000, Todd Brunson 87,500, Mike Sexton 54,000, Jimmy Fricke 17,500 and David Singer, who returns as the short stack on 16,500.
The survivors are guaranteed a score of $5,416 with the winner taking just over $201k.
Event #5 - $1.5k Pot Limit Hold'em – Esfandiari leads
The 639 starters in the $1.5k Pot Limit Hold'em event had been whittled down to just 71 by the close of the opening day with Antonio Esfandiari leading the way. The Magician had amassed a stack of 112,600 putting him just ahead of Zach Jiganti on 102,500 and Jonathan Aguiar 100,900.
There are plenty of big names lurking though including Daniel Negreanu 94,000, Tommy Vedes 58,800, Terrence Chan 50,500, John Juanda 33,500 and Britons John Eames 18,000 and Toby Lewis 12,000.
All the returning players have secured a min-cash and will play down to a final table tomorrow.