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Yesterday was the calm before the storm. Now I’m in the eye. The World Series of Poker, the tournament of all tournaments, has finally gotten under way after great anticipation. Now that the opening jitters have been done away with, we’re ready to get down to the business of playing poker.
The Hand of the Day space is going to be used to summarize each day’s events along the way. I’ll throw a fun hand in at the end just to keep the fans who aren’t interested on the biggest poker show on earth happy. Here’s a look at what was saw yesterday:
- There was a big problem with reading the cards. Players couldn’t read the fink ink from the end seats, kings and queens were confused and sixes and nines indistinguishable. Harrah’s reacted immediately, getting a new, improved batch in by 6PM.
- Lineups appear to be an issue right now. As I left the building at 1 AM, there were approximately 500-600 people in line looking to register for events. Plans are in place to correct the issue today.
- The first events of the Series was $5,000 split Hold’em, alternating between limit and no-limit in half-hour intervals. The turnout was 451, with a truly elite field. The best example of this? A table featuring Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Johnny Chan sitting within four seats of one another.
- The employees event got underway at 6PM with 1039 players. Reports were that the hope was for 1200. Today’s $1,500 NL Hold’em event should be a truer indication of how attendance will fare throughout the series.
Amongst those eliminated was Chris Moneymaker. The man who started it all, Moneymaker has become a symbol of the World Series. While he’s tried to withdraw from the spotlight to an extent, it seems to follow him around. We can’t help but notice when anything he’s involved with goes down. Yesterday, he was eliminated when his aces got cracked.
On a flop of 10s-10h-9s, Moneymaker was check-raised 2500. He called to see turn 4s and after checking, called a bet for T2,800. The river was 7h and his opponent moved all in; with only T1,500 remaining, Chris’ only option was to call. He showed Ah-As, but wasn’t enough to beat 9h-9d. Moneymaker was gone, but he plans on playing many more events throughout the Series.
Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com
