Despite Phil Hellmuth rather typically brash and tasteless entrance today which managed to attract all the media’s full attention, there was actually a poker tournament going on inside. Day 1 C attracted a total of 1696 players including 5 of last years “November Nine”. This was about double yesterdays number which shows that many players decided not to play on the 4th of July holiday. One man who really enjoyed his 4th of July celebrations was one of PartyPoker’s Grass Roots team, Ian Frazer.
I was with Ian and many other poker players like Tony G, Roland de Wolfe, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott and Nam Le at a birthday party in Blush at the Wynn until late. It would be fair to say that Ian felt as rough as I looked this morning. Despite that he picked up some nice pots early on but sunk back a bit as he ended the day with 17525 chips. So far we have had 3685 entrants and with tomorrow predicting over 2000 runners we should reach somewhere close to 6000 total players.
This is lower than everyone was expecting considering the record numbers on entrants who played in some of the early side events. Perhaps in the current economic climate, many players were comfortable with playing in a $1500 side event rather than the $10,000 main event.
Ricardo Sibelo had one of his poker dreams come true today when he was asked to sit on the ESPN feature table next to well known pro Daniel Negreanu. Ricardo came back at the first break and shared his good fortune with the other players all of whom were pleased for him but probably also a little jealous. I know I would have been. Ricardo didn’t let the bright lights of the cameras put him off his game because he got through today and will be back for Day 2B with 18200 chips to play with. Well Done Ricardo
The Chip counts for our players today is most impressive. Twenty one out of twenty nine players are still in the tournament and will be back on Wednesday for Day 2B. Yesterdays overall chip leader was Joseph Cada who managed to accumulate a very nice 187225 chips. Anyone starting with more than about 60,000 chips is in a very strong position for Day 2 but as the saying goes – as long as you have a chip and a chair. Good luck to them all.
Philip Boer 84825
Jack Powell 74425
Petter Hammer 67100
Jonathan Driscol 61400
Glenn Slater 59000
Rasmus Hansen 56675
Philip Green 52375
Fredrick Andren 47300
Salvador Villaluz 42450
Todd Sisley 37125
Anthony Lansdell 31150
Sebastian Panny 29300
Jonas Gutteck 25575
Ricky Tang 20725
Ricardo Sibelo 18200
Marcos Palermo 18175
Ian Frazer 17525
Morten Christiansen 16250
Marlis Sawicki 14550
Joakim Noren Olsson 14475
Aaron Armstrong 11325
Staffen Fogelberg out
David Normoyle out
Jan Zimmermann out
Claus Anderson out
Peiter Van Gils out
Stefan Kahlet out
Geradus Korse out
Sven Erik Kristiansen out
