2011 World Series Of Poker Event 55

The 55th event is one of the biggest the tournament has to offer. Requiring a larger buy-in than nearly any other tournament, this is going to be a very exclusive tournament. Last year it was Michael Mizrachi who won this enormous event. The Grinder powered through 115 other players in order to take the bacelet over Vladimir Shchemelev. Mizarchi won $1,559,046 for his efforts. Only 16 players were paid last year, and this money came out of a $5,568,000 prize pool.

The 2011 edition of the event will begin on July 2nd. Though the event was one of the earliest in previous year, this tournament comes just a few days ahead of the main event. It will be comprised of Limit hold 'em, Omaha hi-low split-8 or better, seven card razz, seven card stud, seven card stud hi-low split-8 or better, no limit hold 'me, pot limit Omaha, and 2-7 triple draw low ball. Players will have to pay $50,000 to enter this enormous event. Those who participate will face some of the heaviest competition of any tournament outside of the main event. This is a 5 day event, ending on July 6th

Tournament Updates
(New Updates Posted Daily During Event)

Tournament Update #1 - The star studded cast of the Poker Players Championship originally attracted 128 entrants to this $50,000 buy-in tournament. Every major name in poker seems to be out here, ranging from Phil Hellmuth and Doyle Brunson to Tom Dwan and Josh Arieh. Greg Mueller ended the first day in the lead, while Ben Lamb held it at the end of the second. By the Only 74 remain int his huge tournament, including Gus Hanesen, Josh Arieh, Steve Billirakis, Phill Hellmuth, Jennifer Harman, John Racener, and Nick Schulman. The top prize is $1,720,328, with $1,063,034 going to the second place winner. The bracelet is really what some of these players are aiming for, with all of the glory of beating some of the poker's best.

Tournament Update #2 - At the end of day 3, Josh Arieh is the chip leader. He holds 1,819,000 chips, and is one of 29 remaining out of the 74 participants that came back for day 2. Erick Lindgren, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Greg Mueller, Chad Brown and Eugene Katchalov were among the fallen for the day. Ben Lamb, the second day's chip leader, has tumbled down to 582,000 after reaching a low of 300,000. Vladimir Shchemelev, last year's runner up, is in 4th place, with Phil Hellmuth sticking it out in 5th. Gus HAnsen has reached 11th place, with Ben Lamb in 14th. One Mizrachi remains, and it isn't Michael. Robert Mizrachi is in 17th position. Barry Greenstein is right behind him in 17th place.. Jeff Lisandro, David Oppenheim and Phil Galfond are all still in the running. The fourth day will bring it down to a final table, which will play out on the 5th day, which is the day before the main event. Hopefully the 10 level rule does not force a 7th day, which will overlap with the main event.

Tournament Update #3 - Phil Hellmuth is running hot this year, and his streak seems to continue. Though he doesn't hold the top chip stack, he is at yet another final table in the 2011 WSOP. This marks the third unless my math is horrible. The third day brought 29 players back to the tables, and only the top 16 would be paid. This number is now down to 9. In this third day, eliminations included Phil Galfond on the first hand, David Oppenheim out not too much longer, with Gus Hansen and many other major players out before the money bubble burst at 16. Sebastian Ruthenberg was the first to go in the money, earning $108,503 for playing. Barry Greenstein was next, with Michael Binger in 14th place. Josh Arieh fell from first place at the beginning of the day, and he was eliminated in 13th. Yan Chen then went out the door in 12th. Jeffrey Lisandro went out in 11th place, being consumed by Phil Hellmuth. Vladimir Shchemelev was also knocked out by Hellmuth, sending him home with $168,529 for his efforts.

The final table will pan out with only no limit hold 'em - Philly's favorite game. Hellmuth is in fifth with a stable stack of 2,245,000 chips. Only one player has above 2.7 million chips, the current leader - Minh Ly. Brian Rast, Matt Glantz and George Lind also have between 100,000 and 300,000 chips over Hellmuth. Owais Ahmed, Ben Lamb, Jason Lester and Scott Seiver are all still in the running, though each has between 1.5 million chips and a mere 725,000.

Tournament Update #4 - Phil Hellmuth has definitely had one hell of a run in the 2011 World Series of Poker. Though he did not win the bracelet in the 2011 Poker Player's Championship, he did add another second place victory to his run this year. He ended up in heads up against Brian Rast, and Hellmuth had the lead for some time. On the 217th hand, Hellmuth ended up all in on the flop. The flop showed Jd-9d-10s, and Phil moved all in to be called by Rast. Rast showed Kc-Qc, while Hellmuth had 9d-2d. Hoping for a diamond, Hellmuth looked away. Rast palmed his face, and the room fell silent. An 8 of spades dropped on the river, sending Hellmuth home with another failed attempt at the bracelet. Though he has not won any gold in this year's series, Hellmuth has definitely shown the world that he is still #1, baby.

Rast took $1.7 million for his effort, while Phil will still go back to Palo Alto with $1,063,034. Minh Ly took $665,763 for third place, while Owais Ahmed earned $482,058. Matt Glantz, George Lind, Scott Seiver, Ben Lamb and Jason Lester took 5th through 9th place at the final table.

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