2011 World Series Of Poker Event 58

The 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event is Event 58, and this is the big one. This is the world's largest live poker tournament, and players from all over the world congregate in order to make their way into poker history. Everyone who participates in this poker is part of that history, but the winners are awarded the highest accolade poker has to offer. There is no resting on these laurels, as there is nothing higher to achieve. Last year 7,319 people came out, making this one of the largest tournaments of the decade. Jonathan Duhamel took home a prize of $8,944,310 and the most coveted award in all of poker - the Main event bracelet. John Racener managed second place, earning him a sum of $5,545,955 for his participation.

As with last year, there will be a Day 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D. There will then be Day 2A and 2B. The tournament will then proceed in a linear fashion from Day 3, 4, 5, and 6. Day 7 is somewhat different, as play will not end until only 27 players remain. On Day 8, players will run down to the November 9 - the final table that will reconvene between November 5th and 7th. Adjustments may be made regarding the number of levels played each day, as well as the number of days, depending on the number of people who enter.

Since PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker/UltimateBet have all gotten the axe for USA players, those who wish to satellite into the event may do so through Bodog poker, Carbon Poker, or Doyles Room. These are the best opportunities to satellite into the event. Otherwise, the $10,000 buy-in will be required. Hopefully the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event will not shrink due to the poker rooms that have been shut down.

Tournament Updates
(New Updates Posted Daily During Event)

Day 1A Update - The Main Event of the 2011 World Series of Poker has arrived. With four day 1's, Day 1A through Day 1D, the tournament is expected to range in the thousands. Unfortunately, the first day 1 is already down in attendance by about 20%. The field came out to be 897 players, including some former main event champions. Greg Raymer, Doyle Brunson, Jerry Yang and Johnny Chan were all seated, though only Johnny Chan succeeded through the end of the first day. He holds 34,000 chips going into day 2.

Some notable eliminations outside of the former WSOP Main Event Champs included Vanessa Selbst, Isaac Haxton, John Hennigan, Randy Lew, Chip Jett and Tom Schneider. Matt Affleck, who has run to 80th and 15th in the last two main events, was also eliminated. Adam Levy, the 12th place winner of the 2010 Main Event, was knocked out fairly early.

Those who are still in the running for the second day include Annette Obrestad, Jason Alexander, Lex Veldhuis, Josh Brikis and Mickey Appleman. Funnyman Jason Alexander has more than doubled his starting stack, putting him at 63,150. The chip leader at the end of the day was Fred Berger, who holds 209,500 chips. Shane Sigsbee earned a total of 182,600 chips. Kyle Burnside has 159,050 chips, putting him in third place. Around 560 players made it through Day 1A, and they will join up with the survivors of Day 1C in order to form Day 1A, which is scheduled for July 11th. Should last year be any inclination as to where the number of entrants will go, day 1B should be somewhat higher compared to Day 1A. Last year's Main Event experienced a rise from 1,125 on Day 1A to 1,489 on Day 1B. This was a 32% increase in entrants.

Day 1B Update - Day 1B of the 2011 Main Event attracted 978 players, bringing the total to 1,882 over the first two days. The 2011 WSOP is definitely going to be smaller than the previous years, though there is still a star studded cast still in the running. Ben Lamb has taken the lead of Day 1B, and he has been on a run similar to Phil Ivey's in the 2009 WSOP. Lamb has cashed four times for more than $1.3 million, earning a bacelet and making three final tables. He is now on his way to a deep run in the Main Event.

Some notable entrants and eliminations included Michael Mizrachi, Justin Smith, Nicolas Levi and Noah Schwartz. Mizrachi may have made the final table last year, but he did not make it into the second day in 2011.

Several mentionable players have made it to the second day so far, including 2010's main event runner up, John Racener. Patrik Antonius, Dan Kelly, Mike Mcdonald, Maxim Lykov, Dario Minieri, Martin Hruby, Eugene Katchalov and John Duthie.

Those who survived day 1B will be joining survivors of Day 1D to go into day 2B, while those who succeed in Day 1A and 1C will go to Day 2A. Last year's trend had Day 1C and 1D bring out the largest number of players, and there are still many names missing from the entry list, including Phil Hellmuth, Tom Dwan, and Daniel Negreanu.

Day 1C Update - The third first day of the 2011 WSOP Main Event is recorded, and the field more than doubled today as 2,181 players decided to join in on the event on day 1C. The field has been brought to 4,056 players because of this huge number of entrants.

Among the players who had joined up on Day 1C were several former main event champions. Many of them even survived. Bobby Baldwin, Scotty Nguyen, Dan Harrington, Joe Cada, Jonathan Duhamel and Phil Hellmuth are all advancing into day 2A, each with a solid stack with the exception of Hellmuth. Philly only has 11,800 chips to his name. Considering how much fire has has brought to the tables in this year's WSOP, he may be able to pull it back together.

Around 1,300 players survived for day 2A, and the tables have been drawn up for this leg of the tournament. With this total and the players from day 1A, a total of 2,031 players will continue to play in the main event. Some other names still in the running include Daniel Negreanu, Brad Garrett from "Everybody Loves Raymond," Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics and Ray Romano.

The fourth first day could bring the player pool up to 7,000 entrants, though this seems unlikely. If day 1D attracts a similar number of entrants as day 1C, the field will at least hit 6,000.

Day 1D Update - With Day 1D done and gone, each of the first days of the event have ended. This has brought us the total number of entrants. A total of 2,802 players came to the final day, bringing the total to 6,865. This is significantly higher than what many had expected, an expectation stemming from the closure of several large online poker rooms. The survivors of day 1D, which appears to be around 60% of the total field, will combine with those from day 1B to sit at the tables during day 2B on Tuesday.

It seems as though many professional players, celebrities, and otherwise big names had waited until the final first day in order to come out and play, as many notable players had come out. A solid amount of these players had become rail birds, with quick exits on many accounts.

Tom Dwan, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Jennifer Tilley, Alexander Kravchenko, Antonio Esfandiari, Prahlad Friedman, Steve Zolotow, John Juanda, David Williams, and rapper Nelly had all been eliminated from play, as was Jason Senti and John Dolan - two of 2010's November Nine. This marks three of 2010's November Nine to be eliminated, with Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi having gone home on day 1B.

Some survivors include Jamie Gold, Freddy Deeb, Phil "Unabomber" Laak, Joe Hachem, Huck Seed, Mike Sexton, Steve Dannenmann and Darvin Moon, the man who had turned heads throughout much of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event.

With all of the entrants in the books, one thing is for sure - Phil Ivey has kept true to his word and not actually come out to participate in the Main Event, despite some speculation that he ultimately would.

Let's look at a few stats in the 2011 Main Event. First off, the prize pool - the top prize is a whopping $8,711,956. This has become the third largest Main Event in the history of the World Series of Poker. The only years in which the Main Event was larger was 2006 when Jamie Gold won $12,000,000, while Jonathan Duhamel had earned $8,944,310 in the 2010 Main Event. From 2010 to 2011, there was a 6.2% decrease in the number of entrants - an amount significantly smaller than what had been predicted by doomsayers who felt Poker's Black Friday, which saw the shut down of PokerStars and Full Tilt. Many had expected a drop to under 5,000 players, though this is definitely not the case.

A total of 2,031 players remain for day 1A and 1C, and this will form Day 2A. Day 2B's information has not yet been released.

A total of 693 players will be paid out, with $19,359 going to these early eliminations. Six figure prizes begin at the 72nd place, while 8th place and higher will earn at least $1,009,910 for their efforts.

Prize pool - $64,531,000
Top Prize - $8,711,956
Entrants - 6,865

Day 2A Update - The first half of day 2 is done, with Day 2A thinning a field of 2,031 down to a little over 800 players. Though the journey his just beginning for the 800, it has ended for the others. A definitive chip leader has been named - Aleksander Mozhnyakov of Himki, Russia. Aleksander holds 478,600 chips ,which puts him almost 50,000 chips above his second place competitor, Tuan Vo of the U.S.A.

Some former main event champions have been eliminated, including Johnny Chan, Scotty Nguyen, Jonathan Duhamel and Dan Harrington. Jamie Gold, Robert Varkonyi, and Phil Hellmuth are all still in the running for another main event championship. In fact, Hellmuth ran from around 10,000 in chips to over 60,000 chips. This puts him on a relatively short stack, but he still doubled up from what he started with in the first hand of play.

A string of notable players have been eliminated, including Jimmy Fricke, Sammy Farha, Phil Gordne, Bill Gazes, BIll Chen, Barry Shulman, Matt Hawrilenko, Lex Veldhius, and Allen Kessler.

For every elimination of a major player, there has been a survival. Daniel Negreanu has over 100,000 chips, Phil Hellmuth climbed to 60,000, and Shaun Deeb has 294,700. Vitaly Lunkin, Annette Obrestad, Phil Laak, Matt Matros, David Oppenheim and funny man Jason Alexander all are still in play.

These lists are, by no means, complete. Over 800 players still remain, and they will be joining the survivors of day 2B in order to start narrowing the event down to single days. Day 2B will be the combination of Day 1B and 1D, and 2,490 players are set to participate in this event to mix with the winners of Day 2A to form a solitary set of players. Play will continue until July 19th, at which time the November Nine will be established.

Day 2B Update - Though 2,490 came out to Day 2B, only around 1,000 players would return to play in the third day, the day where the field would be consolidated. Ben Lamb's hot run in the 2011 WSOP has continued, and he ended the night as Day 2B's chip leader. His stack of 551,600 has made him the chip leader of the whole tournament, pushing his hot streak even further.

Day 2B saw the elimination of two recent Main Event champions - Joe Hachem and Jamie Gold, though four managed to survive - Barry Johnston, Huck Seed, Carlos Mortensen and Robert Varkonyi.

Some major eliminations included Phil Laak, Darvin Mood, Davin Sklansky, Paul Wasicka, Mike Matusow, Barry Greenstein, J.C. Tran, Eugene Katchalov, Jeff Shulman and many others. On the other hand, Patrik Antonius, Justin Bonomo, Matt Savage, Jeffrey Lisandro, Minh Nguyen, Jeff Madsen and John Racener are all still in the running. The field is still star studded, so this list is hardly complete.

All players who made it into the third day will receive a break on Wednesday, so the players will not be forced to participate. Play will resume on Thursday, July 14th. The bubble is not likely to burst until the fifth day, as only 693 players will be paid.

Going into day 3, Patrik Antonius will be in a dominant position to build a solid chip stack, possibly earning his first bracelet. He has cashed 13 times in the WSOP, but no gold has been wrapped around his wrist.

All eyes have been on Ben Lamb through the WSOP, and his position as chip leader could make him the winner of this tournament. His hot streak seems to have not gone cold, and he is consistently improving in the field. With over $8 million on the line, Lamb has quite a few reasons to succeed in this tournament.

Day 3 Update - Day 3 brought 1,864 players back after a day of rest, but only 852 will come back for day 4. Some major eliminations have taken place, with bad luck reaching some professional players. On the other hand, other players managed to flourish and bring their stacks significantly higher than their previous days. A few players have even broken the 1,000,000 chip barrier, putting them in solid positions going into the fourth day.

Jason Mercier was one of the first players to go, though the year has not been a total loss - Mercier managed to win event 35.

On the second level of play, eliminations continued. to heat up. Two former Main Event champions had been eliminated - Joe Cada and Tom McEvoy. Shaun Deeb was one of the next eliminations. Mike Caro, Noah Boeken, and funny man Jason Alexander had also been sent home. Annette Obrestad, Huck Seed, Patrik Antonius, Matt Savage, Billy Kopp and Ryan D'Angelo hit the rail not too far behind them.

Phill Hellmuth is still in the running, though he has been on chip swings more violent than a rollercoaster. He bagged up a total of 77,000 chips, leaving him severely short stacked. The blinds of 1,500/3,000 and an ante of 400 may be manageable for the poker brat, but he is still going to have one hell of a time trying to build up his stack.

Patrick Poirier is the chip leader, with 1,328,000 chips in his pile. Daryl Jace has also breached the 1 million mark, with 1,282,000 chips in his stack. Chris Kwon and David Barter both have over 900,000.

The prize pool will begin at 693, so we are closing in on a main event cash for the surviving competitors.

Day 4 Update - Only 378 players remain alive with the 4th day ending, and the fifth day is going to continue to narrow down the field of what is poker's largest tournament. Players had been working over time to make it in the money, and 693 players will be paid. Unfortunately for Reza Kashani, who was eliminated at 4:01 PM, he would be the person to be eliminated right before he could earn money.

Though Kashani lost, he will receive a consolation prize - free entry into the 2012 Main Event.

Unfortunately for Phil Hellmuth, he run will end prematurely. He had been short stacked going into the day, and he did not manage to rebuild and make it into the money. His 2011 WSOP brought him to the brink of several bracelets, and it is officially over for the Poker BRat.

Some professional players still in the running include Daniel Negreanu in 82nd, with 619,000 chips, Erick Lindgren with 492,000 chips in 99th place, Eli Elezra in 64th place with 779,000 chips, and Sorel Mizzi with 642,000 chips.

Noteworthy eliminations include Vanessa Rousso, Joe Serock, Chris Viox, Steve O'Dwyer, Jake Cody, Todd Brunson and David Diaz, among many others.

Ben Lamb's impressive run is making him seem like Michael Mizrachi of 2010 and Darvin Moon of 2009. He has captured the spot light and is expected to crush the competition until the final table. He has 1,268,000 chips, making him one of 44 who have more than 1,000,000 chips.

Only one player has more than 2,000,000 chips - the current leader - Manoj Viswanathan. He holds 2,115,000 chips, with Sam Barnhart right behind him at 1,925,000. It is still any one's tournament, and these chip leaders are by no means safe.

The action will resume on day 5 with blinds of 4,000/8,000 and an ante of 1,000.

Day 5 Update - Ben Lamb's meteoric climb through the 2011 WSOP has not stopped. He went from the mid 20's in day 4 to fifth place in the 5th day. He now sits at 4,032,000 chips, behind Phil Collins (probably not the musician), Kyle Johnson, Pius Heinz, and David Bach. All of these players have chips within the 4,000,000 range. Only 142 players remain after the eliminations of the fourth day.

The thinning field brought hundreds out of play, including Matt Stout, who lost in 185th place, Daniel Negreanu, who busted in 211th place, and Freddy Deeb who busted in 358th place.

Honorable mention goes to Peter Jetten, David Levi, Richard Lee, Jon Friedberg, Jeff Siegel and many other semi-professional and professional players who have entered the books as main event cashes.

Manoj Viswanathan, the person who started the day as the chip leader, ended up falling hard. He's drop from the top showed us one thing - no lead is safe. He dropped from the first place to the 25th very quickly, then he was ultimately knocked out in 191st place.

Everyone from this point on will earn at least $47,107 for their effort. Six figure prizes will begin at the 72nd position, while only the top 8 will earn more than $1,000,000.

The 6th day is upon us, and it ill play a total of five levels. The blinds will begin at 10,000/20,000 with an ante of 3,000 chips. The field should thin sufficiently for the 7th day to bring us to 27 players, while the 8th day will bring us to our November Nine - who will reconvene in the first weeks of November.

Day 6 Update - Only 57 players remain at the end of day six as the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event whittles away to the final days before we take that long, seemingly unnecessary break until November. Ryan Lenaghan of New Orleans has entered the day with a massive chip lead, but Ben Lamb is continuing to dominate through the 6th day, ending up in second place.

Lamb ended the day with 9,980,000 chips, which puts him just a wee bit behind Ryan Leneghan, who has 12,865,000. Lamb has overtaken Phil Hellmuth for Player of the Year, and it seems he will earn it no matter what at this point.

Matt Giannetti is in third place, with Andrey Pateychuk in fourth. Phil Collins and Hilton Laborda are the remaining in the top six, a group of players who are unique in having over 7,000,000 chips.

With the field thinning down, few professionals are still in the running. Joseph Cheong has been eliminated, as was Allen Cunningham. Former Israeli commando and current poker pro Eli Elezra has also been sent home.

Will Ben Lamb continue to dominate through the next day? Will he be card dead and be sent home? Will the ESPN televising of this year's WSOP emphasize Ben Lamb just as Michael Mizrachi and Darvin Moon be emphasized in the two year's previous? We think so on the last, at least.

Day 7 Update - Though the 7th day was supposed to narrow the field to only 27, tournament officials allowed the main event to come down to 22 players. These 22 players were not too surprising, as many of the big chip stacks from the previous day have remained a dominant force in the event.

Anton Makievskyi has taken the chip lead, and this is because of a massive pot he entered with Christopher Moore. A 20 million chip pot put Makievskyi's full house to Moore's set, but Moore couldn't improve to take down the pot. Makievsky went up to 21,045,000 chips, while Moore will have only 3,040,000 chips going into the final day before the several month long break.

Ryan Lenaghan, yesterday's chip leader, ended up falling from his 16,000,000 chips down to around 10,415,000. His six million chip deficit has put him back in 8th place, though he is far from short stacked. His, however, the lat person with more than 10,000,000 chips.

Ben Lamb has risen up to 14,690,000 chips, up from 12,865,000 the day previous. His climb to the top seems to have slowed, but he may be able to secure a dominant position at the final table rather than just a mediocre one.

The blinds have reached 80,000 and 160,000, while the ante has climbed to 20,000. With blinds so high, some players will likely be shoving early. Those who absorb these smaller stacks will be in a strong position at the final table.

Phil Collins still remains, as does Pius Heinz. Aleksandr Mozhnyakov and Konstantinos Mamaliadis are also still in the event, and they are providing players with the confusing names in the final leg of the table. Erika Moutinho, the last woman standing, has been eliminated, making this a male only event. Still, she deserves honorable mention for making it into the final days of the tournament, as females made up only 3% of the field of over 6,800.

Day 8 Update - The 2011 World Series of Poker has come to an end - temporarily, that is. The November Nine has been solidified, and there are few surprises as to who has survived into the final table of the tournament.

The chip leader going into the final day is Martin Staszko of the Czech Republic. This 35 year old poker player is the first person is the first from the Czech Republic to make it to the final table.

Eoghan O'Dea is going to hold the second place position, and he has 33,925,000 chips to his name. Eoghan represents the Irish at this final table, and he cashed four times this year in the WSOP.

Matt GIannetti represents the United Sttes, hailing from Las Vegas. He holds 24,750,000 chips. Giannette has remained in the middle of the pack through much of the tournament, though he is in the top three at the final table.

Phil Collins has been rising consistently over the last week, and his chip stack has come to peak at 23,875,000 during the final table. Hailing originally from South Carolina, now from Las Vegas, Collins was a major player online until Poker's Black Friday.

No one has been more closely watched than Ben Lamb going into the main event, as he has been on a sick run, one of the hottest streaks in the 2011 WSOP. Rivaled only by Phil Hellmuth for the Player of the Year race, Lamb is going to be a dominant force at the table. He holds 20,875,000 chips in the final table.

Belizean Badih Bounahra will enter the final table in 6th place, with 19,700,000 chips in his pile. He is the first player from Belize to earn a spot at the final table. The businessman will be aiming to rise to the top despite having an average size stack.

Pius Heinz has remained consistent through the Main Event, and he represents the Germans at this final table. He is another first for Main Event final tables, as no German has made it this far in the past.

Anton Makiievskyi has managed to survive through the final table, though he his one of the lowest stacks in the event. He has several big blinds remaining, but his stack of 13,825,000 puts him in some risk of elimination.

Samuel Holden, from Sussex, England, The United Kingdom, is one of the younger players at the event. HE holds the smallest stack, but still holds enough blinds to make it through a few orbits. He is one double up away from being in a stable position.

The multinational cast of the final table are all going to earn at least $782,115. The top eight will all become millionaires, with over $8 million going to the big bracelet winner. Here at USA Players we are cheering for one of our American boys to take down the bracelet, though we wish everyone luck in this final table that will resume in 108 days. Day Nine will kick off on November fifth and narrow the field down to 2 players. Heads up play will end on November 7th and the bracelet will be clasped around the wrist of the winner.

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