Odette Tremblay, a golden haired poker and WSOP veteran from North Las Vegas, became the second woman at the 2011 World Series of Poker to make a final table early Wednesday, but was unfortunately unable to hold on to her position and was eliminated early in the action by Sadan Turker.
Tremblay’s ninth position on the third day of event 8 – the $1 500 buy-in NLHE competition – delivered her biggest pay day yet at $49 258, augmenting an impressive history of 7 final tables and 19 cashes at live tournaments that goes back to 1999.
The poker vet survived an original field of 4 178 in the event, in which 59 survivors took to the felt on the third day of action, which was dominated by Sadan Turker and Jon Turner, with the chip lead changing several time.
Turker held a significant chip lead when play ended at level 10, chased by Sean Getzwiller and Turner.
The three players were the only survivors going into the fourth day of the competition with Turker the favourite with a 5 million chip lead.
The 3-way final table re-started Wednesday afternoon Vegas time and went on well into the night, culminating in a marathon heads up of almost six hours as Getzwiller evened the chip counts in his epic struggle against Turker…and eventually succeeded, with as many as 13 chip leader changes in between, to take a truly well-deserved bracelet and the first prize of $611 185.
Turker’s second placing was worth $ 377 411, and Turner’s elimination in third place earned him $274 005.
In addition to Getzwiller, Turker and Turner, the final table comprised, in finishing order, Max Weinberg, Stefan Raffay, Lawrence Riley, Hunter Frey, Daniel Haglund and Odette Tremblay.
For Las Vegas-based Getzwiller, who has been playing live and online professionally for the past year, the end was both a relief and a celebration.
“I think I played pretty well against a really tough final table,” he said after the match, paying tribute to a field that had contained many of the top players in the world.
Event 10, a $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Six Handed contest, saw 15 players – all that remained from an original field of 1 920 – return to the action on the third day, secure in the knowledge that they would each clear almost $20 000, but with eyes firmly fixed on the first prize of $544 388. Jeff Papola held the chip lead, chased by Alexander Wice.
The final table was reached relatively early in the evening, comprising Ravi Raghaven, David Lamplew, Eddie Blumenthall, Jeff Papola, Bryan Colin, Geffrey Klein, Alexander Wice, Anthony Spinella and George Jalkotzy, with Lamplew holding a sizeable chip lead.
Well before midnight Wednesday the elimination of Papola in third place for $214 410 set up the final clash between heads up opponents Geffrey Klein and Eddie Blumenthall, with the latter holding a 7 million chip advantage.
Undeterred, Klein produced a spirited and aggressive performance and when we went to press in the early hours of Thursday morning Vegas time the two were still slugging it out, with Klein almost 3 million chips ahead.
22 players returned for the third day of event 11, the $10,000 buy-in Omaha Hi-Low Championship, which attracted an initial field of 202. Guillaume Rivet was chip leader at the start, pursued closely by Alessio Isaia, Michael Chow, Richard Ashby, Mikael Thuritz, Steve Billirakis, Josh Arieh, Eric Buchman, and Shaun and Freddy Deebs.
By the early hours of Thursday morning in Vegas, only 6 players remained in contention, led by Richard Ashby, who was comfortably ahead of Viacheslav Zhukov, Mack Lee, Steve Billirakis, George Lind and Guillaume Rivet as play entered level 26.
In event 12, a $1,500 buy-in Triple Chance No-Limit Hold’em competition, WSOP organisers reported a strong entry field of 1 340 that included the likes of Annette Obrestad, Liv Boeree, Maria Ho, Jonathan Duhamel, Gavin Griffin, Kara Scott, Beth Shak, T.J. Cloutier, Dutch Boyd, Tom Dwan, Scott Montgomery, Kathy Liebert, Carlos Mortensen and Isaac Haxton.
After the first day of action Peter Hernandez held the lead just ahead of JC Tran and Andy Black, with 160 players still standing when play ended.
Following the restart on Wednesday, play went into the early hours of Thursday morning, where the field was down to 22 having pushed through the money bubble earlier in the evening.
Going into level 19 Nicholas Rampone held a lead of over 100 000 chips over closest rival Richard Trigg.
Event 13, the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout started Wednesday and completed Day 1. This is essentially a tournament of sit ‘n go?s, starting with 10 players at each table, with the goal to win the table and move forward.
This year, the event attracted 1 440 entries, an improvement on last year’s 1 397 and one that has generated a 2011 prize pool of $1.94 million.
Always a fave with the pros, the current edition has attracted a star-studded entry field that included Jeff Lisandro, Justin Young, last year’s winner Steven Kelly, Daniel Negreanu, Olivier Busquet, Humberto Brenes, Chris Moorman, Allen Kessler, Faraz Jaka, Chad Brown, Justin Bonomo, Barry Greenstein, Scott Clements, David Pham, David Williams, Antonio Esfandiari, Steve Gross, Annette Obrestad, Allen Cunningham, David Benyamine, Jeff Williams, Greg Raymer, Victor Ramdin, Gavin Griffin, Brock Parker, Liv Boeree, Gavin Smith, Phil Laak, Noah Boeken, Maria Ho, Greg Mueller, Dwyte Pilgrim, James Akenhead, Eric Froehlich, Filippo Candio, Erick Lindgren and Chino Rheem.
Officials closed day one play before midnight, with play complete at level 9 and 160 players still in the game, led by a top ten in chip counts of Josh Brikis, Scott Montgomery, Daniel Negreanu, Eddy Sabat, David Pham, Greg Raymer, Victor Ramdin, Lex Veldhuis, Filippo Candio and Jennifer Tilly.
Notable eliminations during the day were Greg Mueller, Tom Dwan, Barry Greenstein, Justin Bonomo, David Williams, Steven Kelly, Eli Elezra, Humberto Brenes, Matt Jarvis, Daniel Alaei, Erick Lindgren, Allen Cunningham, and David Benyamine, but plenty still remain in the field, promising exciting action on Day 2 starting Thursday.
Day 2 of the competition will commence with 16 ten-handed tables, with 2nd-10th place at every table in the money to the tune of some $5 000. The 16 day 2 winners will each be guaranteed a payday of $13,238, and will come back on day 3 and play down to a winner.
Event 14 is a $3,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em tournament which kicked off Wednesday with 337 entries and a prize pool of $920 010.
Recognised taking their seats at the start were Isaac Haxton, Justin Smith, Chris Tryba, Ylon Schwartz, Daniel Negreanu, Matt Hawrilenko, Brock Parker, Gavin Griffin, Todd Witteles, Eric Froehlich, Marco Traniello, Chad Brown, Jon Turner, Justin Bonomo, Sorel Mizzi, Eli Elezra, Maria Ho and Tom Dwan.
By level 8 in the early hours of Thursday morning Vegas time, the field was down to 198 players with Marco Traniello just ahead of Andre Akkari in chip counts….and plenty of pros still in pursuit.