Zimba WSOP Blog: Day 2A Early Observations

The first of two Day 2's kicked off Monday with over 2,000 players. Who will advance? What are poker notables like Negreanu, Cates, and Hellmuth up to today. Check out the early observations from Day 2 of the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Zimba Blog:

Day 1A and Day 1C survivors combined to play Day 2A on Monday. There are 2,031 players hoping to make it one day further into the 2011 WSOP Main Event. Players still have a long way to go as only 693 players will make the money on Day 4 sometime and reach the initial payout of $19,359. The eventual winner will need to accumulate 205,950,000 chips in order to claim $8.7 million prize.

The average age of the 6,865 Main Event entrants is 37. 96.5% of the field is male. 242 women entered this year.

Reigning champion Jonathan Duhamel gave the traditional introduction indicating “it was nice back” and “if you have a chance to win this tournament, it’s going to change your life.”

Daniel Negreanu is at “the mothership” featured table and just received a big ovation when he essentially doubled up to 70k. As Daniel tweeted “Over 70k now! AJ vs AhKh flop AJT two hearts. I needed to fade a K Q or a heart. Came 3d then 4c. Ya baby! Let's do this!”

There are a couple lingering stories from yesterday playing out on Day 2A. Carter Gill became all the buzz within the press corps when we heard that he had been barred from all Harrah’s properties for an incident at Harrah’s that seemingly involved his throwing out clothes out the window of a “special friend” who ultimately called her friend in security who grilled and then barred Gill from Harah’s properties. That includes the Rio where Gill had qualified for Day 2 with 49,000 chips which are now being blinded off while Gill attempts to find someone to appeal his barring.

I spoke to Brian "Stinger" Hastings today. He’s had a good summer at the high stakes cash tables in Vegas, but his Main Event run came to an end early on Day 2. He made a couple misplays early that diminished his stack and he shipped A,K against a very loose aggressive opponent who had been opening around 40% of his hands only to run into AA.

Hastings added that he had another successful night last night at the Bellagio and was likely headed back there now where he has often been winning five times the Main Event buy-in during his sessions. Just before he left, he remarked at Dan ‘jungleman12’ Cates' frustrations at the tables last night. He lost some pots early and got frustrated and started steaming and losing more and more. It must have affected his desire to play today because he has yet to show up as his 30k stack is being blinded off similarly to Carter Gill.

In the hat and costume department, the inflatable orange crowned gentleman is back. So is the guy that likes to wear ladies stuffed bras over his manly clothing. His first day’s choice was red, today is slightly less stuffed and pink. The vivid red robed man with the matching red silk lined top hat is back too. I also noticed one big USA cat-in- the-hat style hat and one guy with a hoodie with big ski goggles on receiving a vigorous massage.

Phil Hellmuth had come into Day 2 with just 11,800 chips. He insisted that he would try his best to grind the short stack, but apparently misunderstood which Day 2 he was playing and overslept. It required hotel security, who had been notified by fellow poker players to enter his room, despite the “Do Not Disturb” message to rouse and notify him. By the time he hurriedly showed up at the Rio, his stack was a measly 6,000 at the end for the first level, with the blinds moving from 250/500 with a 50 ante to 300/600 with a 75 ante.

Some non-poker celebrities faring well on Day 2A include Brad Garrett - 93,000 (155 bb), Paul Pierce - 70,000 (116 bb), and Jason Alexander - 61,000 (101 bb).

More later...

Author

Gosu "GosuGamers" Gamers