Highlights from day 34 of the 2012 WSOP (June 29)
Greg Hobson (pictured left) etched his name in WSOP history as the first winner of an Ante Only No Limit Hold’em tournament. The 33-year-old from Anchorage, Alaska, took out Event #49, for $256,691 in prize money, along with his first WSOP gold bracelet.
This marked Hobson’s fourth cash at the WSOP. He has previously been highly successful in the online poker world, playing under the screen name DUCK_U.
The three-day competition drew a larger-than-expected field-size, particularly since such an event had never been offered before. Moreover, the $1500 entry fee wasn’t exactly a frivolous sum for tournament entrants, most of whom had not played this form of poker in the past.
In a post tournament interview, Hobson confided that he arrived the first day with about the same grasp of the game as most players. However, he made some quick adjustments and learned the game better as the tournament progressed over three days.
• It’s another massive weekend at the Rio, with Event #50, the $5000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament, into day three. Of the 48 players who remain of the 1001 starters, Kyle Julius is the chip leader. Others in contention include Erik Aude, Matt Gianetti, Galen Hall, Alex Kravchenko, Andrew Lichtenberger and Randy Lew while Australia’s Brendon Rubie starts the day 16th in chips.
Event #51 is the Ladies No Limit Hold’em World Championship, which started with a field of 936 players. A total of 117 will return for day two with Gaelle Baumann from France leading the way.
The tournament brought out the big names in women’s poker, with names like Vanessa Rousso, Lacey Jones, Karina Jett, Melanie Weisner, Barbara Enright, Liv Boeree, Maria Ho, Vanessa Selbst, and Kathy Leibert in the field. Again, a handful of men entered the event, but none reached day two.
A field of 421 turned out for Event #52, the $2500 buy-in Six-Handed 10-Game Mix tournament, continues with Day Two. There are 167 players back for day two with Tam Hang leading an impressive list of many of the world’s best mixed game proponents.
The latest of the $1500 No Limit Hold’em events (#53) starts today while the biggest buy-in Mega Satellite ever played is also scheduled today, with a buy-in of $25,300 for a shot at a seat in the Big One For One Drop ($1 million buy-in) tournament.
• Aside from two satellite winners, the field of 48 players for the Big One For One Drop has been finalised, and features an eclectic mix of poker pros, professional gamblers and businessmen with a scary amount of disposable income. The list comprises:
Bobby Baldwin (USA)
Frederic Banjout (France)
Bob Bright (USA)
Ilya Bulychev (Russia)
Roland De Wolfe (UK)
Tom Dwan (USA)
Jonathan Duhamel (Canada)
David Einhorn (USA)
Antonio Esfandiari (USA)
Phil Galfond (USA)
Bertrand Grospellier (France)
Philipp Gruissem (Germany)
Giovanni “Malibu” Guarascio (Canada)
Phil Ivey (USA)
Eugene Katchalov (USA)
Cary Katz (USA)
Jens Kyllönen (Finland)
Guy Laliberté (Canada)
Ben Lamb (USA)
Tom Marchese (USA)
Jason Mercier (USA)
Michael Mizrachi (USA)
John Morgan (USA)
Daniel Negreanu (USA)
Paul Newey (UK)
Chamath Palihapitiya (USA)
Bill Perkins (USA)
Paul Phua (Malaysia)
Brian Rast (USA)
Vivek Rajkumar (USA)
Tobias Reinkemeier (Germany)
Andrew Robl (USA)
Phil Ruffin (USA)
Rick Salomon (USA)
Nick Schulman (USA)
Noah Schwartz (USA)
Erik Seidel (USA)
Mike Sexton (USA)
Dan Shak (USA)
Talal Shakerchi (UK)
Mikhail Smirnov (Russia)
Justin Smith (USA)
Brandon Steven (USA)
Sam Trickett (UK)
Haralabos Voulgaris (Canada)
Richard Yong (Malaysia)
Satellite Winner $25,300 Mega Satellite – June 30 at Rio
Satellite Winner MGM Resorts International VIP winner (name TBD)
• Additional reporting, Nolan Dalla, WSOP.com
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