While last year Event #2, launching on the first day of the WSOP, next to the Casino Employees event, had a $1,500 buy-in, in 2013, a $5,000 NLHE 8-Handed tournament replaced it. This resulted in significantly less entrants (481 against 2,099 in 2012) but proportionately more poker celebrities and a $2,260,700 prize pool.
After Event Day 1, 194 of them are still in play, with WPT and NAPT champion Tom ‘Kingsofcards’ Marchese in the chiplead (153,975 in chips). He is accompanied by the likes of WPT World Championship $100,000 NLHE Super High Roller winner David ‘Doc’ Sands, WCOOP champion Darryll Fish as well as former online MTT money list kings Bryan ‘theczar19’ Piccioli and Chris ‘moorman1’ Moorman.
Chris Moorman
Among those eliminated, we can also find a collection of renowned players, including Daniel Negreanu, who, despite making an excellent run this year in general, got eliminated already on Level 3, where he lost most of his stack with top pair and a straight draw against his opponent’s queen over pair. He was joined at the rail by Phil Ivey, Erick Lindgren, Jason Mercier, Jonathan Duhamel, Calvin Anderson, David ‘ODB’ Baker, Marvin Rettenmaier and Chino Rheem during the day, to name a few.
Michael Phelps
Despite the world class field, the biggest attraction of the day was not one of the pros but 18 times Olympic champion Michael Phelps. He made it through Day 1 and has 20,850 chips, making him 145th in the chipcount. Prior to the shuffle up and deal of the Event, he told poker author Bethany Davis the following:
“It’s kind of weird, I wasn’t even going to play today. I just wanted to come over and see everything and somehow these guys talked me into playing. Antonio [Esfandiari] and JG (Jeff Gross) told me we should just throw in a buy-in and see what happens at your first World Series event.”
“I’ve never been out here [before] and all these guys always seem like they’re having so much fun when they play. If I ever win a bracelet before [they] do, they’re going to be really pissed. So we’ll see what happens,” he added.
Phelps has been playing poker on a recreational basis for years and even finished 9th in the 2008 Caesars Palace Classic $1,500 NLHE for $5,213 and his biggest live tournament result recorded to date. Additionally, he has been rumoured to regularly attend private high stakes games as well.
Following the 2012 London Olympics, Phelps has retired from swimming. Apparently, he aims to continue collecting victories at the WSOP.
At the beginning of Even #2 Day 2, the top 10 stacks are as follows:
1st: Tom Marchese – 153,975
2nd: Scott Baumstein – 111,100
3rd: David Sands – 110,875
4th: Mikko Jaatinen – 95,825
5th: Stephen Bokor – 95,325
6th: Darryll Fish – 93,000
7th: Fabrice Touil – 92,575
8th: Jamie Armstrong – 87,850
9th: Bryan Piccioli – 85,900
10th: Anthony Gargano – 83,575
Prizes:
1st: $553,906
2nd: $342,450
3rd: $215,286
4th: $154,518
5th: $112,695
6th: $83,532
7th: $62,915
8th: $48,130
9-10th: $37,391
11-12th: $29,502
13-14th: $23,624
15-16th: $19,193
17-24th: $15,824
25-32nd: $13,247
33-40th: $11,235
41-48th: $9,743
49-56th: $8,432
After Event Day 1, 194 of them are still in play, with WPT and NAPT champion Tom ‘Kingsofcards’ Marchese in the chiplead (153,975 in chips). He is accompanied by the likes of WPT World Championship $100,000 NLHE Super High Roller winner David ‘Doc’ Sands, WCOOP champion Darryll Fish as well as former online MTT money list kings Bryan ‘theczar19’ Piccioli and Chris ‘moorman1’ Moorman.
Chris Moorman
Among those eliminated, we can also find a collection of renowned players, including Daniel Negreanu, who, despite making an excellent run this year in general, got eliminated already on Level 3, where he lost most of his stack with top pair and a straight draw against his opponent’s queen over pair. He was joined at the rail by Phil Ivey, Erick Lindgren, Jason Mercier, Jonathan Duhamel, Calvin Anderson, David ‘ODB’ Baker, Marvin Rettenmaier and Chino Rheem during the day, to name a few.
Michael Phelps
Despite the world class field, the biggest attraction of the day was not one of the pros but 18 times Olympic champion Michael Phelps. He made it through Day 1 and has 20,850 chips, making him 145th in the chipcount. Prior to the shuffle up and deal of the Event, he told poker author Bethany Davis the following:
“It’s kind of weird, I wasn’t even going to play today. I just wanted to come over and see everything and somehow these guys talked me into playing. Antonio [Esfandiari] and JG (Jeff Gross) told me we should just throw in a buy-in and see what happens at your first World Series event.”
“I’ve never been out here [before] and all these guys always seem like they’re having so much fun when they play. If I ever win a bracelet before [they] do, they’re going to be really pissed. So we’ll see what happens,” he added.
Phelps has been playing poker on a recreational basis for years and even finished 9th in the 2008 Caesars Palace Classic $1,500 NLHE for $5,213 and his biggest live tournament result recorded to date. Additionally, he has been rumoured to regularly attend private high stakes games as well.
Following the 2012 London Olympics, Phelps has retired from swimming. Apparently, he aims to continue collecting victories at the WSOP.
At the beginning of Even #2 Day 2, the top 10 stacks are as follows:
1st: Tom Marchese – 153,975
2nd: Scott Baumstein – 111,100
3rd: David Sands – 110,875
4th: Mikko Jaatinen – 95,825
5th: Stephen Bokor – 95,325
6th: Darryll Fish – 93,000
7th: Fabrice Touil – 92,575
8th: Jamie Armstrong – 87,850
9th: Bryan Piccioli – 85,900
10th: Anthony Gargano – 83,575
Prizes:
1st: $553,906
2nd: $342,450
3rd: $215,286
4th: $154,518
5th: $112,695
6th: $83,532
7th: $62,915
8th: $48,130
9-10th: $37,391
11-12th: $29,502
13-14th: $23,624
15-16th: $19,193
17-24th: $15,824
25-32nd: $13,247
33-40th: $11,235
41-48th: $9,743
49-56th: $8,432
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