WSOP Update #12

The $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E. tournament is underway, and after day 1, only 8 players from a starting 148 have been eliminated. Most notably, Phil Hellmuth made an early departure, and in rare form, Phil exited with grace and class. Self-admittedly, he played poorly, and just prior to his elimination said "Well I didn't think it was possible to go out of this (tournament) on Day One...I like to do things that are tough to do."

David Williams was also eliminated from the tournament. With each player starting with $50,000 in chips, and the blinds being relatively small, plus the mixture of Limit and No-Limit poker, it's not surprising that so few players were eliminated on Day One. Expect the action to pick up today, as the blinds continue to increase, and there will likely be fewer than 50 players remaining by the end of Day Two

Sitting near the top are Johnny Chan, Barry Greenstein, Erick Lindgren and a host of other very familiar names. Interestingly, among those top names is Patrik Antonius. The reason I find this interesting is because despite the fact that many top players agree he's one of the very best in the world, he's never won a WSOP bracelet. In fact, he's never won any major tournament, despite several strong showings in WSOP, WPT and EPT events.

Elsewhere, the $1500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better, Erik Seidel looks for bracelet #9 as he sits in 2nd place, with only 9 remaining. Known as one of the 'nice guys of poker', Siedel will be the clear fan favorite at the final table, as he has been using break time, and even time during the hands he folds, to sign autographs for fans. Although the Phil Hellmuth's have their place, it's guys like Siedel, Doyle Brunson and Daniel Negreanu who will be the true ambassador's of the game.