2011 WSOP – Week One Event Recaps

The 2011 World Series of Poker kicked off on May 31st from the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.  The big story early on in the series was Phil Ivey’s decision to skip the WSOP and sue Full Tilt Poker.  Once the smoke from that bombshell settled, we were able to focus on some poker.  Let’s look back on the week that was at the WSOP.

Chris Moneymaker took on Sammy Farha as part of the WSOP Rematches Series

The opening event, the $500 Employee’s Event drew 850 players, a jump of 129 player from the 2010 edition.  Sean Drake ultimately took the bracelet for the event and $82,292.  Event #2 was the $25,000 Heads-Up NL Hold’em Championship.  While the field was strong from the opening rounds, the big story was Gus Hansen and whether he could “repeat” in this event.  Hansen was unable to repeat as he fell in the semifinals to Jake Cody.  Cody would go on to win the bracelet and $851,192.  Since he also has a WPT and EPT title under his belt, Cody now has earned the Triple Crown of Poker.  

Event 3 was the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo and it set the all-time attendance record for an Omaha event at the WSOP.  A field of 925 players took to the felt looking to win the largest Omaha event ever.  Francesco Barbaro ended up taking the bracelet at a final table that included Humberto Brenes and 2010 $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship runner-up Vladimir Shchemelev. 

Maria Ho was the start of Event #4. She made the final table of the event and was the first woman to make a final table at the WSOP this year.  Unfortunately, she faced a dominating Allen Bari heads-up for the bracelet and his chip lead proved too much to overcome.  Allen Bari tookthe $5,000 NL Hold’em bracelet and over $874,000 in prize money.

The $1,500 Stud Event was taken down by Eugene Katchalov.  He survived a final table that included two-time bracelet winner Vasilis Lazarou, as well as initial final table chip leader Eric Buchman.  Katchalov had to overcome a 5:1 chip lead in order to take the bracelet, but he pulled off the comeback to take his first WSOP title and $122,909.

Event #6, the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Event, was won by Harrison Wilder.  Scott Clements was the featured player at the final table and started third in chips, but he nosedived early and busted in 9th.  By the time heads-up play was reached, Wilder had a solid chip lead over Thomas Jamieson and never faltered.  Wilder won $205,065 to go with the bracelet.

Event #7 was the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em Championship.  The field was an impressive one, as was the final table.  Jarred Solomon led a final table that included McLean Karr, Eric Cloutier, and Nicolas Levi.  Solomon faced Amir Lehavot in heads-up play, but was on the wrong side of a huge chip lead.  He was unable to make a comeback and Lehavot took the bracelet and $573,456.

The WSOP rematches series kicked off on Friday, but only two matches were played.  Erik Seidel had to bow out of his match with Johnny Chan due to still playing in the $1,500 Omaha Event.  Chan faced Phil Hellmuth in the 1989 rematch and was able to avenge his defeat.  After sucking out to take the chip lead, he was able to get pocket eights to hold up against the K-10 of Hellmuth. 

Chris Moneymaker faced Sammy Farha in the match everyone wanted to see.  The rematch of the 2003 WSOP Main Event was a best of three match that saw Moneymaker take the first match, and Farha the second.  The rubber match was decided on a flop of J-10-2.  Farha held J-10 and put Moneymaker all-in.  Moneymaker called with 10-2 and needed help.  The got that help when he spiked the miracle 2 on the river and he took the lead.  The match ended with Farha running K-10 into the K-J of Moneymaker.  The board failed to produce a ten and history repeated itself.

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