WSOP Main Event - Day 1C

For the first time this week, the Pavillion Room was as electric as the Amazon Room as 2,314 crammed their way into the Rio for Day 1C of the WSOP $10,000 Main Event. Among them were a who's who of poker, with Patrik Antonius, Antonio Esfandiari, Men Nguyen, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen, Carlos Mortensen, Sammy Farhar, Howard Lederer and Annie Duke all making this the most star-studding outing thus far.

In the blue corner, however, lay a pack of Brits, chomping at the bit and already eyeing up that November Nine spot with bracelet-starved eyes. Among them were the usual suspects: JP Kelly, Vicky Coren, Teddy Sheringham, Dave Colclough, Richard Gryko and Marty Smyth, whilst even former GUKPT Champion Sunny Chattha made a welcome return to the live felt. Black Belt Poker were also in full force, with Neil Channing, Adam Latimer, Warren Wooldridge, Jerome Bradpiece and Tristan McDonald wearing the colours.

Unfortunately, the World Series would come to an abrupt end for Black Belt Poker co-founder Neil Channing, the Irish Open Champion limp-three-betting kings, flat calling a four-bet, before jamming a queen high flop head-first into aces. In fact, Neil never truly got going and found himself hovering around his starting stack for most of the first half of the day. When he peaked at 33,000 with Q-Q turning a set after a king high flop, he dipped back down to 27,000 by missing a flush draw with 6-3 suited. In the end, Channing summed it up himself when he Tweeted: "Worst minute of the year".

Jerome Bradpiece endured a similarly frustrated time, but managed to squeeze his way into Day 2 with (as reported 30 minutes from the end) around 25,000. "I've just folded for six hours," he joked. "It's been a sick table. Four people have aces like four times each, and I've seen none of it. My peak was 35,000, and my lowest was 23,000. I didn't play a pot that involved an orange [worth 5,000] chip."

Black Belt Poker CEO Warren Wooldridge, meanwhile, experience rather more turbulent weather as his stack fluctuated like a kangaroo on a bungee. His first major pot came when he raised it up to 550 in the cut-off at the 100/200 level with pocket tens. The button and the small blind both called, but the big blind, who had just arrived, three-bet to 4,000. Warren made the call leading to a two-way flop A-9-2 rainbow flop where the aggressor led for 2,900. Warren made it a straight ten, and after tanking, his opponent moved all in. Warren made the fold, and was shown 8-5 for air. "I knew he had nothing," Warren would later claim. "I just couldn't bring myself to call." Warren would eventually finish the day with 19,525, although he remained content having rivered a set with nines versus queens to stay alive just two levels from the end.

Last year's Vegas 8 member Adam Latimer was less fortunate. He played a steady game, but would ultimately hit the rail early when, first, his aces were cracked, and then his nut flush draw failed to improve against a set on a ten high flop. "I put too much in before realising he must have a set," he commented, "but I had fairly good odds to call, especially if he could have Kc-Kx occasionally."

Although the official counts have left to arrive, a number of familiar faces were still plugging away as the final moments drew near, and barring a last level all in, Joel Ettedgi, John Conroy, Paul Gourlay, Jack Powell, Dave Ulliott, Tim Blake, Kevin O'Leary, JP Kelly and Padraig Parkinson should all be returning in two times. One man who certainly survived was Barny Boatman, reported as one of the chip leaders throughout after winning a number of key pots. One in particular saw the Hendon Mobber flop a set with pocket jacks, before getting all in on the turn against top two pair. That pot was around 50,000 and helped him become the first player in the room to break the 150,000 barrier. Out of the 1,674 remaining, Boatman is undoubtedly right up there with the chip leaders.

Day 1D beckons, and there are still plenty of Black Belt Poker players still to come. Kevin Williams and Jamie Burland both answered Channing's Thundercats call and will be freerolling their first Main Event, whilst former Grader Eoin Kennedy, online qualifiers Alan Vinson and Mandy Card, and current Blue Belt Chaz Chattha will all be giving it a crack. If you want to hear how they fared, then be sure to check out Black Belt Poker tomorrow as we continue to bring you all the latest news from the British invasion in Vegas.

Official (known) UK Day 1B counts:

James Dempsey -- 106,175
Roland De Wolfe -- 96,600
Chris Bjorin -- 90,025
John Kabbaj -- 88,000
Roberto Romanello -- 82,150
James Keys -- 70,975
Stephen Chidwick -- 69,665
Daniel Rudd -- 68,900
Sida Yuen -- 68,750
John Duthie -- 61,475
Ian Woodley -- 53,775
Laurence Houghton -- 51,100
Mark Teltscher -- 49,925
Thomas Middleton -- 48,175
John Eames -- 45,850
David Jones -- 43,025
Julian Gardner -- 41,500
Scott O'Reilly -- 41,050
Ben Blackmore -- 39,725
Kevin O'Connell -- 30,025
Paul Foltyn -- 28,925
Rupinder Bedi -- 28,025
Martins Adeniya -- 24,075
Michael Piper -- 22,300
Alan Trueick -- 21,400
Owen Robinson -- 14,250
Robert Woodcock -- 10,825

Previous WSOP Reports:

Employee of the Month
Fairytale Endings
Must Be Nice
Make Mine a Double
Blonde on Blonde
Summer of Sam
Chuft to Bits
Under the Radar
Taking Notice
BBP Braced for WSOP Main Event
WSOP Main Event - Day 1A
WSOP Main Event - Day 1B

Vegas Blog:

May 23: My Old School Teacher
May 31: Welcome to America; Let the Institutionalising Begin
June 1: Pleasure & Pain
June 5: 100% British Beef
June 9: Alphabetti Spaghetti & Giant Meatballs
June 13: Colour Me Up
June 14: The Crying Game
June 20: Last Gasps
June 25: Dancing With the Devil
June 30: The End of a Streak
July 6: Tournament of Famous People