There aren't many tournaments where you can play over three days of poker and go home with nothing, but the World Series of Poker Main Event is anything but the norm. With 1203 returning for today's outing, 456 would be going home empty-handed, all their graft and hard-work out-done by one slip up, bad beat or cooler.
Whilst the 7,319 who started this event had been whittled down to the nitty girtty, so had the Black Belt Poker contingent, the 11 who handed $10,000 across the cashier now down to just two. Out of the pair, it was Warren Wooldridge who headed into the day with the best chances, his 255,800 starting stack comfortably above the average and only a double through away from becoming a major threat. Sadly, things didn't go to plan.
On just the second level of play, Warren defended the button with A-9 leading to a 9-7-2 flop where he check-raised the inevitable continuation bet to 25,000. His opponent called. The turn came a 5, and after Warren had put his man all in, a call was made and we had a showdown, Warren in dominating shape against an inferior 9-6. However, the Poker Gods had other ideas, and duly delivered an eight on the river for a gut-wrenching gutshot straight.
Down to 150,000, Warren eliminated a short stack with 8-8 versus K-J to jump up to 185,000, but soon found himself involved in a big pot with the aforementioned villain once again. This time, Warren was the man all in (although only just), his four-bet push with A-K suited called by T-T - albeit after a five minute dwell - and unable to improve on an uneventful board. Black Belt Poker's CEO was toast.
Having only made the decision to play the Main Event at the last minute, Warren put in a highly admirable performance to slice through almost 90 percent of the field, only missing out on the money by 150 spots. His venture had been a turbulent one, and although he enjoyed his fair share of good fortune along the way, he was unfortunate to come so close before being eliminated to a bad beat and a coin flip.
Black Belt Poker's other representative was Tristan McDonald, a man with perhaps one of the best pound for pound records in UK poker having twice finalled the Amsterdam Master Classics and finished sixth in the 2009 Cardiff GUKPT, as well a deep run in the 2007 WSOP Main Event. As Neil Channing once said, "Tristan McDonald is quite an amazing guy really. He doesn't look like much but he has cashed for $735,000 in 15 events over 10 years. I bet he only plays six events a year."
Despite his impressive record, Tristan was unable to add another notch to his database when he departed shortly after Warren. Finding himself down to "shoving territory" with 75,000, he made his move with A-Q, but, like Warren, was unable to unravel pockets tens which, once again, held up on a raggy board. The river thus marked the end of Black Belt Poker's assault on the 2010 World Series of Poker, an ambush that showcased many a talent, but ultimately fell short. Coin flipping, it would seem, just wasn't our speciality.
Although Black Belt Poker had little to cheer, the UK still maintained a presence, and whilst the bubble neared, a number of local talent was still in with a shout of making the money. Sadly, others were not so lucky, as the likes of Martin Green, Dave Colclough, Barny Boatman and Paul Jackson all missed out. John Shipley came close too, but he would eventually succumb to a nasty and unavoidable kings versus aces encounter.
The bubble itself was an inevitably intense affair, and when someone doubled through, there was a unified sigh that simmered through the room. However, and despite players clinging on like cats on the way to the vets, the money was eventually reached when Tim McDonald three-bet a 10,000 open to 30,000 with Q-Q. On the A-A-2 flop, he moved all in for his final 37,500, but was quickly called by A-2. "You wouldn't have two queens in there, would you?" McDonald asked the dealer, but no such miracle emerged, and the bubble was burst.
As the room cheered in delight, McDonald was brought up onto the stage where he received a nice warm round of applause, before being awarded the best wooden spoon around: a seat in next year's event. The true bubble, therefore, went to the bubble of the bubble, Angel Guillen, who hit the deck a couple of hands earlier when his aces were cruelly outdrawn by pocket jacks. If anyone had a long journey home, it would be the Mexican pro.
After the bubble, the words "all in and a call" began to ripple their way through the Amazon Room like dominos in a gale, players falling at a ferocious rate as they looked to double or bust. In the final 90 minutes, no fewer than 172 players hit the mat, including British hopes Chris Bjorin, Dan Carter, Gregory Howard, Mel Judah, and Priyan de Mel, the latter of whom exited with Ac-Tc versus Qh-Jh all in preflop with an ensuing Qc-4c-3h-5s-Ts board.
As the final whistle sounded, 574 surviving warriors exhaled a breath of relief, and thanked the heavens that they not only made the money, but would be returning for Day 5. With a gargantuan 1,546,000, it will be online titan Tony 'Bond18' Dunst who will commence proceedings as chip leader, whilst snapping at his heels like alligators with toothache will be Duy Lee and Garrett Adelstein with 1,460,000 and 1,440,000 respectively.
Day 5 should be a slobber knocker as we start munching through the business end of this year's Main Event. Hopes will be dashed, dreams will be lost, but by the end of the day, we should have a good idea of who the potential November Niners could be. Let's hope the Brits are among the contenders.
Official (known) UK & Ireland counts:
Redmond Lee -- 1,184,000
JP Kelly -- 1,000,000
Neil McFayden -- 871,000
Praz Bansi -- 660,000
Jamie Brown -- 572,000
Justin Tazelar -- 556,000
Mark Dalimore -- 539,000
Mark Teltscher -- 476,000
John Kabbaj -- 466,000
Jan Boye -- 423,000
Susan Nordsen -- 372,000
Roy Vandersluis -- 366,000
Rory Rees Brennan -- 366,000
James Fennell -- 344,000
Darren Woods -- 307,000
Konrad Molitor -- 196,000
Padraig Parkinson -- 185,000
Ben Blackmore -- 183,000
Richard Sinclair -- 169,000
Javed Abrahams -- 165,000
Tomas MacNamara -- 163,000
Richard Ellis -- 156,000
Simon Taylor -- 145,000
Rob Taylor -- 115,000
Matthew Ireland -- 103,000
Previous WSOP Reports: Vegas Blog:
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
WSOP Main Event - Day 1C
WSOP Main Event - Day 1D
WSOP Main Event - Day 2A
WSOP Main Event - Day 2B
WSOP Main Event - Day 3
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
July 12: Running on Empty
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