On Day 4 of the 2011 World Series of Poker, bracelets were awarded in the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo and $25,000 Heads-Up Championship. The $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em and $1,500 Stud events worked their ways through the money bubble and both the $1,500 Limit Hold’em and $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship began.
Event #2: $25,000 Heads-Up Championship
As the two final four match-ups commenced, everyone was watching to see whether Gus Hansen or Eric Froehlich could add to their career bracelet totals. To the disappointment of many, neither was able to advance to the finals. Froehlich fell to Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Hansen fell to Jake Cody.
With Hansen and Froehlich eliminated, the question was whether Cody could take down poker’s Triple Crown. Cody already has an EPT victory in France, as well as a WPT victory in London. The final match with Timoshenko was never in doubt. In fact, Cody never had to use his add-on chips during the match. The final hand of the match was indicative of how he was running. He held 
and was behind Timoshenko, who was all-in with 
. The flop fell 
to give Cody the lead, which he held to give him the Heads-Up Championship win. Jake Cody completed the Triple Crown by taking down the bracelet and $851,192.
To get the heads-up on all that happened on the final day, check out our live coverage.
Event #3: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo
Day 3 of the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Event began with 25 players and quickly worked its way to the final table. Day 2 chip leader Francesco Barbaro made the final table along with Humberto Brenes and Vladimir Shchemelev. Barbaro went on a monster run with three players remaining and by the time he reached heads-up play with Kostas Kalathakis, he had a 4.1 million to 150,000 chip lead. In the final hand, Kalathakis was all-in with 
against the 
for Barbaro. The board ran out 
to give Barbaro a superior two pair and the win. Francesco Barbaro takes the first Omaha bracelet of this World Series and $262,283 in prize money.
Find out how the final table was reached, and more, at our live reporting blog.
Event #4: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Players returned to Day 2 of the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Event looking to make the money and eventually the final table. However, it took seven levels to reach the money, so the remaining 42 players will have a long day ahead on Day 3. Brian Lemke takes a sizable chip lead into Day 3 play. His closest opponent at present is Allen Bari with 686,000. Other players still in the hunt include Jonathan Little, JC Tran, Carlos Mortensen, Tim West, and Bernard Lee.
Did your favorite player make Day 3? Read our live coverage and find out.
Event #5: $1,500 Seven Card Stud
The second day of action in the $1,500 Stud Event was scheduled to reach both the money bubble and the final table. Half of that goal was reached as the final 40 players will all receive a pay day. Chad Brown earned his first cash of the 2011 WSOP, finishing in 30th place. Shaun Deeb and Andy Bloch finished in 15th and 14th respectively to get their first cashes of the Series, as well. At the end of the day, 12 players remained and will return on Saturday to play to the bracelet. Alessio Isaia leads with 232,000 and Eugene Katchalov is right behind with 212,000. Eric Buchman and former two-time stud bracelet winner Vasilis Lazarou are also in contention.
Real men (and women) play stud. Poker fans, follow our live coverage of this event here.
Event #6: $1,500 Limit Hold’em
A field of 675 registered for the first limit hold’em event of the year — a 50-player jump from last year. Normally this event doesn’t attract a large number of pro players, but this year the field strength jumped considerably. Among those in the field were Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Tom "Durrrr" Dwan, Ted Forrest, Allen Cunningham, Erica Schoenberg, David Bach, Bill Chen, Jamie Pickering, JJ Liu, Jennifer Harman, Barry Shulman, and Brock Parker. Edward Nassif will start Day 2 as chip leader with 92,000, followed by Jerrod Ankenman with 61,900.
Don’t limit yourself to just this recap. For more on the event, check out our live reporting blog.
Event #7: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship
The first $10,000 buy-in of the 2011 WSOP was the Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship. A stacked field of 246 took their seats in what Daniel Negreanu considered the "most skillful form of Texas Hold’em." There were very few weak spots in the field that was riddled with notable players such as David Benyamine, Justin Bonomo, Nenad Medic, Josh Arieh, Vitaly Lunkin, Hoyt Corkins, Robert Mizrachi, Mike Matusow, Marco Traniello, and Erik Seidel. Binh Nguyenis the man everyone will be chasing going into the second day of action. He will start the day with 159,000, but Sunny Chattha and Dan Fleyshman are right behind him with 142,000 and 133,700 respectively.
To find out who advanced to Day 2, and more, click here to read our coverage.
On Tap
The first $1,000 No-Limit Event kicks off on Saturday at 1200 PDT (1900 GMT) and will have two starting days. For the evening event, the $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Event kicks off. In addition, bracelets are scheduled to be awarded in the $1,500 Stud and $5,000 No-Limit Event. Players will return for Day 2 of both the $1,500 Limit Hold’em and $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship looking to make the final table.
Podcast
On the latest edition of the PokerNews Podcast, the crew discuss the $1 Million Big One, the $5k event field, Grudge Matches, and more. WSOP Vice-President Ty Stewart then stops by to talk about this little event in Las Vegas that likes to award bracelets to its winners.
Sit back, relax, and listen to the podcast here.
Video of the Day
If you every play JJ Liu at the poker tables, you will learn two things: (1) she always looks marvelous, and (2) you’re about to lose your chips. Sarah Grant caught up with JJ and asked her advice for aspiring women players.
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