Day 14 of the 2011 World Series of Poker saw another woman play heads-up for a bracelet in the $2,500 Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Event. Play in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em reached the final table, but had to stop early. Both the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em and $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship burst the money bubble and both the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha and $2,500 Eight-Game Mix began play.
Event #18: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em
Only 34 players returned to the final table and the bracelet of this event. Unfortunately, the ten-level rule only allowed one of those to happen. The final table was reached with Allen Le leading the way with 2.8 million, followed by Foster Hays with 2.68 million. Only three players were eliminated at the final table before the final bell sounded. By the time that happened, Hays had retaken the chip lead and sits with 3.6 million going into the final day. Jeffrey Lavelle is in second with 2.1 million. Allen Le nose-dived during final table play and will come back Tuesday as the short stack with 1.3 million.
Who will take the Event #18 bracelet? The only place to read about it as it happens is our live reporting pages.
Event #19: $2,500 Limit Hold’em Six Handed
Day 3 of the $2,500 Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event began with 12 players hungry for a bracelet win. Matt Matros was the only bracelet winner left in the field at the start of action, but quickly was the first player eliminated. Kim Nguyen became the third woman at this year’s WSOP to make a final table. Not only did she make the final table, but she also started as chip leader, holding a slight chip lead over Alexander Kuzmin.
Nguyen became the second woman to play heads-up for a bracelet this year, facing Darren Woods for the title. Nguyen started heads-up play as chip leader with 1.5 million against the Woods’ 1.15 million. Soon after heads-up play began, Woods took the chip lead and while Nguyen played supurbly, Woods continued to grind down her stack.
Finally, with around 200,000 left in her stack, she got it in with 
. She was actually in great shape for a double-up when Woods held 
and Nguyen only had to fade a four. At that point, the flop fell 
, giving them both a pair, but Woods had to catch running hearts or one of the remaining fours to win the bracelet. The turn fell the 
, helping neither player, but the river fell the 
giving Woods trips and sending Nguyen home as the runner-up.
Darren Woods won the $2,500 Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Event and $213,431.
Read about Nguyen’s run and more about Woods’ bracelet win in our live reporting blog.
Event #20: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em
The $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Event began with 342 players looking to make the money and begin their marches to the final table. Because play began only 20 out of the money, it didn’t take long to get there. Mukul Pahuja gambled his last 25,000 with 
, and Eric Arat called with 
. An ace on the flop left Pahuja drawing thin; the 
on the turn left him drawing dead.
As play continued through the day, the field was cut from 342 to 39 players when the 10th level of play had finished. Jason Somerville finished the day as chip leader with 749,000. Tim West was right behind with 677,000. Players will return Tuesday to play to the final table and the bracelet.
Where did your favorite player finish? Read our live reporting pages and find out.
Event #21: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship
Day 2 of the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship began with 84 players looking to play past the money bubble and to the final table. Only 16 players would be paid in this event, so most of Day 2 was spent getting through the money bubble. Tom McCormick was the man with the dubious honor of bubble boy. He moved in on third street with buried sevens against 
of Men "The Master" Nguyen. Nguyen caught running eights on fifth and sixth street to take the lead. McCormick was unable to improve his hand by the river and finished in 17th place.
Fourteen players will come back on Tuesday to play for the bracelet in this event. Steve Landfish and John Hennigan both have a huge lead over the rest of the field. Landfish has 780,000, followed by Hennigan with 688,000. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier is the next closest opponent with 336,000. Chad Brown, Jason Mercier, Alexander Kostritsyn, and Men Nguyen are all still in contention.
To find out more on how the players performed in Day 2, read our blog here.
Event #22: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha
The $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Event kicked off on Monday, drawing a huge crowd of 1,071 players. This number is up 186 from the same event in 2010. The event should have been renamed Fast and Furious 6 – The Omaha Joint because of the fast pace of action throughout the day. Among the big-name players who crashed and burned on Day 1 were Victor Ramdin, John Juanda, Phil Hellmuth, Matt Stout, Liv Boeree, Annette Obrestad, Tom Schneider, Allen Cunningham, David Benyamine, Berry Johnston and Isaac Haxton.
Because of the rate of bust outs, players made the money of this event on Day 1. David "Devilfish" Ulliot, the bubble boy, was all-in with and facing another player’s 
. A flop of 
gave Ulliot a flush draw to go with his over pair. The turn, however, brought the to put his opponent in the lead. The river fell the 
and the Devilfish put the remaining 117 players into the money to end Day 1.
Juha Vikke will take a massive chip lead into Day 2. His 165,000 is 73,000 more than second-place Yaniv Birman. Nick Binger and Rob Hollink are also in the top 10 in chips heading into Day 2.
For more fast paced action than Jackie Chan taking on Yoda, read our live reporting blog.
Event #23: $2,500 Eight-Game Mix
Day 1 of the $2,500 Eight-Game Mix kicked off on Monday. A field of 489 sat down to mix it up in a game that requires proficiency in eight variants of poker. As expected, many big-name players took their seats in this event. We saw Brandon Cantu, David Williams, Jeff Shulman, Greg Raymer, Todd Brunson, Mike Matusow, Maria Ho, Justin Smith, Gavin Smith, Jean-Robert Bellande, Chris Bell, Vitaly Lunkin, Andy Black, Perry Friedman and Eugene Katchalov.
Doug Booth is the current chip leader with 86,400. Timothy Finne is right behind with 72,500. Nikolay Evdakov and Brandon Cantu are all in the top 10. Both Phil Hellmuth and Eugene Katchalov are above average in this event going into Day 2.
We like to mix it up in our live coverage. To find out what we mean, read our live reporting pages here.
On Tap
Bracelets will be awarded on Tuesday in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em, $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em, and the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship. Players in the $2,500 Eight-Game Mix will battle to the money bubble and begin their marches to the final table, and the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha will play to the final table.
Also, two new events kick off on Tueday. Event #24, the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout Event should have one of the strongest No-Limit Hold’em fields of the year. The evening event will see split-pot experts take the field in the $1,500 Stud 8 or Better Event.
Podcast
The PokerNews Podcast crew was back at work on Monday reviewing the events of the weekend, including Hellmuth’s near miss in the $10,000 NL 2-7 Lowball Championship. Randal Flowers later joins them to talk about where to eat in Vegas, Frolf, and why this year’s WSOP may be the "last hurrah" for a lot of young players.
The PokerNews Podcast is almost better than a pool full of supermodels. Listen here to find out why.
Video of the Day
Everyone knows Vanessa Selbst as probably the most feared female player in poker at present. Sarah Grant caught up with her during the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Event where Grant picked up some Omaha tips. We also find out that golf hustlers may need to start worrying about Selbst.
For frequent updates on everything in the poker world, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
