Day 36 of the 2011 World Series of Poker saw the final table reached in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event and the unofficial final table reached in the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship. Also, the final two preliminary events kicked off on Tuesday. The final $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event drew one of the largest Day 1 crowds of the year while the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event ended the preliminaries the way they started, by shattering yet another attendance figure from the 2010 WSOP.
Event #54: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em
Day 3 of the last $1,000 no-limit hold’em event of the Series began with 44 players looking to make their way to the final table. As the day progressed Team Pokerstars Pro Russia’s Maxim Lykov emerged as a dominating chip leader. Going into unofficial final table play of ten-handed, he held 3.1 million and his next closest competitor was Sebastien Roy with 1.79 million.
Mario Doria was the final-table bubble boy of this event. He started ten-handed play with 670,000 and got the rest of his stack into the middle from the small blind with 
. Dror Michaelo insta-called from the big blind with pocket nines. The board failed to produce a king for Doria, and the final table was set.
Lykov extended his lead even further during ten-handed play and will return as the final-table chip leader with 3.87 million on Wednesday. Dror Michaelo is right behind him with 1.98 million. Final-table play will kick off at 1430 PDT (2130 GMT) on Wednesday.
Find out how the final table was reached in our live reporting pages.
Event #55: $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship
The fourth day of the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship began with 29 players looking to make the money and then the final table. Only 16 would get paid in this event, but as the money bubble loomed, Phil Hellmuth had one of the short stacks, and it seemed that he would fail to cash in this event.
Robert Mizrachi was the short stack of the tournament at the bubble and put the last of his chips at risk in a stud hand with 
/
. Phil Hellmuth and Matt Glantz played along and Phil Hellmuth bet Glantz out the pot on fifth street. After sixth street, Mizrachi held /
against Hellmuth’s 
/
. Hellmuth pulled the 
on the river, but only a five would help Mizrachi. He caught the 
for a pair of ducks and he finished as the bubble boy.
Barry Greenstein, Michael Binger, Josh Arieh, Jeff Lisandro, and Vladimir Shchemelev all finished in the money on Day 4. At the end of seven 100-minute levels, the unofficial final table of nine players remained. Minh Ly emerged as the chip leader toward the end of the day and grew a nearly 2:1 lead over the rest of the field. He finished with 5.21 million. Brian Rast is the closest competitor with 2.6 million.
Phil Hellmuth is still alive in this event. He battled back from one of the short-stacks to finish the day fifth in chips with 2.24 million. Current 2011 WSOP Player of the Year points leader Ben Lamb is in seventh at this final table with 1.18 million. The final nine players will return on Wednesday at 1500 PDT (2200 GMT) when they will play to a champion.
All the Day 4 action can be found in our live reporting blog.
Event #56: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em
The final $1,500 no-limit hold’em event of the 2011 World Series of Poker kicked off on Tuesday amassing one of the largest Day 1 fields of the year. There were 3,389 players who took their last shot at no-limit hold’em glory prior to the Main Event. First place for this event will take home $777,928.
After 10 levels of play, 465 players remain, 342 of whom will receive a payday beginning Wednesday. Benjamin Volpe dominated the field most of the day and finished as chip leader with 156,200. David Zemel was right behind him with 127,700. Former "crew" member Brett Jungblut sits in sixth with 100,500. Dan Kelly and Brandon Meyers both round out the top 10 in chips.
For more on this massive field, check out our live coverage blog.
Event #57: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Split
The $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event kicked off on Wednesday with 352 players turning out to take their shots at the final Omaha bracelet of the Vegas Series. The 352-player field in the event shattered the total of 284 set in 2010.
At the end of Day 1 action, less than half the field was eliminated and 189 players remain. Gary Bolden will go into Day 2 as the chip leader with 98,300, followed by Eric Crain with 96,500. Max Pescatori, Alexandre Gomes, Joe Tehan, Ali Eslami, and Daniel Shak all round out the top 10 in chips. Allen Kessler, Erik Seidel and Chris Bjorin finished at least double chip average or better in Day 1.
Check out all the Day 1 action in our live event blog.
On Tap
Bracelets will be awarded on Wednesday in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event and the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship. Also, both the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event and the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo will play through the money bubble and both fields will begin their march to the last of the final tables of the preliminaries. Finally, expect the Rio satellite area to be abuzz as players start to make their push to win their way into the 2011 WSOP Main Event that kicks off on Thursday.
Podcast
The PokerNews Podcast crew were back at work on Tuesday after the holiday weekend. They went over all the recent happenings at the 2011 WSOP and started to preview the Main Event that kicks off on Thursday. Jack Effel then joined the podcast to discuss the WSOP’s growth and to talk a little about the Main Event. Faraz Jaka also joined the podcast and spoke about zip-lining downtown, his casterboarding start-up, and climbing Mt. Charleston.
These guys will literally talk about anything. Find out what was said by listening here.
Video of the Day
Shawn Marion of the Dallas Mavericks recently won his first NBA title. On Tuesday, he played in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Event at the 2011 WSOP. Lynn Gilmartin caught up with him to talk with him about his first title, poker, and his interesting sock fetish.
Anticipation is high for the Main Event. For all your updates on the Main Event, follow PokerNews on Facebook and Twitter.
