Top News – Welcome to WSOP

The biggest and the most important poker event of the year – the 41th annual World Series of Poker has finally started at the Rio and OnlinePoker10 have decided to dedicate the entire edition of this week's Top News to WSOP. We will take a look into all 7 events some of which have already finished and some are still underway. 5 days of WSOP are already in the books and 4 shiny bracelets have been awarded to their new owners. However, this is just a start as all the 8-week live poker action has only just begun and the end is no where in sight.

Day 1

The 2010 World series of poker started with two events – Event #1: $500 Casino Employees no-limit hold'em and Event #2: $50,000 Players Championship. The casino employees tournament did not gather a poker player stardom, but it was the first World Series event and the one to reward the first bracelet this year. Among the people you may know that could be seen at the tables were tournament director Jack McClelland, and the WSOP's own Ty Stewart.

However, none of the two managed to struggle into the leading positions at the end of Day 1 which finished with Kent Washington leading the way with 168,300 followed by Jonathan Kotula and Christopher Reider holding 108,700 and 107,500 respectively.

Event #2: $50,000 Players Championship Event is considered to be one of the most prestigious events in the whole World Series and gathers lots of poker superstars. This year was no exception and among the 116 players who decided to give up their fifty grand for a chance of getting much more were almost all the best-known players you may think of – Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Greg Raymer, Phil Ivey, Jason Mercier, Barry Greenstein, Michael Mizrachi, Pat Pezzin, Jeffrey Lisandro, Alex Kravchenko, Chad Brown, George Lind, Noah Boeken, Dario Minieri, Tony G, David Bach and many more.

After Day 1 Erik Sagstrom made his way to the first place in chip stack size with 329,100, David Oppenheim had 313,800 and “The Big Papa” Doyle Brunson was a bit behind with 269,200 in chips. With so many famous players at the tables playing the 8-game mix, the Players Championship is definitely one of the most exciting events of the series.

Day 2

The day 2 of the 2010 World Series of Poker saw three events and its first bracelet winner - Hoai Pham won the Event #1: $500 Casino Employees no-limit hold'em. The $50,000 Players Championship continued with its second day and Event #3: 1,000 no-limit hold'em gathered 2601 players to the tables.

At the beginning of the day 2 of Event #1: $500 Casino Employees Event on Friday, 53 of the 721 players who have opened this year's WSOP were still in the run for the first bracelet. But in the end Hoai Pham was the last man standing which meant only one thing – he was the first 2010 WSOP bracelet winner. Pham, who was only in 9th place after day 1 with 65,800 in chips – 100,000 less than the chip leader Kent Washington, made his way through to the final table where he outplayed Arthur Vea for the WSOP honors and $71,424 of cash.

Day 1 eliminated only 6 players from the $50,000 Player's Championship, but their names say it all – Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Marc Karam, and Brian Townsend were those not present at the tables on the second day of the event. However, the rest of the names that were still in the game were even more impressive.

The leader after day 2 was Kirk Morrison with 741,000 in chips. He first took the lead when he beat Ralph Perry and Justin Smith in a Omaha Hi/Lo hand. Morrison made a bet on a board, Perry called and Smith check-raised. Morrison and Perry called and came on the river. Smith made a bet which was followed by Morrison's raise and Perry folded. Smith called, but Morrison showed and collected the pot.

So Morrison led the way in the $50,000 Player's Championship Event after day 2 followed by Andy Bloch with 716,500, Mikael Thuritz with 697,500 and Nick Schulman with 683,000.

Day 2 of the 2010 WSOP was the starting day of the Event #3: 1,000 no-limit hold'em, which was the first of the few small buy-in events that are yet to be played. 2,601 players have registered for event's day 1A and even more were expected to join on the day 1B.

However, only 276 players survived the day and Terry Fleischer was the leader with 119,300 chips, Nancy Todd Tyner was second with 103,000, followed by Jerrymee Jose with 96,100, Drew Crawford with 95,000 and Anders Taylor holding 93,200.

Day 3

Event #2: $50,000 Players Championship continued on day 3 of the World Series of Poker and Michael Mizrachi became the new leader with 1,483,000 chips and Vladimir Schmelev just behind him with 1,432,000. Other players to hold more than a million in their stacks were David Oppenheim with 1,340,000, Abe Mosseri with 1,338,000, Daniel Alaei with 1,227,000 and Mizrachi's older brother Robert with 1,032,000

54 players were still in the game as day 2 started but after 12 hours there were only 21 of them left.

Last year's champion David "Gunslinger" Bach was one of the big players to leave the table on day 3, the others were 2009 WSOP player of the year Jeff Lisandro, the living legend Doyle Brunson, Barry Greenstein, Phil Ivey and Noah Boeken.

Another event to continue its way on day 3 was Event #3: $1,000 no limit hold 'em. 1,744 players started day 1B, but in the end only 200 of them remained. It was Braxton Dunaway who was leading with 125,000 in chips followed by Timothy Boytor with 108,000 and Matthew Berkey holding 100,400. The three were the only ones to collect more than a hundred grand during the day's play.

Going into day 2 of the event were 271 players left from day 1a and 200 from day 1b all of whom were looking to get a piece of the $3,910,500 prizepool.

Day 3 of the WSOP also saw the start of the Event #4: 1,500 Omaha hi-lo 8 or better. It was the first full Omaha tournament in this year's WSOP and 820 players decided to join in. Oleg Shamardin was at the top after day 1 of the event with 70,800 in chips. Far behind him were Scott Epstein with the second-largest stack of 45,400, and Daniel Klein with 39,900.

At the end of the day only 297 were left at the tables all with hopes of making into the top 81 to get a piece of the $1,104,300 prizepool. Among the notables that were still in the game appeared Jimmy Fricke, Jeff Madsen Erick Lindgren and Todd Brunson. However, some big names did not make it, including Jason Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, Bill Chen, Matt Savage and Tony G.

Day 4

As many as four events were running simultaneously on day 4 of the WSOP. Robert and Michael Mizrachi made the World Series history as they became only the second set of brothers to make it to the final table together. The rest of the events saw new leaders, but none of them have finished during the day.

The final table of the Event #2: $50,000 Poker Players Championship was all set after the day 4 as all 8 contenders for the bracelet and the grand cash prize have made their way through the day.

Robert Mizrachi was the chip leader before the final day of the event with 3,125,000 in chips and his little brother Michael had 2,175,000. This was only the second time in WSOP history when two brothers made it to the final table together. Last time this happened back in 2002 when Ross and Barney Boatman both made it to the final table of pot-limit Omaha event.

The rest of the final table crew included David Baker with 3,095,000 chips, the legendary John Juanda with 2,620,000, Mikael Thuritz holding 2,300,000, Vladimir Schmelev with 1,925,000, Daniel Alaei with 1,705,000 and David Oppenheim with the short-stack of 460,000 in chips.

The Event #3: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em started its day 2 after gathering 471 players from both days 1A and 1B, but only 41 of them were still standing when the day ended. Drew Crawford was holding the biggest chip stack of 800,000.

The event saw some big action during the day and some very intriguing hands were played. One of such was played between Nancy Todd Tyner and Robert Scott. Tyner went all-in with pocket aces and was called by Scott holding . The flop brought and it seemed all Tyner's hand. The on the turn still kept Nancy in the lead, but the river turned it all up and the players had to split the pot.

The others in the lead after day 2 were William Davis with 775,000, Dash Dudley with 745,000 and Nicholas Mitchell with 681,000 in chips.

On day four Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better was running as well and Sasha Rosewood was the new chip leader with just under 400,000. Anthony Reategui was second with 317,000, Michael Cipolla with 275,000 was third and Fred Koubi – fourth with 272,000 in chips.

Some of the notable players still in the game were Jeff Madsen holding 148,000, David Bach with 107,000 and short-stacked Huck Seed with 57,000. Day 1 chip leader Oleg Shamardin busted much earlier than he'd expected finishing in 59th place and cashing out $3,629.

A new event to start on day 4 was Event #5: $1,500 No Limit Hold'em. Over 2,000 players made the choice of playing WSOP hold'em for $1,500 which was only half as many as the Event #3 – the first NL event. However, only 223 players survived Day 1 and Stephen Foutty was leading the way with 207,400 chips with Dwyte Pilgrim just behind with 202,000.

Many well-know pros have also decided to enjoy some no-limit hold'em action, however, most of them were not able to hold on to their seats and make in into day 2. The list of busted players included Humberto Brenes, Jeff Williams, Jerry Yang, Eugene Todd, Kenny Tran and many others.

Day 5

Day 5 of the 2010 World Series of Poker was the day of Michaels – Michael Mizrachi and Michael Chow were rewarded with WSOP bracelets for taking the Event #2 and Event #4 honors. Mizrachi won the $50,000 Players Championship – event which is considered one of the most prestigious in the whole World Series, whereas Chow was the best in $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo Split-8 or Better.

Event #2: $50,000 Poker Player's Championship saw its end on day 5 as the final table including two Mizrachis was played. And although it was Robert who was the chip leader before the start, his younger brother won the event. Michael Mizrachi overplayed Vladimir Schmelev in the final heads-up match and collected nearly $1.6 million in prize money, his first-ever WSOP bracelet and the Chip Reese memorial trophy.

Here are the final standings of Event #2: $50,000 Poker Player's Championship:

1. Michael Mizrachi – 1,559,046

2. Vladimir Schmelev – 963,375

3. David Oppenheim – 603,348

4. John Juanda – 436,865

5. Robert Mizrachi – 341,429

6. David Baker – 272,275

7. Daniel Alaei – 221,105

8. Mikael Thuritz – 182,463

9. Nick Schulman – 152,739

10. Alexander Kostritsyn – 152,739

Event #3: $1,000 No-Limit Hold 'em was running all through the day 5 and the final table was all set in the end. Aadam Daya, Cory Brown, Gabe Costner, Dash Dudley, Bart Davis, Nicholas Mitchell, Isaas Settle, Rich Rice and Deepak Bhatti were the ones to make their way to the last stage of the tournament and earn their right to compete for the $625,872 grand prize.

Daya was the chip leader with 2,855,000 in chips, Brown – second with 2,325,000, Costner – third with 1,830,000.

Michael Chow took home the Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better title along with the $237,140 cash prize and the WSOP bracelet. He took down Dan Heimiller in the final heads-up battle for the title and left him with 146,505 of cash for his second place.

Here's how the final table of Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better rounded up:

1. Michael Chow 237,140

2. Dan Heimiller 146,505

3. Ylon Schwartz 94,446

4. Fred Koubi 69,188

5. Scott Epstein 51,431

6. Michael Cipolla 38,747

7. Sasha Rosewood 29,548

8. Joe Leibman 22,798

9. Todd Barlow 17,780

10. James Mcwhorter 14,030

At the Event #5: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em it was day 2 which left only 23 players running for the final win of the tournament. Vincent Jaques from Canada was the new chip leader with 1,498,000 million. Some of the players you may know - Dwyte Pilgrim, Antionio Esfandiari, Shaun Deeb, Adam Levy and Praz Bansi were also still in the game with hopes of making it to the final table.

The event was significant for Humberto Brenes, who despite being kicked out made his 53rd WSOP cash out and tied up with Erik Seidel for the fifth place for the most cashes in the history of the World Series of Poker.

Day 5 gave the start to Event #6: $1,500 No Limit Hold 'em Shootout and 36 players won their tables on day 1 of the event. The first winners were Josef Monro and Aaron Gustavson who were then joined by Max Pescatori, Chad Brown, Chris Ferguson, David Rheem, Tom Dwan and James Akenhead – the one from the 2009 Main Event final table.

Another event to start on day 5 was Event #7: $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball. 291 players started the tournament and 96 of them made it to the day 2. Last year's winner Abe Mosseri was not among those to register for the event which means that there will be a new champion in 2010.

Salim Hanna lead after day1 with 65,000 chips, he was followed by Hoyt Corkins with 63,400, Matthew Davidson with 56,400 and Brian Tate holding a 56,200 stack. Some of the names you may heard before include Alexander Kostritsyn, Isaac Haxton, Greg Mueller, Jeff Lisandro and Allen Kessler all of whom have joined those playing day 2. Some of the unfortunates included Andy Bloch, Jean-Robert Bellande and Tom Dwan.

If you're also planning a trip to Vegas for this year's WSOP, here are a few tips from the pros:



So that's all the 2010 World series of Poker action we have brought to you this week. But there's still plenty of it coming up, so stay around for more at OnlinePoker10.

Keep up with all we want to share with you by following us on Twitter and Facebook.