WSOP: Cada Tops Field at USD 10k NLHE Main Event Day 1c

With the holiday over, the fireworks were confined to the inside of the Rio as Day 1c of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event drew the biggest field yet of the Day 1 flights. 1,697 players signed up for Day 1c, prompting tournament officials to shift the schedule to five levels on Days 1c and 1d, as opposed to the four levels played on Days 1a and 1b. Among the poker superstars taking the field on Day 1c were Scotty Nguyen, Jamie Gold, Dennis Phillips, Joe Hachem, Matt Savage, Daniel Negreanu, and John Juanda. Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver brought out the athletic star power, as the former light heavyweight champ took to the felt. At the close of play, Joe Cada led Day 1c survivors.

Phil Hellmuth made his customary Main Event grand entrance, coming in on a Roman sedan chair as multitudes of toga-wearing and body-painted models escorted the 11-time bracelet winner to his seat. Also in the field was “Miami” John Cernuto, who returned to WSOP action, after collapsing during a preliminary event this summer.

The larger field meant more big names busting out, and some of the early eliminations included David Saab, David “Chino” Rheem, Evelyn Ng, and Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu’s stay at the featured table was much shorter than he had hoped, as he was sent home well before dinner break. All the money went in on the flop, and Negreanu opened for two pair. He was in deep trouble when his opponent made the call and tabled for the bigger two pair, and when the turn brought the Negreanu was left with only two outs. The on the river wasn’t one of them, and Kid Poker was finished.

Jamie Gold was another Day 1c casualty, busting later in the afternoon when he got it all in with to an opponent’s pocket jacks. Gold missed the flop entirely, and when the turn brought the , he was drawing dead. Other Day 1c eliminations included John Caldwell, Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri, and Annie Duke.

One thing players didn’t want to see at their table at any point during this WSOP was the trademark fedora of triple bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro. Lisandro’s winning ways continued all through Day 1c, as he racked up an impressive stack to finish the day among chip leaders. In an early pot, Lisandro checked his big blind to see the flop of . Lisandro bet out and the small blind called. The hit the turn, and both players checked. The small blind fired a bet when the hit the river, and Lisandro quickly raised. After a moment’s hesitation the small blind called and showed for eights full of aces. Lisandro tabled for jacks full of eights, and scooped yet another big pot.

1983 Main Event champ Tom McEvoy won the Champions’ Invitational event earlier this summer, but couldn’t make it through the minefield of Day 1c. He made his exit after the dinner break and was soon joined on the rail by late eliminations Brandon Cantu, David Singer, and recent “Rumble Nowhere Near the Rio” winner, Liv Boeree.

As play drew to a close, WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla took a moment to recognize one player in particular who would move on to Day 2. Kent Senter was diagnosed in March with multiple myleoma, a rare cancer of the plasma cells, and given anywhere from six months to two years to live. Senter, a father of four, had always dreamed of playing in the WSOP Main Event, and with his diagnosis and the expensive treatments, that dream seemed unlikely to ever come true until Bluff Magazine publisher Eric Morris contacted PokerStars, who put up the USD 10,000 entry fee, so that Senter could live out his dream. Senter made it through Day 1c with a medium stack and received an ovation from the entire room when Dalla introduced him.

Joe Cada was the man sitting with the most chips when the final pot was pushed, his stack of 187,225 establishing him as the overall chip leader of all the Day 1 flights so far. Tyler Patterson, Sebastian Stier, and Chance Kornuth also finished with hefty stacks. Other notable Day 1c survivors included Phil Hellmuth, Joe Hachem, Terrence “Not Johnny” Chan, Marc Naalden, Justin Bonomo, Hevad Khan, Isabelle Mercier, Dennis Phillips, and Howard Lederer.

Phil Hellmuth enters dressed up as Caesar

The latest amusing anecdote comes straight from the WSOP in Las Vegas. It is about the no-limit Texas Hold ‘em champion, Phil Hellmuth who dressed up as Julius Caesar and paraded through the entrance to the World Series of Poker last Sunday. He arrived in a car outside the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, and was accompanied by dozens of women and trumpeters, which drove the fans into frenzy.

11-time gold bracelet winner Hellmuth had won the WSOP main event 20 years ago and now appears again at the event’s poker table. Female gladiators with body paint and muses carrying rose petals in bags accompanied him throughout. “When you dress as Caesar you actually feel more powerful. Kiss my ring!” Hellmuth’s said while speaking to the AP, and continued “Hail Caesar!”

The television cameras showed how Phil was rolled in, greeted Jeffrey Pollack, the World Series of Poker Commissioner, and then had a quick change into standard attire for the tournament start.

During last year’s WSOP, Hellmuth surprised everyone with his Gen. George S. Patton attire, and this year it’s Caesar, and so the guess is that this annual dress up will become a tradition. “It’s a kind of fun. I think it’s great for poker” were his words.

Compared to Hellmuth, the other players had everyday attire without a bombastic entry but some players did have some gimmicks up their sleeve during the tournament of 2008, trying to draw attention to themselves and may be distract competition. Such as last year’s number three, Dennis Phillips, who won USD 4.5 million at the series’ final table and had a dozen supporters dressed in a white collared shirt and a St. Louis Cardinals hat.

Meanwhile, the WSOP sell-outs are looking great this year with almost 1,700 players entering this year’s tournament last Sunday. Many are expecting a bigger sale by today, one to reach a record of 2,600 players. In fact, July 6 is the last day and entries to the tournament are accepted with hopefuls guessing on an additional 800 new tournament applicants. Last year it was the turn of Peter Eastgate to win the event with a prize of USD 9.15 million. Eastgate had entered the event through a USD 10,000 buy-in tournament contested by another 6,844 players.

Veldhuis, Young talk WSOP $5k Shootout

According to Lex Veldhuis, today's $5,000 No Limit Hold'em shootout might as well be a different sport. The game is so different from a standard NLHE tournament that the Dutch pro says, "comparing it to a No Limit Hold'em tournament is like comparing Texas Hold'em to Omaha." The key difference, Veldhuis says, is the table draw.

In a shootout format, players compete in a series of single-table tournaments, with the winner of each table advancing to the next round. The WSOP's $5k event features three rounds in total, with the starting field slated to be distilled to a five-handed final table by Day 3. 

Since players don't move tables as in a normal tournament, avoiding the big name pros and SNG icons while registering can be key. "Your table matters more in a tournament like this," Veldhuis told to leading online site. "It's so much more important." Beyond table draw, which is uncontrollable, the pros point to the importance of adaptability as a key to success.

"I noticed in this tournament a lot of people were going wild preflop, so I'm sitting back and waiting for hands," said 2007 WSOP bracelet winner Ryan Young. "At the same time, people have been noticing that I'm playing tight so I've been able to get away with a couple of big bluffs."

Veldhuis, meanwhile, took the opposite tack on his Day 1 table. "You have to adjust for going from full-ring to shorthanded play," he said. "I try to pick on people who switch gears too late. "I try to double my stack early by putting pressure on people who are playing too tight. If I get to four-handed play I usually have the chip lead.

"I've made plenty of blow-ups with eight or nine people left too," he said. "But it's all about pressure." Young told that he found the shootout format easier than a normal freezeout-format tournament. "I like it," he said. "You've got to know how to play from ten players down to heads-up. For every player that you lose it's a different game. "It's also good because you're at the same table the whole time, so you can adapt to the players' different strategies."

In Day 1 action, Veldhuis emerged victorious at a table that included Philippe Rouas and Jerrod Ankenman. He'll return to action on Monday for Round 2 guaranteed $16,740 in prize money. Also advancing to the second round were Phil Ivey, Davidi Kitai, Danny Wong and Joe Serock.

A total of 280 players bought-in to the Shootout event, including poker icons Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Jennifer Harman and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. Hellmuth was eliminated after a sometimes testy heads-up battle with Andrea Bonelli, while Ferguson, J.C. Tran, Isaac Baron and Jonathan Little also numbered among the eliminated.

Leonardo DiCaprio Starring in Online Poker Movie

Move over, “Titanic,” there’s a new sheriff in town. Hollywood heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio will star in an untitled film about internet gambling outfits in Costa Rica, according to the Hollywood Reporter and Entertainment Weekly.

The screenplay will be written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, who both served in the same capacity in the 1998 film “Rounders,” which drew many of today’s poker prodigies to the game. According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), “Rounders” marked the first official writing credits for Koppelman and Levien. The duo has also teamed up with DiCaprio to bring “Beat the Reaper” to the big screen. The film, which will be released next year, has the following plot according to IMDB: “ER doctor Peter Brown’s life is turned upside down when he crosses paths with a mobster who appears to know him from his former life as a hitman.”

No release date has been given for DiCaprio’s online poker movie. An article on MTV.com noted that DiCaprio’s plate is quite full: “DiCaprio has an enormous list of films in pre-production. For the time being, at least, he’ll be working on Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception.’ Whenever he’s finished with that, he will probably have developed five more projects.” IMDB notes that DiCaprio has 21 films in development.

Whether the film will focus on online poker, casinos, or sports betting remains to be seen and various websites pitch the movie in several different ways. Tokwiro-owned online poker rooms Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker are both based in San Jose, the Central American country’s capital city. A report by CBS News program “60 Minutes” identified the offices of the sites as being located in a “strip mall.” Both Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker comprise the CEREUS Network, which was formed in November.

Action Poker, the flagship site of the network of the same name, has offices in Costa Rica. Joining the site in the tropical nation is Doyle’s Room, which opened the 2009 calendar year by jumping to the USA-friendly Cake Poker Network. Ten-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Doyle Brunson, whose “Texas Dolly” moniker has made him one of the industry’s foremost faces, is the site’s namesake. Also holding a presence in Costa Rica is PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site. According to PokerScout.com, which ranks online poker site traffic, PokerStars has a seven-day running average of 22,000 cash game players. It happily accepts customers from the United States.

“Rounders” starred Edward Norton and Matt Damon. The movie was released five years before Chris Moneymaker became a household after the Tennessee accountant defeated Sammy Farha in the 2003 WSOP Main Event. Since then, Koppelman and Levien have kept their love for poker alive, teaming up for ESPN’s short-lived series “Tilt,” which starred Michael Madsen as Don “The Matador” Everest. “Tilt” premiered in 2005, ran for one season, and featured appearances by poker superstars including Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel, and T.J. Cloutier. Negreanu is fresh off a cameo in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”

Finally, Koppelman and Levien wrote “Oceans Thirteen,” which came out in 2007. It was the third installment of the franchise, which stars Damon, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Andy Garcia, and Julia Roberts. “Oceans Thirteen” returned to its roots in Las Vegas as the team sought revenge on casino owner Willy Blank (played by Al Pacino). The movie also stars Don Cheadle, who founded Ante Up for Africa along with Norman Epstein and “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up Annie Duke.