2010 World Series of Poker Day 15: David "Bakes" Baker and Eric Buchman Both Grab First WSOP Bracelets
Two full weeks of play are in the books, and yesterday's World Series of Poker action saw PokerStars-sponsored pro Eric Buchman, and David "Bakes" Baker both win their first WSOP bracelets. Nenad Medic and Sorel Mizzi lead their respective final tables and will play for WSOP glory on Saturday, and two other events will play down to a final table on Saturday, ensuring a full slate of poker action.
Event #18: $2,000 Limit Hold'em
Less than a year ago, PokerStars-sponsored pro Eric Buchman finished fourth in the WSOP main event for $2.5 million. On Friday night, he proved to the poker world that his November Nine run in '09 was no joke, besting a field of 476 to take down his first WSOP bracelet and $203,607.
Buchman came into the final table on Friday with the chip lead and never looked back, cruising through the final table busting Matt Grapenthien, William Jensen and finally Brent Courson, who finished in second place. The final hand saw three-bets put in preflop, with Buchman holding 10?7? and Courson holding A?K?. In position, Buchman called a bet from Courson on the 2?Q?2? flop, and when the 7? hit on the turn, he called the final all in bet from Courson. The river was the 8?, clinching the hand for Buchman and securing him his first WSOP victory.
Be sure to see how it all went down in our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #19: $10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball
David "Bakes" Baker came into the final day of Event #19 with a tough task ahead of him, beating out as stacked a final group as we've seen this year at the WSOP, with Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu and George Danzer in the final group, in addition to John Juanda, Erik Seidel, John Monnette, Andy Bloch and Eric Cloutier, who were all battling for a WSOP win.
Baker, however, was certainly up for the challenge as he skillfully knocked out five of the six other players at the final table, in addition to knocking out Negreanu in eighth place. For his efforts, Baker takes home $294,314 and is now in serious contention for the 2010 WSOP Player of the Year, thanks to his $50,000 Players Championship final table and now this win.
Our WSOP live reporting team has all the action broken down for you.
Event #20: $1,500 Pot-limit Omaha
Pot-limit Omaha is one of those games where wielding a big stack can prove absolutely deadly, and Nenad Medic did just that, amassing a huge chip lead on Friday and ending the day with 1,504,000, almost a million chips ahead of his nearest competitor, Tex Barch, who final-tabled the 2005 WSOP main event.
Medic's stack received its biggest infusion on the last hand of the night with the board reading J?5?3?5?. Medic bet, and Peter Costa, who started the hand with about 500,000, moved all-in holding A?A?Q?4?, and got a quick call from Medic who held K?J?J?8? for a turned full house. The 3? on the river put the nail in the coffin for Costa and put Medic in the driver seat to win his second WSOP bracelet.
We'll have all the final table action live in our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #21: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud
Because he began the day with only 16,000 in chips, it's tough to believe that Sorel Mizzi, who told PokerNews at the end of the evening that he had very little idea of what he was doing when he entered this event, would be the chip leader at the end of Day 2 and in prime position to win his first WSOP bracelet.
Mizzi ended the day with 435,000 in chips and is comfortably ahead of a final table that includes Richard Ashby, Dan Heimiller, Team PokerStars Pro Pat Pezzin and Jon Turner.
Can Mizzi can take down his first bracelet? See for yourself by following our WSOP live reporting pages when play resumes Saturday afternoon.
Event #22: $1,000 Ladies No-limit Hold��em Championship
Over 1,000 women stormed the Rio on Friday afternoon for the annual Ladies event, and when the day was complete, only 138 remained. Among them are chip leader La Sengphet who amassed a 148,500 stack, 2008 champ Svetlana Gromenkova, Eveyln Ng, Liv Boeree, Lacey Jones, Michele Lewis, Wooka Kim, Linda Johnson and Maria Ho.
In Vegas, no event can be closed based on gender, so a number of men entered the event including Shaun Deeb who claimed to have lost a prop bet and had to dress in drag during Friday's festivities. However, rest easy ladies, none of the men survived the day and there will be no major controversy to take the attention away from the action on Saturday.
Follow all the ladies live as they play down to a final table in our WSOP live reporting pages.
Event #23: $2,500 Limit Hold'em Six-handed
With the ladies event taking center stage during the early afternoon, the 5 p.m. tournament saw an extremely stacked field take to the felt for this fast-paced six-handed limit tournament. The event saw 384 runners fork over the cash to play. After eight levels only about 100 remained.
Justin Bonomo leads the notables going into Saturday's Day 2 with 56,900 in chips and is joined by Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and George Lind, JJ Liu, Phil Gordon, JC Tran, Erick Lindgren, Matt Hawrilenko and Joe Sebok who took a hit as the day ended, bagging only 4,300 in chips.
Play resumes on Saturday afternoon, and you can follow along with our WSOP live reporting pages to keep an eye on how all your favorites are doing.
On Tap
Another $1,000 event gets under way today at the Rio at 12 p.m., and at 5 p.m. the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo World Championship will commence. We'll be on top of both events, and you can be too by checking out our WSOP live reporting pages.
Video of the Day
Kristy Arnett, who busted from the ladies event early in the day, caught up with a few of the women who were still in the mix late last night. Check it out.
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