You don't see Dan Harrington on the tournament circuit too much these days, but the 1995 World Series of Poker Main Event champ always makes it out for the Main Event. We recently spotted Harrington, a former attorney and the 1971 Massachusetts State Chess Champion, in the field over at Table 379.
Since making back-to-back final tables in the 2003 and 2004 WSOP Main Events, where he finished third and fourth respectively, "Action Dan" has been a favorite among poker fans. He's also gained quite a bit of notoriety through his acclaimed Harrington on Hold'em series of instructional poker books.
Harrington is one of four past Main Event champs in today's field alongside Doyle Brunson (1976 & 1977), Scotty Nguyen (1998) and Greg Raymer (2004).
Before the end of the last level, Dan Smith opened the action with a raise to 300 after play folded to him in the cutoff seat. The player on the button called, and everyone else folded.
The flop came down , and Smith led for 450. His opponent called, and the turn was the . Both players checked.
The completed the board on the river, and Smith fired 1,200. His opponent folded, and Smith won the pot.
The first level of Day 1b is in the books, and what a first two hours it turned out to be. Today's field has attracted some of poker's elite including Sorel Mizzi, Alex Phahurat, Andy Frankenberger, Greg Raymer, David Bach, Randy Dorfman, Dennis Phillips, Paul Klann, Layne Flack, Andrew Lichtenberger, Scott Seiver, Johnny Lodden, Erick Lindgren and Doyle Brunson.
"Think of it as the first step in a more tangible Poker Hall of Fame," Stewart said as the room cheered. Stewart then indicated that he had a seat card for "Texas Dolly" in today's field, and despite saying earlier in the summer that he wouldn't be playing any events, Brunson accepted and is playing at the feature table
In addition, two celebrities are in action in MMA fighter Georges St. Pierre and Everybody Loves Raymond's Ray Romano. Needless to say, their appearance in the Main has generated quite a bit of excitement and will be a strong story line as the day unfolds.
Two players who were in action were Mehrdad Danialifar and Samuel Gregory. Unfortunately for them, they're no longer with us, Danialifar earned the distinction of being the first player eliminated from the Day 1b flight when he ran queens into Terry Fleischer's pocket aces in the first 22 minutes of play. A couple of minutes later, Gregory became the second player to fall.
Norwegian professional snowboarder Torstein Horgmo is amongst those in the field for the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event, starting out Day 1b on Table 440 in the Purple Section of the Amazon Room.
While Horgmo doesn't have any gold bracelets or WSOP cashes just yet, he has plenty of other gold for those to envy. Horgmo is a three-time X Games gold medal winner from the 2008, 2011 and 2013 Aspen Big Air competitions. He earned silver from those same competitions in 2009, 2010 and 2012. In 2009, Horgmo won four slopestyle contests on the Dew Tour.
Horgmo is also well known for releasing his own film about his personal snowboarding career, titled Horgasm: A Love Story.
The hand folded around to the player on the button, who made it 250, before Juha Helppi bumped it up to 750 from the big blind. He was snap called, as both players watched the flop come down . Helppi threw out a continuation bet of 400 and was called, before both players opted to check the on the turn. With the completing the board, Helppi checked, before mucking his hand, when his opponent confidently bet out 1,100.
Not long ago, Alex Schechter used Big Slick to cripple Bernard Lee, and now he's used the same hand to finish him off.
It happened after a player raised and four other, including Lee in the small blind, called him. The flop saw action check to Schechter on the button and he bet. Only Lee called and then the dealer burned and turned a . Lee check-called a bet of 1,900 and a completed the board on the river.
Lee checked for a third time and Schechter moved all in. Lee called off his last 4,000 or so with for a flopped two pair, but it was second best to Schechter's bigger two pair with . A devastated Lee collected himself and made an early exit from this year's Main Event.
, and Smith led for 450. His opponent called, and the turn was the 
. Both players checked.
completed the board on the river, and Smith fired 1,200. His opponent folded, and Smith won the pot.
. Helppi threw out a continuation bet of 400 and was called, before both players opted to check the 
on the turn. With the 
completing the board, Helppi checked, before mucking his hand, when his opponent confidently bet out 1,100.
flop saw action check to Schechter on the button and he bet. Only Lee called and then the dealer burned and turned a 
. Lee check-called a bet of 1,900 and a 
completed the board on the river.