The PokerNews Podcast crew covers several huge stories, including the PokerStars sale, Mike Matusow's penalty, and the decline of pot-limit hold'em. They are then joined by defending Main Event champion Ryan Riess to talk about his banner, his recent run bad, and much more.
We just spotted Mike Matusow taking a seat in the purple section, and straight away he was into action calling a bet on sixth as another player folded. Matusow then checked sixth, as did his opponent, before adding, "must have fours and deuces then!"
Matusow: / /
Opponent: / /
Matusow pointed at his board indicating he was playing tens-up, and turned over / as his opponent flashed his and mucked.
Matusow recently sat down with PokerNews contributor Kim Yuhl to discuss his first WSOP where he reminisces about Stu Unger and losing heads-up to Scotty Nguyen.
Opponent 1 tabled his / , but it would be opponent 2's / taking the high as opponent 3's would scoop the low. Mariani mucked, and headed to the rail.
Mariani might not be a notable name when it comes to poker, and he may not even be that recognizable when it comes to the NBA community. However, if you are a Los Angeles Laker fan, you will know Mariani as being a sizable owner of the Lakers who also likes to dabble in some poker like the late Dr Jerry Buss.
Unfortunately Mariani is now on the rail, but like Buss' ventures from previous years, hopefully Mariani will be a staple at the WSOP when his Lakers aren't in playoff contention.
Australian Mel Judah has just been eliminated from the tournament after finding himself all in for his last 575 by fifth street as he and his opponent's board ran out as follows:
Judah: / /
Opponent: / /
With his opponent making aces-up, Judah was unable to find a third jack to stay alive.
Phil Hellmuth has just taken his seat in today's tournament and has already won a few pots to see his stack increase to 6,300.
Hellmuth, arguably one of the best all-round poker players in the world, currently sits seventh on all-time seven-card stud hi-low money list behind Eric Rodawig, Frank Kassela and Mike Sexton — who are all still in this tournament.
Jeffrey Lisandro — who is in town and actively playing plenty of events — still has several hours to find a seat, while Sebastian Ruthenberg isn't believed to be in town. Ryan Hughes, who currently sits fourth on the list, hasn't been spotted yet.
Hellmuth has six career stud hi-low cashes dating back to 1988, and he will be looking to add his seventh in this event. Of course, this event could potentially result in his 14th WSOP gold bracelet win, but that will have to wait for now until we see how (or if) he progresses throughout the next couple of days.
Here's at look at the all-time seven-card stud hi-low money list:
Day 1 of Event #30: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low has come to a conclusion with Jimmy Fricke emerging as chip leader.
In the first standalone seven-card stud hi-low tournament of the series, a field of 588 took to the felt to top the 558 players that anted up for this event in 2013. Reigning champion Daniel Idema was a late entrant, but he had an early departure as he, along with 2014 WSOP bracelet winners Vanessa Selbst, Brandon Shack-Harris, George Danzer, and Dan Heimiller, were eliminated.
Also busting during Day 1 were Chris Tryba, Max Pescatori, Mike Sexton, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, and Phil Ivey.
With a prizepool of $793,800 seeing $190,538 reserved for the winner, Fricke stood in best shape to make a run at it on Day 2 as he topped the remaining 109 players with an amassed chip stack of 67,300. Nipping at his heels were Calvin Anderson (66,900), David Brooker (62,500), and Christine Pietsch (61,900).
However, there are still plenty of big names remaining as obstacles in Fricke's path. Ylon Schwartz (38,700), Jesse Martin (34,600), Matt Glantz (30,000), Daniel Ospina (29,900), Eric Buchman (26,100), and recent winner of Event #22, Christopher Wallace (14,700), all remain in the hunt.
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be in the WSOP's Amazon Room on Saturday from 2 p.m. PT to provide continued extensive coverage of Event #30 as we look to write the path of victory for one lucky player remaining. Make sure to stay tuned right here to for all the live updates straight from the tournament floor as the quest to the money and final table marches on.