2012 WSOP October Nine

Dan · July 16, 2012

We’re minutes away from the start of the play down day of the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event. Normally, we’d be playing down to our 2012 WSOP November Nine, but due to the Presidential election in the United States, the final table of the Main Event will occur in late October. You can find all of the action in this article, which we’ll be updating throughout the day as the field is trimmed from 27 players to just nine, which WSOP officials have dubbed the Octo-Nine.

Canada’s Marc Ladouceurleads the way entering Day 7 of the Main Event with a stack of 15.8 million, well ahead of the second place stack of 12.7 million belonging to Daniel Strelitz. In an article posted on PocketFives on Sunday, players were largely rooting on the latter, with one poster writing, “GL sir from a fellow Torrance native!” Strelitz is a member of the California poker community and joined PocketFives back in 2008.

WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel issued the “Shuffle up and deal” command to the final 27 players at 1:00pm PT on Monday and the race was on for the top spot heading into October’s WSOP Main Event final table. A top prize of $8.5 million is on the line and each player remaining is guaranteed at least $294,000.

The final 27 in the WSOP Main Event come from seven different countries. Nineteen players in the field, or 70%, call the United States home. Germany has three players in the final 27, while Australia, Canada, France, Hungary, and Norway all are represented with one player.

Last year, 11 countries were represented in the final 15, so the global makeup of the final day’s contestants is a bit down this year. The 2011 WSOP Main Event winner, Pius Heinz, was from Germany.

Right out of the gate on Day 7, Scott Abramswrestled a pot of nearly one million in chips away from Russell Thomas. On a flop of 3-2-2, Abrams led out for 475,000 and Thomas called to bring a jack on the turn. Abrams bet over one million and Thomas got out of the way, boosting the stack of the former by 920,000.

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Update – 4:50pm ET

Germany’s Nico Maagwas the first casualty of the play down day of the 2012 WSOP Main Event. Maag open-shoved all-in for 1.11 million with A-J and Russell Thomas looked him up with A-Q. Thomas picked up a flush draw on the turn, which limited Maag’s outs even further, and a non-club jack failed to hit on the river to save the day. Maag earned $294,000 for his 27th place finish.

Update – 5:40pm ET

Germany’s Jan Heitmann, a member of Team PokerStarsPro, hit the deck in 26th place after 4betting all-in before the flop with pocket sixes. Daniel Strelitz looked him up with pocket eights and Heitmann could not overcome being a 4:1 dog. He picked up $296,000 for his 26th place finish. There are now 25 players remaining!

Update – 7:00pm ET

Roland Israelashvilihas been eliminated in 25th place after his A-5 offsuit could not trump the pocket jacks of Russell Thomas. Israelashvili open-shoved in the hand and the board ran out 9-Q-9-K-7. The hand resulted in Thomas shooting up to second on the 2012 WSOP Main Event leaderboard with 17.7 million. United States pokerplayer Robert Salaburu leads the way with 19.1 million. There are 24 players left!

Update – 7:30pm ET

PocketFives crowd favorites Daniel Strelitzand Yuval Bronshtein have been eliminated from the 2012 WSOP Main Event. Strelitz ran pocket fours into pocket kings on his final hand to go broke in 24th place, while Bronshtein lost a coin flip for his tournament life and finished in 23rd place. The latter heartbreakingly Tweeted when his run was done, “The dream is over. 23rd place for $300k. Thanks to all my friends and fans for all the support.”

Update – 11:00pm ET

We’re down to 15 players left in the 2012 WSOP Main Event and need just six more to determine our October Nine. Among the latest casualties is Paul Volpe, who finished in 20th place after getting his chips in as part of a three-way all-in with A-K against eights against tens. Volpe did not improve and collected $294,000, informally Tweeting, “Out Ggs” upon his exit.

Fellow PocketFives member Jamie TheNewRobbins was cast away in 19th place about 20 minutes after Volpe. Robbins got his chips in with flush and straight draws after the turn in a hand against Jacob Balsiger, but could not connect on the river. He pocketed the same $294,000.

Update – 1:15am ET

We’re down to 14 players remaining in the 2012 WSOP Main Event and just witnessed one of the most brutal hands of the tournament thus far. Just minutes before a break, Marc Ladouceurcalled the all-in of Andras Koroknai with As-Kc and found himself up against Koroknai’s Ac-Ks.

An all-club flush meant a brutal double up could be in store for Koroknai, who was drawing to the nut flush, and sure enough, another club hit on the turn. The massive hand sent Koroknai’s stack up to 18.2 million and cut Ladouceur all the way down to 5.0 million. Talk about crazy timing deep in a tournament with an $8.5 million top prize.

Update – 3:30am ET

Play ended around 3:30am ET at the Rio in Las Vegas with the Octo-Nine, as WSOP officials have been calling it, being determined. 2012 could have marked the first time since 1995 that a woman made the final table of the WSOP Main Event, but alas Elisabeth Hilleand Gaelle Baumannwent out in 11th and 10th, respectively, to set up the final table. Hungary’s Andras Koroknai sent both of them to the rail.

The average age of the nine remaining players in the Main Event is 31. Jake Balsigeris the baby of the group at 21, while Steven Geeis the elder statesman at 56. The chip leader entering October’s finale is Jesse Sylvia, who calls Massachusetts home:

1. Jesse Sylvia – West Tisbury, MA (43,875,000 in chips)
2. Andras Koroknai – Debrecen, Hungary (29,375,000 in chips)
3. Greg Merson – Laurel, MD (28,725,000 in chips)
4. Russell Thomas – Hartford, CT (24,800,000 in chips)
5. Steven Gee – Sacramento, CA (16,860,000 in chips)
6. Michael Esposito – Seaford, NY (16,260,000 in chips)
7. Robert Salaburu – San Antonio, TX (15,155,000 in chips)
8. Jacob Balsiger – Tempe, AZ (13,115,000 in chips)
9. Jeremy Ausmus – Las Vegas, NV (9,805,000 in chips)