The World Series of Poker main event day 1c played out today. While registration for the $10,000 No-Limit Texas Hold’em World Championship remains open, the total prize pool for the 2008 WSOP already exceeds the previous record of $159,796,918 set in 2007. After a sluggish first two days that saw only a combined 2,455 entries, many were skeptical about the turn out in relation to last year’s 6,358 player field. Day 1C’s 1,928 player turn-out means that tomorrow, the predicted highest attended day, will only need 1,975 to match last year’s numbers, and with over 1,800 already registered, and satellites running around the clock, it looks like the poker recession will have to wait another year.
No European really stood out today in the race to get to the next stage, but at the same time, there wasn’t a huge amount of notable international players eliminated either.
German Eddy Scharf set about gathering chips early at his table. The two-time bracelet winner bet around the pot of 4,000 on the river with the board reading Q
10
7
Q9
and got his opponent to lay down.
Irishman Padraig Parkinson was also quite active at what he described as a "passive" table. He won a succession of small pots uncontested until one player came back over the top, forcing him to fold.
Frenchman Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier lost almost half his starting stack early on in the day, but appeared relatively unfazed, picking up a pot on a board of Q105Q9 by betting out about three-quarters the pot.
Brit Mark Teltscher was a match for Tiffay Michelle’s aggression when he called every bet including 4,000 on the river. The board read A-A-K-7-2 and Teltscher went into the tank finally calling. Michelle looked a little downbeat. "You got an Ace?" she asked and went to muck her cards. Teltscher flipped over A-3 for trip aces.
Today, Italians Max Pescatori and Marco Traniello, and Davidi Kitai from Beligium saw their main event hopes come to an end. Although at the time of writing, play was not quite finished, German Markus Lehmann, Irishman Padraig Parkinson, and Dutchmen Marcel Luske and Rolf Slotboom were hanging in there and surviving.
Another fruitful day of poker is expected from day 1d of the main event. More players will meet at 8pm tonight in the hopes of outlasting their opponents and getting through to the next round. Find out who they are and watch them battle it out by staying tuned to CardPlayer.com for regular World Series news and updates.
