There’s only really one show in town at the WSOP this weekend, and it’s the Big One for One Drop that starts tomorrow at 1:11 pm. Though not actually a bracelet event, the $25,300 mega-satellite was the tournament with by far the most railbirds today. It drew 96 players, good for two seats to the One Drop tourney, but the second place finisher will go on the alternate list as the tourney is full. Shaun Deep took full advantage of this by pushing his whole stack bar one chip into the middle against Gus Hansen and folding to a shove, meaning he’ll get $1M if he doesn’t get a seat in the tourney. Hansen however, won the tournament and will be participant number 48 tomorrow.

Now to the comparative micro-stakes of the $5,000 NLHE which had 48 players remaining at the start of play. It hit the hard stop with 3 players fighting it out for the bracelet; Dan Smith, Kyle Julius, Panayote Vilandos. Smith who has had a fantastic year is the chip leader. They’ll be coming back tomorrow to decide who’ll claim the $952,694 for first.

The ladies event which started with 936 has reached its final table of 9. None of poker’s power ladies made it, with Leo Margets giving it the best go but falling in 22nd place. Debbie Pechac is the woman to catch. After a great day, she sits on 630,000 with the big blind coming back tomorrow set at 10,000. They’re playing for a first prize of $170,587 and the gold bracelet.

The $2,500 10-Game Mix however, does have one of poker’s power ladies in contention. Vanessa Selbst leads the remaining 19 players into battle tomorrow on 347,000. That’s 60,000 more than her nearest rival Michael Saltzburg. Other dangerous players left in this one include Scott Clements and Bryn Kenney. With 19 remaining it’s possible that this one too might have to run into a 4th day’s play. The action resumes at 1 pm tomorrow.

Today’s $1,500 drew a huge field of 3,166 and is the largest $1,500 field to date this year. Mario Nagel is the chip leader having turned his 4,500 starting stack into 159,000. Victoria Coren, Cherish Andrews and Aaron Jones are also on the leaderboard. David Sands, Martin Staszko and Matt Affleck are also still in. There was a notable absence of the biggest names from this event as they prepare for the One Drop tournament tomorrow. 348 players are coming back for this one tomorrow and they reconvene at 1 PM.

Tomorrow there’s a $1,000 tourney kicking off at noon, and then the small matter of a tournament with 1,000 times that buy-in which gets underway at 1:11 pm.

Author Profile: Rob O’Connor+

written by Rob \\ tags: Big One for One Drop, Gus Hansen, Las Vegas, Poker, World Series of Poker, WSOP