Richard Harrison made a heroic comeback from a short stack of 21,700 starting Day 2. He ran his starting stack up to about 55,000 chips before this hand developed at the very end of Day 2:
With blinds at 600-1,200 with a 200 ante, an early position French player who had been very active raised to 2,400. Richard reraised to 5,000 in late position with pocket tens, his opponent called and they saw the flop heads-up.
The flop was Ax Tc 8c. Villain bet 6,200, just under half the pot. Richard raised to 14,000 and Villain called. The turn was the Qh and Villain moved all in for an amount that had Richard covered. Richard thought about it for a long time, and finally decided that the player most likely didn’t have one of the two hands that would have him in very bad shape (AA or QQ). He called. Villain turned over Ac Qc for top two pair and the nut flush draw.
Preflop, this matchup is almost even – Richard’s TT is about 54% vs. Villain’s AQ. On the flop, Richard’s hand rockets to 68.4%, and the turn adds a few points in Richard’s favor – he’s a 70.5% favorite (2.4:1). Unfortunately, the river 2 of clubs dealt a cruel end to Richard’s WSOP hopes.
Matt Shi
hadeh was at a very aggressive table throughout his Day 1. There wasn’t a single pot that was limped preflop.
In one of Matt’s first hands, with blinds at 50-100, he was in the hijack position (two places before the button) and raised to 300 with QT. The button, who Matt identified as a pro, called. The flop was a dream flop for Matt’s hand – AQQ. Matt decided to check and let his opponent bet, which he did, betting 400. Matt called. The turn was a blank. Matt checked again, his opponent bet 800 and Matt check-raised to 2,000. His opponent called and they saw the river, an offsuit 8.
At this point, Matt said he felt a “weird vibe” from his opponent. He checked, and his opponent bet a suspicious 1,600 into a pot that was now 5,550. Matt called and his opponent rolled over Q8, having overcome a 77%-23% deficit to win the hand. This took Matt down to 25,000.
With blinds up to 100-200, professional player (and chess grandmaster) Jennifer Shahade raised to 450 and Matt called in the big blind with pocket 8s. Matt checked the A82 flop (including 2 diamonds), Jen continued with a bet of 600 and Matt check-raised to 2,000. Jen called, and then called another bet on the turn of an offsuit J. Matt chose to check the river, Jen bet 5,000 and Matt called, taking down a big pot (Jen showed AJ for top 2 pair).
In the 150-300/25 round, Matt raised to 750 in the hijack seat with JT offsuit and got one caller on the button (the same pro that he lost the QT hand to). Matt bet 1,600 into a pot of 2,250 on a flop of J 8 4 with 2 hearts and the button came along. He bet 2,200 on a blank turn, and the button called again. Matt chose to check the river, giving his opponent the opportunity to bluff. He did just that with a missed flush draw; Matt called and took down a nice pot to take him to just over 52,000.
After the final level of the day, Matt ended with 46,750. He is playing Day 2 now; we’ll post further reports as we get them.
Dan Parks was also at a very active table for Day 1, typical of a WSOP Main Event table. In Dan’s case, though, he had a lot more players who were willing to play any two cards, as opposed to solid pros who just play a lot of hands. He bounced around between 20,000 and 30,000 in chips, and was around 25,000 when a player in early position raised to 675 and Dan looked down at AA. Dan made it 1,200, and the early position raiser took it up to 3,200. Dan read this as substantial strength, possibly a hand as big as KK, and decided to move all in.
The player went into the tank for a VERY long time. He finally exposed the 2 of diamonds. Dan said, “You four bet me with pocket deuces?” The player finally folded, telling Dan that he “was suited.” This took Dan up to around 30,000; however, he ended his Day 1 bagging 20,125.
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