Event 31, No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed Live Updates

Day 1 of this six-handed event is over and it looks like just 73 of this 1,012-person field has survived. We all knew shorthanded play was action packed but what we saw today surprised even us.

Official counts will be in sometime tonight but for right now we can tell you Alon Shahar is the chip leader. Read on for end of day action as well as an estimation of the top ten stacks in the room.

Join us again at 2 p.m. for the playdown to the final table.

Official Counts

It's just like the title says. Click through for full end of day counts.

Scotty Nguyen is Going to Hell

Scotty Nguyen's never been accused of being subtle but a few moments ago we saw just how ridiculous he can get. He's been double-fisting Michelob's for the last few levels and just took down a massive pot, eliminating a stunned Brent Hanks in the process.

Scotty being Scotty.

We arrived with the board reading 8♥ 8♦ 4♠ and Nguyen's entire stack sitting in a sloppy pile in the middle of the table. The decision was on Hanks to call for the rest of his chips and Nguyen was doing his very best to goad him into making it.

Scotty, cackling incessantly, ripped a $100 bill in half and tossed one piece to Hanks. "Here's $50, make the call and you get the other half," Nguyen said with a laugh. Shaking his head Hanks was obviously attracted, not by the money but perhaps by the cards facedown in front of him.

A crowd had gathered and Scotty was up on his chair with one foot on the ground. After a few minutes Hanks announced call and Scotty turned over 8♣ T♣, throwing his head back and letting loose with a barrage of cruel-hearted laughter.

Hanks gets the other half of the c-note and Nguyen gets the rest of his chips. "You're going to hell Scotty!" said someone at a neighboring table.

Dario Minieri is Agressive (Shhh, It's a Secret)

Anyone who's ever seen Dario Minieri play poker knows he doesn't hold back. In fact, he may be the single most aggressive player we've ever seen. He's got chips in this event and he's using them to bully the other players at his table.

When we were last table-side he picked up five consecutive pots without showing down a hand. Pre-flop raises mean a re-raise from Minieri followed up but mutliple barrels as the hand progresses. So far the other players at his table are having a hard time dealing with the assault.

The money bubble has broken in this event as the final 108 are all guaranteed a payday. 91 remain and we've just started the final level of the night. Read on for a few choice hands, payout info and the top ten counts.

Step Away from the Ipod!

With the money bubble broken the announcement has been made that electronics are no longer allowed in the tournament room. Players who rely on music to make it through the more boring sections will have to come up with new ideas.

We suggest counting the holes in the ceiling tile or seeing how many times you can shuffle your chips in an hour and then trying to beat that score in the next hour.

We Want More Money (Yeah, More Money)

The payouts have been announced and it looks like we've got a decent amount of cash flow at stake in this event. 1,012 entered and put together their buy-ins to make a total prize pool of $2,327,600. First will take $528,418. For a full rundown of the prizes click through to the payout structure page.

Rich Getting Richer

Alon Shahar has been leading the field for much of the day and just took down a massive pot to extend his lead. It was against the player with the name everyone wants to parody, Phil Collins. We didn’t see the pre-flop action but the two players went heads-up to a flop of A♦ J♣ 9♦.

Collins check-called Shahar’s flop bet and they both saw the 2♣ hit the turn. Collins again check-called, this time $15,000, and the 7♣ hit the river. One final check from Phil sent Shahar deep into the tank. He began cutting out chips and eventually settled on a big bet of $44,000.

Collins only thought for a few moments before making the call for the vast majority of his remaining chips. Shahar tabled A♣ 9♣ for the flopped two pair which runner-runnered the nut flush and Collins quickly mucked.

Shahar was still stacking chips but his count must be right in the $230,000 range.

Top of the Heap

Here's a look at the top ten counts in the room, courtesy of www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

Alabama Represent!

Shannon Shorr is one of the few name players hailing from the state of Alabama and he’s still alive and kicking in this event. We arrived at his table a moment ago to see him sending a shortstack to the exit after winning a pre-flop all-in coin flip. Pocket tens for Shorr held up against his opponent’s A-Q and he adds a few more chips to his stack.

This six-max spectacular is still rolling with 120 or so still moving chips around their felty surfaces. Read on for some of the action as well as the top ten counts in the room.

Treysfull21 Wins a Flip Creatively

PL.com first met Jason “Treysfull21” Mercier when he won the EPT in San Remo, Italy, just a few months ago. He’s here in Vegas and managed to increase his stack with the elimination of Ben Sprengers a moment ago.

Coin flips are a common occurrence but every once in a while someone finds a way to make it interesting. Pairing the overcard is easy. It takes real professional to go runner-runner for the win. Sprengers ended up all-in with 7♠ racing Mercier’s A♦ K♥.

The flop came down 7♥ 5♦ 3♦ and Sprengers nailed his set. “You’ve got the diamond though,” Sprengers fatefully observed, referring to the back-door flush possibility Mercier was clinging to. The turn was the K♦, making the flush a real possibility.

Sure enough one final diamond hit the river, eliminating Sprengers and shipping the pot to the now well-stacked Mercier.

Chip Counts in Paradise

Take a gander at the top ten stacks, courtesy of www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

Euro-Rounder Alert!

While online play has certainly shrunk the poker world there are still those players that remain unknown live despite their impressive virtual records. One such player is Jonas Danielsson who plays on PokerStars under the name Nebuchad.

Danielsson won the Scandinavian Poker Award for best online player, no easy feat considering the long list of superstars who hail from the area.

Danielsson is a dangerous player and never is his aggression more profitable than at shorthanded tables, making this a perfect opportunity for a deep run. He’s got chips in this event and we just saw him take a small pot, albeit one where his aggression played little part.

Randall Brueckner opened from the hijack and the cut-off called. Danielsson called in the small blind and they all checked down the board of T♣ 7♥ 6♠ 2♦ 6♣. Danielsson tabled 7♣ 8♣ for two pair and raked the meager pot.

It's no secret that shorthanded play equals action any way you slice it. Not surprisingly this has been the case in this event as the mammoth field continues to shrink with each passing level. Read on for a smattering of chip counts and a splash of the aforementioned action.

Still Standing

A quick walk-through of the tournament room tells us that a number of big names have survived this far for a shot at the final table tomorrow.

Bruno Fitoussi, Jason Mercier, Dave Ulliott, Mark Vos, Scotty Nguyen, Brent Hanks, Shankar Pillai, Max Pescatori, Kenna James, Brandon Cantu, Bill Chen, Jonas Danielsson, Dario Minieri, Robert Williamson III, Eric Liu, Shannon Shorr and John Racener are all still in it to win it.

Minieri Gets Paid

Perhaps the single most aggressive player we've ever seen, Dario Minieri, is used to getting paid off when he hits a big hand and that's exactly what we saw happen a moment ago. It started with the player on the button opening and Minieri calling in the small blind.

The flop came down Q♥ 7♦ 4♣ and Dario checked. His opponent fired $3,500 and Minieri flat-called. The turn was the 8♣ and Minieri checked again. The button fired $5,000 and Dario moved all-in.

The button snap-called and turned over A♠ A♦ which was in terrible shape against Dario's pocket sevens for the set. The river is the 5♠ and Minieri is good for the pot and the elimination.

Tonight's Top Ten List

Tonight's category is top ten stacks in the room at the moment, courtesy of www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

Just like every other big field, small starting stack tournament we've seen a ridiculous number of eliminations in the first half of the day. We began with over 1,000 but are now down well below the 200 mark.

The field is done with their dinner break and ready to get back to business. Here's a look at the top ten counts in the field as the cards get back in the air, courtesy of www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

The players have just gone off on a 90 minute dinner break, with Chad Batista and Michael Binger having recently been eliminated. 108 spots are being paid, so there's another 82 players to go before they reach the money.

Aguiar-ny

Jonathan Aguiar has been almost felted after getting his whole stack in on the turn on the A♣ 7♦ 5♥ 6♥ board witrh A♥ J♥ against A♠ 5♠ and failed to catch a heart, jack, six or seven. He's now down to just three or four big blinds.

Fish swimming good.

Devilfish Receives Help From Gods

Dave Ulliot is up amongst the chip leaders after picking up a big amount of chips with J-T on a A-J-6-J-2 board to boost him up to the heady heights of almost $65,000. 

WIth blinds now $300/$600, the average stack is around 31 BB's now, giving room to maneuver for all but the shortest of stacks, though anyone attempting the now common re-steal, will usually be commited to the hand. Tom Antonucci is the chip leader with around $60,000.

Meeeeeeeediiiiccccccc

Nenad Medic, the opening bracelet winner is out, courtesy of the classic 57-43 flip, his queens were undone by Ian Kim's A-K. Ian Kim is now one of the chip leaders in the event, he won another coinflip with fours against ace king, spiking a set. He's on roughly $60,000 also.

McBusto!

Camel Gets The Hump

Keith Hawkins was all-in on a 4-6-T-K board against Alon Shahar and another player, when the river came 3♥ the second player.

Time To Makes Some Moves

Chad Batista is close to the felt after he held J-9 on a T-9-7 board against A-8, only for the straight to be filled for his opponent on the turn. Batista is down to just $4,000 chips and is going to have to get very busy over the next ten minutes or so.

Top Ten Chip Counts Courtesy of www.worldseriesofpoker.com

Nearly two-thirds of the 1,000 players have now been eliminated from this event. Jordan Morgan, Hevad Khan, Dario Minieri and Mark Vos are all amongst the chip leaders with close to $30,000 each.

Gus Hans-Gone

Gus Hansen was all-in with 9♣ 7♣ vs J♥ T♥ on a 9♦ 7♥ K♥ board, the great Dane had 15 outs to dodge twice but got hit squarely on the nose when his opponent caught the 8♠ on the river.

Probably going quackers right now.

Wasicka Defeated By A Duck

Paul Wasicka was set in on a A-Q-8 flop by Scott Bohlman, eventually the former Main Event Runner-up managed to make the correct call with Q-J against' Bohlman's pocket twos, only for the latter to catch on of his two remaining deuces on the turn to lock the hand up.

Chips For Fish

Barry Greenstein, who isn't the sort to still be celebrating his win in the Razz last night, has just been knocked out of the short-handed event. His assassin was Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliot whose A-Q triumphed over Greenstein's A-T after they got it all-in preflop.

All On An Extended Toilet Break. Or Out.

Tronde Eidsvig, Anna Wrobeleski, Alex Jacob and Joe Hachem have all left the arena.

Even with a $5,000 starting stack the blinds are invariably beginning to creep up on some of our shorter-stacked players. With the 6-max format meaning that the blinds hit you sooner than than in a full ring game, this means that players are forced to make their moves perhaps sooner than they usually would.

Cantu Can Do

Brandon Cantu is on $16,000, he hit two pair with his Q-T against A-Q, and got all the money in on the river to put him into a healthy position.

Denmark vs Italy 

Gus Hansen and Dario Minieri, both players who like to play pots have been sparring a fair bit. First Gus doubled through Dario when he liked the K-Q-8 flop a little more with his Q-Q vs Dario's K-T.

Soon after, they then saw a T-8-7 flop and Hansen check/called the flop and the J turn before both players checked the river. Hansen's 8-7 was good and at the moment it's 2-0 to Denmark.

Bustoville. Population: These Guys

Clownie Gowen, Gavin Smith, Vanessa Rousso, Phil Ivey, Bill Edler, Rafi Amit are all out and probably annoyed that there is no 5pm starting event this evening.

It's break time here in the Amazon Room, as our players have finished the first two levels of play. They'll be back in 20 minutes for more poker; now that Tiger Woods is finished playing they'll be able to concentrate.

Last Train to Railsville

We've lost several hundred players already, and of course more than a few of them are well-known. Among the recently departed are Freddy Deeb, Ludovic Lacay, Chris McCormack, Ted Forrest, Jennifer Tilly, James Mackey, Chau Giang, Humberto Brenes, Noah Boeken, Alexander Kostritsyn, Men Nguyen, Jamie Pickering, and Beth Shak.

French Destruction

Arnaud Mattern has been going very well so far, as he's knocked out both Theo Tran and David Pham. Against the latter he hit one of his 15 outs against Pham's A-10 with 5♦ 4♦ on a A-7-3 two diamond board. He's sitting on around $13,000.

Deeb Jr Gone

Shaun 'Son of Freddy' Deeb is out, after Jeff Williams, winner of the EPT Monte Carlo a few years back, managed to make two pair with his A-6 to send his fellow online pro back to his laptop.

Your current chip leader, Jeff Williams.

Couldn't Stand the Chip Counts

Here are your official top 10 chip counts, according to WorldSeriesOfPoker.com:

We're fully underway here in the Amazon Room - at least, we will be once Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate finish up their little golf match.

Someone give this man a TV with golf on it!

The 19th Hole

Players want us to move out of the way while we’re sliding around the room doing our coverage today. Why? Because Rocco Mediate and Tiger Woods are at the end of their playoff to determine the winner of the US Open.

Frank Kassela told us that nobody’s really paying attention to the tournament right now. “They’re making us play poker,” he said. “See if you can get them to stop the clock for us until we finish the playoff.”

Andy Black had a great view of the match until Alex Jacob came in and late and took his seat - directly in front of the television. Apparently Jacob’s Jew-fro blocked Black’s view.

Gavin Smith and David Daneshgar, meanwhile, are stuck in the Green section where none of the televisions are showing anything but the tournament clock. They’ve got the tournament staff working on getting the big match on a nearby screen.

I Seem to Recognize Your Face

With almost 1,000 players in the field today we have a lot of familiar faces in play. Among the players we know in the house are Clonie Gowen, Chad Brown, Maria Ho, Bruno Fitoussi, Eugene Todd, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Jordan Morgan, Michael Binger, Guillaume de la Gorce, Hevad Khan, Ludovic Lacay, David Williams, Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, Jennifer Tilly, Mark Vos, Danny Ryan, Scott Seiver, Nam Le, Shane “Shaniac” Schleger, James Mackey, Freddy Deeb, and Max Pescatori.

The two toughest tables that we’ve seen in the house so far are Blue 28 (Melissa Hayden, Billy Baxter, Ted Forrest) and Green 4 (David “The Dragon” Pham, Theo Tran, Arnaud Mattern, Joshua VanDuyn).

Give It Away, Give It Away Now!

Some of the seats in the tournament have yet to be filled by players, but they do have cans of All In energy drink in front of them. Maybe they’ve resorted to giving it away since it tastes so awful that no one wants to buy it?

Nguyen Wins

Somehow there's around $3,000 in the pot between Harry Demetriou and Scotty Nguyen, who then bets $2,725 on the 7♣ 2♥ 5♦ flop. Harry Demetriou thought for ages before saying, “Oh, I don't care anymore.” He moved in, saying, “It's $100 more, Scotty.”

Scotty called and showed the unexpected 2♣ 5♣, Harry held A♦ 7♦. Then the best card Harry could pick up on the turn that didn't actually put him ahead came, 4♦. Now any ace, three, four, seven or diamond would win the pot for him, but the river was the K♣. No good and Harry will have to wear the Martinspoker gear for yet another tournament.