28 Jun 10

WSOP 2010: Ivey Busts & Seidel Leads in Tournament of Champions

Eight-bracelet winner Phil Ivey was the fifth player to be sent to the rails in the WSOP Tournament of Champions, while Erik Seidel leads the remaining 22, just ahead of Johnny Chan and Mike Matusow.

27 past and present WSOP champions converged at the Rio in Las Vegas today to compete for the title of the champion of champions. Three tables full of some of the most well-known poker players around started the day and after four 60-minute levels of play, just 22 of them remain.

BongBob make Day 2 of Event #47

While all this excitement was going on, Day 1B of the $1,000 No Limit Hold'em was also played out. After two days of play, the event attracted a total of 3,128 entries. Team PokerStrategy.com member BongBob (pictured right), who played on Day 1A is among those who will return on Day 2.

The total prize pool for this event stands at $2,815,200 and $485,791 will go to the winner. With 324 places being paid, over two thirds of the players entering Day 2 will make it into the money. Fresh from his $214k fourth place finish less than a week ago, BongBob is now closing in on his third cash in WSOP 2010.

Go to the WSOP Live Ticker

You can view pictures of the WSOP by clicking the link below:

View all WSOP 2010 pictures in our gallery [Day 29 set added]

Jesus sends Ivey to the rails

Five bracelet winners with 18 WSOP and WSOPE bracelets combined were sent to the rails on Day 1. John Juanda was the first to go as he was eliminated by Jennifer Harman. Greg Raymer, Barry Shulman, Sammy Farha and Phil Ivey (pictured left) were the others who followed him out the door.

Chris "Jesus" Ferguson was the player who sent Ivey packing as they went all in before the flop. Ivey had Ferguson crushed with K-K against Q-Q, and was looking good for a nice double up with the flop coming 6 3 T. Unfortunately, Jesus picked up a third Q on the turn and that was good enough to take Ivey down.

Good day to be Erik Seidel

Meanwhile, Erik Seidel emerged as the man to beat as he just beat Johnny Chan to the chip lead. Seidel, who currently has 72,075 chips, has managed to more than double up his stack on Day 1 and is just 750 chips ahead of Chan. Mike Matusow is also not far behind in third, while the rest of the pack trails somewhere behind the top three.

After finishing the four levels of Day 1 in the Tournament of Champions, Seidel resumed his day at the WSOP in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event. He managed to play himself into the final table and eventually finished in fifth place to win $85,800.

Check out elhh82's latest post in the Team Blog for more stories of Team PokerStrategy.com in Las Vegas:

Blog: Why you should come to Vegas