WSOP Event #57: Jeff Lisandro Cruises Through Day 1C

With the WSOP Main Event Day 1C ready to begin, an announcement was
made that there will be five levels played on Day 1C and 1D.  Day 2A
will also have five levels and Day 2B will have only four levels. The
reason behind adding an extra level on Day 1C and 1D is to make sure
that everyone can fit in the combined Day 2B field.

As expected, Day 1C attracted a lot more players than the previous
days, gathering a total of 1,697 players. Many top pros were seen in
the field, including Jeff Lisandro, Scotty Nguyen, Dennis Phillips,
Matt Savage, Matt Hawrilenko, Dan Harrington and Joe Hachem.

Daniel Negreanu was seated at the featured table and so was "Caesar"
Phil Hellmuth who arrived later during Level 1 and took his seat at the
secondary featured table. Drums, models and what not followed Poker Brat's arrival to the room with its purpose probably being to entertain the folks rather than intimidate his opponents.

Either way, Hellmuth got down to business right away and worked his way
up and just when it seemed he would pack his bags for the day with a
content grin on his face - an unseen unlucky turn of events made him
lose a large portion of his stack right before the play came to an end.

With only a few hands from disaster, Hellmuth raised to 1,200 from the cutoff and the small blind made the call. The flop came , action was checked to Hellmuth who fired 1,350 into the pot and the small blind called. The turn brought
followed by another check and this time Hellmuth bet 2,200. His
opponent made the call and the action was down to the river which
revealed .
The small blind bet 8,500 and Hellmuth instantly mucked, commenting the
hand and amongst other things, saying to his opponent, "I promise I'll have the chance to bust you."

Ave Hellmuth

A Champ's word is worth more than solid gold, but he will have a hard
time fulfilling it, as he lost another hand against the same opponent a
short time later. Hellmuth (pictured right) opened the pot for 1,200 and the same player
was again the only one to make the call.

The flop came , Hellmuth bet 1,800, his opponent raised to 5,300 and Hellmuth called. The turn brought , Hellmuth checked, his opponent bet 5,600 and Hellmuth called.

The river came and both players checked. Hellmuth turned over for a flopped straight and his opponent tabled
for a flush. Hellmuth couldn't believe his luck and watched his stack
shrink to just 25,000 or so in the last minutes of play for the day.

While Hellmuth dropped down to the bottom of the leaderboard, the likes of Justin Bonomo, Jeff Lisandro, Joe Hachem and Marc Naalden all ended the day looking good. Lisandro was trying to grab that chip lead but it slipped through his hands, nevertheless, he has a sizeable stack which could lead him to yet another bracelet in this year's WSOP and what a bracelet it would be.

PokerStrategist Sebastian knumsi had a good run and he will be returning to the tables on Day 2, as he finished third today, having a stack of 150,000 chips. Best of luck to him in the upcoming tournament day!

Here are the top 10 chip stacks after Day 1C: