WSOP Event #47: Barry Greenstein Holds The Chip Lead

The time has come for the lonely Mixed Hold'em event of the 2009 WSOP
to kick off. The combination of Limit and No Limit Hold'em has
attracted a total of 528 players. It was in this event last year that
Erick Lindgren won his first ever bracelet after many failed attempts.
As expected, he returned for the same event this year in hopes of
defending the title.

Other notables seen at the tables included Vitaly Lunkin, Hevad Khan,
David Chiu, Roland De Wolfe, Gavin Smith, Barry Greenstein, Jason
Mercier, Dennis Phillips, J.C. Tran, T.J. Cloutier, Mike Caro, Humberto
Brenes, Joe Sebok and many more.

Andy Black was one of the earlier casualties of the day, as he couldn't recover from a hand in which he held and ran into opponent's on a board. The river came and nothing was changed, which sent Black down to a dangerously low stack which ran dry shortly after this hand.

Daniel Negreanu and Annie Duke joined the field a bit late, but they
still came in time to build up their stacks. As the play progressed,
Phil Hellmuth souted to Annie Duke, "Watch how I play this one..."

The
flop came
and it was checked to Hellmuth who bet 450, Jean-Robert Bellande
check-raised all-in and Hellmuth immediately called with pocket sevens.
He was ahead, as Bellande held J-6. The turn brought and then the river came another 6 to bust Hellmuth. He read the game perfectly, but the board ran terribly for one of the best tournament players ever.

Jason Mercier was also sent to the rail, his bad beat story revolving around pocket rockets which were cracked by Jared Hamby's Q-T. The flop came Q-T-X and with no changes on the turn and the river, Mercier was out. Dennis Phillips joined him on the rail shortly after, as his lost against Danny Fuse's .

Meanwhile, Eli Elezra was doing just fine. He limped from under the
gun, two players came along and so did the blinds. The flop saw ,
action was checked to the first over-limper, who bet 1,075. The button
called, the small blind raised to 3,075 and the action foled to Elezra
who re-raised to 10,500. The first limper pushed, the button folded,
the small blind called all-in and Elezra made the call, turning over . Late position limper showed and the small blind revealed . The turn brought and the river came . Elezra won the pot and moved up to 95,000 in chips.

Daniel Negreanu had a string of bad luck in the fifth season of High
Stakes Poker, especially when it came to flopped straight draws and all
hands of that sort. However, the WSOP seems to be more fond of him, as
not only did he flop a straight in one of the hands, but also improved
it when he hit a flush on the turn. He can't complain much about that,
though his stack of 57,000 in chips certainly gave his opponents a
reason or two for a headache.

Negreanu's good day simply couldn't be ruined, not even by pocket aces.
Karen Manfrede got all of her chips in the middle with pocket aces and
it looked as if she was going to double up through Negreanu since he
held pocket kings. The cruel side of the board revealed itself again,
as a king spiked on the river to give the pot to Negreanu and bust
Manfrede.

Barry Greensein didn't just spend the day sitting around and watching
others have all the fun. He busted two players rather quickly towards
the end of the night. First, his sent to the rail a player who tried to push from the big blind with , and then he eliminated another player with which was good enough against .

To make the day complete, Negreanu busted one more player right before the end of the play. A short stack moved all-in with and Negreanu called with . The board came and Negreanu added some more chips to his stack.

Only 67 players of the starting 527 made it through the the day. The
money bubble will be burst on Day 2, as 54 players will end in the
money. Here are the top 10 chip stacks after the first play day:

World Series Of Poker Event #47 Standings
Rank	Name	Chips
1st	Barry Greenstein	177,200
2nd	Habib Hasan	165,000
3rd	Brandon Demes	124,000
4th	Bahador Ahmadi	122,100
5th	Alexander Jung	120,200
6th	Eliahu Elezra	108,800
7th	Francois Billard	105,000
8th	Frank Sinopoli	104,200
9th	Daniel Negreanu	101,000
10th	Omar Abede	100,900