Failla watching Failla

While today's tournament plays on, Will "The Thrill" Failla is on an outer table playing a single table satellite to tomorrow's $10,000 WPT Main Event.  While playing, he's watching himself on TV, as shown in the picture above.

Players are now in the money!

Victor Ushakoff is up in arms about his river luck

With the elimination of our 28th place finisher, the remaining 27 players are now in the money.  Victor Ushakoff pushed all in from the button with QJ and was called by the big blind's A5.  A jack fell on the flop, but an ace on the river earned everyone in the field a guaranteed $3,580.  The remaining players are now redrawing for new seats, and all of them have their eyes on the first place prize of $155,060 + $10,000 WPT Seat.  Full prizepool & payouts are available here.

Players are now on break

There are 35 players remaining in today's tournament, and the top 27 will make the money. The tournament staff are now coloring up the 100 chips, and the field is on a 15 minute break while this happens.

Joseph Cheong has been eliminated

Joseph Cheong has been eliminated after taking a bad beat. Joseph was all in after a string of raises and reraises preflop holding pocket jacks against his opponent's pocket eights. Unfortunately for Mr. Cheong, an eight fell on the turn, busting him from the tournament a couple tables short of the money.

Just busted the bay101 2k. JJ < 88 aipf for prob CL stack w 50 left

— Joseph Cheong (@subiime) March 5, 2012

Stuart Tuvey is the new chip leader & updated chip counts

At dinner break, Stuart Tuvey is the new chip leader with 129,400 chips.  Here are updated chip counts for the remaining notable players:

Andrew Badecker - 64,100
McLean Karr - 65,400
Joseph Cheong - 41,500
Gary Tighe - 29,400
Yevgeniy Timosheno - ELIMINATED

Players are now on dinner break

62 players are remaining in today's tournament, and they are now on their one hour dinner break.  Play will resume at approximately 8:30pm PST at 800/1,600 with a 200 ante.  The top 27 places pay.

Blake Kelso has been eliminated

Blake Kelso has been eliminated from the tournament when his AJ could not outrace his opponent's pocket sevens.

Andrew Badecker is the new chip leader & updated chip counts

As the blinds hit 600/1,200 with a 200 ante, WSOP bracelet winner Andrew Badecker is our new chip leader with over 105,000.  Here are updated chip counts for some of the remaining notables:

Matt Crooks - 81,400
McLean Karr - 40,000
Joseph Cheong - 34,000
Jonathan Little - 28,000
Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 17,700
Blake Kelso - 12,300
Shannon Shorr - ELIMINATED

JJ Liu has been eliminated

PRELIMINARY Bounty List Released

While still subject to change, here is a preliminary list of bounties for Day 1b and Day 1b of the $10,000 WPT Main Event:

Day 1A:
Liv Boeree
Jonathan Duhamel
Will "The Thrill" Failla
Andy Frankenberger
Joe Hachem
Christian Harder
Phil Hellmuth
Maria Ho
Faraz Jaka
Ben Lamb
Kathy Liebert
Mike Matusow
Daniel Negreanu
Dwyte Pilgrim
Marvin Rettenmaier
Erik Seidel
Vanessa Selbst
Gavin Smith
Sam Stein
Joe Tehan


Day 1B:
Allen Bari
Todd Brunson
Allen Cunningham
Freddy Deeb
Antonio Esfandiari
Matt Giannetti
Chau Giang
Barry Greenstein
Bertrand Grospellier
Jennifer Harman
Linda Johnson
Eugene Katchalov
Nam Le
Erick Lindgren
Jason Mercier
Mike Mizrachi
Chris Moorman
Men "The Master" Nguyen
Scotty Nguyen
Chino Rheem
Scott Seiver
Mike Sexton
Fabrice Soulier
Alan Sternberg
Yevgeniy Timoshenko
JC Tran
David Williams

Matt Crooks is the new chip leader

With the latest break comes a new chip leader.  Matt Crooks on table 31 has amassed a stack of over 90,000 chips and is the current chip leader.

Players are now on break

The 112 remaining players are now on their 3rd break of the day.  The tournament staff are coloring up and racing off the 25 chips as they will no longer be needed.  When the field returns, they will be playing 400/800 blinds with a 100 ante.

More photos of notables in the field

We missed a few notable players in today's $2,000 Buy-In Tournament that we were able to snap some pictures of...

Steve "Chainsaw" Dempsey

Dan Fleyshman

Freddy Deeb

Faraz Jaka

Tuan Nguyen is the current chip leader

Sitting on a stack of over 82,000, we have identified the current chip leader of today's $2,000 Buy-In Tournament as Tuan Nguyen.  With 191 players remaining, the average stack is almost 16,500, so Tuan is sitting pretty with over 200 big blinds.

What happens after they bust?

What happens after your favorite poker pro busts out of a tournament?  Well, we'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Josh Arieh (right) grinds "QB Zone" on a Megatouch machine

Will "The Thrill" Failla (left) texts while Faraz Jaka (middle) grabs a bite to eat

Players are now on break

Players are now on their second break of the day, having just completed the 150/300 blind level.  The tournament is now playing with 20 tables, which means that just under 200 players remain.  When they return, they will be playing 200/400 blinds with a 50 ante.

Photos from around the room

Here's a few pictures of some of the pros in today's $2,000 Buy-In Tournament:

Vanessa Rousso

Yevgeniy Timoshenko

Joseph Cheong and Tatjana Pasalic

Josh Arieh

J.J. Liu

Jonathan Little

Shannon Shorr

Gavin Griffin

Phil Hellmuth comes and goes

We reported earlier that Phil Hellmuth was bought in to the tournament but hadn't taken his seat.  In a matter of minutes, we noticed he had finally arrived and taken his seat... and then had busted.  We didn't even have enough time to take a picture of him!  He'll be back for the $10,000 WPT event, though, of course.

Matt Affleck has been eliminated

Another early casualty of today's tournament, Matt Affleck has busted and will join his friend Jonathan Duhamel on the rail.

$2,000 Prize pool & payouts

There were a total of 315 players in today's $2,000 Buy-In Tournament, generating a prize pool of $596,600.  The top 27 players will be in the money.  Here are the payouts:

1st Place: $155,060 + $10,000 WPT Seat
2nd Place: $88,940 + $10,000 WPT Seat
3rd Place: $55,825 + $10,000 WPT Seat
4th Place: $47,830
5th Place: $38,880
6th Place: $29,830
7th Place: $23,860
8th Place: $17,900
9th Place: $11,930
10th-12th Place: $9,545
13th-15th Place: $7,160
16th-18th Place: $5,370
19th-27th Place: $3,580

Players are now on break

The board reads 300 players, and those that remain are now on their first 15 minute break of the day.  When they return, the field will be playing 100/200.

Jonathan Duhamel has been eliminated

With three minutes remaining before the first break, Jonathan Duhamel has been eliminated.  Jonathan got the remainder of his chips in with [Ks][Qs] against his opponent's [9s][9c].  The flop fell three clubs, and a club on the turn sealed the deal as Jonathan was drawing dead against his opponent's flush.

Phil Hellmuth is in the field... kinda

Phil Hellmuth has done it before, and today is no exception.  As shown above, Phil's chip stack is being blinded off as he has not shown up to his seat, almost 2 hours into today's tournament.

Big names in the field

20 minutes into the tournament, we've already identified some big names in today's field.  Galen Hall, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Jonathan Duhamel, Matt Affleck, and Joseph Cheong have all been spotted at their tournament tables, among a handful of other pros we probably haven't caught glimpses of, yet.

Shooting Stars $2k is Underway

Players have taken their seats, and the opening $2,000 Buy-In Tournament is underway.  Matt Savage has announced that the tournament is breaking a new record for number of entrants, and the board currently shows 260 entrants, with alternates still being called.  The tournament beings in 10,000 in chips and starts with 25/50 blinds.  Levels will last 40 minutes.

Our featured table is being broadcast live at www.Bay101Live.com, though currently without sound.  Please bare with us as we work out our technical difficulties.