Le Monde du Poker.

October 28 2011, Chad Holloway

One of the World Poker Tour’s most prestigious and historic stops every year is the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods Resort and Casino. Past champions of this event include Howard Lederer (Season I), Hoyt Corkins (Season II), Tuan Le (Season III), Nick Schulman (Season IV), Nenad Medic (Season V), Mike Vela (Season VI), Jonathan Little (Season VII), Cornel Cimpan (Season VIII), and reigning champ, Jeff Forrest.

The first $10,000 buy-in tournament of Season X of the WPT kicked off on Thursday and drew a field of 185, including many of the aforementioned champions. Registration is open until the Day 2 begins, so that number is expected to grow. With a kind structure and a stacked field, it wasn’t surprising to see some elite poker action. Some players who were in action, and managed to survive the day, include David Williams (16,775), Lee Markholt (37,175), Dwyte Pilgrim (63,400), and Erik Seidel (69,500); however, each of them trails the Day 1 chip leader, Thomas Schreiber, who bagged up 104,000.

There were some crazy hands throughout the day as evidenced by Greg Lang’s once-in-a-lifetime feat of flopping a royal flush, holding the in a heads-up pot. Unfortunately, he didn’t get paid off because his opponent checked behind on the flop and then folded to Lang’s small turn bet.

In another intriguing hand, four players limped for 200 preflop only to have Tony Sinishtaj raise to 1,500 from the button. According to the World Poker Tour Live Update Team, three players made the call and the players saw a flop of . Action checked to Sinishtaj and he fired out 2,500. An early-position player called, and then Nikolai Yakovenko check-raised to 6,500 from middle position. Peter Polianto called from the cutoff, Sinishtaj folded, and the early-position player came along for the ride.

When the hit the turn, the early-position player and Yakovenko checked, opening the door for Polianto to bet 13,000. The early-position player called all-in for 12,000, and Yakovenko folded face up.

Showdown
Early-Position Player:
Politano:

It was an action flop as the early-position player hit a full house but was second best to Politano’s quad threes! What’s more, the river would have given Yakovenko a straight flush; instead, it was Politano who chipped up to 62,000.

Some players thrived, but others failed to survive. Among the players who fell on Day 1 were Micah Raskin, Jason Somerville, Jonathan Aguiar, John Cernuto, David Paredes, and Justin Schwartz. The last player on that list met his demise in Level 5 when an early-position player raised to 725 and Dwyte Pilgrim called from the cutoff. Schwartz responded by moving all-in for 5,850 from the button, Jason Mercier called from the small blind, and the other two players folded.

Showdown
Mercier:
Schwartz:

Schwartz was behind and even more so when the flop fell . Neither the turn nor river helped Schwartz, whose elimination came at the hands of the man many consider to be the best tournament poker player in the world. It would be hard to argue with that if Mercier can somehow add a World Poker Finals victory to his résumé.

On Friday, the remaining 141 players will return to action at 1200 EDT (1600 GMT). In the meantime, here’s a look at the top stacks at the end of Day 1:

*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.

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AppId is over the quota
September 18 2011, Brett Collson, Mickey Doft

Only one bracelet was awarded on Day 14 of the 2011 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, but it went to one of online poker's all-time greats. Steve "gboro780" Gross added yet another notch to his belt by winning his first WCOOP title in the $300 HORSE event. It was the New Jersey native's third tournament win on PokerStars since moving to Canada earlier this month to resume his poker career.

The second heads-up tournament of the 2011 WCOOP attracted 765 players and generated a prize pool of $382,500. After five rounds of play on Saturday, the field was trimmed to 32, and several top pros have their eyes set on the first-place prize of $95,625.

Among those who survived Day 1 were Grayson "gray31" Ramage, Andras "probirs" Nemeth, Torsten “jetkiss” Brinkmann, and Team PokerStars pro Chad "ChadBrownPRO" Brown, who is looking for his first final table of the 2011 WCOOP after bubbling Event #33.

The most intriguing matchup of Round 6 pits Evan "PURPLE"K"99" Parkes against Elio "smokrokflok" Fox. Both players have more than $2 million in online earnings (Parkes has over $3.5 million) but have yet to capture WCOOP glory.

Play resumed at 1000 EST (1500BST) on Sunday and will conclude when the heads-up champion is crowned.

Entering the final table with the chip lead in Event #9, the $300 HORSE, was Steve "gboro780" Gross. Short stacked for a good while with two and three tables remaining, Gross battled back and went on a serious heater to gain steam and lead the way. Here were the chip counts to start:

The first exits came in the form of a double elimination. The hands of the three players involved were as follows:

"Kaas81:" //
"playitsafe:" //
"CACAFOGO:" //

After each went three bets on third street, "Kaas81" was all-in on fourth street with a wheel draw. "CACAFOGO" also held a wheel draw, while "playitsafe" hit an ugly on fourth street. Still, that didn't deter "playitsafe" from moving forward with the hand, spiking a on fifth street. At this point, "Kaas81" made an 8-5 low, but failed to improve from there. "CACAFOGO", meanwhile, got it all-in on sixth street, but was only able to make a 10-5 low. That left the door open for "playitsafe" who made a 7-6 low on seventh street to not only knock both players out, but also to claim the chip lead.

Kyle "KJulius10" Julius exited two games later in stud hi/lo. Short stacked, Julius committed the last of his chips with / against "ViTaMin_F22's" /. Julius caught a mediocre on sixth street and the on seventh street to make just a pair of sevens with no low. "ViTaMin_F22," meanwhile, made a low on sixth with the and caught a straight on seventh with the to secure the entire pot and eliminate Julius in sixth place. Departing next in Omaha hi/lo was "bisbiki78." After an flop, "bisbiki78" was all-in with against Steve Gross' . The turn was great for Gross and gave him many more outs to a straights and a flush. He got there when the hit the river to take down the pot.

Alex "joiso" Kostritsyn busted during the stud round, also against Steve Gross. Kostritsyn committed his stack with / against the / of Gross. On fifth street, Gross improved to trips but Kostritsyn wasn't able to improve his hand past ace-high and hit the rail in fourth place.

Out of the remaining three, "playitsafe" failed to make it to heads-up play. In Omaha hi/lo, "playitsafe" defended a button-raise by "ViTaMin_F22" from the big blind. The flop came down and "playitsafe" put in a check-raise, that was called. The rest of the chips went into the middle when the hit the turn and "playitsafe" showed for a flopped full house. However, "ViTaMin_F22" turned aces full with and added insult to injury by hitting the on the river for quads.

The chip counts at the start of heads up play were as follows:

Steve "gboro780" Gross: 1,628,370
"ViTaMin_F22:" 1,326,630

Gross made quick work of "ViTaMin_F22." He needed only seven hands to lock up his first WCOOP bracelet. The final hand came in razz, and here is how their respective hands looked at deal's end.

Steve "gboro780" Gross: //
"ViTaMin_F22:" //

Gross' third-street completion and fourth-street bet were called by "ViTaMin_F22." When fifth street fell, Gross bet once again, but this time his opponent raised. Gross called and the rest of his opponent's chips went into the pot on sixth street. "ViTaMin_F22" improved to an 8-5 low, but Gross' wheel draw made the next best thing for his hand, a winning 6-5 low. For his impressive performance, Steve "gboro780" Gross pocketed $33,332.52 and won his first WCOOP gold bracelet.

Notable Finishes: Pius "MastaP89" Heinz (23rd - $1,418.40), Jon "LUFCBas" Spinks (24th - $1,418.40)

We will be providing in-depth daily recaps of all WCOOP final tables, so be sure to keep it here at PokerNews to stay up to date on all of the exciting action as it occurs.

For news, updates, and more, follow PokerNews on Twitter and Facebook.

Follow Mickey Doft on Twitter — @mrdoft

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