2011 World Series of Poker

We have finished 8 levels of action packed PLO play, and day 1 of the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship is in the books. 361 players started the day, and by the end, 156 remain. The player at the top of the field is Manny Jo, who is currently sitting on 226,700.

There are a ton of top notch pros who are in the top 10 counts at the end of the day, including Ben Lamb(166,300), Tom Dwan(159,000) Max Pescatori(148,000), and Vanessa Selbst(145,800). In addition, Erik Seidel, J.C. Tran, Michael Mizrachi, and 2011 bracelet winners Allen Bari and Sam Stein are some of the several pros who still have plenty of chips heading into day 2.

Despite all of those players being in, we still lost over 200 players, including Jason Mercier, fresh off his win in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Six Handed two nights ago. We also lost the defending champion of this event Daniel Alaei, Eli Elezra, Joe Hachem, Erick Lindgren, David Williams, and Patrik Antonius, who took a break from the nose bleed cash games to make an appearance at the Rio.

The remaining players will be returning tomorrow at 3 pm local time, where they will play 10 more levels. The hope is to play down to a final table, but play will stop at the end of level 18 regardless of how many are left. Be sure to tune into Pokernews tomorrow as we will bring you all of the action from this exciting event!

We caught up with the action on a board reading . The under-the-gun player checked and Mike Sexton bet 12,000 from late position. His opponent called.

The fell on the turn and Sexton's opponent again checked. Sexton bet enough to put him all in and his opponent called.

Opponent:
Sexton:

The river was no help to Sexton, who is down to just 13,000 after being among the chip leaders for a majority of the day.

Daniel Negreanu just doubled through David "Bakes" Baker with a full house of nines over sevens. Baker held a weaker full house, sevens full of nines.

Carlos Mortensen opened to 1,800 from early position and was called by the player in the hi-jack and the big blind.

The big blind checked to Mortensen on the flop and Mortensen c-bet for 3,000. The hi-jack player mucked but the big blind called.

Both players tapped the table when the fell on the turn. When a completed the board, Mortensen's opponent said, "I cheeeeeck," to which Mortensen replied, "Check's good."

Mortensen's opponent flipped over and Mortensen mucked.

Mortensen is down to just 16,000.

We have under 30 minutes of play, and here are some updated chip counts from around the tournament

From middle position, Allen Bari raised to 1,600. Action folded to Andy Seth in the big blind and he made the call to see the flop. Seth checked and Bari bet 1,400. Seth made the call.

The turn was the and Seth checked again. Bari checked behind and the dealer placed the out on the river. Seth checked and Bari bet 2,600. Seth tanked for a minute or two and then finally called.

When Seth finally called, Bari tapped the table to let him know he had the winning hand. Seth wanted to see Bari's hand though and didn't show yet, but sat there holding their cards. Bari then asked the dealer who had to show first. The dealer told Bari he had to show first and then Bari asked, "If I muck my hand, does he have to show?" The dealer nodded yes.

Bari then mucked his hand and Seth tabled the to win the pot.

After a series of preflop raises, Mike Sexton flatted a 25,000 bet from his lone opponent in the hi-jack position. Before the dealer could deal the flop, Sexton's opponent announced he was going all in for his remaining chips blind.

The flop came and Sexton called.

Sexton:
Opponent:

"I didn't expect you to come up with that hand!" Sexton exclaimed.

The turn and river did not improve Sexton, whose stack was knocked down to 75,000.