At first we thought it was going to be a slow morning in the $1.5K NLHE.  As we strolled around the room everyone just looked, well, kinda sleepy.  The Miranda Room was very quiet at the start of today’s event. Some tables were short handed, which is to be expected, but there were numerous tables with three or four players. One such table hosted Eric “Rizen” Lynch. Allen Cunningham was seated at an adjacent table, also playing three handed. Players are notoriously late for the $1.5K events, but this is a bit extraordinary. We may have judged too quickly though because there are several players who are either off to fast starts or making early exits.

Mohsin “chicagocards1″ Charania (pictured left) is one of the players making an early exit today.  We caught him as he was heading for the door and he told us he arrived late, played one hand, and promptly busted.  With the blinds at 25/50  the player under the gun raised to 225, three players called, and Charania popped it to 900 out of the small blind.  The big blind thought briefly before moving his 4.5K starting stack all-in and it folded back around to Mohsin who quickly called with pocket kings.

“I’ve got to get lucky,” the other player said as he turned up pocket jacks.  He did.  The board ran out Q-Q-9-9-J to give the other player the rivered boat and all of Charania’s stack.

There are a couple of P5ers headed in a more positive direction though.  We missed the preflop and flop action, but watched as Frank “Frank1the1Tank” Calo checked to his opponent with the board reading QJ4Q.  The other player, who was on the button, bet 800 into a 1K or so pot and Calo called from the small blind.  The river was the 2 and Frank checked again.  The other player bet 1.2K which Calo called.  His opponent showed A5 for ace high while Calo tabled AQ for trip queens, which was more than good enough to take the pot.  After the hand he was up to 7.5K.

David “Doc Sands” Sands (pictured right) pulled us aside to digress about a hand that helped him build up his stack early on. According to David a player limped from early position with the blinds at 25/50. Action folded to Sands on the button who raised to 175 with 8-9. A player in the blinds called and the limper folded. The flop came 8-5-4 with two hearts and the big blind led out for 650. Sands raised to 1675 and his opponent called. The turn was the 3 and the big blind shoved all in for approximately 3K. David tanked before calling, and his opponent tabled Q2 for an open ended straight draw and a flush draw. The river blanked though, and Sands saw his stack grow above 9K.

Josh “Crippled-Action” Cranfill is also in the field today. He is seated in the Brasilia Room with his father. Josh is physically unable to read his cards or bet, so his father is by his side to act for him. This has never deterred Cranfill from contending on the felt though, he has frequented both casinos and home-games up and down the East Coast. Cranfill road-tripped all the way from North Carolina to play in his very first WSOP event. Josh is a proud member of the Elon University Wrecking Crew, and you can bet other members of the EUWC will be sweating him throughout the day.

WSOP 2009 Event #29: $10K Heads-Up NLHE

The first of three matches between Leo “SuperfluousMan” Wolpert and John Duthie is underway and the players are relatively even-stacked. Wolpert pulled ahead early on in the match, but lost a flip with A-Q versus pocket tens to double Duthie up and bring the match back to even.

• June 16, 2009 -- Rami Busts at Final Table
• June 16, 2009 -- Bubble Bursts in $2K NLHE Event
• June 16, 2009 -- The Beat Goes On…and On…and On…
• June 16, 2009 -- “Do You Know Who I Am?”