July 10 2012, Shari Geller

On Monday, the third and last starting flight of the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event attracted the largest one-day field in Main Event history. By the time registration closed on Day 1c, 3,418 players had put up the $10,000 buy-in to take their shots at the most coveted bracelet in poker. At the end of five levels of play, Randy Haddox, who had final-tabled the $5K NLHE Mixed-Max earlier this summer, was the Day 1c chip leader with 188,275 chips.

The record-breaking field was packed with notables, including many players who have made deep runs in this event. Former Main Event bracelet winners Joe Cada (117,375), Johnny Chan (82,300), Jamie Gold (24,800), Tom McEvoy (24,125) and Doyle Brunson (81,400) will be among those moving on to Day 2c, but Chris Moneymaker and Jonathan Duhamel, were among those who failed to make it through the day. Early on Monday, it looked like Brunson would be skipping the Main Event entirely, but a late-in-the-day change of heart brought him to the Rio in time to build up a nice-size chip stack.

Other well-known players who survived Day 1c include Big One for One Drop winner Antonio Esfandiari (78,925), $50K Poker Players Championship repeat winner Michael Mizrachi (60,050), 2006 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen (33,525), and current 2012 WSOP POY frontrunner Phil Ivey (11,525) who won three back-to-back pots just to move back up to 20,000 in chips, but ended the day down almost a two-thirds of his starting stack.

They will be joined by plenty of other players including Brandon Adams (158,100), Jake Cody (124,675), Sorrel Mizzi (115,000), Matt Affleck (91,300), John Juanda (74,450), Gus Hansen (67,575), recent bracelet winner Nick Schulman (58,000) and former Seinfeld cast member Jason Alexander (49,550).

Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who is playing his first WSOP Main Event, ended the day with a very healthy 110,225-chip stack. In one hand that helped propel him up the chip counts, an early-position raiser made it 700, a middle-position player called, and the player in the cutoff three-bet to 2,600. Blom then four-bet to 5,800 from the big blind, the other two players got out of the way, and the cutoff five-bet to 12,000. Blom tanked before putting out 18,400 for a six-bet. His opponent moved all-in and Blom somewhat reluctantly called. Blom was in trouble, to the of his opponent. But the board ran out and he doubled to 90,000 in chips.

Former November Niner Joseph Cheong built up a good-sized stack (84,775), courtesy in large part to two double-ups during the last level of the night. In the first, he was up against Brandon Adams, who had him well covered. Cheong led every street and moved all-in on the river of a board. Adams called and then mucked when Cheong turned over pocket jacks. Cheong then tweeted his next double up, “coolered a poor kid KK vs his AK after he told me he felt like this was my lvl.”

While Cheong thrived, a number of other notables failed to survive including Chino Rheem, David “Bakes” Baker, Olivier Busquet, George Lind, Max Martinez, Jimmy Fricke, Thor Hansen, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, David Bach, Jonathan Little, Nacho Barbero, Cory Zeidman, Bryan Micon, Andrew Robl, Lex Veldhuis, Matt Waxman, Humberto Brenes and Vincent van der Fluit, among many others experiencing a very brief Main Event run.

Coming back, though short stacked with 8,150, is Ted Forrest, who was very unlucky late in the day. In one hand, 17,000 was already in the pot when the dealer spread the flop. Forrest check-called his opponent’s all-in shove for 27,325. Forrest was way ahead, to the of his opponent. But his opponent went from two outs on the king-high flop, to 11 outs on the turn, to winning when the hit the river. Late in the day he was poised for a small double up when he had against his opponent’s on a flop. But the board ran out and the best he could do was a chop.

With the Day 1c field added to the previous two days’ flights, the 2012 WSOP Main Event had a total of 6,598 players creating a total prize pool of $62,021,200. The top 10 percent of the field, 666 players, will be guaranteed at least $19,227. Those making the final table will earn at least $754,798, with the first-place finisher cashing in an $8,527,982 payday.

On Tap

On Tuesday, the 657 players remaining from Day 1a and the remaining 1,387 players from Day 1b will return at 1200 PDT (2000 BST) to play five more levels. They will play in separate tournament rooms rather than be combined as in previous years, with players returning to either Day 2a or 2b and playing with just that group of players. On Wednesday, the remaining players from Day 1c will return for Day 2c and play five levels, as well. The entire field will finally be combined on Thursday for Day 3 action.

PokerNews will make sure you don’t miss any of the exciting Day 2 action as players try to build their stacks hoping to make a deep run. We will have all the updates, hands, chip counts, bust-outs and more from the Rio in our live reporting blog, so make to follow our coverage throughout the day.

Video of the Day

In the Video of the Day, Sarah Grant talks with 2011 WSOP POY Ben Lamb during a break in the action about what it takes to make a Main Event final table, strategy and advice for maintaining stamina, and to what he attributes his new toned and tanned self.

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July 09 2012, PokerNews Staff

According to a report by Forbes, Ray Bitar, the CEO of Full Tilt Poker, will “probably” be released on bail Monday evening and will likely return to his home in California later this week.

Forbes reports that Bitar’s attorneys and prosecutors agreed on a bail arrangement on Monday afternoon. The deal was signed by Federal Judge Paul Engelmayer, allowing Bitar to return to his home in Glendora, Calif., for the first time since he was indicted by the Department of Justice on April 15, 2011. Bitar will be electronically monitored by the FBI.

Monday’s report comes one week after Bitar was arrested in New York after voluntarily surrendering to U.S. authorities. Upon arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Bitar was hit with a superseding indictment that charged him with defrauding poker customers by lying to them about the security of their funds. He pleaded not guilty to nine counts and faces up to 145 years in prison.

According to Forbes, Bitar must post a $2.5 million personal recognizance bond under the terms of the bail arrangement. He also agreed to add a warehouse he owns to the cash and assets he was posting for bail. Forbes reports that five people close to Bitar are backing his bail commitments.

Judge Engelmayer approved those terms despite the fact that Bitar is “facing very serious charges, charges that have grown over time.”

PokerNews will continue to follow this story as it develops. Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

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