Poker players are shown during the first day of the 41st annual World Series of Poker no-limit Texas Hold ‘em main event Monday, July 5, 2010. The tournament started with 7,319 players and is down 27.
Saturday, July 17, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
Chip Counts
- Joseph Cheong — 24,490,000
- Cuong Nguyen — 23,100,000
- Pascal LeFrancois — 15,780,000
- Jason Senti — 13,550,000
- Matthew Jarvis — 13,300,000
- Matt Affleck — 12,515,000
- Jonathan Duhamel — 10,520,000
- John Racener — 10,470,000
- Filippo Candio — 10,020,000
- Benjamin Statz — 9,885,000
- Robert Pisano — 8,060,000
- Michiel Sljpkens — 7,765,000
- Duy Le — 7,255,000
- Scott Clements — 7,250,000
- David Baker — 6,825,000
- Michael Mizrachi — 6,300,000
- Brandon Steven — 6,045,000
- Adam Levy — 4,745,000
- William Thorson — 3,680,000
- Redmond Lee — 3,315,000
- Mads Wissing — 3,070,000
- Ronnie Bardah — 2,525,000
- Matthew Bucaric — 2,270,000
- John Dolan — 2,175,000
- Patrick Eskandar — 1,655,000
- Johnny Lodden — 1,560,000
- Hasan Habib — 1,510.000
Sun Coverage
The dream is starting to look more like a reality.
When the World Series of Poker Main Event started nearly two weeks ago, it was almost delusional for any of the 7,319 entrants to think about playing for the final table and the $8.9 million first-place prize.
Not anymore. The field is down to 27 players who will meet at noon today at the Rio to play down to the November Nine final table.
“I don’t want to get too excited, but I might have trouble sleeping” said Adam Levy, who is currently 18th in chips. “Making the November Nine would be more than I could ever dream of.”
Levy is one of a handful of established pros left in the tournament, but much of the attention was on the amateurs who skyrocketed up to the chip lead Friday.
Two recreational players, Joseph Cheong and Cuong Nguyen, will enter the final day as the chip leaders. Cheong has 24.4 million chips. Nguyen will start with 23.1 million chips.
This year’s Main Event is the first World Series of Poker tournament Nguyen has ever played in and only his fourth live tournament ever. Nguyen, who is from Vietnam but now resides in Santa Ana, Calif., works as a director of operations for a distribution company.
“I don’t play poker,” Nguyen said. “I work sick hours and in 10 years, I’ve taken two weeks of vacation. So I figured, I’m going to do it this year. I’m just going to try it.”
Nguyen was motivated to try out poker because a handful of his childhood friends are poker pros, including World Poker Tour bracelet-holder Nam Le.
“We played as kids, messed around at home playing $10 tournaments and I took a couple tournaments from them,” Nguyen said. “Then, I saw them on TV and figured if they can do it, why can’t I?”
Nguyen and the other 26 players remaining are guaranteed at least $317,161 for making it this far. But this about more than money; it’s also a shot to make poker’s most prestigious final table.
Four former World Series of Poker bracelet winners are still in the field, including Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi who won the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship earlier this summer.
Mizrachi slipped a bit Friday but still has a serviceable stack of 6.3 million chips. The other World Series of Poker champions still in the field are Canadian Pascal LeFrancois, Pakistani Hasan Habib and American Scott Clements.
Clements has two World Series of Poker bracelets, both in Omaha events in 2006 and 2007, which makes him the only multiple winner left.
“I’m ready to go,” Clements said. “We might as well just keep playing.”
Clements is right around average with 7.2 million chips. LeFrancois will start Saturday in third behind only Cheong and Nguyen.
In fourth is Jason Senti, a former software engineer from Minnesota who now splits his time between poker and playing in a band called Suburban Hero. Behind Senti is another newcomer, Matthew Jarvis, a business student from Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
The man who occupied the chip lead for most of the last two days, Danish pro Theo Jorgensen, had a rough time Friday and lost all of his 12 million chips to finish in 30th for $255,242.
Nguyen is happy to step into Jorgensen’s role as one of the chip leaders. He’s also a tad superstitious.
“I’ve been doing the same thing every day,” Nguyen said. “This room is freezing, but the first day I came in here wearing shorts and sandals and every day since I’ve been wearing the same thing. My feet are freezing, but I refuse to wear shoes and socks because I don’t want to change anything.”
Carnival lasts all year at the Rio. With a float occasionally passing overhead and dropping beads while feathered dancers fire up the gamblers below, the Rio tries to keep its 120,000-square foot casino jumping with excitement. Special Brazilian mixed-drinks are also served throughout the casino. The hotel suites tend to be larger than similar priced rooms on the Strip and many offer excellent views with floor to ceiling windows.
The Rio offers some quality shows like "Penn & Teller" and "Chippendales." Many come to the Rio for the nightlife at the VooDoo Lounge, located on the 51st floor, or McFadden's Irish Pub on the casino level.
Others come for a bit relaxation at the Rio Spa or pool area and still others come to shop at the hotel's 60,000 square feet of shops. In each of these endeavors, the Rio attempts to make the experience a bit more fun and spontaneous.
The Rio also offers guests a variety of dining choices from all-American food at the All-American Bar & Grille to Gaylord India Restaurant for something a little spicier and even Carnival World Buffet for the indecisive.
Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer for live updates from the Main Event.
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