2012 WSOP, Day 42 – Alex Cordero Claims Massive Payday, Main Event 1a Sees Notables Rise and Fall

The $10,000 No Limit Championship is now underway, and according to WSOP.com, just over 1,000 players made it through Day 1A. A fair few number of Canadians are amongst those survivors and we’ll look at those players in today’s report.

There is now only one “open” bracelet left to be won at the 2012 World Series of Poker, but it’s the most coveted. Day 1b starts Sunday and 1c will be the last chance to enter on Monday so it’s tough to say whether or not attendance will surpass 2011 just yet. In the mean time, here are some of Saturday’s results;

• Event #59A & B – $1,000 No Limit Hold’em – Day 3

Victoria’s Alex Cordero held the chip lead going into Day 3, maintaining well into the final stages of the game. Clearly one of the stronger players in contention, Cordero stayed at the top of the pack until finally being eliminated 3rd out of 4,620 entries for a massive $291,725 payday!

Five other Canadian players also cashed on Day 3 as follows; Glybert Drolet (QC) won $25,780 for coming 17th, Eric Levesque (24th, QC) and Todor Plaseski (26th, BC) both earned $20,499 for their finishes, Gaetono Dimaria (ON) cashed in 32nd for $16,424 and lastly, Colin Padgett (ON) claimed $10,811 for 48th.

German Dominik Nitsche took down the top prize and WSOP gold, claiming $654,697.

Nick Schulman

• Event #60- $10,000 No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball – Day 3

Nick Schulman claimed his second WSOP bracelet in this one, defeating a tough final table for the $294,321 first place prize.

WSOP National Championship (3 Day Event)- Day 3

They are down to 8 for the final day, with crowd favorites Sam Stein and Amanda Musumeci still in contention for the $416,000 and a gold bracelet up top.

Yung Hwang currently leads the way and is the only player over one million in chips, but we’ll be sure to let you know who eventually emerges the victor.

Eugene Katchalov (13th), Brian Rast (14th) and Allen Kessler (18th) are a few of the popular players that made their way into the money Saturday, cashing in between $22,278 to $26,439 for making the top 18.

• Event 61A – $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Championship

Quite a few big names have already fallen, with the 2012 WSOP now over for $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop players Phil Hellmuth and Haralabos Voulgaris out early, while household names and favorites like Joe Hachem and Canadian Greg Mueller have also found the end of their tournament schedule at the Rio.

At the conclusion of Day 1A play however, Canadians currently sitting in the top 100 (in tournament chips) include; Mark Demirdjian (15th, DNR), Warren Russell (27th, BC), Yann Dion (45th, QC), Adam Lalopoulos (47th, BC), Ronald Eaton (53rd, ON), 2012 WSOP bracelet winner Simon Charette (60th, ON), Michael Neuber (72nd, ON) and hailing from North York Ontario; Kahlil Qaqish sitting in 75th.

Celebrity sports figure and Playnow.com spokesperson Roberto Luongo is reportedly “sitting with a good stack and cruising along” (Thanks Jody) and Gillian Epp from our 2012 WSOP “Ones to Watch-The Ladies” have also already advanced to Day 2 in their Main Event debuts.

We’ll keep an eye on things, but expect it to be closer to next weekend before the money hits; the WSOP Main Event is a marathon of poker, with thousands of entries and few eliminations in comparison to entries during the early stages, so it won’t be until at least late on Day 3, that it’s worth really dissecting the reaming roster.

To put things into perspective, it has been reported in past write ups that with these 30,000 starting stacks and 2 hour levels with small increases, a player could buy-in, never play a hand and wouldn’t blind off until Day 3 and very near the money…back soon!