Thursday, June 12, 2014

Eric Seidel Hunting WSOP Bracelet Nine in Omaha/Seven Card Stud 8; Fabrice Touil Assassinates Players in NLHE Six Handed

I arrive in the Rio Thursday afternoon to find Eric Seidel has relinquished chip leader status in the $2,500 Event #25: Omaha/Seven Card Stud 8 tournament. He now sits neck-and-neck with Thomas Keller on a still comfortable 360,000 stack with thirteen left––behind Canadian Mike Leah, who has 540,000. Also at the table is Robert Mizrachi, nursing a short stack––he comments wryly that he would have scooped on an Omaha 8 hand that he didn't have the chips to call a pre flop raise on. As we move toward the last few tables, interest is building to see if 2010 Poker Hall of Fame inductee Seidel can achieve his ninth WSOP bracelet. 

For many casual fans, Seidel was immortalized in the movie Rounders where he was shown losing heads up to Johnny Chan for the 1988 World Series of Poker main event bracelet. His last bracelet came in 2007 with a $5,000 World Championship victory in NL Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball. I watch round on a very friendly table, in which the average age seems to be around 50. Despite being on the record as saying “I enjoy the pot-limit and no-limit games. Limit is dull compared to no limit.” Eric Seidel is playing tight to the vest, protecting his sizable stack and allowing smaller stacks to make mistakes and get picked off. 



 Seidel bides his time and plots a ninth bracelet win.

Meanwhile at the Event #24: NLHE Six Handed, Frenchman Fabrice Touil has eliminated the last two players Pratyush Buddiga and Byron Kaverman as we near the official NLHE Six Handed final table. With 10 players left, Touil is nipping at the heels of Bryn Kenney, both of whom sit with a little over 1.3 million. Former chip leader Matt Jarvis, who won this WSOP event in 2011, is still comfortable in fourth with nearly 1.1 million chips. 


Fabrice Toui (next to dealer) mixes it up with Jeremy Kottler and Kevin Eyster.

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