Tuesday, July 12, 2005 | 9:26 a.m.
LAS VEGAS -- With the field slashed to 569 players, it was money day at the World Series of Poker.
Almost all of those at the tables as play resumed Monday will end up taking home at least $12,500 each. Of the 5,619 entrants who began play, most walk away empty handed -- only 560 make money.
But the minimum payout -- enough to cover the required $10,000 buy-in plus some expenses -- is not likely to satisfy the gambling appetites of many of the players lucky enough to survive the first four days of the no-limit Texas hold'em event.
They are shooting for a spot at the final nine-person table in which the first one out will take home $1 million and the winning player will collect $7.5 million in first-place money.
In the running was patent lawyer Greg "Fossilman" Raymer, the 2004 champ who was in ninth place with a strong stack of chips as play resumed.
Raymer took a huge pot of $185,000 after he completed a full house of seven over eights on fifth street, or the last community card turned over.
Raymer was sitting on about 340,000 in chips as the field was narrowed to 351 players by Monday night.
Raymer is the only former champion of the World Series of Poker's main event champ still standing out of the 14 who started in the tournament. Huck Seed (1996) was the last to leave when he busted out Sunday.
"Raymer is playing great, but nobody is a favorite," said John Vorhaus, author of the "Killer Poker" book series and an analyst with ultimatebet.com. "Between last year and this year, he's demonstrated his skills are not a fluke."
The chip leader was still Rod Pardey Jr. of Las Vegas with about $750,000. But lurking among the remaining players were some top-notch pros, such as Phil Ivey, Mike Matusow, John Juanda, Paul Darden, Layne Flack, Howard Lederer and Sam Farha, who finished second to Chris Moneymaker in 2003.
Juanda and Darden engaged in a costly battle Monday afternoon. Both men went all-in before the flop. Juanda showed two queens and Darden had an ace-king. The flop and turn, or fourth street, revealed two aces, giving Darden an edge.
But the river, or fifth street, doomed Darden when the dealer turned over a queen. Juanda's full house of queens over aces beat Darden's three aces and nearly doubled his original stack of $141,000.
In Texas hold'em, only two cards are dealt down, followed by a round of bets, the flop of three community cards and more bets, checks or raises. Then fourth street or the turn card is dealt up, followed by betting and the final community card, fifth street or the river card. The best five cards out of the seven taking the pot. The blinds -- mandatory bets put in by the two players to the left of the rotating dealer button -- go up as the day goes on, raising the stakes and the pressure.
No woman has ever won the 36-year-old event, but 1995's fifth-place finisher Barbara Enright was still playing. Enright, the only woman to ever make it to a final table, was joined by beauty queen and pro Clonie Gowen of fulltiltpoker.com and Olga Varkonyi, wife of 2002 winner Robert Varkonyi.
But by 3:35 p.m., Gowen exited the tournament and the women's chances dwindled. Gowen's ace-queen lost to two aces.
Poker star Phil Gordon, who was bumped from the main event last week, said it looked grim for the women.
"Look around, there aren't a lot left," Gordon said.
With most of the dead money, or weakest players, knocked out, the pros could begin to assert themselves if they start catching good cards. That could spell the end for the Internet upstarts who have dominated the tournament the past two years.
At this stage, the reality of the tournament has set in for all the players. To win, Vorhaus said, they'll have to "get cards, get action, get lucky."
One player did get lucky, even though he lost. Carl Gbora of Sweden finished in spot 561. World Series officials bought him a place in next year's World Series of Poker tournament.
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