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February 12, 2012

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Another batch of poker players begin their Main Event journey

Day 1B attracted 300 more players than Day 1A, including many pros

Image

Steve Marcus

Daniel Harrington talks with another player at his table during the 41st annual World Series of Poker Main Event on Tuesday at the Rio.

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Wednesday, July 7, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.

WSOP Main Event July 6

Jamie Gold, 2006 Main Event champion, competes during the 41st annual World Series of Poker Main Event on Tuesday at the Rio. Launch slideshow »

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A young man at the World Series of Poker walks up to poker veteran Dan Harrington and pats him on the shoulder as a show of appreciation.

For the 64-year old Harrington, who won the 1995 World Series of Poker Main Event, this is a common occurrence.

Many of the players at the World Series of Poker have Harrington's seminal series of books on tournament-poker strategy, entitled Harrington on Hold'em, to thank for their careers.

There is, however, a downside to this attention. Because so many people are familiar with Harrington's texts, they have a good idea of how he plays.

"People have more awareness of what my normal strategies are," Harrington said. "I have to vary them a little more to make it neutral. I might be inclined to raise in certain positions more now or do it less."

Harrington was one of 1,489 players who showed up Tuesday to play on the second starting day of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event at the Rio.

Harrington has found much success at the Main Event as he fought off large fields in both 2003 and 2004 to make the final table in what ESPN commentator Norman Chad called "the greatest achievement in World Series history."

Although he doesn't play in as many tournaments anymore, Harrington said the Main Event was one he couldn't miss.

"If you want to talk about tennis, this is like all the Grand Slams rolled up into one," Harrington said.

Harrington was down to about 20,000 chips out of the starting 30,000 after six hours of play Tuesday. He was one of many professionals who chose to start the Main Event on its second of four starting days.

Other long-time professionals at the Rio on Tuesday included Gavin Smith, Tom Schneider and Blair Rodman.

But the day largely belonged to one of the youngest pros in the field, 21-year old Dan Kelly from Potomac, Md. The World Series held a bracelet ceremony during the first break for Kelly, who won the prestigious $25,000 six-max no-limit hold 'em tournament for $1.3 million Saturday night.

Click to enlarge photo

Steve Marcus

Dan Kelly holds up his championship bracelet during an awards ceremony at the 41st annual World Series of Poker on Tuesday at the Rio. Kelly won the $25,000 no-limit hold'em six-handed tournament for $1,315,518.

Kelly managed to stay focused enough to run his chip stack in the Main Event up to nearly 80,000 after six hours of play.

"I always watched this on TV when I was younger," Kelly said. "This is my first year, so it's really exciting for me."

Youngsters have captured the Main Event championship in each of the last two years. Denmark's Peter Eastgate became the youngest player to win it in 2008 at 23 years old, before 21-year old Joe Cada shattered his record last year.

It would surprise no one if Kelly, who started playing online a few years ago, made a deep run this year. Two other up-and-comers in the field Tuesday who got their start in the online world were Andrew Lichtenberger and Jay Rosenkrantz.

Rosenkrantz turned a minimal deposit into multi-millions online. Litchtenberger captured a World Series of Poker circuit championship at Caesars Palace in March for $190,000.

"There's still a lot of good older players, but I think kids are starting to play at a younger age," Kelly said. "They have the advantage of playing on the Internet and growing up with the Internet."

Click to enlarge photo

Steve Marcus

Canadian medical student Phil Dwek, center, dressed as Batman, watches as players at his table finish a hand before a break during the 41st annual World Series of Poker Main Event on Tuesday at the Rio.

Professionals weren't the only players commanding attention from spectators. Phil Dwek, a recreational player and medical student from Toronto, stole some of the spotlight by showing up in a Batman costume.

Dwek said he settled on Batman because the costume shop sold out of Captain America outfits.

"It makes the whole tournament a lot more enjoyable," Dwek said. "My whole table is so serious of an atmosphere."

Dwek could afford to travel to Las Vegas and buy in to the tournament because he decided to skip out on a medical review course. After six hours of play, Dwek was slightly above average in chips.

Among the chip leaders at the dinner break of Day 1B were television poker regular Phil Laak and online superstar Phil Galfond. They were both nearing 100,000 chips.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or case.keefer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer for live updates from the Main Event.

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