Monday was originally intended to be the quiet day, a day when aside from the pot limit Omaha, a few minor tournaments would play out in the usual way with players getting in their last preparations before the main event starts on Thursday.
But even with the early fallers from the ranks of Team PokerStars Pro in the Omaha event the tension would soon rise and make Monday a day to remember. The reason for all this - a $1,500 HORSE event and another of those quick fire $1,500 no limit hold’em events that make the Amazon Room the most popular place in town.
Hope of a Team PokerStars Pro pot limit Omaha triumph were cut short though with all three of the team – Humberto Brenes, Noah Boeken and Bill Chen - eliminated in a 15 minute period.
Alongside them were the HORSE players, with among their ranks the likes of Victor Ramdin, Joe Hachem, Chad Brown, Vicky Coren and Luca Pagano.
Narrowly missing out on a cash finish in the prestigious $50K HORSE event last weekend sent Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown out with a point to prove. His eye on the prize, he built his stack up and was never far from the leaders. A Razz hand though late on eventually busted him with just minutes on teh day. A well earned cash for one of the best HORSE players in the game.
He was one half of a successful day for PokerStars’ first couple. Over in the $1,500 hold’em, his fiancé Vanessa Rousso was about to cash back in the Amazon Room. Along with fellow Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari, Vanessa survived a fraught end to the day’s play. Whilst Andre soon busted out, Vanessa returns with 34,000 tomorrow as day two plays to a final nine.
As we were packing up media row for the night the HORSE players continued, riding on till sunrise - the process of breaking the field into a last nine being a slow one. As we left it with just minutes to play on the day both Joe Hachem and Victor Ramdin were on 58K and 95K respectively. We’ll have a full update on their progress tomorrow.
