U.K. native James FlushyDempsey (pictured) has been on a tear at the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP). In Event #9, a $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em tournament, Dempsey emerged victorious from the pack and banked $197,000. Sixteen events later, he nearly lodged his second career WSOP bracelet in the Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better World Championship. However, he played second fiddle to poker legend Sammy Farha, whose runner-up finish to Chris Moneymaker in the 2003 WSOP Main Event helped spur the modern poker boom.
This time around, Farha had the last laugh in a grueling 20-hour final table that ended at 7:00am PT. First, Farha made a full house holding Ad-Ac-Ks-Kd on a board of Qs-9s-3c-Qc-As and Dempsey mucked, sending his chip stack plummeting. Then, Dempsey committed his stack with Jh-8d-6c-5c and was up against Farha’s Jc-9h-7d-4h. Dempsey found some light when the flop came 10d-4s-3s, but running tens sent him to the rail.
Here’s how the top nine cashed out in Event #25 of the 2010 WSOP:
1. Sammy Farha – $488,237
2. James FlushyDempsey – $301,790
3. Yueqi Zhu – $225,326
4. Sergey Altbregin – $169,368
5. Tony Merksick – $128,097
6. Michael Chow – $97,508
7. Eugene Katchalov – $74,670
8. Abe Mosseri – $57,552
9. Steve Wong – $44,619
Others cashing in the Omaha High-Low Championship included UB.compro Eric basebaldy Baldwin (11th for $34,814), David BakesBaker (15th for $27,401), and Team PokerStars Canada’s Pat TorontoToroPezzin (26th for $17,138).
A total of 3,289 players remain in Event #24, a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament. The field is packed with members of the online poker community, including J.D. BubbaKGB McNamara (pictured), who sits at #17 on the leaderboard at 230,000. The 30 remaining players trail Joseph Grenon‘s field-leading stack of 857,000. McNamara relegated Ryan Beckwith to the rails in 73rd when his pocket eights held up against Beckwith’s A-Q to shoot his chip count up to 211,000. McNamara was the subject of discussion in a rail thread in Off Topic.
Also surviving is Jaymes jaymes17Rosenthal, who has the fifth largest stack at 472,000. Rosenthal held a commanding chip lead for much of the day and was helped in part by drawing out on pocket jacks with pocket tens. Rosenthal hails from South Carolina and joining him on Day 3 will be Jonas donut604Mackoff, who owns the 19th spot on the leaderboard at 219,000. Mackoff hails from Canada and won the PokerStars $100 rebuy two months ago for $18,000.
Andras andraskovacsKovacs bagged up the 20th largest chip stack in Event #24 on Monday night at 213,000. Rounding out the remaining field is Brian punkmonkKennish, who will be on life support with 57,000 chips. When play wrapped up on Monday night, the blinds were at 5,000/10,000 with an ante of 1,000. Every player remaining is assured at least $11,000, with a top prize of $503,000 up for grabs.
Starting up on Monday was Event #26, a No Limit Hold’em Six-Max tournament that carried a $2,500 buy-in. What began as a field of 1,245 is now down to 156, with 30 players needing to be eliminated until the money bubble bursts. Among those still alive and perched near the top of the leaderboard are Victory Pokerpro Andrew good2cuRobl and DoylesRoomBrunson 10 member Chris moorman1Moorman (pictured), who hold the 13th and 17th largest chip stacks, respectively. William Haydon leads the way after Day 1 and the tournament’s champion will take home $630,000.
Two events kick off today inside the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. A $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament begins at Noon PT, while the Limit Hold’em World Championship will issue its starting command five hours later. Keep it tuned to PocketFives.com for the latest WSOP coverage of online poker players. Also, check out our partial list of PocketFives.com member cashes.