After watching the tables during this first hour of play, it's clear that some have decided to pick up the action and put a lot of chips in the pot while others have not. Obviously, some like John Racener have already busted, but many of the big names in the field are within only a few hundred plus or minus their starting stack. One player whose table has decided to take the fast and loose approach is Jean-Robert Bellande. Bellande got himself going in chips early but his since given a few back.
In this particular hand, an under-the gun player raised it up to 75, a late position player re-raised to 250, and he got calls from the hijack, Bellande in the big blind, and the initial early position raiser.
The flop came down and all four players checked. The turn was the and Bellande bet out 500. The early position player called and the other two folded. The river came and both players checked.
The early position player showed for jacks and tens to scoop the pot. Bellande is back down to 4,000, but with such a volatile table, he could easily be way back up in the next few minutes
Quite a few spectators have gathered along the back rail here in the Pavilion room. They're currently watching both Daniel Negreanu and Greg Raymer, who're are seated at two separate tables on the rail. Interestingly, they're seated in Seat 1 and Seat 9 respectively, meaning they are facing their fans. This had made for some fun interactions, much to the delight of the railbirds.
On the other side of the room, Erick Lindgren has taken his seat at Humberto Brenes' table, which will no doubt make for some fun antics . . . provided they're both able to survive.
Jim "MrBigQueso" Collopy just sat down as we near the end of Level 1. He would have been sitting to the left of John Racener, but Racener has joined the ranks of those who have already busted within the first hour of play.
"Your stack has done better than three people already," said one player in greeting Collopy. Indeed, they were down to five-handed there momentarily before his arrival.
Jean-Robert Bellande limped under the gun and was followed by the player in the hijack. The cutoff then raised to 100, both blind called, and the two limpers came along for the ride. It was five-way action to the , which all players checked.
When the hit the turn, action checked to the cutoff and he fired out 450. The small blind folded, the big blind called, and Bellande raised pot. From there, the hijack folded, the cutoff called off for 825, and the big blind reluctantly got out of the hand.
Bellande:
Cutoff:
Bellande held the nut straight, but in order to scoop he needed to avoid a qualifying low card on the river as well as a diamond. Lucky for him, the paired the board and he took down the entire pot, leaving the cutoff to use his two remaining rebuy chips.
Some other familiar folks here. Barny Boatman has taken his seat, located to the immediate right of Tom Schneider. Dutch pro Noah Boeken and our PokerNews colleague Chris "Homer" Hall are both here. And Justin Phillips -- he of the famous royal flush-vs.-quad aces hand from the 2008 WSOP Main Event -- has taken a seat as well.
Phillips' table is engaging in some jovial small talk here in the early going, much of it to do with how well they know PLO/8. Amid their talk, one player pointed at both Phillips and the player to his right, saying they both looked familiar, although he insisted it was the other one -- not Phillips -- who looked more so.
"He looks more familiar?" said Phillips with a wide grin, then with a thumb pointed to his characteristic tank top, added "I'm kind of a big deal." The table laughed as Phillips said he was kidding around, and resumed the discussion of their relative experience (or lack thereof) in Omaha/8.
With 800 in the pot and a board reading , the player in the small blind bet 800 and Mike "The Mouth" Matusow called from middle position. When the appeared on the river, the small blind bet his last 250, a relatively small bet into the 2,400 pot.
Matusow looked at his hand, grinned, and tossed it to the muck. Matusow has a stack of 1,775 in front of him, plus two rebuy chips worth T1,500 apiece.
As has been the case with all Pot-Limit Omaha events at this year's WSOP, it is a triple chance format. In this case, each player starts with 1,500 and two re-buy chips worth 1,500 each for a grand total of 4,500. It's always interesting to see the strategy players will use in deciding how to cash these re-buys in. Plenty will take their full stack right away, others might try and grind out a single stack until they have to cash in their re-buys at the end of Level Four.
Either way, for many this means that the all ins come early and often. At a table in the black section, we saw three players already all in (each for only a single 1,500 stack only) on a board of . One player showed another showed and the third showed . Two players split the low with and the player with took down the high with twos full of fives. In standard limit Omaha 8 or Better, you don't see a lot of all ins early, but since this is Pot-Limit, expect to continue to see lots of all ins and lots of chopped pots. Should be an interesting Day 1 to say the least
and all four players checked. The turn was the 
and Bellande bet out 500. The early position player called and the other two folded. The river came 
and both players checked.
for jacks and tens to scoop the pot. Bellande is back down to 4,000, but with such a volatile table, he could easily be way back up in the next few minutes
![[user38338]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
paired the board and he took down the entire pot, leaving the cutoff to use his two remaining rebuy chips.
, the player in the small blind bet 800 and Mike "The Mouth" Matusow called from middle position. When the 
another showed 
and the third showed 
. Two players split the low with 
and the player with 