- The charity bracelet event, the $1m Big One for One Drop has started.
- David Einhorn was the first to bust after 45 minutes when his top set lost to Sam Trickett concealed straight.
- Trickett has built up a big chip lead at the end of day 1, with Tom Hll in second and Phil Ivey in third.
- 31 players will take their seats for the start of Day 2—11 have already lost their million dollar buy in.
Hedge fund manager David Einhorn now has the best bad beat story in poker after exiting the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop after just 45 minutes of play.
Einhorn three bet a Sam Trickett pre-flop raise, Trickett called and the flop came down 2-J-6. The two were well aware of each other’s game having finished 3rd and 2nd respectively in the first One Drop event in 2012, so Trickett’s call of Einhorn’s continuation bet was not unexpected.
Einhorn had flopped a set of jacks, and the three of spades on the turn filled out the rainbow board texture and looked as unthreatening as any card could be.
The river Q appeared to make little difference—and when Trickett raised Einhorn’s bet all-in, Einhorn snap called.
Trickett flipped over 4-5 suited—the turn had filled his inside straight—and Einhorn could only look on in shock.
Esfandiari Tries for Two in a Row
Such stories are inevitable in a tournament with this buy-in which has attracted such a high profile field. The event was created by Canadian billionaire, Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil, and exists to generate money for his One Drop charity.
The first event created a WSOP sensation as Antonio Esfandiari won it for a record $18.3m payout. Trickett came second for $10.1m and David Einhorn donated his third place winnings of $4.3m to charity.
The “Big One” is planned to be held every two years—this year is the second time the event has been held, and it had slots for 56 entries. 42 players managed to find the necessary one million bucks for the buy-in—either from very deep pockets or by selling pieces—in some cases a large percentage—of their action.
Erik Lindgren won his seat in the $25k Mega Satellite—the same way Gus Hansen won his seat last time. Gus’s name is notably absent from the entries this year.
Other big names that played in the 2012 event but are not making a repeat appearance include former WSOP Main Event Champs Phil Hellmuth and Jonathan Duhamel, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov, Mike Sexton and Dan Shak.
Total entries are down from the 48 of the 2012 event, but special factors affect a tournament such as this so it would be unwise to draw conclusions that the event is in any way less successful as a result.
Gabe Kaplan Takes on the Young Guns of the Internet
Some unexpected names appear in the entries—former High Stakes Poker presenter Gabe Kaplan has a seat, as does Jean-Robert Bellande, who received a less than lukewarm response when he offered Dan Bilzerian 5% of his action.
Doug “no longer to be known as WCGRider” Polk has invested the $250k he took from winning Event #23: $1,000 Turbo No-Limit Hold’em, plus some of his online cash game winnings in the expectation of another big score.
Phil Ivey is going for a big money win to add to the bracelet he won at the weekend, and Daniel Negreanu is going to try to take the bracelet after his close call coming second in Event #13: $10k No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball.
Daniel has cashed in eight events so far in this World Series, three of them in tenth, and that is where he stands at the end of Day 1 in the One Drop—tenth in chips with 31 players remaining.
Trickett leads after Day 1—Ivey in 3rd
Sam Trickett has built up a commanding chip lead with almost 14 million chips. Asian Poker Tour owner, and organizer of Macau’s biggest cash games, Tom Hall is in second with 9.1 million chips, and Phil Ivey sits in third place with 7.6 million.
Jean-Robert Bellande and Guy Laliberté bring up the rear of the field with around a million chips each. Even if he doesn’t make the final table himself—and he did last time finishing in fifth—Guy can be expected to provide some dramatic entertainment from his Cirque resources to give the occasion the right ambience.
The event is scheduled for three days and pays out eight places—more than $15 million will go to the victor.
