All-in gambles and bustouts get more frequent at World Series of Poker as cards trim field

Bustouts get more rapid at World Series of Poker

LAS VEGAS — All-in gambles and eliminations sped up at the World Series of Poker on Monday as more than 1,100 players were knocked out from the main event six hours through their third session, slashing the field by 43 percent.

Among the bustouts was Joe Cada, the defending champion who won $8.55 million last year as the youngest main event winner ever.

Cada went all-in with 67,800 chips against several opponents who had already called raises. All but one folded and Cada flipped an ace-queen to find himself against a pair of 10s. The 10s held despite a board that nearly gave Cada a flush.

The hand ended a disappointing series for Cada, who entered 16 World Series of Poker tournaments this summer but cashed in none.

All 2,557 players left in the no-limit Texas Hold ‘em tournament at Monday’s start played at the same time for the first time during the marathon event. The first two sessions were split over multiple days.

“They’re just playing fast,” Tournament Director Jack Effel said. “They don’t have to go broke now — they choose to go broke now.”

Players started Monday with an average of 85,870 chips, nearly three times their original stack of 30,000 chips.

Top prize in the tournament is $8.94 million, and players aren’t eliminated until all their chips are gone. The chips don’t have actual monetary value.

“Everybody that’s been to my left has been hyper-aggressive,” said Steve Toulch, 52, of Montreal, who owns a paper recycling facility.

Players typically want aggressive players on their right with betting moving clockwise around the table. To Toulch’s right sat Scotty Nguyen, the five-time gold bracelet winner who won the main event in 1998.

“Have some decency in your soul,” Toulch told a dealer as he risked his tournament with top two pair, aces and jacks, against an opponent with an ace-king for top pair, top kicker.

Toulch started the day with 96,300 chips but was up to 260,000 chips after the hand.

Minutes later, Nguyen eliminated Ronald Gandolfo of Lindenhurst, N.Y., who re-raised all-in after Nguyen made a bet. Nguyen held ace-jack; Gandolfo held a suited king-four.

Paul Hegyi, the 33-year-old chief of staff for California Assemblyman Van Tran, said after eliminating an opponent with a pair of queens that his table was not as loose as he expected.

“You hear a lot of all-ins, so I thought it’d be very aggressive,” Hegyi said. “But this table is very tight.”

His opponent had gambled with an ace high.

“I thought I had him beat,” Hegyi said.

Dealers announced each all-in gamble that was called by an opponent, while tournament staff shuffled players from outer tables into newly empty seats.

Trevor Taylor, a 31-year-old factory worker from Kitchener, Ontario, got up and turned his back to his table as he gambled the last of his chips with two sixes on a board with a four and two deuces, including two hearts.

Ludvik Ludviksson of Seltjarnarnes, Iceland raised Taylor’s bet to 30,000 chips, but Alexander Wice of Toronto pushed in a tall stack of chips, testing Ludviksson’s tournament. A red-faced Ludviksson folded after long consideration, and said he had the best hand after Wice revealed an ace-high flush draw.

The win tripled Taylor’s stack.

“If he wouldn’t have re-raised, I’d have been screwed,” he said.

Tournament officials expected players to not reach the money until Tuesday night. The top 747 players will win at least $19,000 after buying into the tournament for $10,000 each.