Main Event Day 1A on ESPN

Wooo! The Main Event is here! Flash montage and then clips of the opening days field.

"Lon I can't believe I'm saying this but Greg Raymer just gave me chills."

The feature table is, once again, Mike Matusow. He was on the Day 1 feature last year, and 2006, not sure about the intervening years but it's a strong possibility. Also at the table is Jason Lester who was 4th in 2003. Allen Carter is at the table, he won the WPT Southern Championships in Jan '09 for $1 million. Alex Carr is a young online pro with 4 cashes at the 2010 World Series.

Hand 1 sees 22 year old Alex Carr make it 250 with A6 off, flatted by Matusow in the CO with A6hh, Gerhard Maurer from Munich flays the button with 10c and a mystery card, Alan Carter calls out of the bb with 53 off. The flop is Q64 rainbow, Carter leads 600 with the open ender and Mike flats with second pair. Carter leads 1050 on the 5h turn and Mike pops it to 3k. Carter flats and checks the Kh river, Matusow thinks he needs to bluff and bets 4,400. Carter snap folds. Mike talks about playing it real slow on Day 1 but he had 80 big blinds at risk in this early pot.

Table 2 and hand 2 features Erik Seidel. We get to the flop where he's out of position with AcAs vs Matt Groves AdJd on a 456 flop. Erik check calls every street, the board running out 2 then 7. Seidel masterfully let the aggresive kid fire 3 barrels.

We see Jeff Shulman and TJ Cloutier in the field, then see Ted Forrest all-in with 88 vs J10 on a 10 6 2 flop. It doesn't matter because there's two eights to come.

Back to Matusowland. Hand 3 and the blinds are up to 100-200, Carr makes it 600 with Jh 9h from the button. He gets called by both blinds, Matusow and Maurer, bith with QJ off, the fun flop comes down Q98cc. Mike leads 1k into 1800 and gets called by both of them. All three payers make a straight on the 10 of clubs turn, nobody has a club. Matusow checks, Maurer bets 3k into 4,800 and Carr flats. Matusow does some inappropriate talking and makes a sensible fold. The river makes it even scarier, pairing the board with the 10h, and Maurer kamikaze shoves for 8,925, Carr calls.

I like the way Mike played this, a sensible spot to avoid variance. Not sure how Maurer found a shove, and given Carr is a very good player I have to think he knows Maurer is donkish to call him on the river.

Matusow comes out with one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard, in the 2008 WSOP, "Only 1 person of the entire 100 chip leaders of day 1 cashed". Not even close Mike.

ESPN asks a load of players how to win the Main Event, apparently you have to watch Rocky.

Back to the field, Bobby Baldwin, Chris "Depressed to be playing poker for a living" Moneymaker, and Greg "I just got 300 big blinds in with a pair and a flush draw vs a set" Raymer.

Hand 4 has us on the Jd 4d 2h flop, Mike has 10d8d and bets 600, Carter calls with Ks8s for king high. The turn is the 9c and goes check check, Matusow bluffs King high on the 4s river and doesn't show the 'bluff'.

Raymer is out, finished off by Mikhail Shalamov, a player whose attire sparks Chad's, "What is this, fashion week on QVC?" comment.

Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho are shown, Maria knocking out 2+2s 'Dante', Jeremiah De Greef, AA vs KK. Ray Romano bests Martin Schirp with a bet on a Q666 board and then shows Aces. Forrest doubles again with AA vs 88.

We see a feature on the Matusow vs Forrest weight loss bet.

"Ted's gotta lose 20 more pounds in less than 2 weeks to win the bet, ain't gonna happen, and even if it does, do you think he's gonna be able to collect $2 million dollars from Mike Matusow? Ain't gonna happen."

Hand 5 sees Carr raise Qd3d and get flatted by Matusow in the co with 8h5h. the flop is Ad9d8s and Carr c-bets his flush draw, Matusow calls with bottom pair. There's 4450 in the flop when the Kc arrives. Carr bets 2k and Mike makes it 5400. Carr decides to fold his draw. Mike makes another nice play, he plays good in these spots, I don't know why he is addicted to scared careful Main Event play, he's much better like this.

Hand 6 is one of Eril Seidel's worst ever televised moments. Taylor Larkin, runner up in a $1500 for $390k has 33k and AK off in the c/o. Seidel has A6 off in the bb. Larkin makes it 725, Seidel pops it to 2325. Larkin 4-bets to 6,500. Seiderl 5-bets to 17,000. Larkin 6-bet shoves for 17,425 more. Seidel is getting 3:1 and has invested half his stack. Why is he putting himself in a position to fold? He should have 5-bet to around 11k if he planned on folding to a shove. Making it 17k and folding is atrocious when he needs a 25% hand. Larkin couldn't believe he dind't get called.

Seidel tells us a story about beating a guy out of his boots in Backgammon.

Yay! A Scott Seiver and Isaac Haxton sighting, as well as EPT star Jeff Sarwer beating fellow pro Peter Feldman.

Hand 7 Carr makes it 750 utg and gets called by Matusow's 8d5d. Robert Pisano calls from the bb with the Wild Card Hand. Carr bets 1500 on the 8s7s2c flop. Both players call to see the Js. It;s checked round to Mike and he bets 3,050 into 6,900. Pisano's wild card hand makes it 8,100 and Mike has no choice but to fold. Pisano has AsKs for the nuts. Kind of a spewy turn bet from Mike.

Shawn Marion is knocked out. Who the hell is he?

Yay! Abe 'bet bet' Mosseri is shown trying to knock someone out but getting sucked out on.

It's Grinder time! We see him winning a pot and having a nice big stack.

Hand 8 and Mike limps utg with Ad5d. Ugh. Carter makes it 1225 from the Hijack with Ace Queen off and Mike flats. Ugh. Qh 8h 4d on the flop and Mike leads for 1325. Carter nicely flats. The turn is the 9d, giving Matusow the nut flush draw. Mike donks out 3500 into 5550. Carter is happy to string him along further. The river is the Qc and Mike donks out 7k. Carter calls obviously. Mike should have shut down here, what did he think Carter had? He loses half his stack here.

Hand 9 and Pisano (who goes on to finish 23rd) makes it 900 from the cut off with AJ off, Mike makes it 3100 from the bb with JJ and Pisano shoves. Mike started the hand with 55 big blinds. He shies away from this but spews half his stack in bluff spots? I'm not going to be overky critical about not wanting to get 55 bbs in with Jacks, but if you're going to play smallball then you need to be consistent. Don't limp/call early with A5 and then lead all 3 streets with air. That's not smallball.

Hand 10 sees Seidel hooked up with strong pro Noah Schwartz and Peter Bartagov. Seidel hits running two pair after the flop is checked and Schwarts pays off on the turn and river with Ace high to see Seidel back to his starting stack.

Out in the field we see a Barry Shulman bluff against Andrew St.Jean (we saw Tedd Forrest playing against an Andrew St.John earlier!). TJ Cloutier is out. And now......

We go over to Mike "the Mad Genius of Poker" Caro's table. Mike bets in the dark with J3 off into 4 players (one of which is Will Molson). "Look at how Genius moves and breathes." James Taylor calls. The turn is the 9d. Genius checks. "absolute genius". The river is the Qs. Genius checks. Taylor bets. "Genius is, as genius does." Genius folds and Taylor shows a bluff. "He may be the mad genius but I've never seen him win."

Hilariously Mike gets dealt an Ace that gets exposed. His second card was also an Ace. Classily he folds face-up. Mike moans.

Ray Romano gets eliminated when Schirp makes a straight flush. Bye Ray! Moneymake makes a straight and wins a pot against Michael Swimelar. The Grinder wins another pot! Imagine if he final tabled this? That would be amazing. Ted Forrest doubles again vs John Jiles. He now has a massive 3,900.

Mike is down to 6675. He tells everyone he never goes broke on Day 1. HAnd 11 and Mike makes it 850 with KJ off. Varter flats 88 on the button. Lester flats AsQs from the sb. There's 3075 in the pot. J85cc. Mike moves in for 5800. Carter has a set. He calls. Mike is gone. Bye!

He played pretty badly, it's all well and good being a nit pre-flop with big hands, but he needs to stop spewing in situations he shouldn't be in.

Day 1b is coming soon!