WSOP roundup: Irishman wins third-largest live poker tournament

Ciaran O'Leary, who was born in Ireland and lives in Seattle, won the third-largest live tournament in poker history to claim $727,012 last night at the World Series of Poker.

The $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold'em event had 2,998 players and ranks third behind only the 2005 and 2006 WSOP Main Events in terms of number of entrants.

O'Leary, who had played in WSOP events in six of the last 10 years, had never cashed in a WSOP event before. He entered final table play in fifth place, but overcame a massive chip lead by eventual third-place finisher Alex Jacob to win the event. Paul Evans, who was in second at the beginning of the final table, was the event's runner-up, winning $450,150.

Top pros vying for mixed game title
Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Annie Duke, and David Benyamine will compete at the final table of Event # 5, a $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better tournament this afternoon.

Ferguson, who is fifth with $193,000 chips, is currently tied for 10th on the all-time gold bracelet list with five. Should he win his sixth bracelet today, he would move up into a tie for seventh with Jay Heimowitz, Men "The Master" Nguyen and T.J. Cloutier, who finished second to Ferguson in the 2000 Main Event.

Annie Duke, currently in second with $239,000, won a bracelet in an Omaha Hi-Low tournament in 2004, and also won the WSOP Tournament of Champions that year.

Beynamine sits in third with $221,000. He has never cashed in a WSOP event, but has plenty of tournament experience. The Frenchman won the 2003 Grand Prix de Paris on the World Poker Tour, and also won the WPT Battle of Champions II in 2005.

The well-known pros, however, have some catching up to do. Tom Schneider, making his third appearance at a WSOP final table, has more than a 2-1 chip lead on his nearest opponent with $526,000 chips.

Smith looking for trifecta
Gavin Smith, who already owns WPT and WSOP circuit event titles, will be looking for his first WSOP bracelet today at the final table of Event # 4, a $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em tournament.

Smith is the chip leader after two days of play with $480,000.William Hill sits in second with $332,000. Bruce Van Horn, who finished second to Huck Seed in the 1996 Main Event, is third with $315,000.

Marco Traniello, perhaps better know as Jennifer Harman's husband, sits in fifth, while Jon Friedberg, who won a bracelet in a $1,000 No Limit Hold'em tournament last year, is in seventh.

Eric "rizen" Lynch, a top Internet pro, is the short stack with just $91,000. Lynch has made the final table in this event in back-to-back years, as he finished third in last year's $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em event.

Pot Limit Omaha event moves to three days
Tournament staff decided to add a day in the schedule for Event # 7, a $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys tournament. Instead of wrapping up today, the remaining players will play down to nine players today with the final table scheduled for Wednesday.

John Juanda leads the pack after one day with $310,000 chips. Humberto Brenes trails in third with $265,000. Andy Black, David Williams, Erik Seidel, Mike Sexton, Robert Williamson III, Johnny Chan, Rafi Amit and Ram Vaswani are all in the top-20.

Other notable players still in the tournament include Dave "Devilfish" Ulliot, Scott Fischman, Lee Watkinson, Layne Flack, Todd Brunson, Chau Giang, Steve Zolotow, Eli Elezra, Nenad Medic, Huck Seed, Robert Mizrachi, Chip Reese, Erick Lindgren, Jeffrey Lisandro, Max Pescatori, Patrik Antonius, Dewey Tomko, and Jim Bechtel and Doyle Brunson.

Chan and Doyle Brunson are tied with Phil Hellmuth on the all-time bracelets list with 10 apiece, but Chan likely has a much better chance to move ahead of Brunson in this tournament, as he sits just slightly below the average chip stack with 100,000. Doyle Brunson is a short stack with just $27,000.

Mostly anonymous field competes for Limit Hold'em title
Ninety players remain in Event # 6, a $1,500 Limit Hold'em tournament. With most well-known players competing in the mixed game and Pot Limit Omaha events and some notable bust outs on day one, relatively few well-known player remain.

Tommy Hang leads the field with $90,000 chips. David Chui, who owns four WSOP bracelets, has $26,000 chips, as does 2003 bracelet winner Minneapolis Jim Meehan. Two-time bracelet winner Minh Nguyen has $22,000 chips, and David Sklanksy, who holds three bracelets (although the latest came in 1983), has $14,000 chips.