WSOP Day 20 recap: Former Casino Employee champ wins Stud 8 tourney

After a fiery start filled with dramatic wins, near-misses, and even some controversy the 2010 World Series of Poker has hit a bit of a lull midway through the 57 event tournament series. Still, there is plenty to report from the 20^th day of action at the biggest poker tournament on the planet.

Event #24: $1,000 No Limit Holdem

With a table full of unknowns the $1k tournament was anyone’s guess as to who was going to take home the title. With only 1 player among the final having a six-figure cash to their credit this tournament was likely to be the highlight of every player remaining.

In the end it was Jeffrey Tebben from Overland Park Kansas who walked away with the win; giving him his 1^st WSOP bracelet, along with a hefty $503,389 payday.

Event #26: $2,500 6-Handed No Limit Holdem

Another first time bracelet winner William Haydon picked up the $630k first-place prize-money in event #26. However, unlike Jeffrey Tebben’s win in Event #24, Haydon was confronted with a much more experienced group of adversaries. The most experienced player at the final table was Eddie Scharf, and his two WSOP bracelets, but the German pro could only manage a 4^th place finish.

Just missing the final table was high-stakes cash game player, and online phenom Justin “boosted” Smith, who finished in 8^th place.

Event #27: $1,500 Seven Card Stud 8 or better

A little history was made in Event #27, when David Warga became the first winner of the Casino Employee Event to win an open bracelet, and it wasn’t easy! Warga had to battle through David Levi and Karina Jett, as well as a solid group of semi-pro/pro players.

Jett became the latest woman in 2010 to reach the final table, and fail to walk away with a bracelet. She Joins JJ Liu (2-times) and Jennifer Harman.

Event #28: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha

Going into the final day of play all eyes will be on Joe Serock who is looking for his 1^st WSOP win after having a breakout performance in 2009: Serock cashed 5-times in 09′ including a runner-up finish in the $2,500 6-handed no limit holdem event.

Event #29: $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship

Approaching the final table there are a few big-time players still left in the field. Most notably is Mike “The Grinder” Mizrachi, who is looking for his second WSOP win this year -having already won the $50k Players Championship-as well as two-time bracelet winner in 2009 Brock Parker and former Player of the Year David Chiu. All three will have a lot of work to do today, as they are all near the bottom of the chip counts with 12 players remaining.

Event #30: $1,500 No Limit Holdem

A huge turnout for the event has created a massive $3.2 million prize-pool. Of the 2,394 players that entered the event only 245 made it through to Day 2. Near the top of the leader-board are Carlos Mortensen, Steve Gross, and Neil Channing, all in the top 7. Some other notable players surviving Day 1 were Matt Stout, David Sands -who is looking to lock up that Brunson 10 spot, and Adam “Roothlus” Levy.

Event #31: $1,500 HORSE

A whopping 828 players turned out for the HORSE tournament yesterday, and the huge disparity of Poker Pros remaining in the final 247 players it’s quite obvious that a number of those entrants are not as proficient in all the games as they think they are!

Take a look of this list of players who made it through to Day 2: Maria Ho, James Van Alstyne, Allen Kessler, Tom Dwan -in 10^th place, Lex Veldhuis, Cindy Violette, Brandon Cantu, Jeff Shulman, Jon Turner, Andy Bloch, John Cernuto, Mike Wattel, Linda Johnson, Chip Jett, Cliff Josephy, Keith Sexton, Jason Mercier, Ylon Schwartz, Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Eric Seidel, David Singer, Robert Williamson III, John Juanda,  Robert Mizrachi and Mark Gregorich.

 Results courtesy of WSOP.com