Posted by Andrew Feldman
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Greg Raymer is one of the shorter stacks after the first level of play on Saturday.
5:20 p.m. ET: Not too many smiling familiar faces here at the Rio so far on July 4th. After getting off to a quick start, Greg Raymer ran into quads, then trips on the river to reduce his stack to $16,000. Joe Sebok is in the same boat and he's visibly frustrated. The biggest hand he played actually resulted in a chop and he's down to $14,000. Chris Moneymaker ($11,000), David Pham ($21,500) and Barry Greenstein ($23,000) also find themselves at the bottom of the chip counts as the players headed to their first break of the day. Obviously with the blind structure very slow on this starting day, there should be plenty of time for any of these players to grind back up, but this isn't the start they wanted to the biggest event of the year.
Many of you will enjoy today's story by Gary Wise on Marlon Shirley. Shirley is quite a remarkable person and as I watched his video interview earlier this morning (will be posted on the site shortly), it's incredible to think about what he has accomplished. Leaving a legacy he will, but one would think that after the gold medals, United Nations awards and ESPYS, he would be content. In fact, it's the opposite. Always one to do his best, Shirley has now entered the WSOP and started a new journey. I highly recommend you read more about it here.
Small blinds: For those of you who are looking for today's podcast, you might have to wait a little longer. We're working on it and believe me, you'll want to listen. … One player who had a great start today was Jeremiah Smith, who managed to pick up aces against his opponent's kings very early in play. After speaking to the rest of his table, they pretty much declared he was a card rack during the first level. … No quad jacks yet today. … The field looks to be around 1,000 players. … Greg Raymer and Alexander Kravchenko are sitting at the same table. … If you missed any of yesterday's action, check out the video recap.
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