Early Action
by Jessica on 07.03.09, 4:36 pm
Players started today with 30K in chips and blinds at 50/100 which means there is a ton of play early on. Despite the relatively small blinds compared to the starting stack, several players got involved in big pots early on in Level One.
Within five minutes of walking into the Brasilia room to scope out the stacked table featuring Steve “thorladen” Weinstein, Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer, and Chris “moorman1″ Moorman (pictured left) we caught Chris in a big hand. We were too late for the preflop action, but we did see Moorman bet 650 from middle position into a pot of 800 or so. The player in the cutoff called and the third player in the hand check-folded. The turn was the 4
and Moorman bet out 1,375. His opponent raised to 3.3K total and, after a couple of minutes of thought, Chris called. The river was the 6
and Chris checked to the other player who bet out 5.1K. Moorman thought for a minute once again before folding and his opponent showed him J-10, for the nuts–a Broadway straight. He was down to 25K after the hand and when we last saw him he was down to 23K. Like we said though, there is plenty of room to maneuver in the early goings of the event.
Jay “SEABEAST” Kinkade is down to 11K already, but he was upbeat about his chances. “You’ll see me hanging around a while,” he told us confidently. He is in good company at a table with Josh “pbdrunks” VanDuyn and Nick “Grip” Grippo. Grippo took a small hit to his stack when Kinkade opened for a raise to 300 from middle position, the cutoff called, Grippo called out of the small blind, and the big blind came along for the flop as well. It checked to the cutoff on the J
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flop and that player bet out 800. Nick quickly called while the big blind and Jay opted to fold. Both players checked when the T hit on the turn. The river was the 8 and Nick bet out 1.3K. The other player raised to 4.3K total and Grippo decided to fold. He must have taken a chunk out of Kinkade’s stack though, because even after the loss he still was above starting stack with 33.5K.
Another player sitting above the starting stack is Felipe “Mojave14″ Ramos. We missed the preflop and flop action that led to several thousand chips going into the pot, but we caught up with Ramos and Daniel Zink when both players checked the turn on a board of A758. The river was the 5 and Zink led out for 2.7K and Ramos raised to 10.5K total. Zink called and Ramos showed AA for aces full of fives. Ramos is now up to 45K.
Craig “MrCasino” Gray (pictured right) tracked us down to explain how he was also able to chip up early on. Gray raised to 300 from early position with pocket queens and three players called. The flop brought 10-4-2 with two clubs and Gray led out for 700. One player called. An offsuit 3 came on the turn and Gray checked. His opponent bet 1,050 and Gray put in a check-raise to 3,050. the other player called and they saw the 9 fall on the river. Gray bet 5075 and his opponent called and showed pocket jacks, sending a sezable pot over to Gray. He’s up to 40K midway through Level 1.
Orel Hershiser is providing some color for the ESPN cameras by providing some stories of his days with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek could land some TV time as he’s seated to Hershiser’s direct right — and dressed in PocketFives gear! Jarzabek is one of many P5ers seated in the blue section of the Amazon Room. Some of the others we’ve seen are Garrett “GBecks” Beckman, Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, Matt “Claw1980″ Holtzclaw, Ryan “gutshtallin” Welch and Billy “Patrolman35″ Kopp.
Brent “Bhanks11” Hanks and Anthony “D1rtyR1v3r” Nardi are seated at the same table in the Orange Section of the Amazon Room and Hanks almost turn a profit from Nardi’s presence.
“I almost won $5K on your behalf,” Hanks said to Nardi as we walked up to their table.
Apparently the player seated to Hanks left thought Nardi looked more than a lucky satellite winner than a top-ten ranked internet tournament player. Nardi missed out on the conversation thanks to his headphones but Hanks filled him in.
“Quote…there’s no way in hell the kid in glasses bought in,” Hanks said, quoting the other player.
The action in the area has been a little slow so far. Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin, who is seated at the same table as Jason “treysfull21” Mercier, saw a flop of 633 with two other players. The action was checked around on the flop and the turn was the 5. The player in seat six bet 275 and Vengrin raised to 725. The other player in the hand folded and seat six made the call. The river was the J. Seat six checked as did Vengrin. Seat six then turned over J3 for a full house to take the pot.
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams saw a flop of T93 from the cutoff with the player in the small blind. The small blind checked and Williams bet 1.5K. The other player called and the turn was the 3. Both players checked and the river was the 2. The small blind bet 2.5K and Williams folded.
