Mighty Thor Doubles Up
by Brett on 07.03.09, 7:00 pm
Steve “thorladen” Weinstein (pictured left) lost over the course of the first two levels, but a big pot and a little luck changed that for him. There was 1,750 in the pot and three players who saw the flop fall 6
4
2
. The small blind and a player in early position checked to Weinstein in middle position who bet out 1K. The small blind check-raised to 3K total and the other player folded. Now, we have to admit we aren’t 100% positive how the action went because we could not hear what Weinstein said, but he appeared to either reraise to 10K total, leaving around 7K behind, or he moved all-in and just placed his big denomination chips in the pot. Either way, the action ended with Weinstein and the other player getting it all-in on the flop with the small blind holding 2
4 for bottom two pair and Steve holding 55. The turn brough the J and the river came 5 to give Weinstein a rivered set of fives and the pot. Presto! Double up for Steve. He now has 36K.
Corey “comandr_cool” Burbick may not be saying much at his table, but he is certainly remaining active. We caught a hand in progress involving Corey early in Level Two. With the board reading 4337 Burbick bet 2.5K (about 2/3 the size of the pot) from middle position and the player on the button called. The river was the 5 and Corey bet out 5K. His opponent clarified the amount, thought briefly, and decided to call. Burbick showed Q9 for a flush and we think the other player flashed 6-7 for a straight. After the hand, Burbick was up to 47K.
Ryan “gutshtallin” Welch (pictured right) didn’t lose a big pot during the past level but he chopped one that surely felt almost as bad. With the blinds at 100/200 Welch raised to 600 preflop and another player bumped it up to 1.8K. Welch reraised to 4.5K and his opponent five-bet all in for 22.5K. Welch snap called. “Aces,” he said as he tabled his hand. The other player turned over AK and Ryan was in a great spot to increase his stack.
The 532 flop gave Welch a flush draw and a stranglehold on the hand. The 3 on the turn changed nothing but an onlooker at the table felt it necessary to give everyone the obvious situation: “He can still hit a four for a chop!” Sure enough the dealer rolled over the 4 on the river and the pot was split in half. A flustered Welch walked over to Billy “Patrolman35″ Kopp’s table to explain what had just happened. Welch still has around the starting stack midway through level two.
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi added a nice pot to his stack during the past hour. On a 998 flop a player checked to Mizzi, who bet 2K, and the other player called. The Q hit the turn and again Mizzi’s opponent check-called a bet, this time worth 5K. The river brought the A and his opponent checked for a third time. Mizzi sat still in his seat for nearly two minutes before deciding to check back. The other player showed KK and Mizzi revealed his Q9 for a full house, which was easily good enough to collect the 17K pot.
Craig “MrCasino” Gray (pictured left) raised to 550 pre-flop over at another table and got one caller. The flop was 863. The player in seat three led out for 1.8K. Gray smiled at the player and said something like, “If you’ve got that hand and I’ve got this hand then…” and made the call. The turn was the 7. The other player bet 3.8K this time and Gray called again. The river was the 6 and both players checked. Seat three showed AA and Gray mucked.
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin called a raise of 525 before the flop and the player in seat one re-raised to 1,850. It folded back to Vengrin, who made the call. The flop was A62. Vengrin check-called a bet of 2.3K. The turn was the 2. Vengrin checked again and seat one bet 3.7K. Vengrin asked the man to move his arms so he could see his stack, which looked to have about 26K in it. After a little more thought Vengrin mucked his hand.
Ludovic “Cutsss” Lacay has been the captain so far at Table 43 in the Amazon Room and Aaron “ndgrinder59″ Steury picked the wrong spot to play back at him. Steury raised to 600 on the button and the Frenchman reraised to 1.8K from the big blind. Steury called and saw a flop of K64. Lacay led out for 2.8K, Steury raised to 7.2K and Lacay put in another raise to 22K. Steury quickly folded and left himself with 20.7K and has since slipped to 15.7K.
Amanda “Mandy B” Baker also took a dent to her stack. When we walked up to the table, action had been checked to Baker on the turn with the board reading A86T. Baker bet 5K into the 8K pot and seat three called. The river was the 9. It was again checked to Baker who bet 7K, leaving 11K or so in her stack. The other player made the call and Baker showed 9T for a rivered two pair. Her opponent showed A-K before mucking.
Isaac “MrMenlo” Baron (9.5K) and Ravi “govshark2″ Raghaven (9K) have both taken big hits early on. We’re not sure what happen to Raghaven but learned that Baron’s straight was beaten by a full house on the river.
Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers, however, was eliminated from the Main Event. Jordan “Octavian_C” Rich told us that Sowers moved all in for his last 3K or so after a new player to the table raised to 600 before the flop. Sowers held A-10 but wasn’t able to find an ace to overcome the pocket tens of his opponent.
Some other players we’ve lost early in Day 1A include Jamie “pokerjamers” Armstrong and Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh. Here are some chips counts we gathered just moments ago:
Keven “Stamdogg” Stammen - 76K
Darren Elias - 65K (pictured right)
Corey “comandr_cool” Burbick - 47K
Felipe “Mojave14″ Ramos - 46.3K
Lana Maier - 46K
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer - 38.2K
Steve “thorladen” Weinstein - 36K
Cody “CalBandGreat” Shedd - 33K
John “JRD312″ Dolan - 31K
Joel “Gittindrunk” Shultuf - 30.2K
Nick “Grip” Grippo - 30K
Mike “Gags30″ Gagliano - 30K
Josh “pbdrunks” VanDuyn - 29K
Aditya “intervention” Agarwal - 29K
Kevin “kice32″ Iacafano - 28K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 24.5K
Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman - 23.5K
Jeff “HB_HITMAN” Anderson - 20.5K
Isaac Haxton - 17.5K
Jay “SEABEAST” Kinkade - 13.5K
Phil “USCPhildo” Collins - 11K
