WSOP 2008
OMGClay Wins!
by Jill on 06.17.08, 4:46 am
After more than 100 hands of heads-up play in the Event #28 $5K Pot-Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond has brought down the house, winning $817,781 and the WSOP bracelet. Congratulations, Phil, on the huge win!
Play is over this evening for Event #29, the $3K No-Limit Hold’em tournament as we are down to the final table. Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin (pictured at left) sat atop the chip count at the end of the day with more than 1M in chips; Tony “Bond18″ Dunst contended with 342K and returns to play tomorrow. Vengrin’s ascent to chip leader occurred tonight when an under-the-gun player raised to 45K and Vengrin, in the small blind, raised to 100K.
The other player announced he was all in and Vengrin tanked before calling with pocket tens. His tens held up against his opponent’s A-K and Vengrin took down the huge pot. He returns tomorrow to battle it out for the for the $434,789 prize and fabled golden bracelet. The final table race will commence at 2PM PST tomorrow.
Event #27 has also concluded, crowning Vitaliy Lunkin the champion of the $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em tournament. A first-time bracelet winner, Lunkin won $628,417 and the WSOP bracelet after a relatively short hour-long heads-up match with Brett Kimes. Many congratulations to Lunkin on his win!
Apparently, the drinks that Scotty Nguyen bought for his table did him some good as Event #31, the $2.5K No-Limit Hold’em 6-handed tournament came to a close this evening. According to our sources here at PocketFives, while Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks and Nguyen were joking around at the table and drinking their Michelobs, a flop came 8-8-4. Both players were still in the hand and Nguyen ripped a $100 bill in half, giving one half to Hanks. Nguyen teased Hanks, “If you call me here, I’ll give you the other half, baby!” Well, call Hanks did and when Nguyen flipped over 8-T for trips, Hanks couldn’t catch up and mucked the hand, losing his entire stack. Here’s to hoping Hanks can find some strong scotch tape! Play continues at 2PM PST tomorrow afternoon.
Meanwhile, Event #30’s $10K Limit Hold’em World Championship marched on in the Brasilia room, now down to the final two tables after the elimination of Todd “DanDruff” Witteles (pictured at right) in 19th place. Witteles lost a huge pot to Michael Mizrachi when his K-K lost to a flush. Witteles was finished off when his J
6
was behind his opponent’s A
K on an ace-high flop and he couldn’t catch up. Brock “t_soprano” Parker and Eric “EFro” Froehlich remained strong in the event, both with chip stacks in the mid-300s. Play is expected to continue into the wee hours of the morning as all players aim for the final table.