Da_Professional Gets Down to Business
by Jessica on 07.03.09, 11:53 pm
Christian “da_professional” Iacobellis picked up a nice double up when a player raised from under the gun to 750 with the blinds at 150/300. It folded around to Christian in the big blind and he called. The flop came down J
3
2
and Iacobellis checked to his opponent who bet 1,225. Iacobellis check-raised 2.1K on top and the other player thought briefly before calling. The T fell on the turn and Christian bet out 5.9K, leaving 10K behind. His opponent moved all-in having Christian covered and Christian quickly called and turned over 7
7 for a set of sevens. His opponent showed KK and Iacobellis stood up.
“This is the way I went out last year,” Iacobellis informed the table. History was not to repeat itself in this hand though, but Christian did get a bit of a scare when he saw paint on the river. It was the Q though, so Iacobellis scooped the pot and is now up to 38.5K.
Frank “Frank1The1Tank” Calo told us about another interesting hand he played. The same player who made a better full house than Calo’s a short time ago open limped into the pot and Calo made it 1,050 with pocket kings with the blinds at 150/300. The other player just called and the flop was 7-7-4 rainbow. The other player checked and Calo said he decided to just check behind. The turn is a 9 and the other player leads out for 1.5K. Calo just called and the river was an ace. This time Calo’s opponent leads out for 3K. Calo said he tanked and eventually decided to fold his kings. His opponent then showed him pocket aces.
Matt “mcmatto” Affleck’s (pictured left) stack had been getting shorter and shorter for most of the day, but a few small pots and one big one have him back up to 34K. Affleck told us he raised before the flop with pocket queens and got two callers. The flop was 9-5-2 with two hearts. We’re not sure what the action was on the flop but do know that after an offsuit 9 came on the turn Affleck bet 2.5K and his lone left opponent made it 7K with about 6K behind. Affleck said he just called because he wanted to give his opponent to bluff on the river, which is exactly what happened. The river was a “brick” according to Affleck and his opponent moved all in. Affleck called and the other player showed a busted heart draw, so Affleck scooped the pot.
On Table 2, 2007 WSOP Main Event Champion Jerry Yang opened to 900 and Steven “stevejpa” Paul-Ambrose three-bet to 2.5K from the blinds. Yang called, and the flop fell K82. Paul-Ambrose led out for 8.5, which was more than Yang’s stack, and Jerry made the call. Steven showed 99 and Jerry waited for the cameras to show his hand.
“This is the hand I won the Main Event with,” Yang announced as he slowly revealed 88.
The K on the turn brought Paul-Ambrose two extra outs. Any king or nine would make him a better full house. The 5 on the river was a blank though, and Steven dropped to 38K.
During the break we were grabbing chip counts and we assumed that the Amazon Room was vacant. That is of course until we heard a dealer shout, “Clock!” We made our way to the table to find Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek (pictured left) all in against an opponent.
“I wouldn’t call clock if I didn’t want to go to the bathroom,” Jarzabek told him.
The board read J926 and Casey’s opponent was debating calling the 8.1K bet. He finally folded and Jarzabek showed QJ before leaving the tournament area. Casey didn’t extract any more chips from his opponent but still sits with 16K.
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer picked up a nice pot at the expense of Chris “moorman1″ Moorman. The two got it all-in preflop in a blind versus blind confrontation with Steve holding A-K to Chris’ pocket jacks. The A-K prevailed, Moorman was eliminated, and O’Dwyer now sits with 41K. Ryan “gotskillz” Fisler also hit the rail before break. Fisler had been short the whole day and pushed his stack in the middle on an A-9-9 flop holding AK. Ryan’s opponent called with 9-8 and the board blanked out. Joining them on the rail this level is Zac “Zacpacker” Fellows.
And now we present to you the epic, the massive, the sensational…..end of Level Three chip counts:
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams - 101.3K
Keven “Stamdogg” Stammen (pictured right) - 81K
Corey “comandr_cool” Burbick - 77K
David “Doc Sands” Sands - 73K
Ludovic “Cutsss” Lacay - 70K
Brandon “bgitty” Garrity - 67K
Darren Elias - 65K
Amanda “Mandy B” Baker - 57K
Lana Maier - 56.7K
Jonas Klausen - 53K
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin - 47K
Aditya “intervention” Agarwal - 45.5K
Anthony “D1rtyR1v3r” Nardi - 45K
Jason “treysfull21″ Mercier - 45K
Billy “Patrolman35″ Kopp - 43K
Michael “Gags30″ Gagliano - 41K
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer - 41K
Karec “K-Rock2525″ Terrell - 40K
Kevin “kice32″ Iacafano - 40K
Christian “da_professional” Iacobellis - 38.5K
Steve “stevejpa” Paul-Ambrose - 38K
Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis - 38K
Ryan “gutshtallin” Welch - 37K
Brian “sbrugby” Townsend - 36.5K
Jason Gray - 36K
Kush Patel - 35.5K
John “JRD312″ Dolan - 32.5K
Jeremiah “Believer82″ Vinsant - 32K
Jesse “thor” Haabak - 32K
Phil “USCPhildo” Collins - 31.5K
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 31K
Nick “Grip” Grippo - 31K
Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks - 30K
Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken (pictured right) - 29K
Steve “thorladen” Weinstein - 28.5K
Scott “stsitron” Sitron - 27K
Isaac “westmenloaa” Baron - 26K
Cody “CalBandGreat” Shedd - 26K
Craig “MrCasino” Gray - 25K
Frank “Frank1The1Tank” Calo - 23.5K
Jay “SEABEAST” Kinkade - 22.5K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 22.2K
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 20K
Luke “IWEARGOGGLES” Staudenmaier - 17K
Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek - 16K
Kirk “idareyouAA” Banks - 15K
Mike Sexton - 14K
Isaac Haxton - 13K
Matt “mattster24″ Sterling - 10K
Joel “Gittindrunk” Shultuf - 9.5K
Jon “PearlJammer” Turner - 5K
Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert - 3K
Moorman Lays Down Set, Calo Lays Down Boat
by Rachel on 07.03.09, 10:37 pm
We missed the preflop action but heard the commotion over at Chris “moorman1″ Moorman’s table and scurried right over. What we saw was a massive pile of chips in the middle of the table and two players all-in. It was on Chris to act and he appeared to have quite a decision to make about the Q93 flop. Another player at the table kindly filled us in on the flop action we missed. Chris checked, a player in middle position bet 1.5K, and the player that both Moorman and tablemate Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer described as “crazy” prior to this hand raised to 5K total. Moorman 3-bet to 12.5K total and the initial bettor moved all-in for 30K or so total. The “crazy” guy moved all-in for significantly less behind her, and that is where we caught up with the action.
Chris deliberated about his decision long enough to prompt another player at the table to call the clock on him. He tried to get a count of the initial bettor’s chip stack and the dealer frantically counted down her stack as time wound down. Chris folded right as time was winding down and the other hands were turned face up. The woman who moved all-in first showed 99 for middle set. The other player turned up 25 for the five-high flush draw. Yes, you read that correctly. The flush did not get there, so the pot went the woman’s way while the other player was eliminated. After the hand was over, Moorman told the table he folded a set of threes. He took a hit on the hand, but avoided losing the majority of his chips and still sits on 23.5K.
Cody “CalBandGreat” Shedd also took a big hit this past hour. We missed the preflop action but there were three players, including Shedd and Jena Delk, who saw the KTT flop. Shedd bet out 1.7K from early position, a player in middle position called, and Delk called on the button. Shedd checked when the A fell on the turn, as did the player in middle position. Delk bet out 2.5K, leaving 5.2K behind, and then turned to the cocktail waitress to place an order.
“I’ll have a shot of Jack Daniels, neat please,” she said calmly. While she was ordering, Shedd called and the other player folded. The river was the J and Cody bet enough to put Jena all-in. She beat him into the pot and flipped up her TT for quad tens and Cody turned up AA for aces full. Shedd leapt out of his chair in shock and took a lap around the room to calm down before returning to his seat a few hands later. He is still in decent shape with 41K.
Michael “benvo123″ Benvenuti also took a hit to his healthy stack. He raised to 775 before the flop and got two callers. The flop came down K{Q9. Benvenuti led out for 1,150, the player in seat three folded and the player in seat four called. The turn was the 7. Benvenuti checked and his opponent bet 4.5K. Benvenuti then raised to 16K, which was enough to put his opponent all in. The other player called and tabled JT for a straight while Benvenuti showed KQ for top two pair. The J on the river was no help to Benvenuti and he dropped to about 24K.
Jason Gray’s chip count has been trending in the other direction. The action was checked to Gray on a flop of 874. He bet 1.2K and his opponent in seat five raised to 3.5K. Gray made the call and the turn was the 9. Seat three checked and Gray bet 6K. This time the other player laid his hand down and Gray chipped back up over his starting stack of 30K.
Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken is seated to the direct left of Gray. Dicken was facing a bet of 4.2K from another player at the table on a board of ATT6A. He reluctantly tossed in a call after some thought and showed his KT but he had been rivered by his opponent’s AK.
Anthony “D1rtyR1v3r” Nardi picked up a nice pot at the table next to Gray and Dicken’s home. A player moved all-in for his last 775 chips and Nardi and two other players called. The flop came down J32 and the big blind led out for 1.4K. The player under the gun and Nardi both called and all three players checked when the 8 hit on the turn. The river was the Q and it checked to Anthony who bet 2K. Both of the players in the side pot folded and Nardi showed QJ for top two pair, which was good enough to take down both the side pot and the main pot and build his stack to 42K.
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin called the small blind’s raise to 800 from the big blind and saw a flop of K95. The small blind bet 825 and Vengrin called. Both players checked the T on the turn and saw the 7 on the river. The small blind bet 2.6K and Vengrin called. Vengrin’s opponent showed J8 for a straight and he mucked.
When we walked by Frank “Frank1The1Tank” Calo’s table shortly after dinner we noticed that his stack had dropped to about 20K or so and as soon as the hand he was playing was complete Calo called us over to let us know what happened.
Calo told us that the player under the gun raised to 800. A player in middle position called as did Calo with his pocket fours and the player in the big blind. The flop was J-8-4 rainbow. The first two players checked before a player bet 1,175. Calo just called as did the big blind. The other player folded and the remaining players saw an offsuit 8 on the turn. The action was checked to Calo, who bet 2,450. The big blind called before the other player in the hand raised to 6K. Calo and the big blind both called. The river was a 9. The big blind led out for 5K and the other player raised to 15K. Calo understandably said he felt a little sick about the whole situation and folded his full house. The big blind called and showed K-8 while the other player showed pocket jacks.
Russell “rcrane082985″ Crane was in a race for his tournament life over on Table 31. Crane pushed the remainder of his stack in the middle holding AK against his opponent’s QQ. The flop fell K62 and Russell took the lead. The dealer burned and turned the 3, and the T fell on the river to give Crane the pot. Russell now sits with around 20K in chips.
At a nearby table the board read KKQ8 when Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi led out for 3.6K. His opponent raised to 8K on the button and Mizzi tanked for upwards to five minutes before calling. The river was the 9 and Mizzi checked to his opponent who bet just 5K. Sorel paused for a moment before moving all in for about 6K more. His opponent called and Mizzi rolled over K9. “Nice catch,” his opponent muttered. Sorel smiled and pulled in the 50K pot.
Chippies!
Darren Elias - 53K
Steve “thorladen” Weinstein - 42K
Anthony “D1rtyR1v3r” Nardi - 42K
Cody “CalBandGreat” Shedd - 41.5K
Kush Patel - 36K
Jordan “scarface_79″ Smith - 35.5K
Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks - 35K
Josh “pbdrunks” VanDuyn - 32K (Josh just doubled up when he made a straight flush)
Jason Gray - 30.5K
Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken - 29K
John “JRD312″ Dolan - 27.7K
Phil “USCPhildo” Collins - 25.5K
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer - 25K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 24.5K
Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke - 24K
Chris “moorman1″ Moorman - 23.5K
Matt “mattster24″ Sterling - 18K
Ravi “govshark2″ Raghaven - 15.5K
Jason “JP OSU” Potter - 15K
Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert - 11.5K
Zac “zacpacker” Fellows - 8K
Food Coma
by Jessica on 07.03.09, 9:30 pm
Maybe it is the lengthy break or the early dinner hour, but so far Level Three play has been laid back and, for lack of a better word, a little lethargic. Some players, like Kevin “kice32″ Iacafano and Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski, even rolled in to the Amazon Room a little late. Sluzinski told us he made the mistake of going somewhere away from the Rio to eat, but considering he only missed ten minutes of play, he is none the worse off for the decision.
Steve “thorladen” Weinstein took advantage of the relaxed pace of play to get up from his seat and walk around to the other side of the table to introduce himself to Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman.
“You aren’t even going to say hi to me?,” Weinstein jokingly asked. Chris looked confused and Steve explained that they’ve played together quite a bit online and then disclosed his screenname.
“Ohh,” said Moorman upon hearing Steve’s handle. Then, it could be just us, but a wave of recognition washed over his face and, perhaps because he was replaying some hands from Levels One and two in his head, Chris added a second, much longer “Ohhhhhhhhhhhh” for emphasis.
While Steve and Chris were exchanging pleasantries, Cody “CalBandGreat” Shedd (pictured right) was back to business over at his table. With the blinds at 150/300 it folded around to Shedd in the small blind and he raised to 1K total. The big blind called and the flop came down T73. Cody led out for 1,250 and his opponent called. Both players checked when the K fell on the turn and when the river fell T Shedd led out for 3.5K. The other player thought briefly and called. Cody showed AT for trip tens and his opponent mucked his hand. Shedd is now up to 48.5K.
GBecks Says GBye To Main Event
by Rachel on 07.03.09, 8:26 pm
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman’s (pictured at left) bid at consecutive deep runs in the Main Event came to an end during level two. With blinds at 100/200 Beckman completed from the small blind and the big blind raised to 800. Beckman called and the two saw a flop of K76. From there the action went quickly: Beckman bet 2.8K, his opponent raised and Beckman moved in for 21K. His opponent called:
Beckman: K7
Big Blind: 66
Beckman needed to pair one of his hole cards or he’s be sent to the rail but the 6 on the turn gave his opponent quads, leaving Garrett dead.
Jeremiah “Believer82″ Vinsant has had a pretty quiet day so far. We stopped by his table several times but him reach a showdown only once before the following hand. We missed the action before the flop but saw Vinsant bet 1.5K on a flop of Q82 after the player in seat one checked. Seat one then raised to 3K and Vinsant made the call. The turn was the A and both players checked. The river was the 6. Seat one checked again and Vinsant bet 6.1K. His opponent made the call and Vinsant tabled AA drawing applause as well as a “nice hand” from the other player before he mucked his cards. After the hand Vinsant was up to about 40K.
Jon “PearlJammer” Turner (pictured at right) is short on chips but doubled his stack after pushing all in pre-flop. Turner held KK against his opponent’s TT and the board ran 977A4. Jon put on a squeeze play the very last hand before break, chipping up to about 10K. He has 9.3K on break.
A strange hand went down at Table 7 in the Blue Section of the Amazon Room. A player accidentally exposed A-3 when mucking his hand, and when action folded to Isaac Haxton he raised from the small blind. A woman in the big blind called and the two saw a flop of J33. “Well, you can’t have quads,” Haxton joked. He checked and his opponent bet 2K. Isaac played with the chips in his hand for a bit before grabbing his whole stack and stuffing it in the middle. The total bet was 9.6K and his opponent tossed the extra 7.6K in the middle. Cameras rushed the table as Haxton tabled AK, which was well ahead of KT. The 3 on the turn and the Q on the river secured the victory for Isaac and pushed his stack back above 20K.
Nicholas “Grip” Grippo (pictured at left) is a new addition to the Orange Section after his table in the Red Section broke. He checked the turn with the board reading J{856 and the player in seat eight bet 1.6K. Grippo made the call and the river was the 2. Grippo led out for 3.1K this time and his opponent mucked. Grippo has almost exactly as many chips (30K) on dinner break as he had to start the day.
John “JRD312″ Dolan spent level two holding steady at his starting stack. He was working his way up towards 40K when the following hand set him back a little. We missed the preflop and flop action, but caught up with Dolan as he bet out 1.5K from the big blind into a 2.5K pot with the board reading 9533. The other player in the hand called from middle position. The river was the A and John bet out 3.5K. His opponent min-raised him to 7K total and John went in the tank. He tossed his chips in the pot and was unsurprised when his opponent showed JT for a jack-high flush, which was good enough to get Dolan to muck his hand.
As his opponent raked the pot, Dolan talked over the hand with his tablemate David Grey. “I just had to see it,” John said. “Does that make sense?” When no one at the table responded he added, “I had one, too. Does that make more sense?” By “one” Dolan meant a flush. He said he flopped a double gutter too, which would mean he held 67. When we checked in on him before dinner break, he was sitting on 30.1K.
The players are now on an early dinner break and will return to play two more levels (or four more hours) just after 6 p.m. Here are some other chip counts at the break:
Corey “comandr_cool” Burbick - 81.8K
Jonas Klausen - 75K
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams - 68.5
Lana Meyer - 60K
Jamie “TheNew” Robbins - 56K
Kevin “stamdogg” Stammen - 55K
Stephane “Foutight” Bisson -50K
Darren Elias - 49K
David “Doc Sands” Sands - 45K
Cody “CalBandGreat” Shedd - 44K
Amanda “Mandy B” Baker - 42K
Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis - 41K
Ryan “gutshtallin” Welch - 41K
Jesse “thor” Haabak - 40.5K
Mike “gags30″ Gagliano - 40K
Craig “MrCasino” Gray - 40K
Steve “thorladen” Weinstein - 39K
Steve “stevejpa” Paul Ambrose - 37.5K
Michael “benvo123″ Benvenuti - 36K
Brian Townsend - 36K
Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby - 36K
Billy “Patrolman35″ Kopp - 36K
Jordan “scarface_79″ Smith -35K
Chris “moorman1″ Moorman - 35K
Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken - 35K
Luke “IWEARGOGGLES” Staudenmaier - 34K
Aaron “NDGrinder59″ Steury - 34K
Karec “K-Rock2525″ Terrell - 32K
Jordan “Octavian_C” Rich- 32K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 31.5K
Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen - 31.1K
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin - 31K
Brent “BHanks11″ Hanks - 31K
John “JRD312″ Dolan - 30.1K
Kevin “kice32″ Iacafano - 30K
Anthony “D1rty1v3r” Nardi - 30K
Scott “stpauli111″ Hall - 30K
Jason “treysfull21″ Mercier - 29K
Scott “stsitron” Sitron - 27K
Matt “mattster24″ Sterling 27K
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer - 25.3K
Frank “Frank1The1Tank” Calo - 25K
Joel “Gittindrunk” Shultuf - 25K
Jay “SEABEAST” Kinkade - 24K
Phil “USCPhildo” Collins - 22.5K
Jon “sketchy1″ Eaton - 20K
Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke - 20K
Jason “JP_OSU” Potter - 19K
Jason Gray - 18K
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 17.8K
Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert - 16.9K
Ryan “gotskillz” Fisler - 16K
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 14.8K
Michael “mossified84″ Skomac - 14K
Matt “mcmatto” Affleck - 12K
Isaac “MrMenlo” Baron - 11.5K
Ravi “govshark2″ Raghaven - 10K
Zac “Zacpacker” Fellows - 4.5K
WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 1A Gallery
by Rich on 07.03.09, 7:10 pm
