ODwyer Active Early
by Court on 12.19.09, 9:27 pm
Before play started today Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer came by and said “You know what is a good sign?” and after a brief pause answered his own question with “The 100k chips are purple and gold!” in a reference to the colors of the East Carolina University Pirates, where O’Dwyer went to college. So far it looks the omen might work for him.
He came into the day as the short stack but in the first 10 hands of play O’Dwyer (right) had chips in the middle 4 times and won each pot without going to showdown. On the very first hand at the televised final table Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka raised to 150k (blinds 30k / 60k 5k ante) and O’Dwyer shoved for just over 1 million. Jaka folded and Steve was off to a good start, breaking the ice and winning the first pot to the delight of his crowd of friends, sitting just behind Steve with only the prize money and bracelet in between them.
On the 3rd hand of the day O’Dwyer opened for a raise and Josh Arieh called from the big blind. On the flop Arieh check folded to Steve’s bet sending another small but important pot to O’Dwyer. Two hands later he was back at it, limping from the small blind in Scotty Nguyen’s big blind. Scotty checked behind and on the flop O’Dwyer check raised to 275k to take the pot.
The next hand O’Dwyer moved all his chips into the middle again, this time after an opening raise to 160k from Danny Alaei. Danny folded giving Steve his fourth pot out of the first six played. A few hands later the blinds went up to 40k / 80k with a 5k ante and though he has chipped significantly right off the bat he is still in short stack status along with Josh Arieh. Both are still under 2 million chips with Jaka adding to his chip lead after winning a major pot off of Danny Alaei.
Danny had opened to 210k and Jaka called. On the A
K
Q flop both players checked and with the J
on the turn Danny check called a bet of 275k from Faraz. On the 5 river Danny again checked and Faraz put out a 3/4 pot bet of 900k. Alaei took a few moments but ended up making the call. Jaka (right) tabled the TT for a straight which was good enough to win the pot and push his stack up to almost 6 million chips. Danny is down to 3.5 million after the hand, still in third place in the the chip counts trailing both Jaka and Nguyen who has around 4.5 million.
Doyle Brunson FDWPC Final Table Gallery
by Court on 12.19.09, 9:06 pm
And Then There Were Six
by Court on 12.18.09, 9:19 pm
The pace of the action has been fast and furious and in no time at all the field went from 10 players all the way down to the final 6. After losing the huge pot to Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka (right) it wasn’t long before Kohlberg was eliminated in 9th place. After he fell it was bam bam and Eric Hershler was out in 8th and Joe Cassidy became the TV table bubble boy with a 7th place finish.
Kohlberg’s 9th place finish came when he raised to 160k preflop and Scotty Nguyen called. On the K-7-5 rainbow flop Kohlberg bet 250k and was called. With a 3 on the turn Kohlberg moved bet 600k leaving less than half that behind and Nguyen called. A 6 hit on the river and Kohlberg put his last 550k into the middle and Scotty made the call showing 7-4 offsuit for a rivered straight. Kohlberg had KJ and had flopped top pair but had been outrun by Scotty. For his 9th place finish Kohlberg earned $76,183.
Next up short stack Eric Hershler moved all in over the top of an opening raise from Josh Arieh and Josh made the call. Hershler was ahead with his AT against the KJ of Arieh. A jack hit on the flop and Hershler missed his redraw giving Arieh the pot and eliminating Hershler in 8th place for $107,133.
Then a 3-way all in brought the field down to the final 6, with a chance of actually getting the field down to 5. Joe Cassidy moved all in for 715k and Arieh then came over the top all in The action then folded to Buchanan who made the call with pocket queens and held up against the pocket tens of Arieh and the KJ of Cassidy. Arieh was the largest stack going in and had he won the pot he would have eliminated both Buchanan and Cassidy, but with Shawn’s hand holding up he was able to eliminate Cassidy and win a pot worth 2.8 million and end play for the night.
Here are the official chip counts going into final table play:
Seat |
Name | Hometown | Chip Count |
| 2 |
Faraz Jaka |
San Jose, CA |
5,385,000 |
| 5B | Scotty Nguyen | Las Vegas, NV | 4,900,000 |
| 1 | Daniel Alaei | Las Vegas, NV | 3,925,000 |
| 6 | Shawn Buchanan | Abbotsford, Canada | 2,800,000 |
| 3 | Josh Arieh | Atlanta, GA | 1,710,000 |
| 4 |
Stephen O’Dwyer |
Las Vegas, NV |
1,050,000 |
Making Mistakes
by Court on 12.18.09, 9:06 pm
The Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio is closing in on the final 6, but with some controversy along the way. Before the hand in question that eliminated John Juanda and brought the field down to 10 players both Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers and Lee Salem were eliminated.
Sowers moved all in for 740k after an opening bet of 100k from Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka and a call from chip leader Curt Kohlberg. Jaka folded to the all in bet but Kohlberg ended up making the call of the additional 640k with the J
T. The board ran out A87AT and Kohlberg hit one of his many outs on the river to eliminate Sowers (right) in 13th for $47,615.
Lee Salem was the next to go when his A2 couldn’t hold up against Chad “M8kingmoves” Batista’s KQ in an all in preflop situation. Lee had moved in for around 400k from the button and Chad made the call from the big blind. A king on the flop was good enough to give Chad the pot and eliminate Salem in 12th for $57,137.
After busting Salem it wasn’t long before Chad was making a move again, but not one he meant to make. The action folded to John Juanda on the button who verbally moved all in but didn’t move any chips in the pot and had both his hands covering his cards back right in front of his chips. The dealer announced the all in and the action was to Batista (left). Chad, with hood and headphones on took a minute before taking his headphones off and asking if it was his turn. He was told it was by the dealer, but there was not another mention of the all in bet. Batista then moved all in thinking it had been folded to him in the small blind.
The action was then to Scotty Nguyen who asked for a confirmation that both Juanda and Batista were all in. At this point Chad realized he had moved in over the top of Juanda and is very visibly upset. Scotty, in true Scotty fashion, finds Chad’s mistake amusing and seems to take pleasure in verbally antagonizing Batista as the floor is called over to make a ruling. While Scotty laughs it up the floor comes over and in the middle of the floor ruling that both all in bets stand Scotty also says he is all in.
Nguyen, of course, has pocket aces and is well ahead of the pocket deuces of Batista and the A6 of Juanda. The board doesn’t change anything and Scotty wins the main pot while an upset Batista wins the small pot that was left over between himself and Juanda, worth about 400k while Nguyen triples up to just under 3 million chips. Juanda (right) is out in 11th place for $57,137.
Chad argued throughout the ordeal that Juanda should have had to put some chips in the pot, but was obviously more upset with himself than the ruling. To add to his frustration once the final 10 were combined to one table the shortstacked Batista was eliminated by Nguyen who had taunted him in the earlier hand. Batista’s final hand came when he moved all in from the button for 400k and was called by Scotty. Chad had pocket fives and was racing against the KJ of Nguyen but a king and two diamonds on the flop brought Scotty about all he could have hoped for and there was no miracle five for Chad. Batista’s 10th place finish brings $57,137.
Before the Batista elimination Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka won a massive pot worth 5.5 million chips as the expense of Curt Kohlberg. Jaka raised from under the gun to 160k and Kohlberg called. On the 872 flop Jaka check raised to 600k over the 200k bet from Curt. Kohlberg then moved all in covering Jaka’s 2+ million remaining chips. Faraz called with the 87 and his two pair was ahead of the KK of Kohlberg. The board ran out with the A and the T to send the largest pot of the tournament so far to Jaka. After the double Faraz had almost 5.5 million chips while Kohlberg went from the chip lead down towards the bottom of the pack with 1.6 million chips.
King Konged
by Court on 12.18.09, 6:03 pm
After an hour and a half of play on the 5th day the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic is down to the final 13 players. Play has been hand for hand since the elimination of Carter “ckingusc” King in 14th place since the next elimination spells a pay jump for the remaining players. Carter’s 14th place finish brought the same payday of $47,615 that the 13th place finisher will earn, but a $10,000 bump will give the 12th place finisher over $57,000.
After a raise to 80k from John Juanda the 574k stack in from of King was in the middle with an all in bet. Juanda called with his pocket sixes and Carter needed his A9 to make a pair to double up. The board didn’t hit either of his cards and Juanda eliminated another player and added over 600k chips to his stack putting him at over 2.1 million.
After a short break the final 13 will be back at the tables to play the 20k / 40k blind level with 4k antes.
