Riaz Boosted
by Court on 09.29.09, 7:16 am
The day started full of possibilities for Nadeem “Deemer6″ Riaz but in just under one level of play on day 3 his hopes of a deep run into the money at the World Series of Poker Europe presented by Betfair were ended. Riaz started the day ranked 32nd out of the 92 returning players with a solid 126,000 chips. A few tough hands early on and Nadeem found himself working with a shortstack.
The blinds started out at 800 / 1,600 with a 200 ante and Nadeem opened a pot from late position with a bet of 4,000. Justin “Boosted J” Smith called from the button and on the T
9
8 flop Nadeem check raised all in over the top of a 7,100 bet from Smith. Justin had the chips out to make the call as soon as Nadeem set his stack of around 30,000 chips in the middle. Smith had called preflop with the A
A and got what he was looking for from Riaz who had the KQ and was left drawing to a jack for a gutshot or runner runner to overcome the aces. The board filled out with the 2
and the A and that was the end for Nadeem.
Riaz graciously performed a brief exit interview with ESPN on his way out, still in good spirits even though he had just busted. Nadeem (right) had won his entry into the tournament through an online qualifier on Betfair and was playing in the largest tournament of his life to date. Even though he didn’t make the money he had some great poker experiences, getting to play in a marquee event, spending time at the feature table and playing against and with the top pros in the game.
Riaz started the day at a table with Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar and Yevgeniy “Atimos” Timoshenko but his table was the first to break and then he and Aguiar were both moved one table over and sat in between Smith and Christian “CKRUEL” Kruel with Smith having position on everyone. Aguiar was on Smith’s right, then Riaz then Kruel. Doyle Brunson is also at the table, just on Smith’s left but the table should be the next to break.
The top pro on everyone’s radar right now is Jason “treysfull21″ Mercier (left). He has been among the chip leaders for most of the tournament and continues to play great poker. He called a raise from James Akenhead preflop and on the QQ5 flop both players checked. With the 3 turn Mercier check called a bet of 5,800 and then again check called on the 9 river for 11,500. Akenhead showed the A5 for ace high and Mercier turned over his pocket sixes to take the pot.
On Mercier’s right is Christian “charder” Harder who started the day with just under 200k and about the same amount as Mercier. But while Jason has flourished thing have taken a downward turn for Harder. His stack has dropped well below 100k and he has Mercier on his immediate left and James Akenhead a few more seats to the left.
Annette “Annette_15″ Obrestad looked to be gaining momentum, winning a few pots and chipping up to 130k but then she ran pocket tens into Eric “P3achy_keen” Liu’s (right) pocket aces and lost a pot worth around 80k to him. Her stack has fallen back to around the 70k range where she has been for much of the tournament. As the blinds go up to 1k / 2k and a 300 ante that 70k isn’t as much as it was a few levels ago though.
