More Rich Than Yesterday
by Brett on 05.31.09, 7:00 pm
Jordan “Octavian_C” Rich has been on a tear lately in the $1.5K Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better event. There are currently 13 players remaining, including Rich and Senovio “Dorsal Fin” Ramirez.
Rich (pictured at left) won two big pots from the same player over a short time to help increase his stack to almost 700K, which is near the chip lead. Both hands occurred with blinds of 6K/12K and limits of 12K/24K.
With the board reading Q
7
5T
J, the player to Rich’s right led out for a 24K bet with more than 200K already in the pot. Rich seemed pained by the bet, saying, “I don’t know if I can fold.” After thinking for a while longer he tells his opponent he has the A3. “That was a big flop for me,” he said.
After thinking for a while longer, he decided to call and tabled AAT
3. His opponent mucked, and Rich let out a quiet “yes” at the table as he scooped the massive pot.
A little while later it was Rich leading out for 24K on the turn with a board of AQJK and the other player called. The river was the 2. Again Rich bet 24K and was called. He immediately turned over AT72 for a broadway straight and his opponent quickly mucked in disgust.
Ramirez’s chip count has been heading in the other direction lately. He currently has 141K, well below the average of 317K. He lost about 90K in the final hand before break when he mucked to a bet on the river.
Ramirez did bust a player earlier in the level. The player in seat two raised to 24K before the flop and defending champion Thang Luu re-raised to 36K in the next seat. Ramirez made the call and seat one called all in. Ramirez and Luu checked down the QJJ94 board and Ramirez said, “Ace-queen.” Luu mucked, saying he has A-K and the other player mucked. Ramirez tabled AQ2T to scoop the pot.
Freddy Deeb is seated at Rich’s table, and Phil Hellmuth stopped by to check on his progress. Hellmuth busted from this event earlier, apparently because he forgot how to win.
“You can take the luck out of this game, too,” Hellmuth said, explaining that he could have played better in the tournament. “I just forgot how until after I busted.”
The table erupted in laughter at the comment, and Hellmuth eventually moved on. He will be playing in the special invitational tournament later tonight for former Main Event winners.
WSOP Event #4: $1K NLHE Day 1B
A very bizarre situation just took place at a table in the Brasilia room. Someone at an adjacent table dropped a yellow 1K chip on the floor and it rolled underneath Table 241, which features P5ers Dan “Wretchy” Martin (pictured at right) and Matt “dippydough” DiPaoli. The player in Seat 3 stealthily picked up the chip and added it to his stack. Moments later, the same player doubled up and made everyone aware that he had found the chip and offered it back to the player that had originally lost it.
This didn’t go over well with the rest of the Table 241. Tournament Director Jack Effel was called over, as well as two floor managers, and they discussed what course of action should be taken. Effel came to the decision that since the hand was over nothing could be done and Seat 3 would keep his current stack (minus the original 1K chip, which was returned to the other table).
A few hands later, Martin raised from early position and the player who had just doubled up moved all in again. Action folded to Martin, who needed less than 2K to call and did so, turning over A-8. His opponent slowly rolled over AK, and flopped two pair on an A-K-2 board. Dan was drawing dead when a 6 turned, and a meaningless Q fell on the river.
After the hand, a floorman approached the table and a new verdict had been reached. The player in Seat 3 was forced to give a 1K chip to the first player who doubled him up. As soon as the floor left, the player in Seat 2 turned to Martin and suggested that he deserved a 1K chip as well. The floor was called again, and the entire table was in favor of Martin. “You should do both or neither,” said the player in Seat 2. After brief deliberation, Martin was also rewarded with a 1K chip.
No punishment was given to Seat 3. He later apologized to everyone at the table.
“That’s the first time that has ever happened here,” Effel said as he walked away from the table. Martin still has around the starting 3K stack to work with.
We’ve received word that Austin “leet8s” Frenkel just took a hit, losing a 14K pot with queens against kings. David “The Maven” Chicotsky eliminated a player holding 6-2 against an opponent’s A-A. His stack currently stands at 6.5K.
WSOP Event #2: $40K No Limit Hold ‘em
After eliminating Ted Forrest, Noah “fouruhaters” Schwartz (pictured left) has been eliminated at the $40,000 No Limit Hold ‘em final table. Schwartz moved all in for 955K from early position with A-K, and Greg “fossilman” Raymer re-shoved with A-A. Schwartz found no help on the board, and finished 8th for $246,834.
Dani “Ansky” Stern doubled early when his AJ took down Lex “RaSZi” Velduis’ AK. The two were all in preflop, and Stern turned a heart flush draw. The crowd was stunned when the dealer spiked a J on the river, and Stern scooped a 3 million chip pot.
