Sowers Puts Opponent’s Claim To The Test
by Rachel on 07.03.09, 5:44 pm
The day 1A players have gone on their first 20-minute break of the day here at the Rio. They will play the next two-hour level with the blinds at 100/200 then take their dinner break because there will only be four levels played today.
Tournament director Jack Effel informed is that there are close to 1,100 players registered for Day 1A. Last year’s Day 1a drew 1,297 players. We’re still expecting a bigger overall number than last year over the first four days.
Jordan “Octavian_C” Rich, who has taken his seat at the same table as Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers (pictured at left), pulled us over to his table to see the end of an interesting hand between Sowers and another player at the table.
The board read K
T9
J6. Rich told us that the player to Sowers’ right checked on the river, telling Sowers that he wasn’t going to call anymore than 6K. Sowers had then put out a bet of 6.1K. After some thought the other player called anyway. Sowers quickly flashed his cards toward the player, but we weren’t able to see them. However, we did see the other player table QJ
to take the pot. We stopped back by Sowers’ table just before the players left for their first break of the day and he looked to be down to about 10K.
Brent “BHanks11″ Hanks checked on a flop of K
63. The player in seat two bet 800 and it folded back around to Hanks who made the call. The turn was the T and both players checked to see the 7 on the river. Hanks bet 1.3K and the other player called. Hanks showed AA to take the pot.
The board read A856 when we caught Scott “stpauli111″ Hall in a hand for the first time today. The player in seat nine bet 1.5K on the turn and Hall made the call. The river was the T and both players checked. Hall turned over AT and scooped the pot.
Cody “CalBandGreat” Shedd picked up a nice pot shortly before the level ended. We missed the preflop action, but Cody was kind enough to fill us in. A player in middle position raised to 300 and Shedd 3-bet to 925 total. The player on the button flat called and the initial raiser called as well. The flop came down 998 and the initial raiser checked. Cody bet out 2,250, the player on the button called, and the third player folded. After the 6 fell on the turn Shedd bet out 3,250 and the other player called. The river was the 8, double pairing the board, and Cody checked to his opponent who fired out a 5K bet. It didn’t take too long before Cody called, tabling 57 for a turned straight and his opponent showed KK for two pair.
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman took his break 22 minutes early, telling us “I want to keep my mind fresh.” He spent most of Level 1 folding but still has 28.7K going into the second level. Beckman took 31st in the Main Event last year for $193,000, falling to Dennis Phillips’ flush on the ESPN featured table.
Other chip counts from the early going:
Jonas Klausen - 66K
Darren Elias - 57K
David “Doc Sands” Sands (pictured at right) - 45K
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer - 41K
Cody “calbandgreat” Shedd - 40K
Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis - 38K
Matt “mattster24″ Sterling - 36K
Russell “rcrane082985″ Crane - 31.4K
Jon “PearlJammer” Turner - 31K
Billy “Patrolman35″ Kopp - 30.8K
Kevin “kice32″ Iacafano - 30.5K
Aaron “NDGrinder59″ Steury - 30.5K
Stephane “FouTight” Bisson - 29K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 28.7K
Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek - 27.5K
Anthony “D1rty1v3r” Nardi - 26.5K
Matt “claw1980″ Holtzclaw - 25.7K
Jason “JP OSU” Potter - 25.6K
Luke “IWEARGOGGLES” Staudenmaier - 25.3K
Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert - 25K
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams - 24.3K
Jon “sketchy1″ Eaton 20.8K
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 19K
Phil “USCPhildo” Collins - 15K
