WSOP 2008
42o Might Never Lose, but JTo Sometimes Does
by Crystal on 06.29.08, 6:09 pm
Alex “42oneverloses” Case got involved in a huge hand against one opponent only 20 minutes after play started in Day 2 of the $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em Event #49.
With the blinds at 800/1,600/200 Case (pictured at left) raised to 4.8K preflop and was called by the big blind. The flop came A
K5
and the big blind checked over to Case, who bet 7.2K. The big blind raised to 25K total and after thinking for a little while, Case pushed all in for a total of 88.4K. The big blind, whose stack was very similar in size, tanked but eventually made the call with the A
5
for two pair. Case held JT for a gutshot straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. Both those draws were demolished when the 5 fell on the turn, giving the big blind the full house and a lock on the hand. The meaningless 8 came on the river and the huge pot was shipped away from Case, leaving him with 6.5K in chips.
The very next hand, Case open-shoved only to have Andy Black immediately re-raise to 14K. All the other players folded and Black tabled the AA against Case’s 89. The board ran out T43Q4 and Case was sent to the ever-growing payout line.
Moving the opposite way in chip counts was Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar, who sat short-stacked with 16.4K. He was playing aggressively to try and accumulate chips; in one hand, he moved all in preflop from middle position and managed to get everyone to fold. His count went up to 21K. He moved through the blinds, and late action prevented him from playing. However, when he was in the cutoff position, action folded around to him and he pushed all in. His opponent in the big blind also pushed all in to isolate and had Vivek covered. Vivek flipped over 59 to his opponent’s A-T. The board ran out K76K5; the five on the river managed to keep Vivek alive and elevate his stack to 37K. The other player was quite visibly upset, but Vivek took the opportunity to really tune into the table as his opponents’ concentration waned. Later, Vivek called down an all in with pocket fives, but couldn’t get any help from the board against his opponent’s pocket tens. His stack took a turn for the worse, but he managed to double back up moments later to 28K.
Another PocketFiver was doing quite well in the first level of Day 2; Gerry “thegatherer” Kane reported that he was extremely short-stacked going into the day - he only held 18K to start. However, he managed to double up on the first hand, getting it all in with A-Q against pocket nines in the big blind. The dealer spiked a queen for Gerry and he instantly doubled up to 38K. He thanked the lucky Scottish kilt he’s wearing at the table and wanted to send a shout-out to all poker players in his homeland! Later, we caught up again with Gerry as he knocked another player out of the running - his stack was up to 53K and looking strong.
Clements Takes an Early Lead
by Crystal on 06.29.08, 4:49 pm
In the $10k PLO event #50, a number of players have already built their stacks up while a few have already been eliminated from the tournament. Eric “EFro” Froehlich was knocked out when his opponent flopped top two pair and all Eric had was a pair of aces in his hand. Scott “BigRiskky” Clements‘ stack is heading in the opposite direction. Clements (pictured right) is the current chip leader with 32k and has not used his reload chip yet. Barry Greenstein was one of the chip leaders in the PLO event until a massive hand took his entire stack away. Greenstein flopped a set of kings on a KQT board and the Q came on the turn giving him the best full house possible. Unfortunately for Greenstein, his opponent held the other two queens for quads and scooped up a 50k pot to knock Greenstein out of the tournament. He’ll now have a little over an hour to prepare for the final table of the $50k HORSE event that kicks off at 3pm.
Day 2 of the $1.5k NLHE event #49 is set to kick off at 2 pm with a number of notable online players still in the field.
After starting with a massive field of 2,018, only 215 players survived the day to return on day 2. The bubble burst last night at 270 players and all the players returning today are guaranteed at least $2,968 while the 1st place finisher will take home $631,170 along with the gold bracelet. Some notable players hitting the felt again today include Greg “FBT” Mueller (131.7k), Alex “42oneverloses” Case (97.3k), Hevad “RainKhan” Khan (58.8k), and Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar (20.7).