WSOP 2008
Wrong Direction
by Court on 08.25.08, 8:46 pm
For every player that gains chips and builds a stack there is another player that those chips had to come from. During the second level of the day both Alvin “alsmooth” Zeidenfeld and Jason “JCarver” Somerfield were on the giving out end. Somerfield saw his stack drop all the way down to 12k, but he is still confident he can make a comeback.
Jason (right) lost a huge pot with the nut flush draw against David Chiu who had an open ended straight draw and a smaller flush draw than Somerville. Chiu hit one of his outs to make a straight and Somerfield missed all his flush outs to lose a large pot.
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg had another tough level and is still hanging on with 8k, but the player to his immediate right ran a 10k stack up considerable in the last level. Peter “Nordberg” Feldman won a flurry of hands to build up a stack well over the average of 60k. In one pot Feldman opened from under the gun for 1,600 and a total of 5 players went to the flop of A
T8
and Nordberg bet 5k. One player called and Peter again led out on the 9
turn for 8k. He was again called.
With the 6 river card Feldman (left) said “all in” and the other player went into the tank. Feldman had about 35k left when he went all in and had the other players 17,800 chips easily covered. After wrapping up his iPod and packing his belongings he sat back down and continued to consider the call. Finally another player called the clock and the floorman came over to give the minute countdown. After another 30 seconds of thought the player called and Feldman showed the QJ for a straight.
Another Peter saw his tournament come to an end during the last level. Peter “#1Pen” Neff never really got anything going and was ultimately eliminated when his AK lost a race to pocket tens. Ari Engel also looks to have been eliminated during the second level of day 2 play.
First Level Action
by Court on 08.25.08, 6:57 pm
The first of 6 levels for day 2 play is now complete. The first level was more than enough to clear all the tables outside the main room, with the Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg, Bryan Devonshire, Ray Davis and Can Kim Hua table being the last to break
Alvin “alsmooth” Zeidenfeld (left) had a great day 1, finishing up with 92,000 chips. He got day 2 off to a solid start as well, busting a short stacked Kenna James on the second hand to push his stack to around 100k. He drifted back down to the low 90’s by the end of the level but is still in great position going into the second level of the day.
For the shorter stacks, a successful first level was likely to include a double up. That was the case for Friedberg, who doubled through Ray Davis when his pocket aces held up. He is still short stacked but is at 13k after the double up. Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby also doubled in the first level, building his stack to around 35k.
Isaac “mr menlo” Baron was able to get up to 90k when his AK won a race against pocket sevens. Devin “TranquilChaso” Porter won a small pot that was 4-way preflop for 1,100 each. After the preflop action it was checked down the rest of the way and a surprised Devin porter picked up the pot with pocket nines.
Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery was eliminated in the first level of play, after having something come up that caused him to play hyper aggressively until he was busted from the tournament.
Ari Engel had another player all in, but when the cards were turned up both had pocket kings and the pot ended up being split.
The second level of the day will be played with blinds of 300 / 600 and a 75 chip ante. The pressure on the short stacks continues to increase and larger and larger stacks are emerging around the room.
Legends Of Poker Day 1A Complete
by Court on 08.24.08, 2:47 am
The players are putting their chips in the bags and heading for the doors as play for day 1A is complete. The chip leader at the end of day 1 looks to be Adam Weinraub with 150k. Weinraub won the WPT Celebrity Invitational in 2007 and has played a few WPT events on the West Coast since then. He will be going into day 2 with a healthy stack, though tomorrow’s larger starting field (expected) is likely to turn out a few larger stacks Weinraub will almost surely be among the top few chip stacks going into day 2 play.
Alvin “alsmooth” Zeidenfeld spent some time as the chip leader throughout the day, and finished up strong with 92,000. His stack should put him in the top 5 chip counts for the day and in solid position for day 2 play on Monday.
Full chip counts for Day 1A will be available later tonight or in the morning but for now here are some counts we were able to grab at the end of the day:
Alvin “alsmooth” Zeidenfeld - 92,000
Jason “JCarver” Somerville - 73,600
Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson - 68,625
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter (right) - 55,300
Matt “All In At 420″ Stout - 51,850
Louis “Mr Beeks” Werman - 45,450
Matt “Plattsburgh” Vengrin - 29,775
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 16,650
Amit “Amak316″ Makhija - 11,350
Baron Back, Baker Baked
by Court on 08.23.08, 11:56 pm
Isaac “mr menlo” Baron (right) was down to 11k chips early in the day, but at last check he was at a much healthier 40k. While Baron was able to recover from his short stack status, David “Bakes” Baker went the other way down the road and has been eliminated from the tournament.
Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery is in the middle of living every poker players dream. He is a member of the “November Nine” and is at the final table of the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. While the WSOP ME is on hiatus Montgomery is keeping the hot streak going here at the Bike. He has 70k in chips late in the 4th level of play and what better practice for the biggest final table ever than making another WPT televised final table in the interim. He has a few days to go before thinking about that, but he is positioning himself well in the early going.
At the Bike when you are at a table and get hungry all you have to do is ask for service and choose from a multi-page menu of international choices. There is no official dinner break here, but as play works later into the day more and more food trays are littering the walkways as the orders keep flowing in. The drink orders are also flowing, with Coronas and glasses of wine being ordered all around.
Chip leader Alvin “alsmooth” Zeidenfeld is pushing the century mark in chips after calling down Vinny Vinh on every street with pocket eights. He had an overpair on the flop but with a nine and ten hitting the board on the turn and river he kept calling, including the 7k river bet. Zeidenfelds instincts were spot on, and Vinny had to take a walk to cool off after mucking his hand and watching Alvin rake in the pot.
Another Level Down
by Court on 08.23.08, 9:10 pm
With 5 levels scheduled for the day, the first two are already in the books. The 30k starting stacks are continuing to fly around the room, and after 2 levels Gavin Smith is at the top of the chip counts with 75k.
Alvin “alsmooth” Zeidenfeld (left) picked up a few more chips but lost a pot to Chad Brown late in the second level to drop back to 50k. He gained ground after getting a player to call him down on a 9 high board. After his opponent check called the 3k river bet Alvin turned over his QQ
to take the pot. The chips he picked up there went to Chad Brown later when Chad’s open ended straight draw turned into runner runner trips to win a large pot off of Alvin.
Amit “Amak316″ Makhija also made trips, flopping top pair with his KJ and then hitting another king on the river to make trips. He also got paid off when he raised a 1k river bet to 4,500 and was called.