WSOP 2008
Friedberg Busts, Beckman Builds Stack
by AdamJ on 07.12.08, 6:52 pm
With a paltry 120k stack to start Day 5 of the Main Event, Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg (pictured right) lasted a few hours before bowing out.
Frieberg doubled in the first orbit of play and got to 350k in the second level. Without many hands and stack well below the 900k average, Friedberg busted when he reraised a 30k open for all of his 170k. Friedberg’s AJ was up against AQ and was eliminated when he didn’t improve.
Pocketfives caught up with Friedberg after he exited in 148th place, cashing in for 41k.
Friedberg said he was happy with his first Main Event cash, and given the situations he was dealt, he didn’t leave the Amazon Room with any major misgivings about any of his plays.
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman was the recent beneficiary of a flop that hammered he and his opponents hand when it came A
J
8. Beckman’s opponent bet 90k and Beckman shoved for about 450k total and his opponent called. Beckman revealed the AQ in a flip against his opponents A
J. Beckman promptly clipped a 2 on the turn and won the hand, boosting his stack to 970k, his highpoint of the day. Beckman started with 515k and got down to 200k rather in the first hour of play.
Cort “thecorster” Kibler-Melby won a huge hand off of Jeremiah Smith before the last break when he raised the from the hijack and Smith called in position. Kibler-Melby played for stacks on a Q-5-5 flop, outflopping Smith’s A-Q with K5, resulting in a 860k pot which was the stack he took to the break about twenty minutes ago. The hand left Smith with about 50k in chips and he busted shortly after that.
Andy “BadgerPro” Schultz was eliminated in 142nd place despite getting his money in ahead. Schultz and another player saw a flop of AT6. Schultz led out, his opponent raised and Schultz moved all in with A
K. The other player called with 79. The 9 came on the turn, but the 3 on the river knocked Andy of the tournament.
Looking Back in the Rearviewmirror
by Jill on 07.12.08, 1:21 am
Players recently returned from the dinner break and cards were in the air shortly after 9:40pm PST at the Rio. Play will continue this evening until 180 remain or until we complete one more two-hour level.
Just before the crowd in the Amazon Room dispersed for their suppers, several noteworthy things occurred, not the least of which was the crushing and subsequent elimination of Jon “PearlJammer” Turner (pictured at right). Turner was recently reseated at the second featured table, just to the side of the ESPN arena. He was reunited with Jeremiah Smith, with whom he sat next to during yesterday’s play and who still guarded a huge stack.
In a hand that will inevitably haunt Jon for a long time, he raised preflop to 21K and the player on the button called him. The dealer flopped out AT8 and Turner, first to act, bet 41K. His opponent raised him to nearly twice the pot’s size and Jon pushed alll in for 340K more. His opponent thought for a long time before calling down with 89 and was completely dominated by Jon’s pocket aces, which had flopped top set. However, the Q on the turn gave his opponent a flush, and Jon was looking for the board to pair. The meaningless 4 came on the river and Jon was sent to the sidelines looking like his puppy had been stolen.
Joe “LatestLines2″ Ward (pictured at left) also experienced heartbreak on the very last hand before the break when he faced off with Gus Hansen. On a flop of AT5, Joe tossed 100K into the pot and Hansen made the call. The dealer turned the 9 and Joe checked; Hansen took the opportunity to bet 200K, which Ward check-raised for 385K more when he went all in. Hansen ended up making the call and showing A-T to Joe’s A-Q; and Joe’s pair of aces couldn’t catch a queen on the river to make a better two pair. He was eliminated in 218th place and will take home $38,600 for his efforts.
In better news, Andrew “tufat23″ Teng has managed to chip up substantially after break, more than quadrupling his pre-dinner stack, which had been down to 200K in the middle of the last level. He now sits much more comfortably with 800K in front of him.
Over at the table of doom, Andy “BadgerPro” Schultz joined Keith “damurdera3″ Ferrera, Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Jeremy “thechemist83″ Gaubert and Phil Hellmuth. It didn’t take long into the new level for Schultz to make a move. On a board of 652, Gaubert bet 45K and Shultz check-raised all in from the big blind from 94K more. Gaubert made with call with 99 and needed to come from behind to beat the 65 of Schultz. The turn and river bricked for Gaubert, increasing Andy’s stack to over 200K.
More chip counts (and hopefully, better news) to come shortly as we get this level under way!
Peter Cries De Wolfe
by Jill on 07.04.08, 12:58 am
Now back from dinner break and midway into Level 4, some players were feeling a bit squeezed by their short stacks and put to difficult decisions. PocketFives caught up with Dan “wretchy” Martin (pictured at right) in the Green section of the Amazon room sporting a stack of 2.8K, asking P5s to abstain from counting it out. It seemed like his friendly table image was working to his advantage, however, laughing as he shoved and raking in a few uncontested pots as we watched. He was definitely in emergency mode, but we all saw what happened to Matt “MattG1983″ Graham after he was down to one big blind last night — it won him a bracelet!
Nearby in the Green section sat Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul and Andy “BadgerPro” Schultz. We caught up with action at the table in a very interesting hand where Kevin was put to a decision for most of his chips. Before the flop, both the big blind and the small blind were in the hand, as well as two early limpers. The cutoff raised to a total of 3.1K with about 3K behind and Kevin sat on the button. Shuffling his chips, Kevin queried his opponent: “What was your name online?” He answered, “CG2212. Does that help you?” Kevin joked, “No.” His opponent took his sunglasses off and Kevin paused quite awhile to count out his chips before throwing his hand in the muck. Ultimately, one of the players in the blind shoved and got the call from the original raiser; the blind held A-K to his opponent’s pocket fours. Kevin, relieved, explained that he held A-Q and caught the sunglass tell; when the flop spiked an ace, his opponent was sent to the rail.
Peter “number1pen” Neff (pictured at left) told PocketFives at dinner break that he couldn’t wait for his table in the Orange section to break. Considering the lineup has featured everyone from David Benyamine to Brock “t_soprano” Parker to Roland De Wolfe to Gavin Smith, who can blame him? Upon returning from break, he first won a decent-sized pot off Brock with a full house. Then, with the blinds at 150/300 with an ante of 25, he picked up aces and raised preflop to 850. The small blind called and Roland De Wolfe made it 3K from the big blind. Peter shoved all in for the remainder of his 18K chips. The small blind folded and Roland called off his last 6K with pocket queens. Neff’s hand held up and subsequently, he got his wish when the table broke. Considering his hot streak, did he speak too soon?
Eric “jakz101″ Crain managed to double his stack when he got all his chips in preflop with KQ against his opponent’s 66. The board ran out 943Q9 and Eric’s queens and nines were good enough to take the pot; he has continued to build since then. In a recent hand, the board read 98667. Although we missed the action, it appeared that both players checked it down the whole way. When they both checked on the river Eric said “Dude, I flopped a straight but I’m going to check.” He flipped over his 75 which was good enough to take the pot. As he raked in the chips he said “I was hoping to get in a check-raise on the flop, then I didn’t like the turn, and I really didn’t like the river. Did you have outs?” The other player laughed and said no, so it seems that if Eric had fired off a bet at some point he would have taken the pot regardless. Eric is now sitting with 40K and in good spirits.
Jason Gray and one opponent saw a flop of JT3. When Jason checked, his opponent bet out, only to have Jason go all in for 13.5K. The other player made the call with his QJ only to find that he was behind Jason’s KK. The A on the turn and 7 on the river were harmless to Jason’s kings and he doubled up to around 30k.
Anna Wroblewski has been busy building up her big stack. Her most recent addition in chips came when another player pushed all in on a flop of T95. Anna debated for awhile before making the call with the KT for a pair of tens with a flush draw. Although she was behind her opponent who held the T9, the K fell on the turn, giving Anna a better two pair and the 5 on the river changed nothing so Anna knocked out a player and her stack grew to over 70k.
Ken “isuck123″ Goldin (pictured at right) did not fare as well during the last level. He reported that he had pocket ladies in the big blind and reraised Kido Pham on the button from 1K to 3.6K. When the flop came 7-high with two clubs, Ken shoved for 14K more and Kido called with 94. When the turn spiked the A, Ken was sent to the rail.
Also eliminated in the level was Joe Sebok, whose day came to an end when he shoved the remainder of his chips in preflop with pocket jacks and ran into another player’s pocket queens. The player with queens ended up making quads and Joe was eliminated.