WSOP 2008
Rasmussen Crippled, Tripled, Then Out
by Crystal on 07.11.08, 8:11 pm
Thayer Rasmussen and another player got all the chips in preflop with Thayer holding the A
K
against the other players Q
Q. The flop was an incredibly dramatic A
KJ to give Thayer two pair and the lead while giving his opponent a gutshot straight draw. That gutshot filled when the turn came with the T putting the other player back in the lead. The 7 fell on the river and Thayer’s stack was knocked down to around 20k.
A few hands later Thayer (pictured left) pushed all in and both blinds called. The other players checked down the board of Q9668 and when Thayer tabled his AQ the other players mucked and Thayer tripled up to 58k.
Thayer then in a later hand moved all in from the small blind for around 46k and the big blind made the call with his TT only to find that he was way behind Thayer’s AA. The flop came J83 keeping Thayer in the lead. The 7 on the turn gave his opponent a gutshot straight draw and the 9 on the river completed it sending Thayer to the rail. Joining Thayer in the past level were Derek “arodss3″ Buanomo, Clayton “clayton_27″ Newman and Bruce “cornellxc11″ Hyde.
Chris “panamatony” Barrile is still staying active. A shorter stacked player pushed all in and Chris made the call with the 66. The other player held the AQ and would need some help to stay alive. The board ran out T43TJ and BChris’s sixes held to scoop up the pot. He currently is back up to almost 800k in chips.
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman continues to march up the board today. He recently doubled when he and another player got all of their chips in preflop, with Beckman (pictured right) holding AK and his opponent QQ. The J73 was gin for Beckman, but the Q on the turn added some excitement as the other player began shouting to his rail “Pair the board!” His request was denied as the T landed on the river and Beckman picked up a pot of close to 300K to increase his stack to 450K. He’s now at 415K.
The average stack is 450K with just over 300 players remaining. Here’s a look at some chip counts:
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 930K
Keith “damurdera3″ Ferrera - 900K
Peter “number1pen” Neff - 880K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 750K
Andy “tufat23″ Teng - 750K
Matt “Burton1080″ Jensen - 750K
Joe “LatestLines2″ Ward - 490K
Allen “AawwNutz” Carter - 450K
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki - 440K
Jeremy “thechemist83″ Gaubert - 430K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 415K
Brent “Astrolux85″ Roberts - 385K
Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal - 320K
David “Bakes” Baker - 250K
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 215K
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 140K
Viva Las Main Event
by Jill on 07.05.08, 4:19 am
The end of Level 5 for Day 1B of the Main Event started off in bizarre territory; as PocketFives caught up with play in the Amazon Room, Kenna James belted out a country ballad to all those within earshot. Meanwhile, Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold was doing Jerry Yang impersonations to the amusement of his table. And finally, at Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu’s table in the Blue section, his dealer was *definitely* an Elvis impersonator.
At Bobby “Gettin Deep” Hodson’s table, he spun a true tale of nearly doubling up after winning a clutch 20K pot. Ironically enough, it was with everyone’s favorite hand - pocket fives! He reported that a player in the hijack open-shoved and Bobby was in the big blind. Whether compelled by a tell or the power of the fives, Bobby called and his hand held against the other player’s A-K. He took down the pot and his stack rose to 30K.
Other players strengthening their stacks in the level included Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu who managed to take down plenty of small pots and work his way up to 85K at the end of the day. Mike “SirWatts” Watson also continued to dominate his table and walked away tonight with more than 100K. Another stellar performance was by Derek “arodss3″ Buonano (pictured at left), who worked his way up to 82K after a highly-televised table and subsequent media crew invaded his space for most of the evening. Apparently, there was a heckler at the table who was openly insulting Tom McEvoy who sat a table away.
Shaun Deeb had been sitting on a short stack for awhile and he and two other players saw a flop of KJ3. Shaun pushed all in on the flop and was called by one player whose QT open-ended straight draw was behind Shaun’s J5 pair of jacks. The turn was the 3 and the river brought the 6 and Shaun managed to double his stack.
Steve “gboro780″ Gross was one of the players that experienced a chip slide in the last level. When we caught up to him midway through the level, he guarded a 38K stack and was in a pot on a TQ6 board. He had bet out and was called; the 9 fell on the turn and he checked to his opponent, who bet out 3.4K. Steve called and the K fell on the river. He checked to his opponent, who made a river bet of 6K. Steve thought for quite awhile before folding AQ face up. He was down to 31K after the hand. Shortly after, he managed to swing up the chip counts to 42K when his KQ held on a queen-high board.
However, it seemed that the chip swings were beginning to tilt Gross, who later raised on the button in a hand. Both the big blind and a limper in early position called. When the flop came 332, one of his opponents bet 3.5K and Steve raised to 8K; his opponent called and the 3 came on the turn. Both players checked and the J fell on the river. His opponent bet out 8K and Steve folded after thinking quite awhile. After a series of downswing hands, Steve was was down to 17K.
Here is a collection of unofficial chip counts prior to the end of Day 1B. Congratulations to all players on a great day and good luck to them as they advance in the Main Event!
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 106K
Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu - 85K
Derek “arodss3″ Buonano - 82K
Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert - 42K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 48.5K (pictured at right)
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 15K
Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor - 26K
Bobby “Gettin Deep” Hodson - 30K
Greg “okstate345″ Cox - 21K
Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy - 28K
Brian “Wing-n-prayer” Reingold - 27K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 18K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 17K
Shaun Deeb - 16K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 8.5K