WSOP 2008
Short Stacked Shorr Looking to Chip Up
by Crystal on 07.04.08, 3:16 am
Shannon Shorr has been short stacked during this last level of the night but that hasn’t deterred him from getting involved in pots. When Shannon (pictured left) had 7.3k in chips remaining a player raised to 1.1k and Shannon pushed all in. The other player folded and Shannon added a bit more to his stack.
Soon after that hand Shannon raised to 1.1k in the hi-jack seat and the cutoff made the call. The flop came A
T
4
and both players checked. The 9 came on the turn and again both players checked. When the 5 came on the river Shannon bet 2.7k and after some thought his opponent folded.
The very next hand Shannon again raised to 1.1k but this time the player to his left re-raised to 3.1k. the table folded back around to Shannon who reluctantly folded. It seems he is trying to chip up bit by bit and not risk his whole stack unnecessarily.
When PocketFives caught up to Jon “PearlJammer” Turner’s table in the Orange section, he was sitting comfortably with 51k in chips in front of him. Turner (pictured right) alerted us to another P5er still in the race for the bracelet a few tables over. Sure enough, when we caught up to the action at Steve “McNallyville” McNally’s table, the dealer laid a flop of 9T9 and Steve bet out 3,650 after one other early player checked to him. His opponent called and the dealer turned the 2. Both players checked to see the 8
on the river. Steve’s opponent, first to act, checked to him and he answered with a 5.1K bet. After quite awhile in the tank, the other player called and Steve flipped over 98 for the full house. He shipped the chips into his growing stack, which was up to 42K.
Jason Gray continues to add to his stack, most recently we caught up with him and one other player involved in a hand with the flop showing T44. They both checked and saw the 4 come on the turn. The other player bet out 1,525 and Jason called. WHen the K fell on the river the other player checked over to Jason who bet 2.6k. The other player went into the tank for a bit before finally making the call. The other player showed 55 for fours full of fives, but Jason held the KQ for fours full of kings and he took the pot. He now has almost 40k in chips and will be now able to keep an eye on his twin brother Craig “MrCasino” Gray as they are now seated at tables right next to each other and keep stepping away from the table to update each other (as seen in the picture at right). Craig is sitting with around 23k.
Below are some other notable chip counts as play begins to wind down for the night. Players have a little less than an hour to go before day 1a will officially be in the books.
Tim “tmay420″ West - 71K
Eric “jakz101″ Crain - 52K
Jon “PearlJammer” Turner - 51K
Steve “McNallyville” McNally - 42K
Jordan “iMsoLucky0″ Morgan - 19K
Barry Greenstein - 9.5K
Micon Is Gone
by Jessica on 06.30.08, 4:20 am
Bryan Micon (pictured at right) took a big hit in the $1.5K HORSE Event when his low draw didn’t materialize and pretty much everyone at his table and the tables surrounding him knew it. His tablemate, Mike Matusow, finally proclaimed, “Bryan: you are allowed to talk non-stop about anything you want, anything at all, but you are not allowed to talk about that hand anymore.”
Mike continued his table banter with Micon by explaining to him the power of positive thinking. Bryan was down to just 3 chips, 1,100 total, and Matusow was attempting to inspire him to make a comeback.
Micon made his last stand when he raised on 3rd street with a K up in Stud 8. Both Matusow and the player who was the bring in made the call. By 5th street Micon was showing K-10-10 and the third player bet, inducing Matusow to fold. The other player held a pair of aces, but he made aces up on 6th and left Bryan, who had kings and tens, drawing very thin, especially since one of the kings was folded on 3rd. Micon failed to improve and he was eliminated as Level 7 came to a close.
Other players making an exit in the event recently include Barry Greenstein and Kenna James. Here are some chip counts of a few of the players still hanging around in the event:
Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire - 15K
Eric “jakz101″ Crain - 14K
Brett “Gank” Jungblut - 13.5K
Shannon Shorr - 8K
Doug “Resilient” Smith - 6.5K
Eric “Rizen” Lynch made his exit from the $10K Pot Limit Omaha Championship when, with the blinds at 800/1,600 a player in late position raised and Lynch moved all-in for 11.8K more. The player made the call with 4-5-6-8 and Eric showed AA23. The flop came88-X and, with no help on the turn or river, Lynch was eliminated.
Play has ended for the day and 86 players will be returning tomorrow. Here are some unofficial chip counts we spotted as the level was coming to a close:
Josh Arieh - 368k (chip leader)
Shawn “buck21″ Buchanan - 240k
David Williams - 160k
Michael Mizrachi - 160k
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 118k
Noah “Exclusive” Boeken - 95k
David “Raptor517″ Benefield - 90k
Nenad Medic - 75k
Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen - 75k
John D’Agostino - 48k
Rafi Amit - 34k
Clements Holding Steady in 10k PLO
by AdamJ on 06.30.08, 2:54 am
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements (pictured left) continues to yield an above average stack in the 10k PLO WSOP Event #50. Clements currently sits at 115k and recently just scooped a nice pot that has left John D’Agostino’s head spinning.
D’Agostino raised to 3,600 and Clements called on the button. Both players checked a T39 flop, and the action picked up on the 7 turn. D’Agostino bet 5k and Clements raised to 13k and D’Agostino called. D’Agostino checked the 8 and Clements bet 25k, sending D’Agostino into over a few minutes of deliberation. D’Agostino, who had about 60k behind, eventually found a fold and was visibly unnerved by the sequence of events following the hand.
Eric “Rizen” Lynch has somehow found a way to maintain around a ten big blind stack in a game known for huge swings during the past three hours.
Lynch currently sits at his apex during that stretch at 24k. Lynch got as low as 9k in the previous level.
“I finally got my starting stack back,” he said. ”It only took me nine hours!”
Shawn “buck21″ Buchanan has remained a healthy stack over 140k the past few hours although the arrival of overwhelming chip leader Josh Arieh to his table may drastically change that trend.
Arieh currently sits with 380k with blinds at 800-1600 with the average stack at 70k.
Here’s some other notable chip counts
David “Raptor517″ Benefield - 150k
Noah “Exclusive” Boeken - 135k
Rolf Slotboom - 45k
Tom “durrrr” Dwan - 28k
The $1.5K has already lost over half of its 803 person field, but 360 players still remain with a couple of hours left in Day One. One such player is Doug “Resilient” Smith (pictured right), who recently picked up some chips when he eliminated another player in a razz showdown.
Barry Greenstein brought the hand in for 75 with a K up and the player to his left completed the bet to 300 with the 8 showing. Smith then raised to 600 with his A up, and his opponent thought momentarily before 3-betting. Doug capped the betting and the other player called. Doug picked up the 4 on 4th while his opponent showed a K. Doug bet and his opponent called. When both players picked up Qs on 5th street Smith bet again, which was enough to put his opponent all-in. As the other player made the call and they turned their cards face up, Doug informed the other player he wasn’t in that bad of shape against Smith, as Doug had paired his four. The players showed the following hands:
Smith (5)(4)A4Q
Opponent: (6)(4)8KQ
On 6th Doug improved to the better low with the 2 while his opponent was dealt the 9. The 3 on the river sealed the deal for Smith by giving him the wheel, as well as the nearly 5K pot. He was up to 9K at the conclusion of the hand.
While some players, like John “jdawg0913″ O’Brien, Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke, and David “seal” Eisenstein have been eliminated, several others remain. Here are some unofficial chip counts:
Brett “gank” Jungblut - 11K
Eric “jakz101″ Crain - 11K
Alex Jacob - 8.5K
Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire - 5K
Shannon Shorr - 4K
Barry Greenstein - 3.5K
Bryan Micon - 2.5K
“Bodog” Ari Engel - 2K
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg was eliminated in 28th place in the $1.5K No Limit Hold Em event when his pocket eights failed to hold against another player’s A-K. He will earn $13,727 for the finish. Andy Black and Men “The Master” Nguyen were also sent to the rail recently. 21 players remain, including David Tran, Tommy Vu, “Jumpin” Joe Pelton, and JC Tran.
The $50K HORSE event is nearing closer to a champion as only three players remain at the final table. Michael De Michele is the current chip leader with over 7 million, but Scotty Nguyen is within striking distance with 5.3 million. Erick Lindgren is the short stack of the trio; he is just shy of the 2 million chip marker.
Gomes, Johnson Go 1 and 2 in $2K Event
by Jessica on 06.30.08, 12:24 am
Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson’s (pictured at left) tournament run also came to an end when he finished 2nd in the $2K No Limit Hold Em event. Johnson and fellow Pocket Fiver Alexandre “allingomes” Gomes battled back and forth in their heads up match before Gomes gained the upper hand when he cracked Johnson’s pocket aces with AT after the board ran out KT3TJ.
A few hands later, Marco moved in for the remainder of his chips with QJ and Alexandre quickly made the call with AK. After a flop of 432 and an ace on the turn, Johnson was drawing dead to a 5 for a chop. When the river came 4, Gomes scooped the pot and the victory, sending his large Brasilian contingent into a roar of applause. Gomes earned $770,540 for his finish and Johnson took home $491,273 for 2nd.
Gerry “TheGatherer” Kane’s run in the $1.5K No Limit Hold Em event has come to an end. Gerry was in the big blind when he and another player got it all-in on a board of 543K. Kane flopped two pair with his 34, but he needed to fill up in order to best the other player’s 67 for a flopped straight. The 2 on the river was no help to Kane and he was eliminated in 45th place, earning $10,759. Taylor “tdomeski” Douglas was also eliminated recently. He finished in 72nd place, good enough for $7,420.
The $50K HORSE event lost a couple of players before pausing the tournament to take a dinner break. Huck Seed was eliminated in 7th place and Barry Greenstein was out shortly afterwards in 6th when his pair of aces in Stud 8 were no match for Scotty Nguyen’s full house. Shortly after pocketing his $355,200 prize, Barry registered for his third tournament of the day and is now playing in the $1.5K HORSE event.
A handful of P5er’s are left in the 10k PLO WSOP Event #50. With a small 381 player field, not many tables featured players that were known from either live or online poker. However, Tim “TMay420″ West had a below average stack of 23k at a table full of live pro’s with Tony Cousineau, Tony G, Dan Shak, and Joe “The Elegance” Beevers from the Hendon Mob.
Jason “JP OSU” Potter just bricked out on a massive multiway 90k pot when his freeroll with pocket aces and a nut flush draw didn’t come to fruition. Potter’s 34k stack is below the 48k average. Ryan “Daut44″ Daut also just lost a big pot when his opponent rivered a nut flush and Daut led for 8k on the river and called another 12k more when he got raised. Daut had 44k earlier in the level and currently has 14k.
Eric “Rizen” Lynch is nursing an extreme short stack at 13k with blinds at 400-800 but remains optimistic at a table that includes Noah “Exclusive” Boeken’s massive 105k stack and Chris Moneymaker.
“It can change in a hurry,” Lynch said. “It will in one way or another shortly.”
Here’s a list of other notable chip stacks left:
Shawn “buck21″ Buchanon - 120k
David “Raptor57″ Benefield - 110k
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 64k
Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen - 55k
Dario Minieri - 43k
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 19k
Mueller Makes a Massive Call
by Crystal on 06.29.08, 8:42 pm
It seems everywhere you turn some player is making a bad call to put their tournament life at stake. This definitely wasn’t the case for Greg “FBT” Mueller (pictured at left). We caught up with the action on the flop with the board reading T72. A short stacked player was already all in and Greg and another player were tangled up in a side pot. Both players on the side had large stacks that were similar in size and when the other player pushed all in Greg went into the tank.
He talked out his entire thought process over a period of time that lasted nearly ten minutes. “You must have aces or kings” he said… followed by “Would you make that move with nines or eights? You could be on a flush draw.” Jon Friedberg got up from the table and whispered to a PocketFives reporter that he was sure Greg had the best hand and the other player probably had A-K or maybe the flush draw. Greg apologized to the table for taking so long to make a decision, but no one seemed upset. Eventually Greg said “I really think I have the best hand. I call.” His opponent said “Nice call” as he flipped over the 99 for a pair of nines and Greg proudly flipped over his KT for a pair of tens. The all in player showed KQ and Greg was set to win the entire pot. The turn came with the 5 and the river was the Q which gave the short stacked all in player the main pot of around 40k, but Greg’s tens took the side pot which totaled nearly 250k.
Gerry “TheGatherer” Kane has also been accumulating chips. He busted a player with his pocket queens and then on a hand not long afterwards the cutoff raised to 9k and Gerry re-raised to 23k from the small blind. The cutoff made the call and the flop came 532. Gerry pushed all in and his opponent folded and Gerry’s stack grew to around 115k.
With 90 players remaining Jon Friedberg has around 180k, Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar has almost 100k, and Hevad “RainKhan” Khan has a little less than 50k.
The $1.5k HORSE event #51 got started at 5 pm tonight and with the smaller buy-in we’re sure we’ll see a large number of online players dipping their toes into this mixed game event even if they aren’t as experienced at all of the games. This is sure to make for some exciting action and we’ll keep you posted as the tournament progresses.
The $50k HORSE final table is still progressing. Barry Greenstein is currently the short stack with 1.3 million while Scotty Nguyen is the current chip leader with 4.4 million.