WSOP 2008
Barry Good
by Brett on 06.16.08, 7:26 pm
Could P5ers named Barry win back-to-back bracelets? Barry Greenstein took down the $1,500 Razz event last night, and now Barry “BarryGS” Schultz (pictured right) is approaching the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em final table for a chance at his own bracelet and $628,417. Schultz is currently third in chips of the 10 players remaining, but you’d never guess he was playing in a high-pressure situation. Schultz has been very talkative with everyone — spectators, media members, tournament directors, and even ESPN360’s Erin Coscarelli, who was putting together a report a few tables away.
The 41-year old from Memphis just chipped his way to over a million chips by eliminating Carl Jerome in 13th place. With the blinds at 12K/24K, Jerome completed in the small blind and Schultz checked behind. Both players checked the A
Q2
flop and then the T
on the turn. The river brought the J and Jerome led out for 60K. Schultz min-raised to 120K and Jerome moved in for 250K total. Barry insta-called and flipped over K3 for broadway and was shocked to see that the pot wasn’t chopped when Jerome showed Q2 for two pair.
Shortly after, Jordan “scarface_79″ Smith was knocked out in 11th place. Bobby Firestone raised to 75K from late position and Smith moved in for 300K in the big blind. Firestone made the call with 88
and had Smith’s A5 in trouble. The board bricked for Smith and he was sent to the rail just shy of his fist WSOP final table.
Fourty-six players are still fighting for a $434,789 prize in the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event taking place in the Brasilia Room. Several pocketfivers are still in the field, including Tony “Bond18″ Dunst, Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin, Ryan “youngluc” Young, Lee Childs and Matt “AllInAt420″ Stout. Play will conclude this evening when the final nine are standing.
Schultz Surges, Negreanu Dominates
by Jill on 06.16.08, 5:48 am
Event #27’s $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em race for the bracelet has concluded for the evening with 18 players remaining in the field. Barry “BarryGS” Schultz sits near the top of the chip count with over 850K, now representing PocketFives in his logo t-shirt.
We caught up with Barry as he was raising preflop from the hijack to 48K with the blinds at 10K/20K. He took down the pot uncontested and did the same thing for the next two consecutive hands. He recounted a story from earlier in the tournament about a hand he played with Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman. Apparently, Barry made his move on the button by pushing all in to Scott’s preflop raise. Barry held 97. Scott, trying to edge out a Scandinavian player at the table, called the raise and flipped over A-J offsuit.
In the only hand Barry has played for his tournament life, he managed to hit a 9 on the river to save his stack and suck out. He recounted how tilted Scott got at the bad beat; apparently Scott raised all in for the next seven hands, despite being deep-stacked even after the beat. The field lost two more players after Barry told his story; play is now down to the final two tables and will resume tomorrow at 2PM PST while players compete for the bracelet and $628,290.
Daniel Negreanu (pictured at right) had much to smile about in the $5K Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys as his stack went from 100k to over 1M in twenty minutes. Play was down to the final two tables. Negreanu went over the one million mark when he busted David Williams’ 500k chip stack in the following hand:
On a flop of 732, Williams bet out 40k and Negreanu called. The T dropped on the turn and Williams bet and got raised by Negreanu. Williams reraised all-in, prompting a snap call from Negreanu. Williams tabled the T987, drawing dead to Negreanu’s AT{7s]7 full house.
Negreanu jokingly said he’s hoping to get at least ninth place so he can break even from the 85k he’s invested in the tournament. Many big names remain in the final 14 including Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Brian “tsarrast” Rast, Phil Hellmuth, John Juanda, David Benyamine, and Alexander Kostritsyn.
Winner, Winner! Chicken Dinner?!
by Jill on 06.16.08, 3:16 am
The $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em tournament was down to 32 players of its original 2,706 when PocketFives last visited the Brazilia room where play was taking place. Jason Gray (pictured at right)was looking short-stacked with 150K in chips as he was moved to another table to balance play out. Justin “loosh31″ Pechie was one of the recent eliminations in the event. He pushed in all his chips preflop with A-K, but was called by pocket aces. He couldn’t catch up and left the Brazilia room.
Barry “BarryGS” Schultz, however, was tearing up Event #27 with 460K in chips. We witnessed the friendly action at his table as most everyone was discussing Dario Minieri and their various run-ins with the scarf-wearing Italian. Barry discussed Minieri’s implosion in the event, stating that it was inevitable when he had so many chips in front of him and he was playing so aggressively. The last remaining woman in the event, Deb Blair, discussed the tell she had on Dario when he planned to go all-in. Meanwhile, Barry took down a few pots in bullying the blinds, joking with the player to his left every time he won: “Winner, Winner! Chicken dinner!” We can’t even make this stuff up.
Across the Brazilia room, the final 20 players in the $10K Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys tournament duked it out for the final table race which should conclude this late this evening. Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (pictured at left) recently tangled in a pot with David Benyamine and another player. Phil opened with a raise, met a reraise from the other player, and a call from Benyamine on the button. Phil called and the flop came Q59. Phil checked, the other player went all in and both Benyamine and Phil called after quite a stint in the tank. The turn was the T. Phil bet 40,000 and Benyamine called. The river came the T and both checked; Phil flipped over KJ for straight - enough to pull down the side pot against Benyamine. However, his other opponent flipped over pocket queens and took down the main pot. Though Phil made back some of his money, Benyamine was obviously upset.
However, he was not as upset as Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis who was busted in 22nd place by Daniel Negreanu. KidPoker hit a flush to eliminate Billirakis from the running for the bracelet.
In the Amazon room, play in the $3K No-Limit Hold’em event continued with the average stack at 43K. Craig “MrCasino” Gray was recently eliminated when his preflop all-in with Q-J was called by Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert, who held pocket fives. The fives held up and MrCasino left to go rail his short-stacked brother as the $1.5K progressed.
Recent chip stacks from the event:
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin - 107K
Ryan Young - 80K
Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke - 73K
Kathy Liebert - 70K
Amir Vahedi - 70K
John Phan - 60K
Matt “All In At 420″ Stout - 60K
David Singer - 56K
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 45K
Jason “JCarver” Somerville - 44K
Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert - 39K
Kristy Gazes - 37K
Fred Goldberg - 28K
Noah “fouruhaters” Schwartz - 20K