WSOP 2008
Gray Done For the Day
by Crystal on 06.14.08, 2:40 am
Craig “MrCasino” Gray’s (pictured at left) stack was dwindling in the $1.5k Razz tourney as antes and bring-ins continued to eat away at his chips. He got all his chips in on 3rd street against one opponent and after the draw was complete the other players 8-7-4-3-A was good enough to best Gray’s T-6-5-4-2, sending him to the rail.
Also in the Razz event, Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul’s stack was moving in the opposite direction after he knocked out Michael Binger. They got all the chips in early, and in the end, Saul had a T-8-7-4-2 while Binger held a J-8-3-2-A (the result of being dealt trip 2s during the hand). Binger was eliminated and Saul added a few more chips to his stack which is now around 11k putting him near the top of the current chip count.
After the last painful beat in Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi took in the $2.5K Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha tournament, it wasn’t long before he was knocked out of the tournament by another. In late position, Mizzi bet 6500 and was called by Max Pescatori who was on the button. The flop came 3
Q
J
. First to act, Mizzi bet 8500 of his short stack and was called; when the 7 came on the turn, he thought for quite awhile. Mizzi raised once again, but Pescatori pushed all-in. Mizzi didn’t hesitate to call with Q-T for top pair, but Pescatori caught the A on the river and improved his A-J to win the pot.
Meanwhile, plenty of PocketFivers continued to succeed in Event #25, the $10K Heads Up No-Limit Championship. Anna “VietCutie” Wroblewski won a huge hand and a massive chip advantage in her match. Her opponent raised pre-flop and Anna smooth called to see the flop come A9A
. Anna checked, her opponent bet out and Anna called. The 5 came on the turn and Anna checked, her opponent bet, and she called. When the T came on the river the action went similarly with a check and a bet but Anna spent a much longer time contemplating whether to call or not. She shuffled her chips over and over and counted out her stack a few times before eventually making the call. As soon as she threw her chips into the pot, her opponent shook his head in defeat as Anna flipped up the AJ and scooped a huge pot.
Other PocketFivers remained armed to the teeth in battle; Michael “worldsgrtest” Banducci took down a big pot with a jack-high diamond flush, increasing his stack to more than double his opponent’s. He continued to chip away as P5s looked on. Alex Jacob was also close to winning, continuing his aggressive play. Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (pictured at right), however, looked quite short with 25K, but managed to represent a couple of flushes and convince his opponent, Jonas Entin, to fold. The pair constantly joked at the table, Entin reporting that they are friends, as Galfond increased his stack to 50K.
Advancing to the next round, Michael “shipitthisway” McNeil defeated his opponent when he turned and rivered two pair. Isaac Haxton defeated his opponent when his AK improved against pocket jacks. Matt “hazards21″ Giannetti also crippled his opponent by flopping a set of fives and then later eliminating him when he turned a pair of twos. On the other side of the coin, Blake “Balla-B13″ Cahail was eliminated when his opponent, Thomas Lutz made quad tens on the river.
Wolpert and Gray Get Coolered in 10k Heads-Up
by Jessica on 06.13.08, 4:36 pm
Many players have made quick work of their heads-up opponent and the blue section of the Amazon room is already starting to feel a little empty. After Isaac Haxton made quick work Scott Fischman, he decided to stick around and observe the other match taking place on his table (each table has two matches taking place on them). Eventually the tournament director announced to Haxton and the other players whose matches were complete that they needed to clear the tournament area until Round 2 starts at 5pm.
Players still competing in their matches also can’t help but watch the second match taking place at their tables, especially during the downtime while dealers are shuffling. Scott “BigRiskky” Clements was spotted peeking over at his neighbor Sammy Farha’s heads-up match on numerous occassions, even when he was involved in a hand himself.
Aside from many of the match-ups being quite compelling with a field ripe with notable pros, most players were watching the other match at their table because the winners from the same table play each other in the next round. For many of the players, especially those with a high stakes background online, concrentating on multiple heads-up matches is standard fare as many of them play multiple heads-up matches simultaneously online.
P5er’s Leo “Superfluos Man” Wolpert (pictured at right) and Craig “MrCasino” Gray must have left the Amazon room feeling like they were set up as their monster hands left them with a nightmare. Wolpert raised the button preflop and Robert Mizrachi called. On a flop of A37, Mizrachi check called Wolpert’s flop bet. The turn brought the 9 and Mizrachi check-raised Wolpert, who went all-in and was quickly called by Mizrachi, who turned over his 33 making Wolpert’s AK drawing dead.
Gray’s hand ended in similar fashion. Gray’s opponent raised the button and Gray called. On a flop of QJ9, Gray check called his opponents bet of 1300. The 7 dropped on the turn and Grey check raised his opponent bet of 3300, going all-in for another 11,500. Gray’s opponent called revealing JJ, ahead of Gray’s double draw with the Q8. Gray’s big draw bricked out and he was eliminated.
With such a diverse collection of incredible live and online pro’s, there was handful of intriguing match-ups scattered throughout the room like David “Raptor517″ Benefield vs Justin Bonomo, Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis vs Kenny Tran and Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi vs J.C. Tran.
Bonomo and Kenny Tran prevailed in their match and Mizzi and Tran continue to battle it out.
It took Eugene Todd and Michael Mizrachi only one hand to end their match although it had little to do with any drama on the felt. Both being good friends, they decided to go all-in blind and Mizrachi’s 8-2 prevailed over Todd’s 4-3.
List of Notable Winners
Alex Jacob, Theo Tran, Blake “BallaB13″ Cahail, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond
List of Early Exits
Barry Greenstein, Patrik Antonius, Glen Chorney, Amit “amak316″ Makhija, and James “mig.com” Mackey
Greenstein and Harrington Double
by AdamJ on 06.12.08, 10:56 pm
In a hand that created a lot of buzz from players standing around the Amazon room, Barry Greenstein doubled up in a huge pot against Men “The Master” Nguyen with Queen high! About twenty minutes before the dinner break Barry Greenstein opened to 1200 on the button in the 200-400-50 level. Nguyen reraised to to 3200 and Greenstein called. On a flop of 432, Nguyen bet 4k and Greenstein raised all-in for 14k more. Nguyen called having Greenstein covered and revealed the T5, trailing Greenstein’s Q5. Neither player improved and Greenstein’s stack balloooned to 44k.
P5er Court Harrington’s (pictured at right) stack has been fluctuating all day, dipping as low as 1700 at one point. Harrington has been catching a flurry of hands and recently doubled up to 24k minutes before the dinner break. Harrington reraised a 1200 early position raise to 3300 from late position. Harrington’s opponent called having Harrington’s 8500 behind covered. On a JT4 flop, Harrington bet 3500 and got check raised all-in by his opponent for his remaining 5k. Harrington called instantly and his KK was way ahead of his opponents 99. The board ran true for Harrington doubling him up to 24k.
The money bubble burst in the $5K NLHE and 55 players are still in the running to win the coveted bracelet. One such player is Alex “AJKHoosier1″ Kamberis (pictured at left), who has had an up and down kind of day. He came into Day 2 as the chip leader at his table, but after losing a couple of crucial hands early on, he was left relatively short stacked with 30K in chips. He managed to double up when his A-Q won a coinflip against Blake “BallaB13″ Cahail’s pocket 7s and he has now worked his way up to 90K. With blinds at 2K/4K, Alex is not in bad shape and seemed confident about his chances to make the final table. Other players still in the event include Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman, Cody “thugmoneymakr” Slaughbaugh, and Tony “Bond18″ Dunst.
Over in the Brasilia Room the $2.5K PL HE/O players appeared to have a go big or go home approach to the event. Some, like Jordan “Octavian_C” Rich, Jamie “The New” Robbins, and Jeff “yellowsub” Williams made quick exits while others, like Carter “devinr12″ Gill and Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi got off to fast starts. Gill already has 13K and Mizzi is just shy of the 10K marker.
The other Omaha event, the $1.5K PLO, has come to an end and Vanessa Selbst has won her first WSOP bracelet. After a lenghty heads-up match in which her opponent took to blind raising and re-potting hands, she emerged victorious and will be taking home $227,965.