WSOP 2008
Two Tables Remain…
by Crystal on 07.14.08, 6:43 pm
There are now only 18 players remaining in the tournament, and there has been a lot of action going on. There have been a number of all-ins as of late as players with less chips try to gain more ground in their quest to make the final table.
Toni Cristian was planning on making a raise from under the gun, but the manner in which he put in his chips was determined to be a string bet so he only was able to call. Nicholas Sliwinski also limped into the pot before Albert Kim raised to 800k. Judet took the opportunity to put in the raise he originally wanted to and moved all in for 2 million total. Sliwinski folded but Kim made the call. Cristian held the A
A
against Kim’s 9
9
. The board ran out T84J3 and Cristian managed a double up. Unfortunately for Cristian, his pocket jacks couldn’t best another players pocket kings and he was eliminated in 22nd place.
Right before Cristian’s elimination, Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery (pictured left) raised to 300K and Tim Loecke moved all in for his last 525K. Ylon Schwartz called from the button and Scott also made the call. The flop came AT2 and Scott and Ylon both checked, but when the 3 fell on the turn Montgomery checked and Schwartz bet 600K. Scott folded his hand, and Schwartz turned over his 33 for a turned set. Loecke’s pocket sixes had been outdrawn and when the 4 came on the river Tim Loecke was eliminated in 23rd place.
On the ESPN Featured table, Kelly Kim raised to 275K and Brandon Cantu reraised to 950K and Dean Hamrick moved all in. Kim let his hand go and Cantu went into the tank. Cantu contemplated what to do for over five minutes before finally saying “I call.” Hamrick flipped over the AA and the crowd was shocked to see Cantu flip over his T5. The flop gave Cantu’s hand a bit more strength as it came down with the 875 but the aces were still in the lead. The turn brought the 8 taking away any tens as possible outs for Cantu’s hand so it seemed ironic that the T fell on the river giving Cantu two pair, but the aces and eights were still best and Hamrick took down the hand and doubled his stack. Cantu was down to 2.4 million after the hand while Hamrick was up to 5.5 million. Cantu became the tournament’s shortest stack.
Cantu was eliminated soon afterward when he got all the chips in with the 99 against Peter Eastgate’s AQ. The board ran out 86384 and Eastgate’s ace-high flush was the best hand to send Cantu out in 20th place.
Just when we thought there might be a lull in the eliminations, but then Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki (pictured right) and another player tangled in a big pot. Albert Kim raised in the cutoff to 275K and Klodnicki re-raised to 750K on the button. The blinds folded and Kim moved all in. Both Kim and Klodnicki had similar sized stacks so Klodnicki tanked for a bit before eventually making the call. Klodnicki held the 99 against Kim’s AK. The board ran out 9863T and Klodnicki’s set of nines was enough to send Kim to the rail in 19th place.
Players are currently redrawing for seats at the final two tables and will resume play soon. The chip leader Dennis Phillips currently has 14.2 million in chips while the short stack is Anthony Scherer with 2.7 million.
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki has 7.4 million, Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery has 5.5 million, and Owen “ocrowe” Crowe has 4 million.
Gray Day for Craig as Omaha Field Narrows
by Jill on 06.07.08, 5:44 am
Matt “MattG1983″ Graham added a healthy chunk of chips to his stack when he got involved in a this hand with Brandon Cantu shortly after the redraw for the final two tables of the $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card event. With the blinds at 2.5K/5K, Graham raised in the cut off, Farzad Rouhani called from the small blind and Cantu 3 bet from the big blind. Graham and Rouhani both called and the flop came K83.
Brandon bet, Matt raised, Rouhani folded, and Cantu just called. He then checked when the 3 came on the turn and Graham bet again. Cantu called and the river came 9. Both players checked the river and Graham revealed A285 for a eights and threes with an ace kicker. Brandon revealed a very similar hand, A-2-5-10 with the ace of spades, but with no low possibility on the board, he only had a pair of threes and Graham took down the pot, leaving Cantu with 42K. Matt is now up to 90K.
Craig “MrCasino” Gray, on the other hand, has been headed in the opposite direction after a couple of hands in which his opponents chased down hands, leaving him with around 55K in chips. He was later eliminated in 15th place, marking the second time in three days that he made it to the final two tables of a WSOP event. He will be taking home $8,032 for his efforts.
Meanwhile, in the $1.5k Limit Hold ‘Em event, the field has been narrowed to 181 of the original 881. With the blinds at 300/500, action on the tables has slowed to a snail’s pace as the players wait out the last few minutes of the final level for the evening. Eric “jakz101″ Crain (pictured at right) currently sits atop the unofficial chip count rankings with 38.5K in chips, but P5s member John “jdawg0913″ O’Brien is also sitting pretty (in his P5s t-shirt!) going into Day 2. Coverage of this event will start back up at 3pm PST.
Beyond chip counts, the most exciting news comes from Kyle Rickey, and it’s not about his stack. Rickey has reportedly downed more than two dozen Milwaukee’s Best Lights since 5pm; slurring noisily at his table and drawing plenty of laughs from the other players within the vicinity. In other random news, Dmitri Nobles is back at the WSOP this year, reportedly backed by a furniture store for his event play. No, really.
Daut and Vos Double; Rich, Lasso, Sebok Eliminated
by Jill on 06.02.08, 12:52 am
After the dinner break ended, the $1.5K NLHE tournament resumed with full stomachs and better spirits. PocketFives Live caught up with Ryan Daut (pictured at left) as he was aggressively pursuing chips to double up. In a battle between Daut’s small blind and a preflop all-in push from the big blind, Daut showed down Q4 against the big blind’s JT. The flop came KJQ, giving Daut the better pair, but the big blind held an open-ended straight draw. The turn and river were no help to the big blind, so Daut took down a nice pot. The next hand, Daut raised 2K from the button and the table trembled in fear before folding. Daut was sitting pretty with 47K in chips.
Meanwhile, Mark “pokerbok” Vos (pictured at right) made plenty of headway at his superstar table, battling Isabelle Mercier, Robert Mizrachi, and Liz Lieu. We caught up with Vos as he raised to 1.6K in the cutoff and Lieu moved all-in preflop from the small blind for 6K more. Guarding his chips, Vos thought for a long moment before folding. “If it was 500 less, I would’ve called,” he said. The next hand, a player in early position moved all in for 4K and Vos instantly called, showing down AA versus QT. The board was no help and Vos eliminated another player, amassing a chipstack of 40K.
While Daut and Vos were doubling up, elsewhere the field thinned. Some recent eliminations:
On a flop of 653, Jordan “Octavian_C” Rich moved his remaining chips into the pot, putting the player to his immediate left to a decision. Rich finally induced a call by calling the clock and his opponent showed 88. Rich’s 99 held a huge advantage but the turn and river brought the 4 and 7 and Rich left the tournament area in disgust.
After moving all-in pre-flop for around 13k with the blinds at 300/600 with a 75 ante for what players at the table claimed to be the third consecutive hand, Brandon Cantu was called by Rick Vallandighan, who held A K in the big blind. Cantu turned over 3 4 and was eliminated when the board came J T 5 8 2.
Shortly after being crippled when he got it in with A5 vs Arnold Spee’s AJ on an A high flop, Joe Sebok quadrupled up in the big blind. The very next hand, Michael Binger opened in late position for 1500 and Sebok moved in for 2500 total. Both the big blind and Binger called and the flop came 9 3 8. The big blind bet out 2200 and Binger folded. The player held J 9 to Joe’s A 2. The turn and river were no help and Joe was eliminated.
Jason “mkind316″ Lasso has also busted out of Event #2.
In other news, the rumored chip leader is Poker X Factor’s Chris “brsavage” Savage, but we have yet to spot him amongst the remaining players.
Clements Busts
by Court on 04.19.08, 9:06 pm
Each player that won a World Poker Tour event this season received a seat into the WPT Championship as part of their first place prize. Scott ” BigRiskky” Clements (right) earned his seat with a victory at the Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls. Scott won the North American Poker Championship worth just under $1.5 million dollars.
He won’t be following that up with another victory here though. Clements became one of the early eliminations, falling to another WPT season 6 champion Brandon Cantu. Clements pair and a straight draw was no good against Cantu’s flopped nut straight and the hand sent Clements to the rail while vaulting Brandon up towards the top of the chip counts with just under 80k.