WSOP 2008
Harder Finishes 44th, Saul Stays Active
by Court on 11.08.08, 8:27 pm
After losing an all in pot to Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul when his AQ ran into Kevin’s AK, Christian “charder” Harder then ran AK into pocket aces and was eliminated. Saul has continued his rollercoaster day, climbing to over 500k after doubling through Harder and then taking a hit and getting some of it back.
In the big all in hand that cost Harder (right) a lot of his chips Kevin had opened for 13k and Harder raised to 45k. Kevin then moved all in for just over 200k more and Harder called with his AQ. The AK for Saul stood up on the A-8-3-2-9 board and Kevin reached his peak in chips of 516k.
Soon after Harder moved all in for around 70k over the top of an opening raise of 20k from Ron Kirsh. Harder showed his AK, and his face fell when he saw the red aces Kirsh tabled. Harder flopped a king, but couldn’t spike trips and found himself sidelined in 44th place for the 21,320 payout after being in solid chip position for most of the day.
Saul, who seemingly has been involved in almost every pot at this tables today, didn’t waste any time getting his chips back in the middle. On a board showing J
6
24 Kevin led out for 40k into an already large pot and was called. With the 5
on the river Kevin bet 75k and was min raised to 150k. He called and his opponent showed the T9 for a flush and Saul mucked his hand, dropping to 250k.
A few hands later Steven Levy moved all in for over 100k and Kevin came over the top all in, isolating Levy and leaving himself in a race situation with his pocket nines up against Levy’s AK. The board came 8 high and Kevin’s pair held up to push his stack back up to the 400k mark and bust Levy in 40th place. The next pay jump is not until the field is down to 27 players and Levy received the $21,320 payout the rest of the 28th through 50th place finishers earn.
Saul Rushes Through The Money Bubble
by Court on 11.08.08, 6:12 pm
After making a hero call against chip leader Jon Jaffe the stack of chips in front of Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul was the shortest in the room with 52 players remaining. Kevin had only 14,800 left after losing a large pot to Jaffe, but that didn’t stop him from recovering to over 150k in the next 10 minutes.
The pot that cost Kevin (left) most of his chips ended up with Saul calling off over 100k on the river of a board showing 7222Q. Once Kevin called Jaffe showed the T7 and Kevin mucked his cards.
Then the rush started. The next hand Jaffe opened for 12k and Kevin put his last 14,400 in the middle. Jaffe was the only caller and Kevin’s Q
J was able to hit a jack on the turn and win the pot to double Kevin up to over 35k. The next hand Kevin put his chips in the middle again and another player moved in over the top. This time Kevin had the QT and was dominated by the AQ and things looked bleak after a flop of 865, but with the T on the turn Kevin again hit what he needed to win the hand and double up.
The turn stayed good to Saul as he had one more double up coming. Toto Leonidas moved all in and Kevin decided to push his rush and called with the KQ. Toto had the A4 and on the A83 flop both players had a piece but Kevin was still trailing and needed to make his flush to win the pot. “Guess who is back, back again,” a jovial Saul sang even before the 5 hit on the turn making his flush and busting Toto in 52nd place and just short of making the money. Kevin took his 14,800 stack and turned it into over 150k in just 3 hands.
While Kevin was in the middle of his crash and rise from the ashes run Doug “dougmanct” Mandeville (right) saw the last of his chips run out and he was eliminated in 53rd place, falling a few spots short of the money.
Hand for hand play on the money bubble never even really got going, because as Toto was being eliminated at one table Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little was able to eliminate a player at his table as well and leave the rest of the field in the money. The money was reached just before the end of the third level of the day, and all remaining players have two levels of play left to complete day 3 action.
Along with Saul and Little, Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg and Christian “charder” Harder have also made it to the money and are guaranteed at least the $21,320 payout that goes to finishers from 28th through 50th.
Day 2 Complete, Potter and Fineman Eliminated
by Court on 11.07.08, 9:41 pm
At the official end of day 2 play the board shows 91 remaining players. Both Ben “bfineman” Fineman and Jason “JP_OSU” Potter are missing from the end of day chip counts, indicating their elimination in the last bit of action on day 2.
Jonathan Jaffe came out of the day with the chip lead, finishing up with 522,000 chips and giving himself a 152k chip lead over second place Larry Greenberg going into day 3. A total of 6 players ended up in the 300k group and another 11 players fell into the 200k bracket. Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul ended up 19th in the overall chip counts with 199,700 in chips. Christian “charder” Harder 
and Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg (right) both finished up strong with over 100k in chips as well.
Chip Counts:
Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul - 199,700
Christian “charder” Harder - 188,900
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 103,400 (right)
Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little - 85,900
Joe “ender555″ Ebanks - 78,200
Luke Vrabel - 70,000
Doug “dougmanct” Mandeville - 67,000
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 57,900
Anna Wroblewski - 54,500
Randy “Randers” Haddox - 43,500
Stout, Gross and Levy Eliminated, Potter Drops
by Court on 11.07.08, 9:30 pm
After sitting near the top of the chip counts for most of the tournament up to this point, Jason “JP_OSU” Potter has fallen to below 100k, though he was recently able to pick up a pot against Chris Ferguson to gain a little ground. 
Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Matt “All In At 420″ Stout, and Steve “gboro780″ Gross have all been grounded for this tournament in the last hour of play.
Stout (left) had his aces cracked by queens and was left with only a few big blinds, and was then all in for the last of it with AK against J4. There was no suspense though, as the T-4-4 flop took away any hope of a comeback for Stout. Levy had been battling with around 40-50k for a while after an up and down day between 50 and 100k and ended up all in after flopping a pair of aces but up against a flopped set.
Ben “bfineman” Fineman (below right) also ran into a set, but only lost a small amount of chips when the other player only called his river bet on a board showing 6324A. Fineman was hoping to represent the straight, but the other player felt he had to call with his set and picked up the pot from Ben.
On a flop of KQT Joe “ender555″ Ebanks had flopped a set of kings but his opponent had flopped a straight with J9. After it was checked to him on the river (the 2 and 9 filled out the board) Joe bet 20k and his opponent only called with his straight.
Steve “gboro780″ Gross took a hit to his stack and after playing shortstacked for a while raised over the top of an opening bet, committing nearly half of his stack and quickly calling when the initial raiser moved all in. Steve’s pocket sevens were dominated by the other players pocket jacks and there was no help for him on the board. Steve’s elimination leaves about 100 players left in the field with 30 minutes left in the day.
Christian “charder” Harder (left) is up to 180k late in the day, most recently winning a pot from Adam Lippert after flopping a big hand. Harder had raised to 5,400 preflop and Lippert called from the big blind. On the A95 flop Lippert bet 7k and Christian called. Both players checked the 4 turn and the 3 river and Harder showed his AT for flopped top pair and nut flush draw. The pair of aces was good enough to win the pot and add a few chips to Harder’s stack.
Potter finally backed into a hand on a board of 8523Q and was able to get paid off to the tune of 16,500 by Chris Ferguson. Potter showed the AQ to win the pot.
Play is winding down for the day. End of day counts will be available shortly.
Below 200 Players
by Court on 11.07.08, 4:11 pm
The field at the Foxwoods World Poker Finals has quickly fallen below the 200 player mark. Shortstack Don “dbase22″ Yucius made it through the first level, but couldn’t hang on much longer. 
Jason “JCarver” Somerville (right), Kyle “kwob20″ Bowker, and Mike “inissint” Glasser have also been eliminated in recent action.
Tables continue to break at a rapid pace and players are being shuffled all around the room as play consolidates. At last check there were 175 players left in the tournament, spread over 20 tables.
Amit “Amak316″ Makhija hasn’t been able to get anything going today, and after hovering around 20k for a while he has been eliminated. After an opening raise from another player Joe “ender555″ Ebanks called and Amit shoved for 20,775. The first player flat called and Ebanks then came over the top all in. 
The other player again called and when the hands were turned up Joe’s pocket kings were up against the AK of Makhija and the other players AJ. The kings held up and while Makhija was sent to the rail Ebanks (left) was able to more than double up.
Sitting in the seat that was to the immediate right of Amit is Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul who has been up and down today. He came into the day with 130k, dropped to 70k early on and has recovered to get back to the around the stack he started the day with. Recently he came over the top of an opening raise of 3,200 with a 10k bet, but when another player moved all in for 55k and the initial raiser called Kevin tossed his hand. The two all ins showed pocket queens and AJ.
Steve “gboro780″ Gross (right) has been active at his table and is still among the larger stacks in the room. On a Q66 flop Gross called a bet of 3,500. With the 5 turn both players checked and on the 7 river Gross was faced with an 8k bet which he again called. The other player showed the 87 and Steve mucked his hand. In another pot on a board showing AK46 Steve called a 3,100 bet on the turn and when it was checked to him on the Q river Steve checked behind. The other player mucked his hand before Steve showed, but the dealer still made Gross show his K9 before pushing him the pot.
Folding a set is a hard thing to do, especially on a board that doesn’t run 4 cards to a flush or straight. Mike Matusow folded pocket nines on a QT92 turn to Christain “charder” Harder. The exact betting and stack sizes aren’t known but it looks like the pot was around 50k and it would have cost Matusow around 37k to call Harder’s all in, leaving him with around 30k behind. Instead, Mike folded his nines face up and Harder showed him the KJ for a flopped straight that would have left Mike drawing to 10 outs on the river had he called.