WSOP 2008
Stalemate in the O8
by Jill on 06.24.08, 10:25 pm
Minutes ago, players ceased for their 90-minute dinner break in Event #43, the $1.5K Pot Limit Omaha 8 tournament. Prior to their refueling opportunity, several PocketFivers remained patient and waiting for the right opportunity to make a move.
We caught up with Chris “SKOAL” Falconer (pictured at left), who guarded a stack of 8,600 and reported that he’d had three times to move up the count to 20K but was rivered or had to fold. He explained that his earlier run in the tournament had him down to nearly fumes, but the key to his ongoing success in the WSOP has been patience, patience, patience. Though the average stack at the start of the break was a hair over 12K, Chris remained optimistic about his chances as he doubled up in the last level.
Meanwhile, Eric “Rizen” Lynch was checking down the river when we visited his table after what looked like some aggressive preflop action in the pot. His opponent was quite surprised when his hand held and Eric threw his cards to the dealer; Eric claimed to muck A-K, but didn’t hit a thing on the board. His patience was paying off as his stack rose to an above-average 13K.
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman, however, was not content to stay out of the line of fire and was getting nowhere fast. PocketFives found Garrett with a 9K stack, seated at a table across from a big-stacked Joe Hachem. When Garrett was in the big blind for 400, the cutoff limped and the player on the button made it 1,800. Garrett sighed as he folded. The next hand, from the small blind Garrett saw four players limp in, including Hachem. He completed the blind and the board came 3
J
8
. Two early players checked, the third short stack moved in for almost all his chips, and Hachem called. Again, Garrett folded to the action and forfeited his blinds while the short stack chopped the pot with Hachem.
However, the next hand on the button, the same early short stack moved in, one opponent called, and Garrett raised to a total of 6,200. He flipped over A
A79 to his opponent’s 2-3-8-6. The board ran out 34257 and Garrett doubled his opponent up. His stack was down to 5.5K — about the same as he held an hour ago.
Regardless of the loss, Garrett fared much better than other players of note who were recently eliminated: Rolf Slotboom and Stu “TheDonator” Patterson recently took their leave. As of the break, here are chip counts for those still fighting:
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 26K
Dan “Stainley88″ Adams - 20K
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin - 15K
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 13K
Chris “SKOAL” Falconer - 8.6K
Shannon Shorr - 8.5K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 5.5K
“You Know You Have a Good Table When…”
by Jessica on 06.24.08, 5:06 pm
Matt “mattg1983″ Graham (pictured at left) was more than happy with his table draw in the $1.5K Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event. He explained to Pocket Fives that, “you know you have a good table when you raise under the gun with aces, get six callers, and still flop an ace.” Unfortunately for Matt, a run of bad luck sent him packing during the first level of play today. First, he raised with A-A-2-X and another player out flopped him. Then he got it all-in for his remaining chips in a multi-way pot with AJ32 but failed to connect with the board, which came out KT87T and he was eliminated.
Several other players are headed home before the end of Level 2 including Thayer Rasmussen, Barry Greenstein, and Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg. Friedberg got it all in in a set under set situation, but it was actually a third player who turned the wheel that eliminated both Jon and the other player.
We also caught up with Garrett “GBecks” Beckman, who has been maintaining his 3K starting stack. He claimed he is trying to play a little tighter today, which may be a good idea considering the relatively small starting stacks. Several players are off to a little faster start including Chris “SKOAL” Falconer who already has 5K and Brett “Gank” Jungblut who has run his chips up to 7.5K.
Kyle “kwob20″ Bowker had doubled up early on but just took a hit to his stack. On a board of T74, Bowker bet 1800 and his opponent called for his last 1600. Bowker showed A742 for two pair, which was ahead of the other player’s AKJT. The turn and river brought the 9 and 8, giving his opponent a straight, and Bowker was left with a little over 4K.
We caught Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski arriving late (with a fresh new haircut) but he seems fired up to be playing his best game, saying ” I really feel like if I double up I’m going to win.”
“Crzysavage” Beat
by Jessica on 06.20.08, 8:16 pm
Jeff “crzysavage” Gressard (pictured at left) lost a big pot just before players in the $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em event went on break. With the blinds at 100/200, Gressard and two other players saw a flop of AQ4. The big blind check to Gressard, who led out for 1150. The player to his left called and the big blind folded. Gressard bet 2500 when the T came on the turn and he was re-raised all in for 1500 more. Jeff made the call, showing AK but had run into a set of queens and was drawing to one of the four jacks in the deck. The river brought a useless K and Gressard lost a pot worth more than 10K, dropping him to under 4K.
With 243 players still alive and the average stack at 10K, here’s a look at some of the notable chip counts in Event #38:
Ben “bfineman” Fineman - 13K
Chad “lilholdem954″ Batista - 10K
Matt “All In At 420″ Stout - 9K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 8K
Scott “mindwise” Pendergrast - 8K
Andy “BKiCE” Seth - 7K
Peter “Nordberg” Feldman - 6K
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 5.5K
Shane “shaniac” Schleger - 5.5K
Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby - 5K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 3.5K
Eugene Todd - 3K
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez has been on a downswing in Day 2 of the $10K Omaha Hi/Lo event. He told Pocket Fives he continues to flop big draws that just don’t get there. One such example came when Chris “SKOAL” Falconer raised in middle position and Senovio defended from the big blind. The flop came Q53 and Ramirez checked. Falconer bet and Ramirez called. When an 8 came on the turn, Ramirex check called again. After the river of Q peeled off , both players checked and Falconer turned over A-2-4-8 for a pair of eights and the nut low which was good enough for the scoop against Ramirez’s A-4-5-6.
Matt “mattg1983″ Graham recently got it all-in in the $10K Omaha with A433 in a multi-player pot. With the board reading T623, everyone else folded to a player’s bet on the turn and he showed down T752 for two pair and a flush draw against Graham’s set of threes and a low. It looked as though Matt was going to scoop the pot until the A came on the river, giving the other player the better low and causing them to split the pot. Graham now has 9K and still has some work to do to get back to an average sized stack.
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki (pictured at right) came into Day 2 of the $1.5K NLHE event with 99k but after, “not winning a single hand all day”, he found himself with nearly half the stack he started with. When a player raised on the button, Klodnicki decided to put it all-in with his A-Q from the small blind only to learn he was in bad shape up against his opponent’s pocket queens. The board was no help to Chris and he was left with only 1,200 chips after doubling the other player up. He was subsequently eliminated a few hands later, earning $5,344 for his finish.
Here are some unofficial chip counts of some of the remaining 86 players:
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 200K
Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaughbaugh - 151K
Brian “bparis” Paris - 150K
Jose “papadelpoker” De La Guardia - 105K
Bryan Micon - 75K
Isaac Haxton - 52K
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 50K
At the final table of the $1.5K PLO w/ rebuys, Tim “tmay420″ West was just eliminated in 8th place earning $72,213. Kyle Kloeckner has lost some pots and now sits in 5th place.
Poker Pro Tips of the Day
by Jessica on 06.09.08, 2:27 am
Ladies and Gentleman, have we got a deal for you! One time and one time only (okay, maybe not one time only) we are going to bring you not one, but two quality poker pro tips of the day. The first comes from Maria “Maridu” Mayrinck (pictured at right with Lacey Jones) who tells us the importance of two things at the poker table 1) friends and 2) cocktails. In addition to winning over the affection of her tablemates with her funloving personality, she has also been winning quite a bit of chips since she called over the cocktail server a few levels ago. She sits with 28K, slightly above average, as the ladies near bubble play. Others still in the event include Amanda Leatherman, Kathy Leibert, and Val “Runnerspleas” Palermo.
Our second tip may be a little more costly than a couple of cocktails, but it sure has worked wonders for Adam “akat11″ Katz: hire a masseuse. When we inquired to Adam how long he had been getting a massage his approximate guess was two days. His masseuse, Erin, found him at the beginning of play today and continued right where she left off when play concluded yesterday. If Adam takes down the event, he is seriously considering bringing Erin on full time to utilize when he plays online. Katz is sitting with just over 350K with 25 players remaining. Other noteworthy chip stacks include:
Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks - 250K
Aaron Been - 200K
Jason “treysfull21″ Mercier - 150K
In other news, it looks like Chris “SKOAL” Falconer will not be making his second Omaha final table in Event #16. He was eliminated earlier this evening. Scott “BigRiskky” Clements, on the other hand, is off to a great start and currently sits atop the leaderboard with 24K. Other players still in contention for the bracelet include Eric “jakz101″ Crain, Eric “Rizen” Lynch, and Mike “Sir Watts” Wattel.
O’Brien Feels the Chill
by Crystal on 06.08.08, 9:19 pm
No one likes a cold deck and John “jdawg0913″ O’Brien certainly didn’t like one as the $1.5k LHE event was nearing the final table. We reported earlier a couple of big hands that hurt his stack and when O’Brien returned from the break the coolers continued. In one hand O’Brien’s pocket tens ran into another players pocket queens knocking his chip stack down pretty low. He then got all his chips in on the turn of a board showing 9444 while holding the AK only to find he was drawing dead to his opponents AA. He gracefully shook the hands of his tablemates and left saying that he was very happy with how well he did and he’ll be back tomorrow to play in the $1.5k Shootout which he cashed in last year.
The $5k Shootout final table is now down to 4 players all thanks to Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert. Thomas Roupe bet his last 31k and Wolpert raised over the top to isolate. Leo was way ahead holding the AK to Roupe’s T7. The board ran out 94259 and Roupe was eliminated in 6th place. Only 5 hands later, Tim “tmay420″ West put all his chips in preflop with the 99 only to find he was dominated by Wolpert’s KK. The board of 742JT was no help to West and he was eliminated in 5th place. West will take home $63,450 for his efforts today. Wolpert is now up to 2.4 million in chips and is the current chip leader.
Across the room, the $2k O8 event #16 began a little while ago and while the action has been rather slow (as is in the beginning of most limit tournaments) we’re keeping our eyes on some P5ers in the field including Chris “SKOAL” Falconer, Jeff “gnsd22″ Higgins, Senovio “Dorsal Fin” Ramirez, and Aaron “NDGrinder59″ Steury.