WSOP 2008
BadBeatNinja Disappears Into the Night
by Jill on 07.06.08, 2:00 am
Level 4 of Day 1C saw a rash of eliminations starting with Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire (pictured at right). Devonshire had been towards the top of the leaderboard for the majority of the day, but lost a monster pot for his entire stack when he and another player got all-in with the same nut straight, but his opponent had the freeroll to hit the spade flush. The spade came on the river, Bryan was eliminated, and Day 1C found itself a brand new chipleader. Unfortunately, no one found REAL ULTIMATE POWER as a result.
Phil “USCPhildo” Collins was also eliminated this level when he and Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin got involved in a three-way hand. With the blinds at 150/300 ante 25, Eric raised to 800 under the gun and Collins reraised to 2.4K. The player in the small blind and Baldwin both made the call. The flop came down 9
82
and both the small blind and Eric checked to Phil. Collins thought for at least a minute before moving all-in for nearly 15K. The player in the small blind tanked briefly before moving all-in behind Phil and Eric quickly folded. Collins showed A
Q and needed some help against the other player’s JJ. The turn and river came 42 and Phil gave us a friendly, “See you next year!” as he headed for the door.
Amit “amak316″ Makhija, who had been shortstacked for much of the level was also eliminated when his two pair failed to hold against his opponent’s straight draw.
Meanwhile, Ladbrokes team pro John Kalmar (pictured at left) has been struck by lightning. With a board that read AJ23 and a more-than-14K pot in the middle, John’s opponent bet 10K and he went in behind for his entire 37K stack. After calling over the floor to determine if he could expose one of his cards to Kalmar, his opponent tanked for a long time before the clock was called. Finally, he made the the call and John flipped over pocket twos against his opponent’s A3. When the 3 came on the river, John was sent to the rail on a stretcher.
Chris “cmoney3″ Kline has apparently developed quite the table image at his table. A player in early position raised to 900 and three other players called behind him. Kline then moved all-in from the small blind for 8,650. The initial raiser seemed quite frustrated with Kline’s move and accidentally revealed the K
as he tossed his cards in the muck. Everyone else folded as well and the man claimed he folded AK.
Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski (pictured at right)reported during Level 4 that he considered one of his recent plays an emotional victory; he finally won a race. Gary told PocketFives that he held A-Q and bet 900 preflop, only to be met with a 4,400 raise from one opponent. He managed to flop an ace and get his chips in good, winning the pot and chipping up to 24K before the last level of the evening. He and Michael “benvo123″ Benvenuti have both been checking PocketFivesLive for action updates on their iPhones, especially now that David “davidp18″ Peters is also at their table. We’re wondering what the over/under is until they realize that Tom “werpennstate23″ Cummings has also sat down to the table.
Meanwhile, Hung “HQrespect” Nguyen hovered around the 20K mark and saw a flop with four-way action. The board came KJA and all players checked. The T came on the turn and Hung raised to 1K. Two players called and the 8 came out on the river. Again, Hung bet 1K to induce a fold from one other player, but one opponent called him, flipping over K-Q to Hung’s QQ. They chopped the pot and Hung added a few chips to his stack.
Mohsin “chicagocards1″ Charania added 10K to his stack after picking up a pot at the end of Level 4. With 5K in the middle preflop, Charania called a bet of 1.5K on a board of KT2. The K came on the turn and Charania called a bet of 2K. On the river, Charania’s opponent check-called a bet of 4K and Charania showed K8. The other player mucked. He is now at 88K, and at the opposite end of the table from Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal. “I don’t want to double him up,” Charania said of the short-stacked Agarwal as they both went on a 20-minute break.
Also afraid of doubling others up at his table was Justin “truesyalose” Truesdell, who sat at an intimidating table with Michael Binger and David Singer. He reported to PocketFives that he managed to chip up to 45K with pocket aces versus K-J on a jack-high flop. He lamented that he hadn’t gotten the full value for his aces, however, because he put his opponent on a set. Because of the recent addition of Michael Binger to the table, he said he planned on blinding off to the end of the day. We can’t blame you, Justin!
We caught Ezra Galston taking a small hit to his stack on the last hand before break. On a board of A435Q, Galston was facing a bet of 2.7K from an opponent. He contemplated for three minutes before making the call and mucked his cards when his opponent showed AJ. Galston is now at 19.5K.
Here are some notable unofficial chipstacks at the end of Level 4:
David “Bakes” Baker - 130K
Mohsin “chicagocards1″ Charania - 88K
Darren Elias - 86K
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 67K
Tom “werpennstate23″ Cummings - 49.5K
Justin “truesyalose” Truesdell - 45K
Felipe “Improved” Montenegro - 37K
Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo - 34K
Jamie “pokerjamers” Armstrong - 32K
Michael “benvo123″ Benvenuti - 30K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 27.5K
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 27.5K
Jason “mkind0516″ Laso - 27K
David “Davidp18″ Peters - 26K
Jordan “Octavian_C” Rich - 26K
Matt “mattg1983″ Graham - 24K
Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski - 24K
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier - 23K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 22K
Patrik “Hoffs28″ Hoffman - 21K
Hung “HQrespect” Nguyen - 20K
Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby - 16.5K
Scott “stsitron” Sitron - 14K
Chris “cmoney3″ Kline - 13.5K
Mo’ Money, No Problem
by Jill on 06.28.08, 3:05 am
The grind continued in Event #48, the $2K No-Limit Hold’em tournament. Several PocketFivers continued to chip up over the last level and build their stacks to surpass the current average stack of 34K.
Tristan “Cre8ive” Wade (pictured at left) continued to win small pots and build his stack ever higher; he was up to 48K at the end of Level 9. He said that his strategy continued to work, especially in one hand where he showed pocket ladies after he induced a fold and the table gave him props.
David “ComptonMasta” Barter reported that he was very thankful for his new table draw: “I have the best table… ever,” he joked. As PocketFives watched, it definitely seemed to be some recreational poker - the table was loose and the chips were flowing. For example, in one hand, David raised preflop to 2.7K when he was in early position. The player on the button raised to 5.5K and the big blind pushed all-in for 3K more. After awhile in the tank, David folded his hand and watched the action - A-8 versus total rags. The A-8 managed to river a straight and David started his theatrics: “Ace-eight?! Are you serious? I can’t believe you’d reraise me with that garbage?” He stormed off from the table, smirking and reported to PocketFives later that he’d also held A-8 but was enjoying the theatrics. From under the gun on the very next hand, David raised it once again to 2.7K and took down the pot uncontested. He flipped over A-Q and the table laughed with him.
Meanwhile, Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski was rising up the chip counts and managed to accumulate from 30K to over 50K. He reported to PocketFives that in one big hand, he bet out 2.6K with 9T and a player on the button re-popped him for 6.2K more. The flop came Q-7-2 and both players checked. The turn, a 6, inspired both players to check once again. Gary rivered a 9 and his opponent led out with a suspicious 9K. Gary called him down and his opponent instantly mucked.
Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson has also been gathering chips up left and right. When PocketFives inquired how he did it, he simply responded, “I got lucky. A few times.” The most notable of Marco’s lucky hands was when he got it all-in in a 3-way pot for 80K with pocket tens versus one player’s pocket kings and another player’s pocket aces. Marco’s stack reached as high as 160K, but he took a small hit recently and now sits with 130K.
Notable chip stacks in Event #48:
Eric “jakz101″ Crain (the current chip leader) - 210K
Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson -130K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 95K
Adam “akat11″ Katz - 50K
Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski - 50K
Tristan “Cre8ive” Wade - 48K
Dan “wretchy” Martin - 46K
Daniel “voff” Deveau - 43K
Jon Wein - 37K
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin - 29K (pictured at right)
David “ComptonMasta” Barter - 28K
David “DavidP18″ Peters - 26K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 24K
Scott “ssitron” Sitron - 12K
Recent eliminations include Jason “JCarver” Somerville, Bryan Micon, and Tim “TMay420″ West.
Craig “MrCasino” Gray was eliminated in 27th place from the $1.5K Stud Hi/Lo event when his four flush and gut shot straight draw failed to materialize into anything against his opponent’s two pair. This marks Craig’s 5th cash of this WSOP and adds another $3,638 to his tournament winnings.
Chris “cmoney3″ Kline’s run in the $5K 6-max No-Limit Hold’em Event came to an end when he was eliminated in 25th place, earning $20,430. Shannon Shorr was also another player who was eliminated in the past level.
21 players remain and here are some of our most recent chip counts:
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier - 840K
Jason Gray - 600K
Davidi “legrouzin” Kitai - 545K
Steven “CornellFiji” Ware - 200K
Alex Jacob - 172K
Making ‘Cmoney’
by Jessica on 06.28.08, 1:48 am
Chris ‘cmoney3′ Kline came into Day 2 of the $5K No Limit Hold Em 6-max with only 16K in chips. Chris informed us he came in 95th in chips out of the 96 players who made it to the second day of play and, with the blinds starting at 800/1,600 with a 200 ante, he knew he had his work cut out with him to make it to the money.
Now there are 30 players left in the event, Kline is guaranteed $20,430 and his stack is beginning to grow. Chris nursed his short stack for some time and finally found a good spot to double up. With the blinds at 3K/6K ante 500 a player in early position raised to 16.5K and Kline moved all-in for around 70K total. The other player thought for a minute or so before making a crying call with AT. Chris was in a race situation with 88. The board came K7793 and his pocket eights held and increased his chip stack to nearly 150K.
Other players who failed in their attempts to double up include Chris “cdbr3799″ Dombrowski, who reraised all-in for 70K with 44 after a player under the gun raised. The other player made the call with KJ and, when the board ran out AAJJ6, Dombrowski was eliminated in 34th place.
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut took a big hit to his already dwindling stack when he moved all-in from the cut-off for just shy of 80K. The player in the big blind made the call with TT and Daut was in bad shape with his 88. The cards ran out 733K2 and Ryan was left with only 5K.
Two hands later, Daut was all-in in the big blind for his remaining chips and the same player who held pocket tens earlier raised on the button. The small blind folded and the other player again turned over pocket tens. Daut was in even worse shape the second time around with 39. His hand failed to improve and he was eliminated in 31st place.
Here are some selected chip counts of a few of the remaining players:
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier - 590K
Steven “CornellFiji” Ware - 420K
Jason Gray - 420K
Shannon Shorr - 187K
Alex Jacob - 135K
Over in the $2K No Limit Hold Em Event, David “ComptonMasta” Barter was on red alert with a short stack when he picked up A-Q in the hijack and shoved it in preflop. One opponent with pocket tens called Barter down, but he managed to flop an ace to double up. Moved recently to a new table, he sat much more comfortably with 21K.
Daniel “voff” Deveau (pictured at right) was sitting pretty with about 65K when we caught up to his table, though he reported he’s been moved four times in the last level. His newest table had more chips, but he was still feeling them out. Under the gun, after a short-stacked player in the big blind raised, Daniel called. The flop came 963 and Daniel bet out, forcing him to make a decision for all his chips. The short-stacked player called and showed 10-9 to Daniel’s 9-2. The turn and river came 64 and was no help to Daniel, who looked up and said “Oops!” before laughing. His stack took the hit and was down to 50K, still double the average.
Meanwhile, Tristan “Cre8ive” Wade won several more small pots over the last level, which he reported has been his strategy all day. In a hand that exemplified this no-showdown policy, he reraised 10K more against a player raising under the gun and one caller. The other players folded and he was up to 35K.
John Wein has also chipped up to healthy 30K, though he previously held a larger stack that he spewed through the following hand: There was a late limper and Wein checked in the big blind. The flop came AQ8 and he held A-T with no hearts. His opponent bet 2.5K after the flop, which Wein called. A blank came on the turn, and his opponent shoved for 13K more. Wein called with his pair of aces, but the A on the river caught up his opponent’s J9 for an ace-high flush. Later on, however, Wein looked down at pocket aces and raised 3K on the button. An early player shoved for 13K and Wein called. He won the hand and caught himself back up to 30K.
Stud Players in the Money
by Crystal on 06.27.08, 10:43 pm
The bubble burst in event #47, the $1.5k Stud h/l and the remaining players are all guaranteed at least $2,450. Brett “Gank” Jungblut and Craig “MrCasino” Gray have both survived the day so far. Brett currently has around 18k while Craig has been hovering around the 12k mark for a majority of the day. Phil Hellmuth has made his 66th WSOP cash in this event and Men “The Master” Nguyen has now cashed in 61 WSOP events.
Many notable players are still alive in the $5k NLHE six-handed event with the field down to 47. Steven “Cornell Fiji” Ware went on a killer run after the bubble burst. He started play after the bubble with 35k in chips and an hour later held over 350k. PocketFives asked Ware if he had proposed marriage to Frank (the dealer who dealt him all those monster hands) and Ware laughed and said he probably should have.
Players who have been knocked out recently include Glen “choron” Chorny (69th, $8,323), Mike “inissint” Glasser (66th, $9,080), Jason “tresfull21″ Mercier (51st, $10,972), and Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar (49th, $10,972). Below are the unoffical chip counts of the remaining players.
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (pictured right)- 470k
Steven “Cornell Fiji” Ware - 370k
Jason Gray - 210k
Chris “cdbr3799″ Dombrowski - 200k
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 170k
Chris “cmoney3″ Kline - 150k
Shannon Shorr - 130k
Alex Jacob - 50k