WSOP 2008
P5ers Collide, Klodnicki Sent Home in 12th
by AdamJ on 07.15.08, 1:50 am
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki’s time at the ESPN featured table didn’t last long. Not even an hour after being moved from the secondary table, Klodnicki and Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery banged heads for a pot worth 9 million chips.
With the blinds at 80K/160K and a 20K ante, Dennis Phillips limped from early position and Montgomery rasied to 600K. Klodnicki called from the big blind, Phillips folded, and the two players saw a flop of A
QQ
. Klodnicki checked, Montgomery led out for 1 million, and Klodnicki moved all in for his last 4 million. Scott called and the entire room waited in angst for the players to turn up their cards:
Klodnicki: JT
Montgomery: Q
J
Klodnicki flopped a royal flush draw but trailed the trip queens of Montgomery. The turn brought the J, leaving Klodnicki with just one out in the deck. The miracle didn’t come, however, as the 4 came on the river and Klodnicki was eliminated in 12th place for $591,869. Despite being by far the biggest payday Klodnicki’s ever won, he felt more like he missed out on nine million than won 591k in the wake of his Main Event exit.
“I had such a good shot at it,” Klodnicki lamented minutes after his bustout. “I’m not really up to celebrate right now, maybe tomorrow night.”
Given Klodnicki’s online and live tournament results, Klodnicki stood to benefit even more than just the jump in money as players advance to the final table. If he could have made it to the final nine, Klodnicki could have been the top player that companies and online poker rooms would have enticed with endorsement offers considering his impressive resume.
Now he’s only left to wonder what would have been.
The players have gone on a 20 minute break. Montgomery has catapulted to fifth overall in chips with 12.8 million. The chip leader is Dennis Phillips with 23 million.
Klodnicki and Rheem Headline Field
by AdamJ on 07.15.08, 12:36 am
Main Event final table run like last summer when Lee Watkinson, Scotty Nguyen, and Ray Henson were battling it out, there are a few players left that are far from unknowns.
David “Chino” Rheem (pictured left) is no stranger to the bright lights of a WSOP final table. Rheem took a commanding chip lead into WSOP Event #4 this summer in the 5k Mixed Hold-em final table and ended up finishing in fifth place for 93k. Rheem was up against a stacked final table with eventual winner Erick Lindgren, Justin “zeejustin” Bonomo, Howard Lederer, Andrew “good2cu” Robl, David Williams, and Isaac “luvthewnba” Haxton.
Rheem’s best WSOP moment was in 2006 when he lost a heads-up duel that aired on ESPN when he finished runner up to Allen Cunningham, cashing for 326k. Rheem had to navigate through another tough final table lineup to get to heads-up play with Alex Jacob, Andy Bloch, Tim Phan, Tom Franklin, Steve Wong, and John Hoang.
If Rheem doesn’t finish strong tonight, it won’t be from a lack of mentors.Rheem’s poker gallery standing nearly ten feet away reads like a who’s who of the poker world with the Mizrachi brothers, J.C. Tran, Theo Tran, Nam Le, Steve Sung, Greg “FBT” Mueller and Marcel Luske. After nearly every key hand Rheem plays, he walks over and rehashes it with his poker braintrust.
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki has the distinct advantage having an incredibly impressive poker resume but probably remaining anonymous to most of his competition he faces.
Klodnicki is the No. 43rd ranked player on the Pocketfives leaderboard with three cashes over 40k the past six months. If Klodnick is able to make the final table in the Main Event, it won’t be his first final WSOP final table. Klodnicki finished runner-up to Barry Greenstein in WSOP Event #46 in Razz, cashing for 97k. Klodnicki also cashed in WSOP Event #36, cashing for 5k in 89th place.
Montgomery Making Moves, Crowe Flies Away
by Crystal on 07.14.08, 10:05 pm
Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery has been on the move during the last level before the dinner break. In one hand Montgomery (pictured left) limped in from under the gun and Gert Andersen limped in as well before Dennis Phillips raised to 350K from the big blind. Mongomery made the call and Andersen folded. The flop came out A93 and Phillips bet out 500K only to have Montgomery raise to 1.2 million. Phillips then re-raised to 3.5 million and (as if that weren’t enough) Montgomery moved all in for 6.7 million. Phillips finally conceded the hand and Montgomery took the huge pot and increased his stack to 15 million.
In another hand, Nicholas Sliwinski raised to 300K and Montgomery called to see the flop come Q75
. Both players checked and the 8 fell on the turn. The both checked again and saw the A come on the river. In keeping with the hand’s flow, both players checked yet again and Montgomery showed a surprisingly strong AQ for top two pair to take the hand. We can only imagine that he was trying to induce a bluff from Sliwinski but he still scooped up a few more chips in the hand.
Right before the break began Montgomery lost a little ground and dropped back down to 12.45 million but he is still near the top of the chip counts in 3rd place.
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe’s final table dreams have come to an end. Ivan Demidov raised to 330K from under the gun and both Chino Rheem and Joe Bishop called. Crowe (pictured right) then moved all in from the button for 1.84 million and Demidov made the call. Rheem and Bishop both folded and Crowe was in a classic race situation with his 99 against Demidov’s AQ. The flop came JJT and gave Demidov even more outs. The Q on the turn put Demidov in the lead but gave Crowe an open-ended straight draw. The 2 on the river was no help to Crowe and he was eliminated in 15th place good for a payday of $463,201. Congrats to Owen for his amazing finish!
Overall the play has tightened up considerably as the final table draws near. With only five eliminations to go until the final table is set, all the players can see the finish line in the distance.
A Little Less Estrogen in the Room…
by Crystal on 07.14.08, 8:55 pm
Much to the dismay of a number of the players and spectators, the lovely Tiffany Michelle was eliminated in 17th place.
Dennis Phillips raised to 500K under the gun and Peter Eastgate called as did Tiffany Michelle from the big blind. The flop came AT9, Tiffany checked and Phillips bet 1 million. Eastgate called and Michelle thought for a bit before declaring she was “All in.” for about 3.8 million more. Phillips folded and Eastgate called. Tiffany may have thought her AJ for top pair was good but she was actually way behind the flopped set of aces that Eastgate held with his AA. Tiffany was drawing only to a runner-runner straight but the 5 on the turn was no help and she was sent to the rail in 17th place. The crowd gave her a standing ovation and Tournament Director Brooks Turk announced that Michelle was the WSOP Main Event’s highest-finishing female since 2000.
A little while after Tiffany’s elimination, Peter Eastgate raised to 350K and Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery re-raised to 900K. Eastgate made the call and the flop came Q92. Eastgate checked over to Montgomery who bet 1.4 million and Eastgate smooth called. The T fell on the turn and both players checked to see the T on the river. Both players checked again and Eastgate tabled his JJ for two pair and Montgomery mucked his hand. Eastgate’s stack rose to 16.5 million while Montgomery dropped to just below 10 million.
Eastgate has continued his massive run by eliminating Anthony Scherer in 16th place. All the chips went in pre-flop with Scherer holding the A8 to Eastgate’s KK. The board ran out 99255 and the kings held to knock out Scherer and rocket Eastgate’s stack up to 18.5 million and make him the chip leader.
With 15 players remaining, here are all the players current chip counts.
Peter Eastgate 18,500,000
Joe Bishop 17,100,000
Craig Marquis 14,850,000
Dennis Phillips 13,775,000
Darus Suharto 12,300,000
Ylon Schwartz 11,900,000
Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery 10,525,000
Kelly Kim 7,800,000
Dean Hamrick 7,025,000
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki 6,300,000
Ivan Demidov 5,100,000
Nicholas Sliwinski 4,200,000
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe 3,900,000
David ‘Chino’ Rheem 3,800,000
Gert Andersen 3,800,000
Railbirds Getting a Little Rambunctious
by Crystal on 07.14.08, 7:55 pm
The players just returned from a 20 minute break and only 17 players are left in the hunt for the WSOP Main Event Bracelet.
There are a number of people on the rail rooting for both Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki and Owen “ocrowe” Crowe who are now seated right next to each other. A little bit before the break Klodnicki won a small pot and one of the railbirds yelled “He’s hungry, he’s (expletive deleted) hungry!” Which might have gone unnoticed except that a security guard was standing right in front of him. The guard turned around and the railbird started apologizing profusely while holding up his hands, and the crowd started booing. The guard let him stay, but the railbirds are being a bit quieter now in their support for their friends.
The current chip leader is Joe Bishop with 16.3 million in chips while David “Chino” Rheem is the short stack with 1.9 million.
Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery has 12.2 million, Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki has 6.85 million, and Owen “ocrowe” Crowe has 4.9 million.