WSOP 2008
Dippy Destruction
by Brett on 07.09.08, 6:06 pm
Matt “dippydough” DiPaoli found himself very short early on in the first level of the day but caught fire just before players went on their first break. First, DiPaoli (pictured left) doubled his stack when he got all of his remaining chips in preflop with K
K
against AK
. The board revealed J94J3 and Matt increased his stack to 26K. On the very next hand, a player limped on the button and DiPaoli raised to 2,150 in the small blind. The button called and both players saw a flop of KQJ
. Matt led out for 2,100 and the button raised to 5K. Matt then reraised all in and the other player quickly folded. DiPaoli currently has 32K.
Ben “bfineman” Fineman was down to his last 3,575 chips when he moved all-in after it folded around to him with the blinds at 250/500 ante 50. The player on the button reraised all-in behind Ben for 15.3K and the big blind thought for a minute or two before making the call with AK. The button showed JJ and Fineman turned over QJ. Ben needed some help and picked up several outs when the flop came out AKQ.
“How about a T?” Ben asked. He didn’t get much help when a 9 came on the turn and, while it wasn’t the T, the Q on the river was enough to give Fineman the main pot and send him back up to nearly 15K.
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez also picked up a ton of chips early when a player in middle position raised to 1.5K, the player in the hijack called, and Ramirez called on the button. The flop came out 743 and the initial raiser bet out 3.1K. The player in the hijack reraised to 10K and Senovio moved all in for 23.6K. The initial raiser tanked and eventually folded what he claimed was AQ. The reraiser thought for some time before making the call with JJ and Ramirez turned over 33 for bottom set. The turn and river came K2 and Ramirez scooped the large pot to send his stack up to 55K.
A handful of Pocketfivers didn’t make the first break of the Main Event Day 2b. David “ComptonMasta” Barter (pictured right) was eliminated after starting the day with an average stack of 35k. Barter busted when he lost a raise in an all-in preflop confrontation. The initial raiser opened for 2k and got two calls by the time it got to Barter, who made it 10k on the button. The initial opener put Barter all-in for his last 25k and Barter called and was in a flip with his A-K against Q-Q. Barter didn’t improve was eliminated.
Jordan “Octavian_C” Rich was sent to the rail after an interesting hand playing alongside Jason “JCarver” Somerville, who reported Rich’s bust out to Pocketfives. According to Somerville, on a flop of K99, Rich’s opponent bet 2k and Rich raised to 6k. Rich’s opponent reraised to 14k and Rich raised all-in for about 10k more. Rich’s opponent called and tabled K-8, and was in remarkable shape given the action against Rich’s A8. The board bricked out for Rich and he was sent to the rail.
Eric “Rizen” Lynch and Eric “sheets” Haber were also sent packing during the past level.
David “Bakes” Baker continues to accumulate a big stack and heads to the break with 200K. Interestingly enough, Baker isn’t even the biggest stack at his table. He has a 280K stack to his immediate left. Here’s a look at some chip counts of those trying to catch Baker here on Day 2B:
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy - 136K
Dylan “ImaLucSac” Linde - 130K
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 123K
Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter - 106K
Brandon Schaefer - 90K
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 80K
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 75K
Jeff “japapola” Papola - 70K
Brian “tsarrast” Rast - 70K
Nachman “thelandlord” Berlin - 65K
Dan “voff” Deveau - 63K
Grant “drossxyu” Hinkle - 59K
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 55K
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez - 55K
Jason “JCarver” Somerville - 55K
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter - 55K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 54K
Mike Herder - 53K
“BodogAri” Engel - 47K
Ian “IanJ” Johns - 45.5K
Todd Lewis - 42K
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 34K
Matt “dippydough” DiPaoli - 32K
Bryan Micon - 30K
Bryan “bparis” Paris - 27K
Scott “mindwise” Pendergrast - 28K
Ben “BSUChamp” Grice - 18K
Ben “bfineman” Fineman - 15K
Ronald Lee - 13K
ComptonMasta Like Woah
by Jill on 07.07.08, 1:21 am
David “ComptonMasta” Barter (pictured at left) reported to PocketFives that his game be bouncin’ around like a ‘64 Impala on hydraulics over the last level. Apparently, he lost a large blingin’ pot when his KJ bricked out on a two-spade flop and he was down to less than his starting stack. However, David rallied and has built his stack up through small pots to 40K.
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez experienced a similar bounce-back when he more than doubled up his stack. Senovio came back with 6.8K after the dinner break and managed to flop the nut flush in a blind versus blind situation and get it all in on the river. His opponent called and he chipped up to 16K, on the hunt for more blood.
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman still sits at one of the featured table, which is notoriously now devoid of Phil Ivey. Garrett reported to PocketFives that he has been holding strong at 24K, but somehow came down with a cold last night and needs a bit of time to recover. Get well, Garrett! Also, for the record, PocketFives will punch the next person to ask them where Phil Ivey went. Consider this your last warning.
Meanwhile, in the Green section of the Amazon room, Ladbrokes team pro Azad Pirooti sat with a very short 5K stack and was looking to make a move. Patiently picking his spots, we saw him take down a couple of pots of antes and blinds. At a few tables over, Ladbrokes team pro Andreas Hoivold (pictured at right) was faring better with 45K, aggressively raising preflop in a couple of hands we witnessed to slowly chip up and take control of the table.
Here are a few chip counts nearing the end of Level 4, with one Level remaining in Day 1:
Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter - 110k
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 84k
Ben “bfineman” Fineman - 72k
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 72k
Gary “Debo34” Debernardi - 62k
Jeremy “chipsteela” Menard - 52k
Mike “BraveJayhawk” Jensen - 50K
Ryan “youngluc” Young - 50k
Andreas Hoivold - 45k
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy - 45k
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 44k
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin - 42k
Thayer Rasmussen - 41k
David “ComptonMasta” Barter - 40k
Daniel “voff” Deveau - 36k
Shane “shaniac” Schleger - 34k
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 32k
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 30k
Frank “Round42” Rusnak - 29k
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 25k
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 24k
Aaron “ndgrinder59″ Steury - 21k
Mario Silvestri - 19.5k
Sumeet “Batera” Batra - 18k
Brett “Gank” Jungblut - 18k
Jon “FatalError” Aguiar - 16k
Russell “rcrane082985″ Crane - 12k
Grant Hinkle - 10.5k
Glen “choron” Chorny - 7k
Evan “Oakplayer” Schwartz - 6k
Azad Pirooti - 5k
Seat Open!
by Crystal on 06.28.08, 6:16 pm
Because play ended last night in the $2k NLHE event #48 right after the bubble burst, the “all-in fest” that usually occurs immediately following was saved for today. Less than 30 minutes after play began two tables had already been broken and David “ComptonMasta” Barter and Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin are amongst the early casualties.
Bryan “Devo” Devonshire was also eliminated when his pocket fives ran into pocket jacks and failed to improve.
60 players have been eliminated in the first 75 minutes of play today and the other short stacks will obviously be looking to make moves soon so the high number of eliminations is likely to continue through the early part of the afternoon.
In the $1.5k NLHE event that started at noon today Justin Bonomo (pictured right) has jumped out as one of the early chip leaders with 14k while Theo Tran, Jeff ”yellowsub” Williams and Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul have already been eliminated.
Eric “Rizen” Lynch was guarding a short stack when PocketFives caught up to his table on a T-7-4 flop. Eric moved all in with Q-8 after the flop and managed to double against pocket jacks when he spiked a queen on the turn. Another player at his table asked, “Is there a bounty on you or something?” before Eric laughed and collected the pot. Other players faring less profitably include Dave “davyg” Gyarmti, who had accumulated up to 5.2K in chips until his pocket kings were cracked by pocket nines. He was down to 1.8K at the break.
Other PocketFives members spotted in the event include David “seal” Eisenstein, Scott “thebasher007″ Stubbs, Nick “FU_15″ Maimone, William “gptbigguy” Looper, Joseph “Dyzalot” Morneau, Micah “mordan” Hendrix, Faraz “The Toilet-0″ Jaka, Chris “sooooted” Vaughn, Steve “willywoo” Nolan, Matt “All In At 420″ Stout, Eric “erbloore” Bloore, and Matt “SamENole” Smith. Some chip counts for other players are listed below.
Amit “amak316″ Makhija - 3.5K (pictured left)
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 4K
Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor - 5.2K
Chris “big huni” Hunichen - 4K
Andriy “tormos” Pavlyuk - 6K
Shawn “raptorfan” Morris - 4.5K
The HORSE Race Continues
by Crystal on 06.28.08, 4:21 pm
Day 4 of the $50k HORSE event is set to kick off at 3 pm this afternoon with the final 24 players. Among those looking to make the money today are Barry Greenstein (1.3 mil), and a short stacked James “mig.com” Mackey (151k) (pictured right). There are still many big names in the field such as Daniel Negreanu (1.2 mil), Doyle Brunson (777k), Scotty Nguyen (1 mil), and Phil Ivey (145k). Only the top 16 will cash in this event so the short stacks are going to have to make moves early during play today as the blinds are getting rather large. They will play through the afternoon and into the evening until the final table of 8 players is set.
Starting back up at 2 pm is day 2 of the $2k NLHE event. Eric “jakz101″ Crain returns today as the chip leader with more than 253k. Other players still in the field include David “ComptonMasta” Barter (19k), Adam “Roothlus” Levy (73k), Dan “wretchy” Martin (58k), Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski (32k), and Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson (124k).
All of the 198 remaining players are guaranteed at least $3,795 while the 1st place finisher in this event will take home the gold bracelet and an impressive $770,540.
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