WSOP 2008
Kibler-Melby Doubles
by Crystal on 07.12.08, 9:56 pm
Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby had been on life support for quite awhile with his stack as low as around 180k. Cort (pictured right) recently got all his chips in the middle with the A
2
against another players Q
9. The board ran out J
546K and Cort’s ace-high was good enough to boost his stack up to around 375k.
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman recently was involved in a huge pot against Alex Kostritsyn. Alex open-raised to 52k preflop and Garrett reraised to 177k total. Alex made the call and the flop came T74. Alex checked the flop over to Garrett who bet 150k. Alex asked how much Garrett had behind and the dealer counted around 700k more in chips in Garrett’s stack. Alex made the call and the turn brought the 2. The deuce was an action killer as both players checked to see the A fall on the river. Alex again checked but Garrett pushed out a bet of 300k. Alex thought for a bit, playing with his chips before finally making the call. Garrett instantly mucked his cards, caught trying to steal and Alex won the massive pot as Beckman’s stack dropped to around 400k.
Two PocketFivers collided at table 13 during the past level. David “raptor517″ Benefield raised to 55K in middle position and he was called by the button and Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki in the small blind. On the 653 flop, Klodnicki opened the betting for 100K and Benefield called. The button folded and two players saw the Q fall on the turn. Klodnicki checked and Benefield bet 225K. Klodnicki made the call and both players checked the T on the river. “Pair of sixes,” Benefield said as he flipped over 86. Klodnicki mucked and Benefield added more than 450K to his gigantic stack.
Here are a few recent chip counts we were able to grab.
David “raptor517″ Benefield - 2.6M
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki - 1.1M
Peter “number1pen” Neff - 900K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 800K
Jeremy “thechemist83″ Gaubert - 650K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 400K
Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby - 375K
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 250K
Tuf Break
by Brett on 07.12.08, 8:45 pm
Andy “tufat23″ Teng went through the gamut of emotions on the hand that ultimately ended his run on Day 5 of the Main Event. With blinds at 8K/16K/2K, Shawn Sheikhan opened and another opponent reraised to 150k. Teng (pictured left) reraised to 400k, a move tantamount to moving all-in with about 500k behind. Sheikhan folded and the 3-bettor put Teng all-in and Teng called. Teng tabled the AK but was trailing his opponent’s KK until the flop came A35. Another player at the table announced that he had folded an ace before the 7 peeled on the turn. The gallery of fans standing around the table nearly fainted when the K dropped on the river, shipping a pot over 1.8 million away from Teng.
“I was like I am not even going to celebrate when the ace hit,” Teng told Pocketfives later. “Plus, I don’t want to rub it in to some guy that looks like he’s about to lose a monster pot with kings either.”
At one point during Day 5 Cort “the cortster” Kibler-Melby’s stack had grown to nearly 1 million. He’s got some work to do to reach that mark again here in Level 21. Cort is seated to the left of Phil Hellmuth and saw a cheap flop with Phil out of the big blind. Both checked the 953 flop, and Hellmuth led out for 62K when the A hit on the turn. Kibler-Melby min-raised to 124K and Hellmuth made the call. The 9 fell on the river and Hellmuth bet 200K. Kibler-Melby decided to make the call and mucked when Phil showed 33 for a full house. The hand dropped Cort to 400K.
A battle between two titans of online poker resulted in a swing of chips for Adam “Roothlus” Levy (pictured right) and Garrett “GBecks” Beckman. Alex Kostritsyn opened to 40k from early position and Levy called from middle position and Beckman called from late position. Both players checked the A35 flop to Beckman, who bet 80k and Levy called. The turn was the 9 and Levy checked and Beckman bet 125k and Levy moved all-in for an about 250k more and Beckman folded.
Ladbrokes pro Jeff Kimber was quiet for most of the day and finally busted when he ran his pocket kings into a pair of nines and his opponent flopped a full house. Kimber earned $41,816 for his 120th place finish. Keith “damurdera3″ Ferrera was eliminated just moments before in 121st place and will take home the same amount.
Raja “tiger76″ Kattmuri was eliminated when he shoved all-in preflop and was called by a player holding the 88. Raja held the KQ and needed some help but unforunately for him the flop came 8-5-2 giving his opponent a set and left Raja drawing dead. He was eliminated in 123rd place for $41,816.
Now that we’ve been able to make our way onto the tournament floor, we have some updated chip counts! With the average stack at 1.1 million and 120 players remaining, here’s a look at the notables still hanging around:
David “raptor517″ Benefield - 2.4M
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 1.2M
Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal - 1.1M
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 950K
Peter “number1pen” Neff - 900K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 815K
Matt Jensen - 780K
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 620K
Jeremy “thechemist83″ Gaubert - 620K
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki - 550K
Dan “Wildman75″ Buzgon - 450K
Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby - 400K
Friedberg Busts, Beckman Builds Stack
by AdamJ on 07.12.08, 6:52 pm
With a paltry 120k stack to start Day 5 of the Main Event, Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg (pictured right) lasted a few hours before bowing out.
Frieberg doubled in the first orbit of play and got to 350k in the second level. Without many hands and stack well below the 900k average, Friedberg busted when he reraised a 30k open for all of his 170k. Friedberg’s AJ was up against AQ and was eliminated when he didn’t improve.
Pocketfives caught up with Friedberg after he exited in 148th place, cashing in for 41k.
Friedberg said he was happy with his first Main Event cash, and given the situations he was dealt, he didn’t leave the Amazon Room with any major misgivings about any of his plays.
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman was the recent beneficiary of a flop that hammered he and his opponents hand when it came AJ8. Beckman’s opponent bet 90k and Beckman shoved for about 450k total and his opponent called. Beckman revealed the AQ in a flip against his opponents AJ. Beckman promptly clipped a 2 on the turn and won the hand, boosting his stack to 970k, his highpoint of the day. Beckman started with 515k and got down to 200k rather in the first hour of play.
Cort “thecorster” Kibler-Melby won a huge hand off of Jeremiah Smith before the last break when he raised the from the hijack and Smith called in position. Kibler-Melby played for stacks on a Q-5-5 flop, outflopping Smith’s A-Q with K5, resulting in a 860k pot which was the stack he took to the break about twenty minutes ago. The hand left Smith with about 50k in chips and he busted shortly after that.
Andy “BadgerPro” Schultz was eliminated in 142nd place despite getting his money in ahead. Schultz and another player saw a flop of AT6. Schultz led out, his opponent raised and Schultz moved all in with AK. The other player called with 79. The 9 came on the turn, but the 3 on the river knocked Andy of the tournament.
Norris Busts, Beckman Dips
by AdamJ on 07.12.08, 4:06 pm
It’s never a good sign to see a player walking away from the table during play but such was the fate for Joshua “theNorfman” Norris, (pictured right) who busted in the first few orbits on Day 5 of the Main Event.
“That wasn’t a good start to the day,” said Norris, who finished 179th.
Starting with only 207k, less than a third of the average stack, Norris was in for an uphill battle.
He got crippled when he picked up AQ in the big blind after the button opened and the small blind shoved for 100k with blinds at 6k-12k-2k. Norris shoved for his 200k and was isolated against the small blind’s AK. Despite a queen in the door, Norris’ opponent ran out a broadway straight and Norris was down to 100k. A few hands later Norris busted when the small blind put Norris all-in who was in the big blind after it was folded around to the blinds. Norris woke up with A-8 but lost to his opponents Q-2 when the flop came K-Q-2.
Despite feeling the sickness that overtakes anyone after busting out of a tournament, especially one of this magnitude, Norris took the exit in stride.
“This is the biggest score for me, live or online,” said Norris with a feeling of contentment.
Norris’ finish was good for 38k and he also won a handful of seats into the Main Event.
A few other P5er’s faired much better early on.
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg doubled up his 120k starting stack in the first orbit of play when he woke up with AA against Lou Esposito’s AK, elevating Friedberg to around 230k.
Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby managed to double up early today when his AK was able to out-draw his opponents QQ on a A98 flop. The pair of aces held and Cort’s stack jumped up to around 520k.
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman is off to a rough start. Starting with 515k, Beckman lost the bulk of his chips when he doubled up another opponent when they both flopped a flush draw. Beckman’s T7 lost to his opponents KQ after he clipped a queen. Beckman is down to 200k.
Crowe’s Chips Riding a Roller Coaster
by Crystal on 07.10.08, 10:32 pm
733 players are now on their 90 minute dinner break and the tension in the air has been continuously rising as we get closer and closer to the money bubble of 666 players. The staff here at the Rio is somewhat going to be restricting media access to the tables as hand for hand play approaches so we’ll do our best after the break to catch as much as we can.
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe (pictured right) started the day with a healthy 220k in chips but during the level before the dinner break he was caught up in a couple crazy hands. After building his stack up to nearly 350k, Crowe and two other players saw a flop of Q43. The big blind bet out 17.9k and the player in the middle and Crowe made the call. The K fell on the turn and both the other players checked to Crowe who pushed a large stack of orange 5k chips into the middle, 80k total. The big blind folded and after a lot of thought the other player made the call. The 7 fell on the river and both players checked. Crowe’s opponent flipped over the K9 for the 2nd nut flush and Crowe was livid. He couldn’t believe that the other player had made his flush and checked it. The other player requested to see Crowe’s cards and so the dealer flipped over his KQ. The ESPN cameras caught all the action but Crowe was visibly not enjoying being filmed and was steaming after the hand.
It didn’t take too long to get a few of his chips back. We caught up with the action with the board reading 8639J and Crowe bet 23k which another player called. Crowe tabled the T7 for a turned straight that only improved on the river and scooped up to pot. A little later Crowe got into a hand with Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert but they weren’t too eager to create much action. They both checked the KT5 flop, the K on the turn, and the 3 on the river. Crowe showed the J5 for kings and fives which was the best hand as Leo mucked and Crowe climbed back up to around 320k.
We caught up with David “Bakes” Baker (pictured left) as he and another opponent were heads up in a raised pot on a flop of QJ8. Baker’s opponent bet 15K and David thought briefly before raising enough to put him all-in. The other player tanked for some time and tried to pry information from David asking him questions and announcing, “I know you’re only on a draw.” He eventually made the call for his remaining 38.7K with AQ. David turned over the KK and the turn came the 3, leaving the other player with one less out since David picked up the flush draw. The Q fell on the river and the other player doubled through Baker leaving him with right around 150K going into dinner break.
Today, Table 12 in the Blue section of the Amazon room may qualify as one of the sickest lineups we’ve seen so far in the entire 2008 World Series. Tim “tmay420″ West, Garrett “GBecks” Beckman, Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson, Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby and Allen Cunningham are lined up in a row. When we last caught up to their table, Darren gave us -the look-; he was feeling frustrated as his stack dropped from 190K earlier today to a much less comfortable 85K. When we asked what happened, Tim chuckled and Garrett groaned.
Darren reported that he picked up aces two levels ago. On a flop of Q-7-8 with an already-sizeable pot in the middle, Darren put his one remaining opponent all-in. Darren’s pocket aces dominated… that is, until a 3 on the turn and a jack spiked on the river gave his opponent’s Q-J two pair. Darren quartered his stack, falling below 50K in chips. However, Garrett chimed in at this point in the story, noting that he’d later doubled Darren up when his J-T connected to a jack-high flop with all clubs on the board. Darren’s pocket aces held and he edged his stack upwards. He left for dinner break with a stack of 85K to Garrett’s 150K. Tim reported that he was trying to stay out of it; he said, “It sucks when I have no other choice but to bust my close friends!” He guarded a 97K stack while Cort had 200K.
Josh “Squintngo” Goldstein, however, didn’t have such an exciting table draw. He lamented to PocketFives that he’s been bored the last few levels. Regardless, he was taking the opportunity to rake in a few small preflop pots; he increased his stack to 127K before the break.
On a side note, Mike Matusow was just spotted running “laps” outside near the poker kitchen during the break. By laps, we actually mean 20 ft smallish circles… perhaps trying to work off nervous energy? Maybe he just didn’t get all his running in today and is trying to make up for it. Regardless, it gave us here at P5s a chuckle.
In case you’re hungry, here’s a heaping pile of chip counts for you to munch on during the break! (The average stack based on the tournament clock is currently almost 187k)
Matthew “Burton1080″ Jensen - 580K (pictured right)
Jamie “TheCronic420″ Rosen - 430K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 400K
Paul “comeonphish” Lieu - 390K
David “DavidP18″ Peters - 340K
Jonathan “therookieqq9″ Plens - 310K
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 290K
Aaron “NDGrinder59″ Steury - 285K
Jon “Pearljammer” Turner - 280K
Jeremy “thechemist83″ Gaubert - 276K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 270K
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier - 265K
Allen “abari” Bari - 255K
Peter “number1pen” Neff - 205K
Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby - 200K
Joe “LatestLines2″ Ward- 190k
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 185K
Aditya “intervention” Argawal - 182K
Hunter “THE_HUNT_D” Frey - 180K
Thayer Rasmussen - 170K
Clayton “clayton27″ Newman - 165K
Jason Gray - 155K
Frank “Round42″ Rusnak - 150K
David “Bakes” Baker - 150K
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki - 140K
Brent “Astrolux85″ Roberts - 130K
Josh “squintngo” Goldstein - 127K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 120K
Chris “cmoney3″ Kline - 120K
Kush Patel - 115K
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy - 110K
Leo “SuperfluousMan” Wolpert - 109K
Tim “tmay420″ West - 100K
Jan “Erdnase” Heitmann - 97K
Brian “Like7″ Lamanna - 95K
Michael “DblupM0j” Johnson - 85K
Jeff Papola - 75K
Doug “resilient” Smith - 70K
“Bodog” Ari Engel - 70K
Justin “truesyalose” Truesdell - 68K
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 50K
Recent eliminations include Mike “SirWatts” Watson, Matt “mattg1983″ Graham, Jason “strassa2″ Strasser, Cody “shankingyou” Shedd, Jonathan “HoosierAlum” Depa, and Brandon Shaefer.