WSOP 2008
Online Kids Get on Their HORSE
by AdamJ on 06.26.08, 6:01 am
Despite a hefty 50k buy-in, a handful of online kids are making a run at perhaps the most prestigious bracelet in the WSOP in the 50k HORSE Championship WSOP Event #45.
Although the majority of online players in this tournament are those with a high stakes cash game background, a few players more known for their NL tournament games are playing like James “mig.com” Mackey, Justin “zeejustin” Bonomo and Dario Minieri.
The 148 player field is stacked with incredible tables as expected. No table featured a better lineup of elite players than the one that included two of the biggest winners online in 
Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (pictured left) and Tom “durrrr” Dwan with two of the biggest live game winners in Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey. Dwan, Galfond, and Ivey play each other often in nosebleed NL and PLO game online as well.
Mackey has faired very well at his table that includes a tough cast of characters in David Oppenheim, Andy Bloch, Lyle Berman, Jennifer Harman, David Singer, and online cash game player Brian “tsarrast” Rast. Mackey’s stack has been over the average for most of the tournament and is at 209k as play nears to an end.
Here’s a list of notable online players chip stacks with the average at 105k.
Phil Galfond - 185k
Patrik Antonius - 180k
Dario Minieri - 140k
Brian “tsarrast” Rast - 100k
Justin “zeejustin” Bonomo - 81k
Nick Schulman - 70k
Matt “Hoss_TBF” Hawrilenko - 55k
Mackey, Dwan Big Stacks in 10k Mixed
by AdamJ on 06.06.08, 7:01 am
Playing down to an 8-handed final table in WSOP Event #8 Mixed Championship, online’s wiz kids yield big stacks with ten players left.
James “mig.com” Mackey doubled up earlier to acquire his 480k in an earlier NL hand when his 3bet of Tom “durrrr” Dwan got 4bet all-in back to him by Dwan.
With his tournament on the line, Mackey called with T
T
, way ahead of Dwan’s KT
.
Mackey’s tens prevailed, taking him from an average stack to one of the chip leaders.
Despite his stack taking a huge hit, Dwan rebounded big in the triple draw round, which didn’t go unnoticed by his tablemate David Oppenheim.
“Durrrr’s won every single hand in triple draw,” Oppenheim said to Gus Hansen, sitting at the other table.
Here are the stacks of the ten remaining players: Mathew Glantz 650k, Tom Dwan 520k, Gus Hansen 440k, Michael DeMichele 320k, Jeff Madsen 320k, Sammy Farha 265k, Tony Rivera 200k, David Oppenheim 170k, Eli Elezra 90k.
Tran Final Tables 2k NL, Dwan Challenges Rule
by AdamJ on 06.06.08, 4:48 am
Th
eo Tran is running so good, he said he’s afraid to drive home.
Given his streak of luck today inside the Amazon room, it’s hard to blame him for not wanting to leave.
Thanks to a hot streak of cards and strong play, Tran became the first player to final table two WSOP events this summer.
Tran finishing 4th in WSOP Event #2, 1.5k NL earlier this week.
A little luck expedited Tran’s run to the final table.
Ten handed with blinds at 6k-12k with a 1k ante, Tran opened for 40k from early position as the chip leader with 1.8 million. A player from middle position moved all-in for 200k and Tran called, exposing AK.
Tran agonized when he saw his opponents KK
.
His feelings changed dramatically when the A hit the flop and his opponents kings failed to catch-up, sealing the final table.
This will be Tran’s 4th WSOP final table. Last summer Tran came close the coveted WSOP bracelet when he finished second in the rebuy event.
Tran heads to the final table as chip leader with 1.884 million. Mihai Manole is second with 1.02 million.
Other notable players at the final table include Shannon Shorr with 627k, Alex Bolotin 345k, and J.C. Tran with 273k.
Despite not being as established as his counterparts on the tournament trail, Tom “durrrr” Dwan (pictured right) wasn’t afraid to speak his mind when a rule seemed unfair.
As a player busted deep in the WSOP Event #8 Mixed Championship, Dwan was informed that after every redraw 2-7 triple draw restarts as the next game.
“This is unfair, how can any game always be first, this should be random,” Dwan said. ”I have a big problem with this.”
High stakes pro David Oppenheim, sitting to Dwan’s left chimed in.
“I agree it’s unfair but it’s the rule,” Oppenheim said.
Greg “FBT” Mueller, also at Dwan’s table, agreed with Dwan but said “what can we do” in response to the fuming Dwan.
Not satisfied with “it’s the rule” as justification for its existence, Dwan continued to speak up.
Lee Watkinson came over and told him, ‘if we speak up we can change it.’
After a few minutes, a WSOP tournament director spoke up and announced they’d redraw a game at random.
When the tournament director announced No-Limit as the next game, which is Dwan’s specialty, Gus Hansen reminded Dwan how good he runs.