WSOP 2008
Mackey Riding High
by Crystal on 06.26.08, 3:21 pm
After day 1 of the massive $50k HORSE event, James “mig.com” Mackey (pictured right) is the chip leader going into day two with 214k. In a field filled with big name pros, online players are definitely making their presence known such as recent bracelet winner Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond who starts today with 161k. Other players still in the hunt include Brian “tsarrast” Rast (132k), Tom “durrrr” Dwan (109k), Justin “zeejustin” Bonomo (80k), and Matt “Hoss_TBF” Hawrilenko (41k). Well known pros David Williams and Phil Hellmuth weren’t able to make it past day 1 and were among the few players eliminated last night. Play resumes at 2 pm today and we’re sure to see eliminations start coming at faster rate as the blinds and antes continue to rise.
Also restarting this afternoon is event #44, the $1k NLHE w/Rebuys tournament. Day 2 will begin with 115 players including Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks and Faraz “The Toilet-0″ Jaka who are near the top of the chip counts with 154k and 116k. Stu “TheDonator” Patterson had a good first day as he comes into day 2 with 95k and Keven “Stamdogg” Stammen will start the day with 80k.
Just getting started in the Amazon room is event #46 the $5k NLHE six-handed event with over 550 players registered so far. These short handed events have tended to play out fast and furious at this year’s WSOP and we expect this event to be no different. We’ve already spotted numerous P5ers in the field such as Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan, Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke, and Ryan “Daut44″ Daut. We’ll keep you updated on their progress as the day moves forward.
An Evening of Studs
by Jill on 06.19.08, 12:22 am
The Event #33 $5K Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Championship tournament marched on with an ante and bring-in of 500, now at 2K/4K limits. PocketFives caught up with Barry Greenstein looking for a spot to make a move, as his 18K chip stack sat well below the average of 51K.
Playing extremely tight, Greenstein finally found a hand he could close in on: showing 5
4
6, he was running against one opponent who showed A
QJ
. Greenstein completed on third street and was raised, which Barry quickly called. Fourth street met a check from his opponent, a bet from Barry, and a subsequent call. Action continued the same way on fifth street but induced a fold from his opponent; Barry increased his stack to 27K and was looking a bit healthier by comparison.
One table over, Alex Jacob was also low, his stack at 44K. But Thayer “Thay3r” Rasmussen (pictured at right) was in the worst trouble of all, his 28K stack paltry in comparison to the shark-filled table at which he sat. Seated to the right of David Benyamine, his 8-handed table was stacked with Allen Cunningham, Howard Lederer, and Jason Lester.
Meanwhile, in Event #35, the $1.5K Seven Card Stud tournament, most of the notable players have not fared well. Recent eliminations include David Williams, Anna Wroblewski, and John Juanda. PocketFives caught up with Justin Bonomo as he was also on life support, sporting a stack of 2.5K with 288 players left in the original field of 382. He still found time to get a massage.
Day 2 of the $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em tournament paused for dinner break and will resume at 10PM PST. The average stack is 220K and players are guaranteed $11,951. Notable chip stacks include the following:
Scott “ssitron” Sitron - 240K
Ray Henson - 230K
Court Harrington - 227K
Schultz Surges, Negreanu Dominates
by Jill on 06.16.08, 5:48 am
Event #27’s $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em race for the bracelet has concluded for the evening with 18 players remaining in the field. Barry “BarryGS” Schultz sits near the top of the chip count with over 850K, now representing PocketFives in his logo t-shirt.
We caught up with Barry as he was raising preflop from the hijack to 48K with the blinds at 10K/20K. He took down the pot uncontested and did the same thing for the next two consecutive hands. He recounted a story from earlier in the tournament about a hand he played with Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman. Apparently, Barry made his move on the button by pushing all in to Scott’s preflop raise. Barry held 97. Scott, trying to edge out a Scandinavian player at the table, called the raise and flipped over A-J offsuit.
In the only hand Barry has played for his tournament life, he managed to hit a 9 on the river to save his stack and suck out. He recounted how tilted Scott got at the bad beat; apparently Scott raised all in for the next seven hands, despite being deep-stacked even after the beat. The field lost two more players after Barry told his story; play is now down to the final two tables and will resume tomorrow at 2PM PST while players compete for the bracelet and $628,290.
Daniel Negreanu (pictured at right) had much to smile about in the $5K Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys as his stack went from 100k to over 1M in twenty minutes. Play was down to the final two tables. Negreanu went over the one million mark when he busted David Williams’ 500k chip stack in the following hand:
On a flop of 732, Williams bet out 40k and Negreanu called. The T dropped on the turn and Williams bet and got raised by Negreanu. Williams reraised all-in, prompting a snap call from Negreanu. Williams tabled the T987, drawing dead to Negreanu’s AT{7s]7 full house.
Negreanu jokingly said he’s hoping to get at least ninth place so he can break even from the 85k he’s invested in the tournament. Many big names remain in the final 14 including Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Brian “tsarrast” Rast, Phil Hellmuth, John Juanda, David Benyamine, and Alexander Kostritsyn.
Smith Busts Out, Morgan Moving Up
by AdamJ on 06.10.08, 7:34 pm
Many online titans survived the early stages of the 1.5k PLO WSOP Event #19, as roughly two thirds of the 759 player field has been elimated by the fourth level.
Jordan “iMsoLucky0″ Morgan is in positon to make a run with 16.5k with 100-200 blinds.
Gavin Smith busted out early in the level when he went all-on over a cut-off raiser for 1300 when his KK48 ran into AAK7.
Other notable chip counts.
Carter Gill - 70k
Jamie “The New” Robbins - 11.5K
Rafi Amit -
David “Raptor517″ Benefield - 8.5k
Tim “TMay420″ West - 7.5k
Nam Le - 20k
Rolf Slotboom - 9k
David Williams - 10k
Matt Brady - 8k
Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan - 5.1k
Redlin Busts Porter to Advance in Shootout
by AdamJ on 06.09.08, 6:30 pm
Play was very methodical as expected in the early rounds of the 1.5k NL Shootout WSOP Event #17.
Most tables didn’t have more than a few recognizable faces but one table in particularly was stacked with live pro’s including Greg “FBT” Mueller, David Williams, Nick Schulman, and Carlos Mortensen.
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman drew one of the tougher tables with Amnon Fillipi and Michael Gracz tableside.
Playing 3-handed while most tables where six to eight handed, Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter’s table battled it out 3-handed for about an hour until Porter matched up with David “nutstr84444″ Redlin.
A few hands into the match with blinds at 100-200, Porter and Redlin got all-in preflop. With a 5-to-1 chip disadvantage, Porter with a 5k a stack, raised the button and got reraised by Redlin. Porter moved all-in rather quickly and Redlin called way ahead of Porter’s AJ with AK. The board ran true for Redlin’s hand and he became one of the early winners.
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin (pictured right) was crippled by Tom Franklin for a 12K pot and then met his demise a few hands later. On a board of KT7, Vengrin got it all in with QJ against Franklin’s KT. The T on the turn left Vengrin drawing dead and with less than 2K in his stack at 100/200. He then shoved J8 into KK and failed to improve.
Craig “MrCasino” Gray scooped a decent pot when he a shortstack moved all-in for 575 and he re-raised with AK, isolating his opponents AJ.
Here’s a list of notable players left from Event #17.
Dan “Stainley88″ Adams (6-handed), Jason Gray (3-handed), Sorel Mizzi (5-handed), Stu “TheDonator” Patterson (3-handed), Noah “fouruhaters” Schwartz (6-handed), Tony “Bond18″ Dunst (3-handed), Chris “sooooted”Vaughn (heads-up).