WSOP 2008
First Level Action
by Court on 08.25.08, 6:57 pm
The first of 6 levels for day 2 play is now complete. The first level was more than enough to clear all the tables outside the main room, with the Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg, Bryan Devonshire, Ray Davis and Can Kim Hua table being the last to break
Alvin “alsmooth” Zeidenfeld (left) had a great day 1, finishing up with 92,000 chips. He got day 2 off to a solid start as well, busting a short stacked Kenna James on the second hand to push his stack to around 100k. He drifted back down to the low 90’s by the end of the level but is still in great position going into the second level of the day.
For the shorter stacks, a successful first level was likely to include a double up. That was the case for Friedberg, who doubled through Ray Davis when his pocket aces held up. He is still short stacked but is at 13k after the double up. Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby also doubled in the first level, building his stack to around 35k.
Isaac “mr menlo” Baron was able to get up to 90k when his AK won a race against pocket sevens. Devin “TranquilChaso” Porter won a small pot that was 4-way preflop for 1,100 each. After the preflop action it was checked down the rest of the way and a surprised Devin porter picked up the pot with pocket nines.
Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery was eliminated in the first level of play, after having something come up that caused him to play hyper aggressively until he was busted from the tournament.
Ari Engel had another player all in, but when the cards were turned up both had pocket kings and the pot ended up being split.
The second level of the day will be played with blinds of 300 / 600 and a 75 chip ante. The pressure on the short stacks continues to increase and larger and larger stacks are emerging around the room.
Together They Fall
by Brett on 07.11.08, 6:51 pm
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter couldn’t fade the short stack torture he started with on Day 4 on the Main Event. Starting out with 52k with blinds at 2.5k-5k-500, Porter survived the first hour and a half of play before busting out in 360th place when he moved all-in for 70k from middle position with the A
T but ran into A
Q
behind him.
Hunter “the_Hunt_D” Frey got the rest of his chips in on a AJ5 board with A
J against an opponent’s JJ. The turn and river brought th 8{and 7h} and Frey calmly left the Amazon Room with a prize of $28,950.
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy also met his demise, and at the hands of a fellow pocketfiver. Josephy shoved his last 60K in late position with KJ and Dag Martin “dmmikkel” Mikkelsen called with AK. Josephy’s hand didn’t improve and he was sent home after providing the P5s staff with plenty of entertaining moments during the Main Event.
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman has increased his 190k starting stack to over 300k. He needed a little luck to do so however. Beckman flatted his opponents under-the-gun raise after the action folded to him in the small blind with the AA. Beckman was a bit disappointed when the big blind didn’t squeeze but made the call. On a flop of 354, Beckman checked, the big blind bet 14k and the preflop raiser made it 200k, effectively putting the blinds all-in with smaller stacks. Beckman moved all-in for his last 135k and the big blind folded. Surprisingly, Beckman was trailing the under-the-gun preflop raiser, who flopped two pair with 53. Beckman immediately peeled off the A on the turn and more than doubled up.
After starting play today with a massive 873k in chips, Chris “panamatony” Barrille has slipped a little bit. In a hand right before the first break Chris and another player saw a flop of 996. The other player bet, Chris raised, and the other player went all in. The cards were tabled and Chris’ 77 wasn’t looking good against the other players 98. The turn was the 5 and the river the 5 to give the other player a full house and knock Chris’s stack down to around 690k.
At the end of the first level of the day, here’s a look at the chip counts of some notables still alive:
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 1.2 Million
Jon “PearlJammer” Turner - 1.1 Million
Paul “ComeOnPhis” Lieu - 750K
Keith “damurdera3″ Ferrera - 700K
Chris “panamatony” Barrille - 690K
David “raptor517″ Benefield - 690K
Jon Friedberg - 550K
Derek “arodss3″ Buanomo - 491K
Joe “LatestLines2″ Ward - 415K
Mark “AceSpades” Radoja - 370K
Jeremt “thechemist83″ Gaubert - 376K
Bruce “cornellxc11″ Hyde - 300K
Brent “Astrolux85″ Roberts - 285K
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 200K
David “Bakes” Baker - 150K
Thayer Rasmussen - 100K
Double Double (or Toil and Trouble)
by Crystal on 07.11.08, 5:17 pm
After a little over an hour into play today at the WSOP Main Event it had been apparent that many of the players have the “go big or go home” mentality as we have heard the “all-in and a call!” shout coming from dealers numerous times all over the room. We’re already down to 408 of the 474 players that started the day.
Tracey “XtrACEy” Nguyen (pictured left) was caught in one of these confrontations, but she wasn’t the one at risk. She and a shorter stacked player got all the chips in preflop with Tracey’s 99 ahead of her opponents A3. The flop came T72 keeping Tracey in the lead but the A on the turn reversed things and the Q on the river changed nothing so Tracey doubled the other player up and dropped to around 380k in chips.
A player at risk during his all in was Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis who got all his chips in before the flop holding the QQ against another players TT. The board ran out K324J and Steve managed to double his stack up to around 350k.
Jamie “TheCronic420″ Rosen started the day with 576k in chips and seemed to be using his big stack to try and take out some of his weaker opponents. On a flop of T98 Rosen checked to his opponent who bet 40k. Jamie then raised to 100k and his shorter stacked opponent raised all in and Jamie made the call. The all-in player was ahead with the JT for top pair with an open-ended straight draw in the lead against Jamie’s 86 for a flush draw with a lesser-gutshot straight draw. The turn brought the A and the river was the 7 giving both players a straight but the all-in player held the better one and scooped up the pot knocking Jamie down to around 280k.
It didn’t take Jon “PearlJammer” Turner long to increase his 726k stack considerably in the first thirty minutes of play. The chips didn’t come easy however as Turner had to call an 85k river bet with his set of eights on a board with three hearts and a jack to a straight against his opponent Dustin Holmes. Turner’s hand was good, shipping him a pot near 300k. Turner won a few hands after that as well and is now near the one million mark.
Tim “TMay420″ West picked a good spot to get his last few chips in but was unable to outrace Brent “Astrolux85″ Roberts. Brent raised to 15K in early position and West moved in for 51K. Roberts made the call with AQ, which was behind Tim’s JJ. The 643 flop added a slew of outs for Roberts, and the 4 left West needing help. The K fell on the river and West was eliminated, earning $27,020 for his performance. Roberts chipped up to 360K.
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter, on the other hand, was able to dodge a bunch of outs to double his stack. David “Bakes” Baker raised to 14K in middle position and Porter moved all in for 46K. Baker made the call, showing JT and Porter flipped over A6. Porter got out of his seat when he saw the flop of KQ7, saying “Well, see you later!” but his hand was able to hold when the 8 and 7 filled the board. Porter is up to over 100K.
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe continued his onslaught by eliminating a player and climbing over the 1 million chip mark. Crowe got his money in on the turn with 99 on a board of 9247 and had his opponent drawing dead. He now has nearly 1.3 million, which is right near the top of the leaderboard.
Here’s a look at some chip counts midway through the first level on Day 4:
Peter “number1pen” Neff - 660K
Keith “damurdera3″ Fererra - 615K
Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu - 600K
David “raptor517″ Benefield - 540K
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 475
Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis - 415K
Mark “AceSpades” Radoja - 400K
Dag Martin “dmmikkel” Mikkelsen - 260K
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy - 280K
Joe “LatestLines2″ Ward - 180K
Thayer Rasmussen - 153K
Brian “Like7″ Lamanna - 150K
Hunter “The Hunt D” Frey - 105K
Clayton “clayton_27″ Newman - 140K
Clements At Risk Early
by AdamJ on 07.10.08, 4:44 pm
Starting with a below average stack of 65k on Day 3 of the Main Event, Scott “BigRiskky” Clements (pictured right) wasn’t wielding the big stack he’s accustomed to bludgeoning on his opposition.
Clements position got bleaker after getting down to 49k in the first hour with blinds at 800-1600-200. Then Clements finally scooped a pot that will perhaps enable him to play more of his aggressive style that’s been so successful for him.
Clements raised to 4700 under-the-gun and got re-raised all-in by his opponent for an additional 36k, costing Clements the majority of his chips. Given the position Clements raised from, he wasn’t exactly ecstatic about getting raised all-in for most of his chips by this particular opponent.
“I thought about folding,” he said.
Clements eventually made the call and his AK was trailing his opponents pocket tens.
Clements picked up a two extra outs when the flop came Q-J-x, but was bad shape until he clipped a king on the river, elevating his stack to 87k.
Another PocketFiver whose built his stack early is Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez, who started the day with 124k. Ramirez’s opponent raised to 5k from middle position and Ramirez called out of the blind. On a flop of A86, Ramirez check-raised his opponent’s overbet of 20k to 55k. His opponent went all-in for an additional 10k and Ramirez called with AK, way ahead of his opponents AQ. The board ran true for Ramirez, who now has 190k.
Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken played a big all-in preflop hand with his opponent, both with approximately equal stacks. Dicken held the QQ but found he was behind his opponents AA. Behind until the flop came KQ3 to catapult Dicken into the lead. Ah but the poker gods can be cruel sometimes and in a classic “suck-out re-suck-out” the A hit on the turn to put the other player back into the lead. As the river was being dealt the player with aces nearly jumped out of his seat seeing it was a face card but it was just the K. No quads for Dicken and he was sent to the rail.
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter and another player saw a flop of 997. The other player checked over to Porter who bet 7k only to be check-raised to 15k. Porter made the call and when the 9 fell on the turn both players checked. The T came on the river and the other player bet out 12k which Porter called. The other player showed the 66 for nines full of sixes which was good enough and Porter mucked his hand. As his table broke he said he was down about 30k from the start of the day but is looking to get it back soon!
Some early chip counts we spotted include Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen (125k), Nachman “thelandlord” Berlin (60k), Ryan “Daut44″ Daut (40k), and Christian “Deckzor” Fockenberg (11k).
Early eliminations include Noah “exclusive” Boeken, Kevin “ImaLucSac” Macphee, Michael “benvo123″ Benvenuti, and Jeff “yellowsub” Williams
Porter Picks Up Pot with Pocket Rockets
by Jessica on 07.10.08, 4:42 am
Say that five times fast. We dare you.
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter (pictured at left) made a lot of headway adding to his chip stack in the final level. With the blinds 600/1200 ante 200 Devin raised in middle position and the player in the big blind called. The flop came AJJ and both players checked. When the 4 fell on the turn the player in the big blind bet out 7.5K and Devin made the call. The board double paired when the 4 came on the river and the big blind checked. Porter bet out 15K and the other player thought for a minute before making the call. Devin turned over AA for the flopped boat and the other player tossed his cards in the muck.
A little while later, Porter picked up another substantial pot on the last hand of the night to increase his stack to 182K. Porter, Nenad Medic and another player saw a flop of 742 and Porter bet 6.5K. Medic folded and the other player called. The J fell on the turn and both players checked. The 8 came on the turn and the other player checked to porter, who bet 14K. The other player called with a pocket pair of threes and Porter showed A4. We here at PocketFives Live are guessing Devin is feelin oooohhhhkaaaay going into Day 3.
When PocketFives caught up to Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson’s (pictured right) table, he bet out in position several consecutive hands to take down small preflop pots. When we talked with Darren, it seemed this strategy had been working quite well for him as he was staying strong at 190K. However, the rest of his table seemed to be tilting before the end of the night as tempers flared and patience waned. In one particularly inflammatory hand, Darren called a small preflop bet from a player in early position and smartly laid it down to a reraise behind. Long story short, the floor was called because of dealer errors, the clock was called erroneously, and Darren laughed as he watched his table unravel. We’re pretty sure he will look forward to his new table draw for tomorrow!
At a few tables over, Mike “RunScreamin” Herder managed to take down a couple of uncontested preflop pots as the rest of his table was dormant, waiting for the clock to run out on Day 2B. Mike was excited to continue on to Day 3 and will return with a very substantial 208K in chips.
Russell “rdrcrsn” Carson fought the short stack struggle for about an hour after losing the bulk of his chips on a double-draw gone bad a few hours before the end of the day. Carson eventually busted out when he re-reraised a 4k open from the button out of the blind for his last 18k. Carson’s opponent called with JJ, ahead of Carson’s AK. Carson was looking good after the turn when the board read T-Q-3-K but a nine on the river made his opponent a straight and sent Carson to the rail. Joining him on the rail as play ended for the day were Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin and David “hosnimbarak” Tazbaz who got it all-in with pocket kings on a flop of Q-8-3 with his opponent holding pocket queens.
Here are some unofficial chip counts we caught as play was wrapping up for the evening:
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy - 246K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 237K
Brandon Schaefer - 230K
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 213K
Mike “RunScreamin” Herder - 208K
Aditya “intervention” Agarwal - 200K
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter - 184K
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 171K
Leo “SuperfluousMan” Wolpert -170K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 155K
David “DavidP18″ Peters - 153K
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier - 150K
David “Raptor517″ Benefield - 140K
Thayer Rasmussen - 140K
Brian “Like7″ Lamanna - 133K
Darren Elias - 132K
Aaron “NDGrinder59″ Steury - 130K
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez - 125K
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 120K
Allen “abari” Bari - 118K
Matt “mattg1983″ Graham - 102K
Spencer “spankybabes” Lawrence - 102K
Mike “yngmanN4quiki” Postle - 101K
David “Bakes” Baker - 100K
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 90K
Jason “strassa2″ Strasser - 87K
Daniel “voff” Deveau - 85K
Brian “snagglepuss” Powell - 75K
“Bodog” Ari Engel - 73K
Frank “Round42″ Rusnak - 70K
Justin “truesyalose” Truesdell - 67K
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 66K
Mohsin “chicagocards1″ Charania - 65K
Clayton “clayton27″ Newman - 41K
Chris “cmoney3″ Kline - 35K
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 26K
Michael “benvo123″ Benvenuti - 23K