WSOP 2008
Basebaldy Bullies Bubble and Whiffs
by Jill on 06.28.08, 5:24 am
The last hour has been a harrowing run for the bubble in Event #48, the $2K No-Limit Hold’em tournament. After finishing standard tournament play after Level 10, players were nearly on the bubble and took a 15-minute break before resuming to burst the bubble. Most players were anxiously hovering over other tables to watch action occur; one PocketFiver in particular took the opportunity to double up at the hesitation of his table.
Tristan “Cre8ive” Wade found himself incredibly short-stacked with 11K after a huge 80K lost pot to another player. He was visibly tilted by the loss, but when action folded to him in the cutoff, he shoved the rest of his stack into the middle. The player in the big blind (to whom he’d lost his chips earlier), thought awhile before calling and flipped over his K
T to Tristan’s 7-8. Tristan was in big trouble when the flop spiked a ten, but a miracle 7 and 8 on the turn and river bought him an extra life in the tournament.
Our bubble boy for the evening was Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin (pictured at right), who raised from early position to 4.4K, hoping for a walk. His opponent re-raised him preflop to 16.4K, Baldwin shoved all in, and met an instant call. Baldwin was caught bluffing and whiffed 7
4
to his opponent’s pocket aces.
The 198 remaining players are guaranteed $3,795 for their run and will return at 2pm PST tomorrow afternoon to commence Day 2. PocketFivers still in the running for the $770,540 and WSOP bracelet include chip leader Eric “jakz101″ Crain with 253,500 chips, Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson, Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Daniel “voff” Deveau, Adam “akat11″ Katz, David “ComptonMasta” Barter, Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski, Dan “wretchy” Martin, and Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin.
Play has slowed substantially in the $5K No-Limit Hold’em 6-max event following the elimination of Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier in 16th place. While we last reported that Grospellier had picked up a healthy pot off Jason Gray, he ran into a series of hands that resulted in substantial hits to his chip count. The final blow came when Bertrand bet every street on a jack high board, moving all-in on the river with his A-J only to be called by the pocket aces of his opponent.
Gray has had a rollercoaster ride of a level himself. With the blinds at 6K/12K and an ante of 1K, Tom Luntz raised to 30K in early position and Jason reraised to 120K. Luntz then moved all-in and Gray made the call with A-Q. Luntz showed pocket jacks, but a queen on the turn shipped the 530K pot in Gray’s direction.
Just a few hands later, Luntz and Gray got it all-in preflop again and Tommy held pocket jacks a second time. Jason was in much worse shape this time around with his pocket tens and when the board came out AK5
3K Jason doubled Luntz up and was left with 225K. Play is scheduled to continue down to the final 6-handed table this evening.
Day 3 of the $50K HORSE event has come to a close and 24 players remain in contention for the much coveted bracelet. Barry Greenstein continues to stay towards the top of the leaderboard along with Daniel Negreanu. James “mig.com” Mackey will also be returning tomorrow to play down to the final eight players.
The Cooler
by Brett on 06.13.08, 5:08 am
It was cold.
With the blinds at 6K/12K and 13 players remaining in the $5K NLHE Event, Anders Henriksson raised to 33K from early position and Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet reraised to 100K, with 200K behind in his stack. Action folded back to Henriksson, who shoved for a total of 229K and Van Fleet quickly called, only to find that his QQ was way behind the KK of Henriksson. The board ran out 742K and, of course, Q on the river to leave everyone wondering what could have been.
Van Fleet was left with 68K, but then doubled up on the very next hand. He shoved in early position with A2 and was called by Adam Geyer with 44. Van Fleet hit the A on the flop and managed to dodge a two-outer to stay alive.
Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman (pictured left) lost a crucial race in what has been a rough hour for the remaining online stars. Freeman raised to 31K from under the gun and Chuck Sklar moved all in from the small blind for 140K more. Scott quickly called with AK and was unhappy to see Sklar’s 33. Freeman shook his head as the board revealed QT867 and he was left with around 350K.
Scott “gunning4u” Seiver is still the commanding chip leader with 1.4 million. He took out the last player, Humberto Brenes, whom spectators were sad to see go.
Speaking of which, P5er Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin was eliminated in 15th place for $25,767 and Cody “thugmoneymakr” Slaughbaugh was out in 19th place for $19,583. Both are still hanging around to watch.
Be sure to stick around tonight as we cover Event #21, as well as the $3K Horse Event, all the way to the final table.
Home Run for Baldwin
by Brett on 06.13.08, 2:33 am
It might translate better to a single and a three-base error in baseball terminology, but Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin is pleased with the result regardless. Here’s how the enormous pot in the $5K NLHE Event went down: A player under the gun raised to 24K at 4K/8K blinds and Baldwin (pictured left) shoved in middle position for 170K. Thanhdat Tran then pushed his last 70K into the middle and it folded around to Ben Sprengers in the small blind, who called and had all players covered. The under-the-gun player folded and all hands were revealed:
Baldwin - 75
Tran - QQ
Sprengers - JJ
The 742 flop gave a little hope to Balwin’s seemingly irreparable hand, and then the remaining players at every table gathered to watch the 7 peel off on the turn to put Baldwin in the lead. The meaningless 8 came on the river and a pot of 440K was sent to Baldwin, who is now up to over 500K after eliminating Jorryt Van Hoof a few hands later.
Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet (pictured right) and Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman have also been doing work as the field has thinned down to 23. Van Fleet took a huge pot off of Eli Elezra to build his stack to over 400K. On a flop of J65, Elezra checked to Van Fleet, who bet 26K. Elezra then raised to 57K and Van Fleet called. Eli led out for 50K when the 7 appeared on the turn and Van Fleet called. The river brought the T and Elezra asked for a count of Van Fleet’s chips. Jon counted out 84K and Elezra checked after a minute of thought. Van Fleet then moved all in and four minutes passed while Elezra figured out his next play. Eventually he called the clock on himself, which got a laugh from several onlookers, and Eli folded as the tournament director got down to four seconds left on the clock.
Freeman recently eliminated Mark Radoja when his AQ out flopped the QQ of Radoja, sending him home in 25th.
Adam “Roothlus” Levy was knocked out of the event in 24th place and now the remaining 23 players are set to play down to the final nine tonight in anticipation of tomorrow’s final table. The winner will pick up a hefty $755,891.
In an unrelated story, we just caught Men “The Master” Nguyen buying five bags of beef jerky in the Poker Cafe. We’ll keep you updated on his condition.
Money Makr
by Brett on 06.13.08, 12:24 am
Cody “thugmoneymakr” Slaughbaugh has been on a tear in Level 16 of the $5K NLHE Event. Slaughbaugh began the level with roughly 170K and has since built his stack to 350K, putting him near the top of the leaderboard.
Slaughbaugh (pictured right) first got involved in a pot with Danny Smith. At 3K/6K blinds, Slaughbaugh raised to 17K from the button and got calls from Smith and Anna “VietCutie” Wroblewski in the blinds. On a flop of 553, Smith and Wroblewski checked to Slaughbaugh, who bet 28K. Smith called and Wroblewski folded. The 6 fell on the turn and again Smith checked to Slaughbaugh, who instantly shoved for 122K. Smith thought for two minutes before calling with 88, which was way behind Cody’s QQ. Slaughbaugh faded the two outer as the K came on the turn and he picked up a pot of 360K.
On the very next hand, Slaughbaugh raised to 18K from the cutoff and Wroblewski raised to 42K from the small blind. Scott Seiver then raised enough to put Anna all in, Slaughbuagh folded and Anna called immediately with KK. Seiver flipped up AJ, and then outdrew her when the A spiked on the turn. Wroblewski finished in 39th place, good for $12,712.
Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman (pictured left) has just crept over the 200K mark after busting Sam El Sayed. El Sayed shoved his last 35K from the cutoff and Freeman, being the wizard he is, figured he was priced in and made the call with K3, which was ahead of Sayed’s QT. The board ran out J52A4 and El Sayed was eliminated.
Alex “AJKHoosier” Kamberis has also just been taken out in 34th place for $16,147, but there are still a handful of notable online stars still left in the field. Here are some recent chip counts:
Scott “gunning4u” Seiver - 700K
Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet - 225K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 220K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 210K
A loud roar came from the ESPN Tournament Arena just before players in the $5K NLHE went on dinner break. A large crowd had gathered to watch Daniel Negeanu win his fourth WSOP bracelet as he defeated Ugur Marangoz heads up in the $2K Limit HE Event. He’s in a $200,000 bracelet race with Phil Ivey for this year’s WSOP, and as he hoisted bracelet #4 into the air, he yelled, “Me 1, Ivey 0!”
All’s Quiet On the Amazon Front
by Crystal on 06.12.08, 5:16 am
While the $2k Limit Hold’Em tournament still has two tables playing and Jeffrey Lisandro and Mike Matusow are still playing heads up in the $5,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw w/ Rebuys, play has ceased in both the $5k NLHE tournament and the $3k HORSE tournament and the Amazon room is now mostly quiet. Numerous P5ers are still in the hunt in both the $5k NLHE and the $3k HORSE tourneys.
During the last level of the $5k NLHE tourney, Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer’s stack was anything but steady. In one hand O’Dwyer raised preflop and the small blind called. The flop came AK5, the small blind checked, O’Dwyer bet 8.5k, and the small blind pushed all in for 17k total. O’Dwyer said “I have to call!” as he flipped over his T7 for a flush draw that was behind the AJ of his opponent. The 9 on the turn and 3 on the river were no help to O’Dwyer and his stack dropped to around 30k.
Not long after that hand, O’Dwyer tangled in another big pot when Carl “colson10″ Olson raised preflop and O’Dwyer pushed all in next to act. Olsen called with AK and was ahead to O’Dwyers AT but when a Q, J, and finally a K fell on the board O’Dwyer’s broadway straight was enough to eliminate Olson from the tournament.
P5ers still in the hunt when the $5k No-Limit Hold’em Event #21 resumes tomorrow at 2PM PST include:
Anna Wroblewski
Amit “amak316″ Makhija (pictured at left)
Ben “MilkyBarKid” Grundy
Jason Gray
Alex “AJKHoosier1″ Kamberis
Mike “SirWattel” Wattel
Eric “BaseBaldy” Baldwin
Kevin “StamDogg” Stammen
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer
John “pbdrunks” VanDuyn
Scott “gunning4you” Seiver
Eric “Rizen” Lynch
Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke
Jeremiah “Believer82″ Vinsant
Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet
Eric “sheets” Haber
Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman
Adam”Roothless” Levy
P5ers still grinding away in the Event #22 $3k HORSE tourney include Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy, Stu “The Donator” Patterson, Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul, James “mig.com” Mackey, Mark “pokerbok” Vos, Zak “traction” Gilbert, and Eric “EFro” Froehlich.