WSOP 2008
NoLongerARook
by Brett on 06.21.08, 8:43 pm
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski is enjoying himself today. The mid-stakes online MTT grinder, better known as ICuRaRook on Pokerstars, has cashed for the first time in a WSOP event and increased his stack in each level of the $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em event today.
Sluzinski (pictured right) started the day with 30K and was last seen with over 75K. He’s been butting heads with arguably the toughest table left in the tournament — Shane “shaniac” Schleger, Chris “cdbr3799″ Dombrowski, Michael Binger and now Lee Watkinson. First, it was Schleger who handed some over to Sluzinski. Jeff raised to 7.5K in middle position and Schleger, sitting directly to his left, called. On the flop of 6
5
4, Sluzinski checked to Schleger, who bet 11.5K. Sluzinski then check-raised to 30K and Schleger quickly folded. Jeff informed us a few hands later he had Q9.
Shane won some of those chips back from Sluzinski a few hands later, but after entering the level with almost 150K, has now gone broke. Schleger lost the majority of his chips to Benjamin Zamani after being moved from the Sluzinski-Dombrowski-Binger table. He flat-called a raise of 8K from Keith Lehr in the hijack and Zamani raised to 26.5K in the small blind. Lehr folded and Shane contemplated for a minute before moving the rest of his chips in the pot. Zamani called off his remaining 20K with QQ
and Shane was disgusted with his AJ. The flop was gin for Schleger — AK
J — but the T on the river shipped a 90K pot to Zamani and left Schleger with 20K. He later got it all in preflop with K-J and failed to catch up to the pocket jacks of Chris Bell.
Dombrowski (115K) and Euguene Todd (60K) are also among the 34 players remaining in the event with the average stack at 73K. Play will conclude this evening when the final nine are left standing.
Wolpert and Gray Get Coolered in 10k Heads-Up
by Jessica on 06.13.08, 4:36 pm
Many players have made quick work of their heads-up opponent and the blue section of the Amazon room is already starting to feel a little empty. After Isaac Haxton made quick work Scott Fischman, he decided to stick around and observe the other match taking place on his table (each table has two matches taking place on them). Eventually the tournament director announced to Haxton and the other players whose matches were complete that they needed to clear the tournament area until Round 2 starts at 5pm.
Players still competing in their matches also can’t help but watch the second match taking place at their tables, especially during the downtime while dealers are shuffling. Scott “BigRiskky” Clements was spotted peeking over at his neighbor Sammy Farha’s heads-up match on numerous occassions, even when he was involved in a hand himself.
Aside from many of the match-ups being quite compelling with a field ripe with notable pros, most players were watching the other match at their table because the winners from the same table play each other in the next round. For many of the players, especially those with a high stakes background online, concrentating on multiple heads-up matches is standard fare as many of them play multiple heads-up matches simultaneously online.
P5er’s Leo “Superfluos Man” Wolpert (pictured at right) and Craig “MrCasino” Gray must have left the Amazon room feeling like they were set up as their monster hands left them with a nightmare. Wolpert raised the button preflop and Robert Mizrachi called. On a flop of A37, Mizrachi check called Wolpert’s flop bet. The turn brought the 9 and Mizrachi check-raised Wolpert, who went all-in and was quickly called by Mizrachi, who turned over his 33 making Wolpert’s AK drawing dead.
Gray’s hand ended in similar fashion. Gray’s opponent raised the button and Gray called. On a flop of QJ9, Gray check called his opponents bet of 1300. The 7 dropped on the turn and Grey check raised his opponent bet of 3300, going all-in for another 11,500. Gray’s opponent called revealing JJ, ahead of Gray’s double draw with the Q8. Gray’s big draw bricked out and he was eliminated.
With such a diverse collection of incredible live and online pro’s, there was handful of intriguing match-ups scattered throughout the room like David “Raptor517″ Benefield vs Justin Bonomo, Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis vs Kenny Tran and Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi vs J.C. Tran.
Bonomo and Kenny Tran prevailed in their match and Mizzi and Tran continue to battle it out.
It took Eugene Todd and Michael Mizrachi only one hand to end their match although it had little to do with any drama on the felt. Both being good friends, they decided to go all-in blind and Mizrachi’s 8-2 prevailed over Todd’s 4-3.
List of Notable Winners
Alex Jacob, Theo Tran, Blake “BallaB13″ Cahail, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond
List of Early Exits
Barry Greenstein, Patrik Antonius, Glen Chorney, Amit “amak316″ Makhija, and James “mig.com” Mackey
Event #19 Final Table Inches Closer
by Brett on 06.11.08, 11:28 pm
Jordan “iMsoLucky0″ Morgan was eliminated in 19th place of the $1.5K Pot-Limit Omaha Event, releasing a collective sigh of relief from several short stacks as the final two tables have been formed. Morgan (pictured right) got involved in a three-way all in with Colin Yorke and Craig Natte. Morgan held Q-T-T-8 (double suited) and was up against the J-J-6-2 of York and A-T-9-5 of Naette. The board revealed KQ597, giving Naette the nut flush and sending Morgan packing.
The eliminations have been fast and furious from there. Nine more players have fallen in the span of 45 minutes, but P5er Jamie “The New” Robbins is staying strong, working with a 70K-80K stack for the past few levels by raising in position and not having to commit his entire stack.
Eugene Todd is currently 5/10 in chips and just made a huge laydown to save himself from exiting the tournament. On a board of QJ3, two players moved all of their chips into the pot, forcing Todd to a critical decision. He chose to fold, claiming he had top two pair, and his opponents flipped up bottom set and a wrap draw. The board paired, but it would have been disaster for Todd, who pumped his fist in the air. Todd still has around 150K chips.
One more player to go! Play will end as soon as the final nine are left standing. We’ll keep you updated as play progresses.
The New Omaha Champ?
by Brett on 06.11.08, 8:28 pm
Jamie “The New” Robbins has been adding chips to his already-sizeable stack in today’s $1.5K Pot-Limit Omaha, and has just eliminated Chau Giang in 34th place to increase his total to over 110K. With the blinds at 1.5K/3K, Robbins (pictured right) raised to 7K preflop with 9876 and Giang and another player called. On a flop of K88, Robbins bet 23K and Chiang moved in for 30K more. Robbins tanked and eventually made the call after nearly three minutes to find that he was in excellent shape against Giang’s AKQT. Robbins’ hand held and he found himself among the chip leaders.
Jordan “iMsoLucky0″ Morgan is sitting with over 90K after busting a short stack at his table. Morgan limped in early position, the small blind completd and the big blind raised to 12K with 6K behind. Morgan re-raised 20K more, the small blind folded and big blind pushed his remaining chips in the pot. Morgan held T-T-8-7 and his opponent had A-K-Q-6 (double suited). The board ran out J-T-7-J-5, giving Morgan a full house and increasing his stack to around 95K.
Vanessa Selbst (300K), Eugene Todd (90K), Nam Le (45K) and Carter “devinr12″ Gill (40K) are some of the other notable players left in the dwindling 31-person field. Play will conclude today when the final nine are decided. A bracelet and first-place prize of $227,965 will be awarded tomorrow.
Yeh and Singer chip leaders in 1.5k PLHE
by AdamJ on 06.03.08, 4:31 am
A collective sigh let out in the amazon room as hand for hand ended after ten minutes of anxiousness among the 72 remaining players left in the 1.5k PLHE who secured a WSOP cash, good for $2,725 after the 73rd player was elimated.
After the cash bubble bursted, play resumed for another 20 minutes before the day ended.
Among players who chipped up as played closed was David Singer, who went from 80k to 124k in the final 30 minutes and trailed only Philip Yeh’s 143k stack of the 63 players left.
Scott “gunning4you” Seiver is among the top stacks with 95k. Seiver, also known as “mastrblastr” on Full Tilt, is a well-known nosebleed cash game player, specializing in $25-50 and $50-100 heads-up NL.
P5er Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert advanced to Day 2 with 12k.
Other pro’s remaining are David Daneshgar, David Levi and Eugene Todd (pictured at right).