WSOP 2008
Six-Handed Players Making Moves
by Crystal on 06.26.08, 7:53 pm
There are many players making moves in event #46, the $5k NLHE six-handed event. Glen “choron” Chorny was trying to get his short stack moving in the right direction when he raised to 600 preflop with the blinds at 100/200 until an opponent re-raised to 2.4k. Chorny (pictured left) looked disgusted and after thinking for a minute he mucked his cards, showing the A
. His opponent said “That’s why I didn’t want to see the flop” as he flipped over his pocket kings and raked in the pot. Chorny is sitting with half his original stack so we expect to see him making more moves as the blinds increase.
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer bet out with the board showing T
5
3 and his opponent raised. After thinking for a minute O’Dwyer reraised enough to put him all in and the other player did indeed make the call with the KT
only to find that O’Dwyer held the AA and was ahead in the hand. The turn and river came with the Q and 6 and O’Dwyer added to his stack as the other player exited the tournament.
Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert’s luck wasn’t quite as good. We caught up with the action on the river with the board reading T73TK and Wolpert making a bet of 850 into the small pot. He was called by his opponent and Wolpert appeared reluctant to flip over his hand. When he did he showed the AJ for ace high which had been good until the river, as his opponent held the KQ for a pair of kings which was enough to scoop the pot.
Players are just coming back from their second break of the day and the blinds will be 150/300 with a 25 ante when they return. Some unoffical chip counts of notable players left in the field are listed below.
Hevad “RainKhan” Khan - 35k
Blair “blur5f6″ Hinkle - 32k
Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar - 32k
Alex Jacob - 25k
Shannon Shorr - 19k
Gavin Griffin - 19k
Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis -19k
Amit “amak316″ Makhija -17k
Chad “lilholdem954″ Batista (pictured right)- 13k
Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan - 12k
Anna Wroblewski - 12k
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 11k
Players that have been eliminated from the tournament so far include Joe Sebok, Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby, Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, Carter “devinr12″ Gill, Rolf Slotboom, Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet, and Issac Haxton.
Gavin Fun
by Jessica on 06.14.08, 6:08 pm
Round 4 of the $10K Heads Up event has been running less than an hour, but already players are making quick work of their opponents. Recent bracelet winner Vanessa Selbst was the first to advance to the Sweet 16 and shortly on her heels was Gavin Griffin (pictured at right), who won his match after the following hand transpired:
With starting stacks of 160K and the blinds at 1K/2K, Griffin raised to 5K total and Alex Kostritsyn made the call. The flop came 432 and Kostritsyn checked. Griffin bet out 8K and Alex raised 10.5K on top. Griffin thought for a moment before raising again for 30K more. Kostritsyn then moved all-in for another 35K or so and Griffin called with AJ to his KK. The turn came T and the river was a king, but the K, which gave Griffin the winning flush.
The 2,706 person field of the $1.5K NLHE Event #27 has been narrowed to 1,970 already and several players are starting to build their stacks. Here are some chip counts we spotted heading into the break:
13K - Craig “MrCasino” Gray
7.5K - Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul
7K - Court Harrington
6.6K - Scott “ssitron” Sitron
6K - Mike “wiscomurray” Murray
4.7K - Michael “moneymike10″ Prepelica
Other players, like Joe Sebok, made an early exit in the event. Joe was eliminated in Level 1 of play when he got it all-in preflop with A-K to Roy Winston’s pocket queens. The board came out 9 high and Winston was the benefactor of an early double up. In addition to Sebok, Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby, Nick “fu_15″ Maimone, Scott “gunning4you” Seiver, and Shane “shaniac” Schleger also made early exits.
He Might Be a Little Sore-l After a Beat Like That
by Crystal on 06.14.08, 1:06 am
In the Brazillia room Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi just took a painful beat in event #24, the $2.5k PL HE/O tournament. A short stacked player limped preflop during an Omaha rotation and Mizzi, on the button, raised. After both blinds folded the limper committed a good portion of his chips by calling the raise and they saw the flop come T53. The limper pushed the rest of his chips into the pot and Mizzi quickly made the call showing the T876 for top pair, a gutshot straight draw, and a backdoor flush draw which was ahead of the other players 8765 for middle pair with the same straight draw and a different backdoor flush draw. While Mizzi should win or split the pot almost 90% of the time, the poker gods dealt the cruel 5 on the turn putting his opponent way ahead and the J on the river was no help and Mizzi doubled the short stack up.
Back in the Amazon room the 3rd round of the $10k Heads Up NLHE World Championship tournament is just beginning. Notable players who are looking to move on to tomorrow’s round 4 include: Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, Gavin Griffin, Alex Jacob, Anna “VietCutie” Wroblewski, Isaac Haxton, Theo Tran, and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond. The action is sure to be exciting in this 3rd round and we’ll keep you updated as players advance to round 4.
BK-iCed!
by Crystal on 06.12.08, 12:27 am
Andy “BKiCe” Seth was recently eliminated from the $5k NLHE tournament when his squeeze play failed to squeeze the other players out of the pot.
With the blinds at 300/600 and a 75 ante, Gavin Griffin raised to 1,850 3rd to act. Action folded to the cutoff, who called along with the small blind. Seth, who was in the big blind, then made a large reraise all in for an additional 12,150. Griffin called without much thought but the cutoff’s decision seemed a little tougher. After thinking for awhile, the cutoff called and the small blind folded.
When the flop came Q72, Griffin checked and the cutoff asked him how much he had left. The cutoff then bet 17k into the dry side pot and Griffin folded. The cutoff tabled the AQ for top pair top kicker while Seth held the T8, the fruits of a failed squeeze play that didn’t work out in his favor. The J came on the turn giving Seth a few outs but the T on the river sealed his fate and he was eliminated.
Over in Event #22, the $3K HORSE Tournament, Craig “MrCasino” Gray was having a hard time hitting some great draws in a Stud hand. After 3 betting it on 3rd, his opponent bet out most streets with Gray calling. On 6th both players checked with Gray showing J987 and his opponent showing KA62. After their final cards were dealt both players checked again and when Gray’s opponent called out “Ace high,” Gray sadly looked at his hole cards and mucked, knowing he probably could’ve taken the pot with a bet on the river.
At the other end of the HORSE tournament, Brock “t_soprano” Parker and Kevin “BeL0wAB0ve” Saul were seated at the same table. Saul reported that he nearly hit rock-bottom in the tournament with 275 in chips. Parker, bemused, chimed in that he’d doubled Saul up - twice. As the two recounted the story to PocketFives, Saul nearly managed to double again, taking down a Stud pot with an A high flush and racking up the chip count to 5K. Parker was sitting happily with 11K in chips before the table broke up and the pair were reseated. The average chipstack of the tournament sat at 7K with 352 remaining of the original 414 in the field.
Doug “Resilient” Smith reported that he’s been card dead and hit a low of 3.6K chips in the event, but has since managed to painstakingly increase his stack back up to 6.5K. Zak “traction” Gilbert also hovered in the 7K range just before the break.
Meanwhile, in Event #20’s Limit Hold’Em standoff, players reached the money with Daniel Negreanu leading the pack. Also in the money is Brett “Gank” Jungblut, nursing a very short stack and looking to make a move. More than 40 players remain in the event, play will continue down to the final table.
Day Two of the Pot Limit Omaha event concluded tonight with the elimination of Tony Phillips in 10th place, when chip leader Vanessa Selbst had a huge showdown and managed to pull out two pair on the river. Selbst guards more than half the chips in play going into the final table, plus the well-earned respect of the other players struggling to take her down.
Lieu Doubles, Saul Busts
by Brett on 06.11.08, 9:55 pm
With a below average stack in the middle stages of the 5k NL WSOP Event #21, Liz Lieu (pictured right) caught the break she needed at just the right time.
On a flop of 647, Gavin Smith led for 700 and Andy Black raised to 2k. Lieu 4-bet all-in for 8200. Smith folded (which he later said was aces) and Black moved all-in, having Lieu outchipped by a few thousand. Black tabled 44 and Lieu showed her double draw with the Q8. The turn was a Q but the river 9 rescued Lieu’s stake in the tournament, increasing her stack to 18k.
There was an incredible amount of live pro’s at Scotty Nguyen’s table, who was playing alongside Kenny Tran, Noah “Exclusive” Boeken, Layne Flack, Huck Seed, and Eric Cajelais.
P5er Andy “BKiCe” Seth drew one of the tougher tables in the field with cash game savants Daniel Alaei, Nick Schulman, and Brian “tsarrast” Rast. Gavin Griffin and Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin were also at the table, making for an interesting mix of players. Seth had one of the bigger stacks at the table with 31k at the 150-300-25 level.
Kevin “BeLOWaBOVe” Saul sitting alongside his friend Jason “JCarver” Summerville, lost over half his stack when his flopped set lost to a turned straight, losing a big bet on the turn and the river where Saul check-called both streets.
A few hands later with around 3k, Saul moved in under-the-gun at the 150-300-25 level with KT but ran into an opponents AK and Saul failed to improve.
Undeterred by busting, Saul was back at again in just enough time to join a handful of online players mixing it up in the 3k HORSE, WSOP Event #22 which started at 5pm.
Vying for his fifth WSOP cash this summer, Craig “MrCasino” Gray (pictured left) elected to skip the 5k NL event earlier so he could play the 3k HORSE. “There’s so many NL tournaments and this is just more of an enjoyable experience to me,” Gray said. “It’s like poker’s fun again.”
Fresh of their success in the 10k Mixed Event, Tony “tongni” Rivera and James “mig.com” Mackey are looking for another final table in a mixed games event after they were the last two standing in the 10k Mixed tournament. Ironically enough, both were dropouts from the University of Missouri but didn’t know each other til they met at the final table.
Here’s a list of some of the other notable online players scattered throughout the 408 player 3k HORSE field:
Johnny Bax
Brock “t_soprano”
Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers
Chris “sooooted” Vaughn