WSOP 2008
Route 66 Leads to a Bracelet for Hinkle
by Crystal on 06.15.08, 1:00 am
Some say that “666″ is the number of the Devil himself, but for Blair “blur5f6″ Hinkle (pictured at right), it worked miracles at the final table of Event #23, the $2K No-Limit Hold’em tournament. When the players were 3-handed, Hinkle raised his button and Daniel O’Brien raised all in. Hinkle debated and then called but found out his 6
6
was dominated by O’Brien’s 88
. Hinkle’s throng of supporters yelled for another six and indeed when the flop was laid out, it read A6
5, prompting the crowd to go wild! The 5 came on the turn, leaving O’Brien with the two remaining eights as his only outs. The K fell on the river, sending O’Brien to the rail and putting Hinkle into heads up play as the chip leader.
A mere eight hands later, Hinkle raised on the button and Mark Brockington reraised only to have Hinkle push all in. Brockington made the call with his AK, only slightly behind Hinkle’s 66. Again the crowd called for a six to come and this time it was Brockington’s tournament life on the line. The dealer laid out the flop of the A62 and Hinkle flopped a set of sixes once again, leaving Brockington drawing only to runner runner outs. The crowd was in hysterics! The 8 on the turn sealed Brockington’s fate and gave Blair Hinkle $507,563 and his first WSOP Bracelet win a mere 10 days after his brother Grant captured WSOP gold in Event #2.
Grant Hinkle Wins Event #2
by Jessica on 06.04.08, 3:22 pm
The enormous field of Event #2 - $1.5K NLHE has finally been whittled down from 3929 to one. During heads up play with Grant Hinkle (pictured at left) and James Akenhead, Hinkle raised from the button, Akenhead reraised, and Hinkle moved all-in. James made the call with A K and Grant tabled T 4. It looked like Hinkle had picked the wrong time to bluff his opponent until the flop came T T 4 . If the flopped full house was not enough, the T on the turn gave Grant quads and eliminated James Akenhead in 2nd place. He took $520,219 for his efforts. Grant Hinkle won the bracelet in addition to $831,462 in prize money.
Two more bracelet winners will be crowned before the day is over. The $1.5K PL Hold Em final table begins at 2pm today. The current chip leader is Joe Tehan. Other players at the table include David Singer, Robert “PlayaPlz” Lipkin, and Zachary “Carter” King.
At 3pm the final table of the $5K Mixed Limit Hold Em event begins. The current chip leader is David Rheem, whose chip stack sits at 885K. Full Tilt Poker is well represented at the table by Erick Lindgren, Howard Lederer, and Roland de Wolfe, who will have to contend with Rheem, Isaac Haxton, Bodog’s David Williams and Justin Bonomo, Andrew Robl, and Pat Pezzin.
Several other events will continue play today. The $1K NL Hold Em with rebuys begins Day 2 play at 2pm and the $1.5K Limit Omaha 8 event resumes at 5pm. Both events will play down to the final table.
The day kicks off with Event #7 - $2K NL Hold Em and Event #8 - $10K World Championship of Mixed Games will begin at 5pm. Players we will be watching in the $2K event include Tom “titantom32″ Braband, Devin “tranquilchaos” Porter, Darren Elias, and Nick “fu_15″ Maimone