WSOP 2008
Hit A Draw One Time?
by Court on 04.26.08, 9:36 pm
Or every time. John Roveto (right) was able to win his first pot of the day with an all in move. His chips went into the middle not long after tournament director Jack McClelland joked that John was the trying to ante his way to victory. The first all in move was successful, but two in a row was too much. Hansen called and it was either double up or go to the cage to collect the 3rd place payout for Roveto.
John had pocket kings against the A
T of Gus, but a J-9-8 flop gave Hansen 8 extra outs to go with his naked ace. The turn left hope for Roveto, but the 7
on the river hit filling yet another draw for Gus and sending another player to the rail. In a mere 22 hands Gus has eliminated 4 players and left himself heads up for the title against David Chiu.
Roveto was able to benefit from Gus eliminating other players though, moving up to third place and collecting the $923,355 prize.
Good Call, Bad Beat - Carroll Out 4th
by Court on 04.26.08, 9:20 pm
After successfully raising Gus Hansen to pick up a few pots preflop Cory “UGOTPZD” Carroll again popped one of Hansen’s opening raises. Gus made it 480k and Cory raised to 1.65 million chips. Gus called and on the QJ
6 flop Cory checked and Hansen stood up to get a look at Carroll’s chips. After seeing that Cory had just over 6.5 million left Gus finally decided to move all in putting Cory to a decision for the rest of his chips.
Carroll (left) thought for a long time at one point saying “do you have a big draw Gus?” and then finally making his mind up after commenting “If you have king queen or queen ten then its over I guess, I call.” Cory had the AJ and his pair of jacks gave him the best hand against Hansen’s holding of the 75. The turn was the Q
and Carroll was one card away from becoming a huge chip leader in the tournament. Instead the 3 filled the flush for Gus and eliminated Carroll in 4th place.
The payout for 4th is $593,645 and a large sum, but Cory will have to leave here thinking what could have been and about the almost $3 million more he could have had for first place.
David Chiu and John Roveto have been quiet up to this point. It is possible that neither have raked in a pot yet, but both have jumped way up the payout scale while Gus mows down the field.
Gus Doing the Work Early
by Court on 04.26.08, 9:07 pm
Coming into the final table as the shortstack, Jeff King (right) knew he would have to double up pretty early on to have a chance. Mission accomplished on hand 7. Jeff was all in for just under a million and Gus Hansen said “I hate this hand” but finally called anyway with pocket deuces. King had two overs (shocker) with KJ, and flopped two pair to win the hand and double through Gus and up to around 2 million.
Five hands later the two were all in again, Jeff with the AQ against Gus with the T9. The 864 flop was safe for Jeff and he was only two cards away from his next double up but Hansen had 10 outs. The turn was the K killing 3 of the outs, but the T on the river was one of the cards Gus was looking for. With the pair of tens he busted King in 6th place for $263,815. Gus had just over 10 million chips after the hand.
Not many hands after eliminating King another player was out the door at the hands of Hansen. On a Q-T-5 flop both Tommy Le (left) and Gus had flopped a set, but Hansen’s set of tens left Le drawing to one out. It didn’t hit and Tommy Le (younger brother of Nam Le) saw his final table end in short order and brutal fashion. Le takes home $395,725 for the 5th place finish.
The only chink so far in the armor of Hansen has been a few hands he has folded to Cory “UGOTPZD” Carroll. On multiple occasions Cory has raised and taken decent pots off of Gus without having to show down a hand or even see a flop.
Final 6 Set
by Court on 04.24.08, 11:33 pm
With the elimination of Amir Vahedi in 7th place the televised final table participants are now set. Gus Hansen will go into the final table holding the chip lead, with Cory “UGOTPZD” Carroll (right) and David Chiu not far behind.
Here are the full chip counts:
Gus Hansen - 8,570,000
Cory “UGOTPZD” Carroll - 6,670,000
David Chiu - 6,050,00
John Roveto - 2,720,000
Tommy Le - 1,950,000
Jeff King - 1,305,000
Down to 10
by Court on 04.24.08, 7:30 pm
After 2 quick eliminations play slowed with 15 players remaining. The stall was ended when Nick Binger (right) was eliminated by Gus Hansen. Binger was all in preflop with AQ against Hansen’s suited A3 and by the time the river was out Gus had made a flush to bust Binger in 15th place for $131,910.
After Binger’s elimination the next few bust outs came quickly with David Tran and Robert Mizrachi also being knocked out. Hansen did the dirty work against Tran, picking up pocket aces and having them hold up against Tran’s flopped pair to send David home in 14th place.
Mike Gracz was able to bust a shortstacked Mizrachi when Robert moved in and Gracz called. Gracz had pocket jacks and they held strong against Mizrachi’s A8. The victory for Gracz was short lived though. Not too long later he was all in against Gus Hansen with a flop set against the Danes flush draw. Blank on the turn but the T on the river completed the club flush for Gus and busted Gracz in 11th place.
In between the Mizrachi and Gracz eliminations Bryan Devonshire (left) was busted in 12th place. Bryan was all in with AQ against David Chiu with pocket queens. Unlike Gus, the strategy of getting it in behind and getting there didn’t work out for Bryan and his 12th place finish brought the same payday of $131,910 that went to all finishers between 11th and 15th.
The remaining 10 players, including Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Cory “UGOTPZD” Carroll are all now at the same table and playing down to the final 6.