WSOP 2008
Gray Done For the Day
by Crystal on 06.14.08, 2:40 am
Craig “MrCasino” Gray’s (pictured at left) stack was dwindling in the $1.5k Razz tourney as antes and bring-ins continued to eat away at his chips. He got all his chips in on 3rd street against one opponent and after the draw was complete the other players 8-7-4-3-A was good enough to best Gray’s T-6-5-4-2, sending him to the rail.
Also in the Razz event, Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul’s stack was moving in the opposite direction after he knocked out Michael Binger. They got all the chips in early, and in the end, Saul had a T-8-7-4-2 while Binger held a J-8-3-2-A (the result of being dealt trip 2s during the hand). Binger was eliminated and Saul added a few more chips to his stack which is now around 11k putting him near the top of the current chip count.
After the last painful beat in Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi took in the $2.5K Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha tournament, it wasn’t long before he was knocked out of the tournament by another. In late position, Mizzi bet 6500 and was called by Max Pescatori who was on the button. The flop came 3
Q
J
. First to act, Mizzi bet 8500 of his short stack and was called; when the 7 came on the turn, he thought for quite awhile. Mizzi raised once again, but Pescatori pushed all-in. Mizzi didn’t hesitate to call with Q-T for top pair, but Pescatori caught the A on the river and improved his A-J to win the pot.
Meanwhile, plenty of PocketFivers continued to succeed in Event #25, the $10K Heads Up No-Limit Championship. Anna “VietCutie” Wroblewski won a huge hand and a massive chip advantage in her match. Her opponent raised pre-flop and Anna smooth called to see the flop come A9A
. Anna checked, her opponent bet out and Anna called. The 5 came on the turn and Anna checked, her opponent bet, and she called. When the T came on the river the action went similarly with a check and a bet but Anna spent a much longer time contemplating whether to call or not. She shuffled her chips over and over and counted out her stack a few times before eventually making the call. As soon as she threw her chips into the pot, her opponent shook his head in defeat as Anna flipped up the AJ and scooped a huge pot.
Other PocketFivers remained armed to the teeth in battle; Michael “worldsgrtest” Banducci took down a big pot with a jack-high diamond flush, increasing his stack to more than double his opponent’s. He continued to chip away as P5s looked on. Alex Jacob was also close to winning, continuing his aggressive play. Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (pictured at right), however, looked quite short with 25K, but managed to represent a couple of flushes and convince his opponent, Jonas Entin, to fold. The pair constantly joked at the table, Entin reporting that they are friends, as Galfond increased his stack to 50K.
Advancing to the next round, Michael “shipitthisway” McNeil defeated his opponent when he turned and rivered two pair. Isaac Haxton defeated his opponent when his AK improved against pocket jacks. Matt “hazards21″ Giannetti also crippled his opponent by flopping a set of fives and then later eliminating him when he turned a pair of twos. On the other side of the coin, Blake “Balla-B13″ Cahail was eliminated when his opponent, Thomas Lutz made quad tens on the river.
Beckman, Giannetti Get It All In
by Jessica on 06.10.08, 7:17 am
Four of the final table spot for the $1.5K shootout have been determined while the remaining tables continue to play into the early hours of the morning. Though many of the players had several hours off between their first and second tables, Day One of this tournament has technically been going for 16 hours now.
The remaining tables are divided between those who are heads up and those who are playing 3-handed. Matt “Hazards21″ Giannetti’s table only recently dropped from 4 to 3-handed and Garrett “GBecks” Beckman’s table has been 3-handed for over an hour. Earlier in the level, on a board reading KJ9K8, Matt Giannetti got it all-in against his opponent on the river thinking he was going to double up with his K-8 only to discover that the other player held the same hand.
Beckman got his chips all-in after his opponent raised to 9K on the button at the 1.5K/3K ante 400 blind and he shoved all-in from the big blind. The other player called and showed A-Q. Beckman, who held A-3, thought his night was coming to a close until the 3 came on the river and he doubled up. He now has around 110K–just over 1/3 of the chips in play on the table.
Meanwhile, over on table #9, Kyle “kwob020″ Bowker continues heads up play with his opponent.
Neff Out 44th
by Court on 04.23.08, 5:10 pm
To play for 3 full days and then have your tournament life and large sums of money riding on the outcome of one hand is the sickness that tournament poker players expose themselves to time and again. Peter “#1Pen” Neff (left) had all his chips in preflop with AQ and was in a dominating position against Matt “Hazards21″ Giannetti holding of AJ.
Both players paired their ace on the flop, but Neff wasn’t looking to improve his hand, only for Giannetti to not hit his 3 outer. A jack on the turn was all it took to send Neff to the rail though and his 44th place finish put him in the second rung of the payouts for $52,765.
Staying Hot
by Court on 04.21.08, 11:36 pm
Richard “Lee Nickel” Fohrenbach (left) busted Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy earlier and has continued to accumulate chips throughout the rest of the day. A rough count as the last level of the day winds down puts him at 250k chips. Bryan Devonshire has jumped out to the chip lead, sitting with 415k chips at last check. Not only has Bryan amassed a huge pile of chips, he has done it at a difficult table with Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby, Daniel Negreanu, Matt Hazards21″ Gianetti and Isabelle Mercier all at his table.
Fohrenbach’s table is no cakewalk either. He was able to grab some of his chips from Erik Seidel earlier and also has Mark Newhouse, Tim “Tmay420″ West, Nick Binger and Kristy Gazes at his table.
In the hand with Seidel, Fohrenbach bet 20k on a board of K952 and Erik raised to 55k. Richard asked how much he had behind (over 100k) and after a couple of moments announced he was all in. Erik folded and Fohrenbach raked in the pot. A little later in the day Fohrenbach picked up another pot with a bet on the river to push his stack up to 250k.
Cory “UGOTPZD” Carroll (right) was almost out the door earlier, but he hit his flush and took a huge pot off of Tom “durrrr” Dwan. After a table break Carroll has continued to pick up chips, eliminating a player when his pocket fours held up against AQ. Cory had opened the pot and a player moved all in for 25,200 more. Cory counted out the chips, glanced back at his cards, and after a short pause tossed in the chips to make the call. The board came T-9-9-9-K to send the pot Carroll’s way. Corey is up to 350k as the day winds down.
Joe Sebok has also continued to chip up and is around 280k as players go into the last 9 hands of play for the day.
The field has just dropped to an even 200 players, so by the time these last 9 hands are played out over half the players left will make the money.