WSOP 2008
O’Brien Feels the Chill
by Crystal on 06.08.08, 9:19 pm
No one likes a cold deck and John “jdawg0913″ O’Brien certainly didn’t like one as the $1.5k LHE event was nearing the final table. We reported earlier a couple of big hands that hurt his stack and when O’Brien returned from the break the coolers continued. In one hand O’Brien’s pocket tens ran into another players pocket queens knocking his chip stack down pretty low. He then got all his chips in on the turn of a board showing 9
4
4
4 while holding the AK
only to find he was drawing dead to his opponents AA. He gracefully shook the hands of his tablemates and left saying that he was very happy with how well he did and he’ll be back tomorrow to play in the $1.5k Shootout which he cashed in last year.
The $5k Shootout final table is now down to 4 players all thanks to Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert. Thomas Roupe bet his last 31k and Wolpert raised over the top to isolate. Leo was way ahead holding the AK to Roupe’s T7. The board ran out 94259 and Roupe was eliminated in 6th place. Only 5 hands later, Tim “tmay420″ West put all his chips in preflop with the 99 only to find he was dominated by Wolpert’s KK. The board of 742JT was no help to West and he was eliminated in 5th place. West will take home $63,450 for his efforts today. Wolpert is now up to 2.4 million in chips and is the current chip leader.
Across the room, the $2k O8 event #16 began a little while ago and while the action has been rather slow (as is in the beginning of most limit tournaments) we’re keeping our eyes on some P5ers in the field including Chris “SKOAL” Falconer, Jeff “gnsd22″ Higgins, Senovio “Dorsal Fin” Ramirez, and Aaron “NDGrinder59″ Steury.
The Comeback Stud
by Crystal on 06.08.08, 8:17 pm
Dario Mineri (pictured at right) is trying to climb his way back up the leaderboard of the $10k Stud event after his stack fell to a mere 6.5k. He had called a player’s all in bet on 4th street and Dario showed the (JJ)KJ while his opponent held only a pair of aces. Unfortunately for Dario, his opponent caught another ace and Dario failed to improve, allowing the other player to double up. He’s now built his stack back to a much healthier 38k at the beginning of today’s first break and seems to be picking his spots well. Jordan “Octavian_C” Rich was eliminated earlier today from this event along with pros Doyle Brunson, Greg Raymer, and Bill Chen. There are currently 58 players remaining but only 16 will cash in this event.
With 13 players remaining, John “jdawg0913″ O’Brien has taken a couple of big hits over in the $1.5k LHE event. He lost a pot when his KQ wasn’t good enough to best the A8 of his opponent on a J837T board and then he flopped a set of 8s when the same player from the previous hand flopped a set of 9s and took another chunk of O’Brien’s chips. He is now down to around 140k in chips which is good for 8th out of 13 remaining as the players go on a 20 minute break. We still believe that the PocketFives.com t-shirt John has been religiously wearing to this event will bring him good luck and help him make the final table!
In the $5K NLHE Shootout Event, play commenced nearly three hours ago with Tim “tmay420″ West and former Quizbowl champ Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert facing Philip Tom, Thomas Roupe, former hockey pro Greg “FBT” Mueller, and Sirous Jamshidi. No one has been eliminated yet in the play, but several tense moments have occurred in the last hour of play.
Sirous Jamshidi managed to double up through West, flopping two pair to West’s JJ. Three hands later, Wolpert checked the flop from the big blind after calling a 70K preflop raise. Wolpert’s pocket eights were good enough to hold up, winning him about 300K in chips. His fans on the rail went nuts; other news sites are labeling them “raucous” and “wild” — only to be expected by the PocketFives crowd.
Later, West doubled through Tom Roupe when West held 88 to Roupe’s 77. West now holds a stack of over 1M in chips, yet after more than 90 hands of play, all six original players at the final table remained.
Babes in Pokerland
by Crystal on 06.08.08, 4:04 pm
The Amazon room has quite a different feel to it today; It looks prettier, smells better, and many of the female masseuses have magically transformed into men. This is all because today kicked off the $1k Ladies NLHE tournament. The room is filled with notable female players such as Katja Thater, Susie Isaacs, Shirley Williams, Vanessa Rousso, Clonie Gowen, Jennifer Tilly, Camryn Manheim, Cheryl Hines, Kathy Najimy, and P5’s own reporter Jess Welman (pictured at right). We wish Jess the best of luck and know that today’s event will be exciting to watch!
Speaking of watching, the rails around each section of the room are filled with boyfriends and husbands watching their significant others battle it out on the felt. We can only hope that the men don’t intervene as we’re sure the ladies will do just fine on their own!
With 1,190 entries after the first hour of play they’re 96 entries short of a tie with last year’s total registration, but entries will be accepted until the end of the 2nd hour of play so we could see an even larger field this year.
In about an hour, three other events will resume play:
- The final table of the $5k Shootout where Tim “TMay420″ West and Leo “Mr Superfluous” Wolpert will be looking to claim the top prize of $477,990;
- The final two tables of the $1.5k LHE event where John “jdawg0913″ O’Brien is still in contention with Erik Lindgren, who is looking to claim bracelet #2 at this years WSOP;
- Day 2 of the $2.5k NLHE event where there are numerous P5ers still in the hunt, including Theo Tran, Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman, Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks, Aaron Been, Matt “Mattster24″ Sterling, Frank “Round42″ Rusnak, Craig “MrCasino” Gray, Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson, Bryan Micon, and Carter “ckingusc” King.
Dropping Like Flies
by Jessica on 06.08.08, 4:21 am
The last two levels of play in the $2.5K NLHE event proved to be action packed as several players chipped up or shipped out. Soon after Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby (pictured at left) was moved to a new table with Theo Tran and Matt “Mattster24″ Sterling he got involved in a hand with Tran that led to his demise in the tournament. With the blinds at 500/1,000 and a 100 ante Jared raised under the gun to 2,600, Theo Tran called in late position, as did the big blind. The player in the big blind checked when the flop came J64 and Jared bet out 3,800. Tran made the call and the player in the blinds folded. When the 5 peeled off on the turn, Hamby checked and Tran bet 5,500. Jared then moved all-in for just over 25,000 more. Theo stood up in frustration and asked Hamby, “do you have a set of jacks?” Hamby kept his head hung very low and did not respond. Theo thought some time before eventually making the call with 66. Jared turned over 7T for the open-ended straight draw. The river was no help to him and he headed home for the night.
Phil “USCPhildo” Collins met a similar fate when he and Frank “Round42″ Rusnak got it all-in preflop. Collins held AK to Rusnak’s TT and caught his king when the flop came KQ9. His hopes of doubling up were crushed however when a J came on the turn, giving Rusnak a straight. Collins missed his one outer redraw to a better straight on the river and called it a night less than an hour before play ended.
Several other players were sent to the rail recently including Chad “lilholdem954″ Batista, Frank “Gator93″ Hernandez, and our own Court Harrington who battled a short stack for two levels before getting it all-in preflop with J-10 to his opponent’s pocket tens.
We also caught up with Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks (pictured at right) for the last hand of the evening, in a hand with one other opponent. After the board lay A8A74, Brent was first to act and moved all in. The opponent called and Brent flipped over pocket sevens for a full house. After winning the last hand of the night, Brent counted and bagged up his chips - 75K, well over the average stack. Play resumes tomorrow at 2PM PST with 141 remaining players all vying for the bracelet and $666,777. We checked in with several P5ers as play was wrapping up and here are their unofficial chip counts:
Theo Tran - 130K
Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman - 89K
Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks - 75K
Aaron Been - 70K
Matt “Mattster24″ Sterling - 69K
Frank “Round42″ Rusnak - 65K
Craig “MrCasino” Gray - 40K
Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson - 31K
Bryan Micon - 25K
Carter “ckingusc” King - 18K
Meanwhile, in the $1.5K Limit Hold’em Event #12, PocketFiver John “jdawg0913″ O’Brien (pictured at left, sporting his lucky P5s shirt again today!) has managed to quadruple up as only 29 players remain in the tournament. We caught up to John’s table when he had about 35K in chips, barely hanging on as the average stack size reached 85K. He fought hard for the blinds, stealing when possible and raising to take down uncontested pots.
At one point in the play, Phil Hellmuth, recently busted out of the $10K Stud Event, came to distract Erick Lindgren who was seated two spots to O’Brien’s left. Plenty of banter ensued, proving yet again that Hellmuth doesn’t even need to be in a tournament to be a nuisance. Later, Gavin Smith also showed up at the next table over, starting what appeared to be his attempt at a party.
O’Brien took the opportunity to take down a few more uncontested pots with early raises. His stack now stands at over 100K. Moral of the story? Wear your PocketFives gear whenever possible.