WSOP 2008
Papola Bows Out
by AdamJ on 07.13.08, 1:47 am
Although he survived the last few days never having more than slightly less than an average stack, Jeff “jpapola” Papola (pictured right) couldn’t fade being outchipped forever.
After watching him since Day 3 with less than an average stack, it seemed like a distinct possibilty that he would continue to advance beyond Day 5 of the Main Event despite catching the run of cards requisite for doing so.
Papola’s run finally ended on a hand that he was destined to go out on given his stack.
With blinds at 12k-24k-3k, an opponent from early position raised to 75k and Papola reraised from late position for 154k more. Papola’s opponent just called despite Papola only having 180k behind. His opponent checked to him on a K
Q3
flop and Papola moved all-in and got called with his opponent revealing a set with QQ
. Papola turned over JJ and got a ray of hope when an ace peeled but didn’t improve by the river.
Although his run through the Main Event was over, Papola felt grateful to last as long as he did.
“I’m happy to go as far as I did, I just beat aces with queens right before the break so I was fortunate to even be in,” said Papola, who just made the next money jump. Papola busted out in 90th place for 64k, receiving an extra 8k.
Peter “number1pen” Neff just lost a decent sized pot in an all-in preflop hand where his opponent was all-in for 185k with the QJ but trailed Neff’s A
9. Neff’s opponent flopped a flush draw, turned a queen and rivered a flush, shipping a 400k pot away from Neff.
Here’s a list of players left:
David “Raptor517″ Benefield - 2.5 million
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 2 million
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki - 1.6 million
Jonathan “therookieqq9″ Plens - 1.3 million
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 1.06 million
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 800k
Peter “number1pen” Neff - 700k
Jeremy “thechemist83″ Gaubert - 700k
People Don’t You Know It’s About Time?
by Jill on 07.11.08, 2:38 am
As hand-for-hand play continued well past the end of Level 14, players were either anxiously awaiting the money bubble or falling asleep at their tables. Play was frenetic as camera crews ran up and down the aisles, trying to capture players’ best and worst moments. However, cheers recently erupted in the Amazon room, signifying that 666 remain and everyone has made the money and are now guaranteed $21,230. Congratulations to all! As soon as hand-for-hand completes, players will take a 30-minute break to color up and take a breather.
Some players, like Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez (pictured at right) were trying to take advantage of the bubble to semi-bluff players off their chips and getting burned in the process. Senovio reported that he managed to lose 100K in chips over the last two levels, but spoke to his daughters for good luck once again at dinner and hopes it would charm his play going into the bubble.
Paul “comeonphish” Lieu decided to put his big stack to use bullying other players at the table while hand-for-hand play was underway. With the blinds at 1.5K/3K ante 400 it folded around to Lieu who raised to 10K from the hijack. The player on the button then reraised to 35K and Paul eyed his stack before making the call. The flop was A76 and Paul led for 20K. The other player thought for moment before making the call. As soon as the 2 hit on the turn, Lieu grabbed a stack of orange 5K chips large enough to put his opponent all-in. The other player thought briefly before announcing, “Well, you better get a camera over here.” Another player asked if he was calling and he paused before verbally announcing his call. The player then turned over AA while Lieu showed 28. Paul needed a diamond on the river, but instead he got the 6 and he paid off the other player’s remaining 64.4K.
Other players were making extremely solid moves and chipping up. Jeff “jpapola” Papola has been on a rush approaching the money bubble, doubling up twice. He went from 50K to 100K when his A-J held up against K-J and later went from 100k to 230k when his kings held up against A-Q. Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen also chipped up when he won a 400k pot off of Hunter “THE_HUNT_D” Frey (pictured at left) when his A-K beat Frey’s jacks in an all-in preflop hand. The hand left Rasmussen with 420k and Frey with 60k.
Other players were making strong plays and getting completely flattened. As we reported earlier, the table where Jeremiah Smith sits with Jon “PearlJammer” Turner was incredibly dangerous. Jeremiah built his stack up to more than 1.2M in the last level and was apparently still on his heater.
One of his latest victims is David “davidp18″ Peters (pictured at left), who has been struck by lightning. After Peters opened under-the-gun to 8k, tournament chip leader and former poker reporter Jeremiah Smith put him all-in for his last 160k after he stuck out two orange 100K stacks. Peters called with the QQ and was way ahead of Smith’s 96. Or at least he thought. Smith apologized in advance and jokingly referred to it as a standard race situation before the flop dropped. Smith’s optimism was understood when the flop came T87, flopping Smith a straight with a flush draw. Peter’s dire situation caught a ray of hope when the T peeled on the turn but the A on the river capped off what has been a Jamie Gold-like run of cards for Smith, who was awestruck in the aftermath of an incredible scene which captured in its entirety by the ESPN crew.
Here are some more unofficial chip counts at the bubble:
Keith “damurdera3″ Ferrera - 600K
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 530K
Andy “tufat23″ Teng - 500K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 485K
Matthew “Burton1080″ Jensen - 480K
Paul “comeonphish” Lieu - 480K
Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby - 440K
Thayer Rasmussen - 420K
Jamie “TheChronic420″ Rosen - 370K
Jonathan “therookieqq9″ Plens - 330K
Aaron “NDGrinder” Steury - 260K
Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal - 260K
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter - 245K
Tracey “XtrACEy” Nguyen - 235K
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier - 217K
Zelong “freeman” Dong - 193K
Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert - 160K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 160K
Clayton “clayton27″ Newman - 145K
Hunter “THE_HUNT_D” Frey - 145K
Frank “Round42″ Rusnack - 140K
Cliff “JohnnyBax” - 110K
Jason Gray - 100K
Ben “astrolux85″ Roberts - 95K
Tim “tmay420″ West - 80K
Jan “Erdnase” Heitmann - 80K
Brian “Like7″ Lamanna - 80K
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 63K
Justin “truesyalose” Truesdell - 62K
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez - 46K
The Titan Can’t Sink
by Jill on 07.07.08, 2:47 am
Jeff “jpapola” Papola was the last roommate standing in the WSOP Main Event after his good friend Russell “rcrane082985″ Crane (pictured at right) busted out in Level 4. Crain raised his opponents turn bet all-in with a gutterball on a Q-5-5-9 board and ran into A-Q. Crain got 3-bet preflop and called his opponent’s bet on the flop in position.
Since Papola and Crane registered at the same time, the former roommates at Rutgers got placed at the same table on Day 1D. Crane had been short all day and never got any higher than 26k, which was in the first few levels of the tournament. Papola has consistently been over 30k and currently has 50k.
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg continues build his stack after sitting with over 45k in the first few levels. Friedberg has been on a bit of a rollercoaster the past few levels, going from 62k down to 46k back up to his current stack at 72k.
The action at Tom “titantom32″ Braband’s (pictured at left) table has been thrilling. He reported to PocketFives that earlier this evening, he doubled up when he bet out preflop with 34 and both the button and the big blind called him. The flop came 56-A for an open-ended straight flush draw. He led out for 1,700 and the button made it 4,500. Tom four-bet to 15K and both had 35K behind them. His opponent called, the turn was another ace, and Tom shipped it in for 18K more. His opponent called him with AQ and a black seven on the river gave him the straight he needed to scoop the 70K pot.
His stack kept growing over the last level and his recent elimination of Todd Brunson elevates him past the 120K mark. On a board of 4266 and first to act, Tom took a stand and put a stack of orange chips into the middle, putting Todd to a decision for all his chips. Todd took awhile to think before making the call with 56 for trip sixes. While the ESPN mob came rushing over with their cameras and boom mics, the dealer laid out the A and Tom’s AJ nut flush held up. He scooped the huge pot and was up to more than 120K. Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen, also at the table, made the understatement of the year, “Well, aren’t you on a heater?!”
Chip counts midway through Level 5:
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 120K
Mike “BraveJayhawk” Jensen - 65K
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 60K
Ryan “youngluc” Young - 57K
Gary “Debo34” Debernardi - 55k
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 50K
Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis - 48K
Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan - 45K
Jeremy “chipsteela” Menard - 40K
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 39K
David “ComptonMasta” Barter - 37K
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 29K
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 27K
Frank “Round42″ Rusnak - 19.5K
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez - 18K
Brett “Gank” Jungblut - 16K
Evan “Oakplayer” Schwartz - 14K
Nathan “darkcheck” Tuthill - 8K