WSOP 2008
SirWatts’ Tourney Future Bright
by Jill on 07.05.08, 1:37 am
Nearing the end of Level 4 this evening, play condensed further in the Amazon Room, yet the crowd of spectators remained ever large. Plenty of action for PocketFivers occurred in this last level. We caught up with Stu “thedonator” Paterson (pictured at left) who still contended with a small stack, hovering just over 13K. With a couple other players, he limped into a flop of 6
59
and bet out 1.4K after seeing the board. Another player in later position raised to 3.5K total; one other player called and Stu folded. It seemed he was looking for a good spot to double up at what seemed to be a tight table.
At a nearby table, Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold and Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy protected their pre-dinner stacks, increasing their value by a few thousand chips each. While watching their table, which was right on a very spectator-filled rail, we saw Marco take down a small pot against one other player with K-Q. He chipped up to 26K while Todd accumulated to 41K.
PokerRoad’s own Haralabos Voulgaris has been increasing his chip stack as well; when we caught up to his table in the Green section, he was in the big blind and a few other players had entered play. The flop came 5J
9 and players checked the flop. The A
came on the turn, and one of his opponents bet out 1K. Haralabos called and the 9 came on the river. Both players checked and he flipped A8 to ship the chips his way.
In the Blue section of the Amazon room, many player have relocated and redrawn for seats, but Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski (pictured at right) informed PocketFives that no one’s left his table all day. “We’ve all become friends,” he said. “We’re just going to fold to the end of the day.” Except he did report to P5s that he managed to recently double up to 17K, so we’re not entirely sure his motives are all friendly!
At the table behind Jeff sat Mike “SirWatts” Watson who accumulated a huge chipstack - he was up to 102K in the last level. We’re not entirely sure how he keeps attracting chips to his stack since action is always calm when we watch; perhaps there are magnets under the table?
At the next table over, Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim reported that he just wants to keep up with SirWatts — He’s convinced that’s his best strategy. In an effort to do this, in one hand, Jeff bet out in the cutoff for 750 before the flop with a chipstack of 52K. The player on the button raised it to 2,400 and pushed everyone else out of the pot. Jeff counted each chipstack and estimated that he had a 5:3 chip advantage over the other player, so he reraised him to 7,450. In what became a betting war, his opponent made it 14K total, 6,600 more. Jeff thought a moment longer before pushing all his chips in the middle. His opponent, clearly agitated, thought long and hard before folding. Jeff slid his cards to the dealer and chipped up to 63K.
Some unofficial chip counts at the end of Level 4:
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 102K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 63K
Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold - 41K
Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor - 40K
Shaun Deeb - 34K
Greg “okstate345″ Cox - 31K
Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert - 31K
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 28K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 26K
Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy - 26K
Bobby “Gettin Deep” Hodson - 24K
Brian “Wing-n-prayer” Reingold - 18K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 17K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 12.5K
Theo “pittrounder” Tran - 5.5K
Zpaceman Lifts Off
by Jill on 07.04.08, 9:21 pm
On Orange Table 10, PocketFives caught up with Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy (pictured at right) heads-up in a hand with Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold. On a board that read A433, Marco bet out 3,450 as he was first to act, leaving 23K behind. Todd reraised him to 9K and Marco went to the tank for a long time before finally deciding to fold with a bemused look on his face. Todd increased his stack to 36K while Marco fell to 24K.
A few tables over at Orange 8, action was getting more exciting as it filled up with PocketFivers. Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor was quite active over the last level, apparently wanting to mix things up a bit since his last level was slow. He sat at the table with another PocketFiver, Greg “okstate345″ Cox, who guarded a 26K stack.
When we caught up with the table, Stuart was involved in a hand with two other players on a flop of J76. Stuart bet out 750 after, but was reraised to 2K by the player on his left. Stuart called and the 8 dropped on the turn. He checked, his opponent bet out 3K, and Stuart took a long time to rake his opponent over the coals while he made his decision. Eventually, Stuart folded the hand with a face-up jack and his opponent also showed a jack. Stuart was left with 34K to question what other card was in the muck as Steve “gboro780″ Gross sat down at the table two seats away.
Shortly afterward, Stuart (pictured at left) led out with a preflop bet of 950, which Steve called. The rest of the table folded the action back around and the flop came AAK. Again, Stuart began the action with a 1,250 bet. After thinking awhile, Steve folded TT face up and was left with a short stack of 14K.
The next hand, Stuart limped in early position with one other player and the small blind completed. The big blind checked his option and the flop came AQ7. The blinds checked and Stuart bet out 600, which was immediately flat-called by the player on his left. The small blind called, the big blind folded and the 2 fell on the turn. The small blind checked, Stuart bet out 1,200 and the limper flat-called. Action returned to the small blind, who tossed his cards in the muck before a 4 came on the river. After shaking his head and musing to himself, Stuart bet out 3,250, taunting his opponent, “If I bet, you will pay me!” Sure enough, after thinking quite awhile, his opponent called and Stuart flipped over pocket sevens for a flopped set. He took down the pot and increased his stack to 42K.
Steve managed to get a few chips back soon after when he saw a flop of KT5. He bet out 1,300 against the button, who called; the 2 hit the turn and both Steve and his opponent checked. The 9 on the river inspired a bet of 2,250 from Steve and his opponent insta-called him, but mucked his hand against Steve’s KT for top two pair. Steve took down the pot and increased his to nearly 20K.
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski made a move in the past hour but couldn’t get paid off on what looked to be a big hand. With the blinds at 150/300, a player raised under the gun to 900 and Sluzinski called in the cutoff. The flop was A86 and the other player led out for 1,100. Sluzinski raised all in for 7,425 more. His opponent contemplated a call before letting it go and Sluzinski is now at 11K.
Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu’s (pictured below) game has apparently not changed on the live circuit. His hyper-aggressive style helped him chip up to 35K through Level 3 but he just took a small hit to his stack. In a blind vs. blind confrontation, Lieu bet 600 on a T73 board and the big blind called. The 8 fell on the turn and Lieu bet 2,500 only to get reraised to 7,000 by his opponent. Lieu thought for close to five minutes, swirling a green chip with his right hand before folding a leaving himself with 30K.
Here are some updated unofficial chip counts:
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 66K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 45K
Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold - 37.5K
Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu - 31.5K
Mike “Schneids” Schneider - 30K
Blair Rodman - 29.5K
Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert - 28K
Greg “okstate345″ Cox - 26K
Shaun Deeb - 25.5K
Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy - 24K
Theo “pitrounder” Tran - 23K
Matt “SameENole” Smith - 21K
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 20K
Derek “arodss3″ Buonano - 19K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 17K
Todd “DanDruff” Witteles - 16K
Brian “Wing-n-prayer” Reingold - 13.5K
Peter “Nordberg” Feldman - 12K
Tim “EightLarge” Vansant - 11K
Empty Seat at Table 50
by Brett on 07.04.08, 7:43 pm
Scott “emptyseat88″ Fischman, who appeared to be in hiding for much of today with his jacket pulled up over his face, has officially been erased from the Main Event field after busting in the past level. Fischman (pictured left) got all of his chips in on a 972 board with 99 against an opponent’s T8. The 3 on the turn gave the other player a flush and Fischman was unable to fill up on the river.
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski ran also into problems earlier, chasing a flush draw on the flop and hitting a running two pair on the turn and river, but paid off a higher two pair to cut his stack to 9K. He currently sits at 8.5K but still seems composed. We joked with Jeff earlier about getting 1-1 odds that he’d make the final table, to which he replied “You got screwed!”
Shortly after we wrote about Shaun Deeb and Tom “sbrounder” West’s table in the last update, it was broken and the friends were sent their separate ways. Deeb is far from alone at his new table though — both Steve “gboro780″ Gross and Theo “pitrounder” Tran were already seated there and now it has become one of the most stacked tables in play today.
Cardrunners’ Mike “Schneids” Schneider has been steadily building his chips since being moved to his new table. We spotted him raising to 600 with the blinds at 100/200. The player in the hijack called and they saw a flop of Q86. Schneider (pictured right) bet out 1K and his opponent quickly called. When the K hit on the turn Mike checked and the other bet out 2K. Schneider thought briefly, then made the call. Mike checked again after the 8 on the river and the other player fired out 7K. Schneider decided to call and his opponent turned over 99 and Mike revealed K-10 to scoop the pot with top pair. After that, he was up to 38K.
When PocketFives caught up with Stu “thedonator” Paterson midway through Level 2, he was raking in a pot with pocket jacks to get back his starting stack of 20K. He joked with his opponent, “Finally, now we can play again. We’re even.” Presumably, he’s been head-to-head with his tablemate before and his spirits were high. He finished the level with 26K in chips.
Meanwhile, Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor bet out a few tables over with 32K behind. After a flop of 976, his one remaining opponent checked to him and he fired out 850 into the pot. His opponent folded and he increased his stack to 35K. Stuart reported that the last level has been slow but comfortable.
Players have just left the Amazon Room to take their second break of the day and blinds will increase to 150/300 when they return at 4:58 PT. Here’s a look at some current chip counts:
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 58K
Todd “DanDruff” Witteles - 38.5K
Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy - 38K
Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold - 37K
Mike “Schneids” Schneider - 36K
Jason Young - 35.5K
Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu - 31K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 30.5K
Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert - 29.5K
Blair Rodman - 24K
Theo “pitrounder” Tran - 21.5K
Peter “Nordberg” Feldman - 21K
Shaun Deeb - 18K
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 14K
Nick “gbmantis” Niergarth - 11.5K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 11.5K
Brian “Wing-n-prayer” Reingold -11.5K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 11.5K
Tim “EightLarge” Vansant - 9K
Eliminated this hour: Micah “mordan” Hendrix
Little and Jaka Moving Up
by AdamJ on 06.30.08, 4:44 pm
Chips are flying in the early levels of the 1.5k NL WSOP Event #52 and many P5er’s are reaping the benefits in the 2700 player capped field.
Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka (pictured at right) won a 7.5k pot when his all-in 1500 bet on the river was called by his opponent on a 99A37 board. Jaka tabled the J9 and scooped the pot.
Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little busted an opponent when he raised to 300 in the 50-100 level and got re-raised to 900 by an opponent in late position. Little effectively put his opponent all-in for his remaining 2k stack and his opponent called with QQ, way behind Little’s KK. The board ran true for Little, whose stack sits around 5.5k.
Nick “gbmantis” Niergarth got shortstacked early but won a race early in an all-in preflop confrontation with his KQ running down his opponents 99, increasing Niergarth’s stack increased to 1700.
Shane “shaniac” Schleger and Chad “lilholdem954″ Batista will have to battle back from rough starts as Schleger sits with 1k and Batista at 2k. Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski’s stack has been reduced to three green 25 chips but is in way better shape than Adam “Roothlus” Levy, who busted out early.
Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh and Matt “All In At 420″ Stout have chipped up a little in the first few levels with Slaubaugh at 3300 and Stout at 3600.
Chip Counts Galore!
by Brett on 06.27.08, 9:21 pm
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski got involved in a battle of words with a player at his $2,000 No Limit Hold’em table, and ended up being an unfortunate victim of a cooler against the same player. Sluzinski (pictured left) and his nemesis built a pot of nearly 24K preflop, Sluzinski having him covered but his AK trailing KK. The J52 flop looked bleak for Jeff but he picked up a flush draw when the 6 landed on the turn. Adam “akat11″ Katz and a few others walked over to watch the 7 fall on the river, leaving Sluzinski with a mere 2K at the 150/300 level.
A couple tables over, Dan “Wretchy” Martin tripled his stack to 18K when won a three-way all in preflop. With the blinds at 150/300, a player raised to 1,500 under the gun and the button flat called. Martin moved in for 4,600 more and both players called, with the under-the-gun player showing 9-9 and the button 6-6. Martin’s hand managed to hold up as he made a flush on the river and he is now well above the average stack.
With 650 players still alive and the average stack at 12K in Level 6, here are some notable chip counts in Event #48:
Eric “jakz101″ Crain - 50.5K (pictured right)
Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson - 40K
Dan “voff” Deveau - 31K
Jason “JCarver” Somerville - 25K
Danny “MrRadditz” Radditz - 24K
Scott “ssitron” Sitron - 15K
Peter “Nordberg” Feldman - 14K
David “DavidP18″ Peters - 13K
Thayer Rasmussen - 12.5K
Jeremy “Chipsteela” Menard - 12K
Adam “akat11″ Katz - 12K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson -11K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 10K
Bryan Micon - 10K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 10K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 9.5K
Carter “ckingusc” King - 7.5K
Noah “fouruhaterz” Schwartz - 7K
Steven “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer - 7K
Jon Wein - 6.5K
Jeff “crzysavage” Gressard - 4K
Tim “TMay420″ West - 3.7K
Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks - 2K
Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman finished fourth in the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em w/Rebuys event for $223,572. Freeman was eliminated by Rene Mouritsen when he re-shoved a button raise by Mouritsen from the big blind with A7 and walked right into Rene’s AK. The board didn’t help Freeman, who was somewhat disappointed with his fourth-place finish but overall happy with his play during the three days.