WSOP 2008
Zachary Up, VanDuyn Gone
by Court on 08.27.08, 1:21 am
All you can do in poker is put yourself in good spots and hope for the best. Both Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark and Josh “pbdrunks” VanDuyn were all in with pocket jacks against smaller pairs for a shot at a 400k plus pot. One now has tournament chips and will almost assuredly make it to tomorrows play while the other is at the cage collecting his $14k payout.
Zach (left) opened for 22k (blinds at 4k / 8k) and Max Pescatori raised to 64k from the small blind. After taking a long time to think, Zachary finally moved all in for a total of 209k. Max made the call, leaving himself with less than 10k chips. When the cards were turned up Zach was way ahead with pocket jacks against pocket eights for Max. The higher pair held up and Zachary now has around 440k. Max was eliminated on the next hand by Amit “Amak316″ Makhija. For his 31st place finish Max earns $14,085.
Josh VanDuyn was in the same situation, all in with pocket jacks against pocket sixes. His hand got ran down though, and instead of having a decent stack going into the final three tables he is left only with thoughts of what might have been. VanDuyn finished in 32nd place collecting the bottom payout of $14,085.
Graham, Makhija Double Opponents
by Court on 08.26.08, 11:12 pm
With 40 players left, money bubble play is ramping up. Players are walking around the room checking out other tables, scoping out the short stacks, and planning their strategy for the money bubble. Chip leaders Matt “Mattg1983″ Graham and Amit “Amak316″ Makhija have both doubled up opponents, while Josh “pbdrunks” VanDuyn was able to double up himself.
“You got saved by the ace three,” Layne Flack told Josh. A player had raised to 18k, Layne had called, and VanDuyn moved all in for 70k more. The first player in called and Layne folded his hand. When the cards were turned up Josh had pocket kings against his opponents A-3 suited. The A-3 flopped a flush draw and Layne claimed he would have flopped a set had he not folded. But he had, and the flush did not get there so VanDuyn was able to win the pot and double up to 200k.
“I’m glad it was you,” Makhija told his opponent after doubling the player up when his pocket queens ran into the short stacks pocket aces. The player only had 59k, so the dent to Amit’s stack wasn’t that bad.
Graham took a bigger hit in a hand against Lee Markholt. With about 150k in the pot Graham came over the top of a bet on a board of K
J8
4
with an all in bet that put Markholt to a decision for his last 150k. After long thought Lee finally called with the K
9 and Matt showed his open ended straight draw with the QT. The Q on the river wasn’t what Graham needed and Markholt chipped up to around 450k while Graham dropped to 270k.
Pictured Left: Graham (left side of picture) moving all in over the top of Markholt (right side of picture) on the turn.
Final 50, No Bear
by Court on 08.26.08, 8:57 pm
The money bubble gets continues to approach as the Legends of Poker is down to the final 50 players. Barry “barryg1″ Greenstein (left) was among the short stacks, hanging on with just under 50k while the blinds jumped to 2k / 4k with a 500 ante. He was all in, and all out, minutes into the level.
Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson, Amit “Amak316″ Makhija, Josh “pbdrunks” VanDuyn and Matt “Mattg1983″ Graham are all cruising along with over 300k. VanDuyn was able to double through Antonio Esfandiari (since eliminated) in a battle of the blinds. Antonio raised from the small blind and Josh defended from the big blind with A5. On the A-5-3 flop the players ended up all in and Josh’s two pair held up against Antonio’s AJ to send a 360k pot VanDuyn’s way.
Greenstein was all in with pocket aces in a three way pot with a chance to pick up a pot that would put him back to 100k. His aces ended up falling to a flopped straight though and the Bear became the 51st place finisher.
The tournament is now 14 players from the money.
Volleyball Gold
by Court on 08.24.08, 11:56 pm
Is there a poker tournament going on at the Bicycle Casino tonight? Or is it just a group of people gathered to watch the Olympics? As the USA men’s volleyball team played their way to a gold medal much of the attention span in a room full of ADD players was tuned towards the TV and away from the table. Now that the game is over the focus is back on poker, for some of the room at least.
Phil Laak and Allen Cunningham were just involved in a juggling prop bet. Laak had to juggle three apples for 60 seconds to win a few hundred dollars bet. Carried out right by the tournament poker table Laak completed his task, drew the attention of the room, pocketed his couple of Benjamins and is back to playing poker, at least for the next few hands.
Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo (left) and Scott “BigRiskky” Clements have been freed up to divert their attention anywhere they would like after their eliminations from the tournament. Barry Greenstein and Allen Cunningham both still have around 70k and are near the top of the chip counts, trailing Maria Ho with 95k and Ali Eslami with 135k and a handful of other players in the 100k range.
Much of the field is still scrapping around the 30-40k range. Peter “#1Pen” Neff raised to 1,100 after a player limped in for 200. The limper called and on the QJ5 flop checked to Neff who bet 1,600. He was check raised to 4k and Peter thought for a brief moment before grabbing his entire stack and sitting it out in the middle. After the 4k was pulled in Neff’s bet was about 20k more to his opponent who folded after some consideration. After the hand Neff had around 32k.
Josh “pbdrunks” VanDuyn is also still around the starting stack. He recently had to fold a set on a board of T6258 to a river bet. After ditching the set Josh still has just under the 30k starting stack.
Slaubaugh Busts in Level 1
by AdamJ on 07.03.08, 4:47 pm
Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh’s remarkable run through this WSOP came to an end in the first level of the 10k NL Main Event, WSOP Event #54.
Slaubaugh’s 86 got all-in on the turn when the board read 5793. Slaubaugh’s opponent turned an ace-high flush.
P5’s unfortunately caught the action late on the turn so the context of the hand isn’t complete.
Nevertheless, it’s been an incredible series for Slaubaugh, whose had arguably the best results from WSOP NL tournaments this summer.
Slaubaugh’s made five cashes this WSOP, three of which were top 20 finishes. Slaubaugh’s best run was through the 1.5k NL WSOP Event #36 where he finished 2nd, cashing for 389k.
Most players barometer on whether they drew a good starting table, especially in fields this large, is to not recognize anyone at their table.
A handful of P5ers were unfortunately not in that enviable position.
Adam “akat11″ Katz was sitting right across from one of the most feared NL tournament players in the world in David Pham. At least Katz was sitting a few seats to Pham’s right, although from talking with Katz that hardly seemed like any consolation.
“I mean why wouldn’t I be seated right across from one of the most aggressive tournament players in the world,” he said.
Brock “t_soprano” Parker (pictured left) drew one of the tougher tables in the field with Roland De Wolfe and David Benyamine sitting directly to his right. Throw in Peter Neff as well and the table is down right cruel.
Joe Sebok’s tough WSOP got a little bleaker when he was planted to the immediate right of James “mig.com” Mackey.
So far, Sebok has fared well at the table with 24k to Mackey’s 14k.
Joshua “pbdrunks” VanDuyn continues to battle tough luck early in tournaments this WSOP. VanDuyn’s stack is down to 11k after he turned an underflush in a pot he raised preflop. Luckily VanDuyn was able to salvage a chunk of his chips after he took a pot-control line after the flop, check-calling the turn and river.
Here’s a list of players’ stacks:
JC “PrtyPSux” Alvarado - 26k
Adam “akat11″ Katz - 25k
Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka - 23k
Eric “jakz101″ Crain - 21k
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 21k
Brock “t_soprano” Parker - 18k
Richard “Lee Nickel” Fohrenbach - 17k
Adam “All In At 420″ Stout - 17k
Nick “fu_15″ Maimone - 14k