WSOP 2008
Lieu Doubles, Saul Busts
by Brett on 06.11.08, 9:55 pm
With a below average stack in the middle stages of the 5k NL WSOP Event #21, Liz Lieu (pictured right) caught the break she needed at just the right time.
On a flop of 6
4
7, Gavin Smith led for 700 and Andy Black raised to 2k. Lieu 4-bet all-in for 8200. Smith folded (which he later said was aces) and Black moved all-in, having Lieu outchipped by a few thousand. Black tabled 44
and Lieu showed her double draw with the Q8. The turn was a Q but the river 9 rescued Lieu’s stake in the tournament, increasing her stack to 18k.
There was an incredible amount of live pro’s at Scotty Nguyen’s table, who was playing alongside Kenny Tran, Noah “Exclusive” Boeken, Layne Flack, Huck Seed, and Eric Cajelais.
P5er Andy “BKiCe” Seth drew one of the tougher tables in the field with cash game savants Daniel Alaei, Nick Schulman, and Brian “tsarrast” Rast. Gavin Griffin and Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin were also at the table, making for an interesting mix of players. Seth had one of the bigger stacks at the table with 31k at the 150-300-25 level.
Kevin “BeLOWaBOVe” Saul sitting alongside his friend Jason “JCarver” Summerville, lost over half his stack when his flopped set lost to a turned straight, losing a big bet on the turn and the river where Saul check-called both streets.
A few hands later with around 3k, Saul moved in under-the-gun at the 150-300-25 level with KT but ran into an opponents AK
and Saul failed to improve.
Undeterred by busting, Saul was back at again in just enough time to join a handful of online players mixing it up in the 3k HORSE, WSOP Event #22 which started at 5pm.
Vying for his fifth WSOP cash this summer, Craig “MrCasino” Gray (pictured left) elected to skip the 5k NL event earlier so he could play the 3k HORSE. “There’s so many NL tournaments and this is just more of an enjoyable experience to me,” Gray said. “It’s like poker’s fun again.”
Fresh of their success in the 10k Mixed Event, Tony “tongni” Rivera and James “mig.com” Mackey are looking for another final table in a mixed games event after they were the last two standing in the 10k Mixed tournament. Ironically enough, both were dropouts from the University of Missouri but didn’t know each other til they met at the final table.
Here’s a list of some of the other notable online players scattered throughout the 408 player 3k HORSE field:
Johnny Bax
Brock “t_soprano”
Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers
Chris “sooooted” Vaughn
Mizzi Accumulates Big Stack at Manic Table
by AdamJ on 06.03.08, 6:04 pm
The level of energy jolting through the Amazon room was palpable as players frantically pushed their chips to amass a large stack before the close of the rebuy in the WSOP Event #5.
For many poker players, a rebuy tournament is as welcomed of an event as Christmas is to kids.
No table exemplified that mentality more than Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi’s table, which featured Mark Vos and Steve Sung, all of whom weren’t pinching their pennies.
At the end of the rebuy period, Mizzi was in for 4k and said that Sung was in for 25k and Vos about 8 to 10k.
As a result, this table had an incredible amount of chips on it, led by Mizzi and Vos who had stacks over 40k.
Often there was a negotiation before many hands at this table as Vos, Mizzi, and Sung would put in 4k and run the board without betting.
Many players had extra stacks of non-tournament chips on the table that they would use to purchase more tournament chips as needed, Bellagio chips accepted along with Rio chips.
From looking throughout the room it seemed as if there was a contest going on among players as to who could sit with the most amount of money on the table.
Not surprisingly, Phil Ivey’s stack of 100k worth of Bellagio’s chips was the unofficial winner although Kenny Tran’s cupholder full of white Bellagio 1k chips won the award for best presentation.
Noah “fouruhaters” Schwartz got caught up in the action as well but decided to call it a day after he busted before the rebuy period after being in for 14k.
Since Schwartz was also in the money of 1.5k PLHE event which started after the rebuy period closed and would be shortstacked in the rebuy if rebought again, he decided it wasn’t worth it to try to multi-table both tournaments.
The online community had a strong presence as predicted in this event, as many players have a lot of experience playing many rebuy tournaments online.
One table included Alex “AJKHoosier1″ Kamberis, Maria “Maridu” Mayrinck, and Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson.
During the 50-100 level after five limpers, Johnson raised to 500 and Kamberis and another player called.
On a 427 flop, Johnson bet 800 and Kamberis called. Both players checked the K turn, and when the 9 dropped on the river, Johnson bet 1800 and Kamberis called, beating Johnson QQ with 97 for two pair.
Not all tables where chaotic however. The table that featured Jennifer Tilly, Garrett “GBecks” Beckman, Bill Gazes and Robert Mizrachi didn’t have many chips on it and both Tilly and Beckman hadn’t rebought since the optional initial add-on.
Kenny Tran Takes 10th
by Court on 04.24.08, 9:37 pm
Tom “durrrr” Dwan has eliminated Kenny Tran (right) in 10th place. Tran put almost a third of his stack in by opening to 240k (blinds 40k / 80k) from early position and Dwan moved in over the top from his immediate left. After the action folded back to Kenny he thought for a while before finally relenting to the math of the situation and calling with J-8 offsuit.
He was in better shape than he thought though, up against Dwan’s pocket sevens. The pair held though and Tom has busted Tran in 10th place for $158,290.
After a break play will resume 9 handed and continue on towards the goal of the final 6.