WSOP 2008
Dwan, Rivera Chip Leaders in 10k Mixed
by AdamJ on 06.06.08, 1:31 am
The young guns of high stakes poker are faring well in the 10k mixed event despite lacking years of experience compared to their live game pro counterparts.
Among the young pro’s doing well are Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Tony “tongni” Rivera, (pictured right) who were the top stacks after the dinner break with 33 players left.
Dwan, a 21-year-old online phenom, is the chip leader with 220k. Dwan specializes in nosebleed NL and PLO cash games at the highest stakes. Rivera, with 188k, is a 22-year-old who’s best known for limit hold-em, playing live 400-800 as well as high stakes mixed games.
Both are seated at a table stacked with live mixed game pro’s like Sammy Farha, who plays the 3k-6k mixed game in the Bellagio, as well as last year’s WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider, Mike Sexton, and Marcel Luske. Vanessa Rousso and Adam Friedman are also seated at the table.
Another table included Gus Hansen, Scott “gunning4you” Seiver, Ralph Perry, Brandon Adams, Lee Watkinson, Chad Brown, and James “mig.com” Mackey.
Mackey, winner of a 5k NL event last summer as a 21-year-old, had a solid stack of 135k in the 1k-2k NL round.
During the 1k-2k NL level, Farha faced elimination when he was all-in preflop for 63k and his A
Q
trailed Rouso’s A
K.
After a queen dropped on the turn and prevailed by the river, Rousso, stunned by the turn of events, proclaimed how unlucky she is for the next few minutes.
A few minutes later Farha was all-in again when he raised Schneider’s flop bet with an all-in move.
While Schneider was thinking, Hansen came over to watch the hand and proclaimed Farha as one of the most dangerous NL and PLO players, emphasizing “after Durrrr” of course in the pecking order.
Farha seemed amused by the compliment and raked the pot after Schneider folded.
Dwan and Farha were very active in the NL round as expected and played many pots against each other, resulting in some interesting hands.
Dwan opened from middle position for 5300 and Farha defended his big blind, calling 3200 more. Both players checked the K
J4 flop and the 3 turn Farha bet 12k and Dwan called. When the 7 dropped on the river, Farha checked and Dwan made an odd underbet of 4400. Farha called and mucked after Dwan tabled the 88 for a flush.
Makhija busts out in 5th, Roenick gets cracked
by AdamJ on 06.01.08, 9:24 pm
Amit “Amak316″ Makhija’s (pictured at right) deep run in the 10k pot-limit hold-em came to an abrupt end when he ran into the man nobody can seem to fade in overwhelming chip leader Andy Bloch.
With blinds at 25k-50k, Makhija raised to 175k but got reraised by Bloch to 415k, and Makhija called putting him all-in, trailing Bloch’s A7 with A3.
After the board ran out Q964A, Bloch’s chip lead ascended to 4.15 million, way ahead of Nenad Medic’s 1.28 million in second.
Makhija’s final table finish was good enough for $198,528.
San Jose Shark Jeremy Roenick will have to wait for another event make his first WSOP final table and second cash.
With 150-300 blinds and a 25 ante, Roenick opened in early position to 1k and an opponent from late position reraised to 4k.
Roenick with about 6k behind after his raise, went all-in, tabling the KQ but was bested by his opponents 77.
Neither player improved by the river and Roenick was eliminated.
After pacing back and forth throughout the Rio for most of the day, it became obvious that one table was stacked with well-known tournmant pros as Mike Binger, Lee Watkinson, Joe Sebok, Shawn Buchanon, and Arnold Spee tried to outduel each other in route to the next day.
The table become a little more maneagable when Shawn Buchanon busted after he got all-in post flop with an inferior kicker.
Some notable players making waves in the $1.5k NL event are Ryan “Daut44″ Daut with 18k and Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar 25k with blinds at 150-300 and a 25 ante.