WSOP 2008
Amit Doubles, Graham Crumbles
by Court on 08.27.08, 3:15 am
After stalling out at 28 players remaining, the field finally got down to the final 27 with two big hands happening at the same time. With hand for hand play in effect due to the money jump between 28th and 27th the four remaining tables were all playing one hand each. Once play got down to 27 the day was complete and all remaining players will return tomorrow to play down to the final 6.
On the table with the least chips, Matt “Mattg1983″ Graham ended up all in for the last of his just over 200k chips against Kyle Wilson. Matt had AK but was up against Wilson’s pocket kings. The kings held and Matt found himself out in 28th place for $14,085 while Wilson jumped to 619,000 chips.
Across the room Amit “Amak316″ Makhija (left) ended the day in high fashion. After flopping a straight on a T
9
8
board Amit was willing to get it all in with Trong Nguyen. The 3
and the 4 filled out the board, missing Nguyen’s few outs and Makhija doubled up to an impressive 842,000 to end the day.
The “Crazys” also survived the day. Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson and Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark sat side by side for the last few levels of play, and the two friends made it through the day both finishing over 300k. A quiet Ben “bfineman” Fineman (right) was also able to hold on and will be back for day 4 play with one of the shorter stacks, but only a double up away from being right back in it.
Here are some of the end of day counts:
Amit “Amak316″ Makhija - 842,000
Kyle Wilson - 619,000
Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark - 383,000
Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson - 310,000
Ben “bfineman” Fineman - 159,000
Full chip counts for the final 27 are available here.
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 KJ84 with an all in bet that put Markholt to a decision for his last 150k. After long thought Lee finally called with the K9 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.
Makhija To The Top
by Court on 08.26.08, 9:21 pm
With 530k chips Amit “Amak316″ Makhija is now the chip leader in the Legends of Poker WPT event. The tournament is still 12 players from being in the money with 48 players remaining and the top 36 getting paid. Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson and Matt “Mattg1983″ Graham are also near the top, both recently cracking the 400k mark.
Josh “pbdrunks” VanDuyn (right) was in the high 300k’s but has dropped back about 100k. Here is a rundown of some chip counts.
Amit “Amak316″ Makhija - 530k
Matt “Mattg1983″ Graham - 425k
Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnons - 410k
Josh “pbdrunks” VanDuyn - 250k
Kyle WIlson - 175k
The tournament is still laden with top pros and some interesting table matchups are emerging. Marco Johnson has Allen Cunningham on his right and Ali Eslami a few seats to his left. Makhija’s table is loaded with known pros, including Erik Seidel, Erick Lindgren, and John Phan. VanDuyn gets Layne Flack and Max Pescatori at his table. Other known players still in include Maria Ho, Lee Markholt, Adam Weinraub, Mark Seif, and David Chiu.
90 Left
by Court on 08.26.08, 2:45 am
There are now 10 tables left, playing 9 handed, meaning only 90 players remain in the legends of poker. Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby (right) was able to double up, Isaac “Mr. Menlo” Baron is hanging on, and many others are looking to increase their stack for day 3 play.
Hamby was able to double after a player opened preflop, he raised and she called. On the A76 flop Jared led out for around a third of his stack and he was raised enough to put him all in. He called with his AQ and saw he was in great shape after flopping an ace against his opponents pair of kings in the hole. His hand held up on the turn and river and Hamby is now much healthier with around 130k.
Baron lost a coinflip after another player opened for 9k and Baron raised to 30k. The other player then moved in for a total of 43,900 and Isaac called. Baron’s AK was up against the TT and on a 9 high board the tens held up to leave Baron with only 12k, representing 6 big blinds.
An aggressive Matt “Mattg1983″ Graham (left) bet 40k on the river of a KT535 flop and was called. Both players showed KQ suited to chop the pot. Hamby commented earlier on how well Graham was playing when they were seated together.
With 90 players left here is a list of some notable players still in the tournament: Layne Flack, Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson, David Chiu, Erik Seidel, Barry “barryg1″ Greenstein, Tuan Le, Matt “Mattg1983″ Graham, Allen Cunningham, Erick Lindgren, Mark Seif, Ray Davis, Matt “Plattsburgh” Vengrin, Antonio Esfandiari, Lee Markholt, Amit “Amak316, Makhija, Isaac “Mr Menlo” Baron, Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby, Matt “All In At 420″ Stout, Max Pescatori, David Pham, Josh “pbdrunks” VanDuyn, and Kyle Wilson.
200k Club
by Court on 08.26.08, 1:44 am
As play winds down on the 800 / 1600 level many 200k stacks are emerging. Matt “Mattg1983″ Graham (right) was able to get up to 220k even at a tough table. Matt was sitting with Kyle Wilson a couple of seats to his right and Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby on his left. Their table has just broken, leaving only 108 players remaining in the Legends of Poker.
A list of players not among the final 108 includes Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar, Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg, Mark Newhouse, and Shane “Shaniac” Schleger.
Here are some chip counts from around the room with more than a handful already cracking the 200k mark. Adam Weinraub and Ali Eslami are the chip leaders going into the last level of the day, both near the 500k chip mark.
Matt “Mattg1983″ Graham - 220k
Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson - 205k
Amit “Amak316″ Makhija - 200k
Josh “pbdrunks” VanDuyn - 200k
Isaac “Mr. Menlo” Baron - 75k
Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby - 62k
Matt “Plattsburgh” Vengrin - 34k
Jordan “iMsoLucky0″ Morgan - 30k
Matt “All In At 420″ Stout - 14k