WSOP 2008
Moorman Misses The Money
by Court on 09.30.08, 6:04 pm
After losing with kings to aces it wasn’t long before Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman (left) had the rest of his chips in the middle. With the field still sitting on 38 players Moorman moved in for just under 40k and Andy Bloch called with AK. Moorman had a fighting chance with his pocket fives until an ace hit on the flop to bust Chris in 38th place.
Before official hand for hand play could begin there was another elimination right behind Moorman’s over at the feature table where Stephen Ladowsky was also all in against AK. Ladowsky had queens, but a king on the flop did the trick for Peter “breeth” Turmezey to eliminate Ladowsky in 37th place and put all the remaining players into the money.
Turmezey had recently lost a pot after flopping a set of deuces on an all club board. The fourth club hit on the river and when both players checked his opponents ten of clubs was good enough to beat Peter’s set.
In the money:
Brian “sbrugby” Townsend
Tim “Tmay420″ West
Peter “#1Pen” Neff
Scott “emptyseat88″ Fischman
Justin “Boosted J” Smith
Peter “breeth” Turmezey
West Cracks 100k, Moorman Coolered
by Court on 09.30.08, 5:24 pm
Aces agaist kings, what can you do? The debate of whether you can ever fold kings preflop floats around and some come up with ways to get off the hand, but not many people can find a way to dump kings preflop in a pot played only 2 ways. Add to that being on the money bubble of a major tournament and the fold becomes all but impossible (unless you are folding to cash and not playing to win).
Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman ran his pocket kings head on into the pocket aces of Johnny Lodden, making Lodden the new chip leader of the tournament and leaving Moorman with under 100k. After the double up Lodden has around 550k, taking over 200k off of Moorman 
in the hand. Chris isn’t out of it yet, though he has some work to do with the 70k or so chips left in his stack and the demoralizing blow of running kings into aces in such a crucial situation.
After playing for over 2 and a half days as a short stack, Tim “Tmay420″ West (right) has cracked the 100k mark after doubling through Scott “emptyseat88″ Fischman. West had A-J all in preflop against the pocket queens of Fischman, but an ace on the flop gave him the lead and ultimately the pot worth about 120k. He is better off than he was, but West is still below the chip average of 190k at this point.
The after dinner money bubble play rolls on, 2 players short of making the money.
Peter Prospers, Townsend Tumbles
by Court on 09.30.08, 2:47 pm
The graph on Peter “#1Pen” Neff’s chip stack over the course of this tournament would start off with a downswing, stay put for a while then start to make a steady rise. Towards the right side of the graph it would spike up quickly, leaving Peter where he is now, which is near the top of the chip counts with 400k.
Peter and Tim “Tmay420″ West both showed exeplary patience on day 1, and while day 2 was better for Peter, West has continued to grind the short into midway through day 3. His grind has brought him to the money bubble where he is still alive and kicking with under 40 players remaining.
Peter (right) was recently able to grab a chunk of chips from Brian “sbrugby” Townsend, who had been sitting on one of the largest stacks for much of day 2 and into day 3. The players were in a battle of the blinds and eac took a turn at betting a street. Peter bet the flop and was called. On the turn Neff checked and it was Townsend’s turn to bet. He did, and Peter called. On the river Neff checked and Townsend bet again, a large bet of 72,000 (roughly pot sized) with the board showing A
J
239. Neff then moved all in over the top and caught Townsend with his hand in the cookie jar. Brian folded and Neff added to his stack while leaving the CardRunners instructor a much shorter stack to work with going forward.
Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman doubled through John Juanda and has grabbed more chips off the Full Tilt pro on the money bubble of the tournament. On a Q-T-9-6-5 board with two diamonds on the flop but no more later on Moorman bet 60k into a 100k pot. Juanda folded and Chris continued to gain chips, bringing his stack to just short of 300k.
Garza Ousted, Moorman Doubles; 45 Left
by Court on 09.30.08, 12:33 pm
Starting the day side by side, that fates of Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman and Jeff “ActionJeff” Garza (left) have went in opposite directions. A short stacked Garza finally moved in over the top of an opening raise from the cutoff. He was called and his K-J was in a race against pocket nines. No help on the board meant Garza went to the exit somewhere around 50th place, well short of the money.
Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman could have easily joined him missing out on the money. John Juanda opened for 6,200 and Chris raised to 22k. Juanda leaned over to get a look at what Chris had left before putting a stack of 5k chips out to more than cover what Chris had left. After a minute of thought, Moorman said call and his tournament was in jeopardy. Chris was holding the 7
7 and found himself in an ok spot against the A9 of Juanda. The board ran out T
55J4 and Moorman was able to double up.
Once the chips were counted Juanda had to send 78,100 over to Moorman (right). In an interesting aside the dealer first told Juanda the amount was 85,100 but an on the ball Juanda asked him to count it again saying he didn’t follow how the dealer got to that amount. Juanda’s counting was correct and he saved 7k by paying attention.
WIth the double up Moorman is now back up to 160k after dropping chips quickly in the first part of the day. Mike Matusow has kept a running commentary going at the table, particularly talking to Juanda. “It’s never good to try to win the tournament on Day 3 Level 2,” Mike informed Juanda. “But you were trying.” Juanda wasn’t too upset with the loss, saying he wasn’t the one that had to sweat it and he was ok with the over 200k he still had left.
Justin “Boosted J” Smith (right) has been a force, jumping to around 350k early in the day and staying in the action once he was moved to the Peter “#1Pen” Neff / Brian “sbrugby” Townsend table. Smith and Townsend have mixed it up a few times so far. In one pot Brian opened for 5,200 and Smith raised to 15,300. Townsend made the call and the dealer rolled out the A62 flop. Brian checked to Smith who bet 17,200. Townsend made the call and the Q brought checked from both players. The river was the 6 and again both players decided to tap the table.
When Brian said “pocket tens” and turned over the TT Smith mucked his hand conceding the pot. In other pots though Smith’s aggression and raises have picked up the chips in the middle and added to his stack.
Scott “emptyseat88″ Fischman (right) entered into a raising war with Erik Seidel on a flop of T73. Erik started with a bet of 12k, Scott raised to 31k, and Erik slid out a pile of 5k chips to make it 67k. None of the individual raises were huge, but as they kept going back and forth the pot blossomed to significant levels. With the action back on Fischman he decided to move all in for what looked to be about 150k more. Seidel took a while, but ultimately decided to let this one go. The TV crews caught the action and asked to see Fischman’s hand on their portable hole card viewer, but Scott protested saying that Erik didn’t have to show his hand so he shouldn’t have to either. The TV crew acquiesced, allowing Fischman to muck his hand without showing it to the camera.
Tim “Tmay420″ West was also able to dip into Seidel’s stack. West opened the pot for 6,300 and Erik raised to 22k. Tim then moved in and Erik called with pocket tens. West had kings and they help up to double Tim up to around 90k.
The action has thinned the field to only 45 remaining players, leaving everyone one table shy of being in the money. The top 36 get paid, and the money bubble is the next order of business at the World Series of Poker Europe, presented by Betfair.
Haxton Axed
by Court on 09.30.08, 9:55 am
The money bubble is in the near future, but the pace of play has already slowed. Maybe it is the large buy in, or just the enormity of the stage, but for whatever the reason the flurry of action that usually marks the start of a day has been slightly off. Don’t be foolded, chips are moving and plays are being made but the all ins and bustouts just don’t seem as frequent as is the norm at this stage of a tournament. Credit should probably be given to the structure put in place for the tournament as well.
Slow does not mean no though, and over on the main feature table Isaac Haxton (left) is one of the fallen. Daniel Negreanu was able to send Haxton to the sidelines when his A-9 won a race against Haxton’s pocket eights all in preflop. The short stacked Haxton had moved in for less than 30k and Daniel made the call.
While Daniel is the focus of attention out in the main casino area at the featured table, there are a lot of great matchups at the 4 tables in the back room. Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman recently lost a medium sized pot to John Juanda, bringing comment from Mike Matusow who is also at the table. Moorman raised to 4,600 from under the gun and Juanda called from the button. On the 766 flop Chris led out for 6,700 and was called. The A on the turn prompted a 14,500 chip bet from Moorman sending Juanda into the tank a few minutes before he made the call. The action went check check on the K river and Moorman was first to show, esposing his 98 for 9 high. Juanda tabled the 87 for a pair of sevens and won the pot.
“Now I get to see what ya’ll are playing,” Matusow said from the 9 seat. “Popping it from under the gun with 9-8 off.” Jeff “ActionJeff” Garza sat quietly between Moorman and Matusow, waiting for the spot to make a move against the larger stacks at his table.
Peter “#1Pen” Neff and Brian “sbrugby” Townsend (right) are side by side at their table, with Townsend having position on Neff. Josh Arieh is a few seats to the left of Brian.
A chatty Tim “Tmay420″ West chopped a pot at his table on a 765K3 board. On the river Tim checked to the other player who bet 9,300. Before the chips hit the felt Tim solidly said “I call” and showed his AK. “I thought you had that,” Tim said to the other player as he also turned his AK face up on the table. The players took back their river bets and the pot was chopped between them while Scott “emptyseat88″ Fischman jokingly requested that Tim wait at least a half second before making calls against him in possible future hands.
Also at the table with West and Fischman are Full Tilt pros Brandon Adams and Erik Seidel.
The fourth table in the area hosts Justin “Boosted J” Smith and Ted Lawson. Smith recently picked up a small pot that was multi way preflop. On the KT4 flop it was checked to Justin on the button and he bet 2,600. One player called and the turn was the 9. This time Smith bet 4,800 when it was checked to him and that was enough to collect the pot.