WSOP 2008
The HORSE Race Continues
by Crystal on 06.28.08, 4:21 pm
Day 4 of the $50k HORSE event is set to kick off at 3 pm this afternoon with the final 24 players. Among those looking to make the money today are Barry Greenstein (1.3 mil), and a short stacked James “mig.com” Mackey (151k) (pictured right). There are still many big names in the field such as Daniel Negreanu (1.2 mil), Doyle Brunson (777k), Scotty Nguyen (1 mil), and Phil Ivey (145k). Only the top 16 will cash in this event so the short stacks are going to have to make moves early during play today as the blinds are getting rather large. They will play through the afternoon and into the evening until the final table of 8 players is set.
Starting back up at 2 pm is day 2 of the $2k NLHE event. Eric “jakz101″ Crain returns today as the chip leader with more than 253k. Other players still in the field include David “ComptonMasta” Barter (19k), Adam “Roothlus” Levy (73k), Dan “wretchy” Martin (58k), Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski (32k), and Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson (124k).
All of the 198 remaining players are guaranteed at least $3,795 while the 1st place finisher in this event will take home the gold bracelet and an impressive $770,540.
A Player Makes a “FatalError”
by Crystal on 06.27.08, 8:17 pm
The bubble finally burst in event #46, the $5k NLHE six-handed event after over an hour of hand for hand play. Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar (pictured right) called another players all in preflop with Jon holding the A
J against the all in players A
K. While other player was ahead preflop, the board ran out J
T9
J9 giving Jon a full house and the bubble boy was sent to the rail.
All the players remaining are guaranteed at least $8,323 but they all seem to have their sights set on the $911,855 that the winner will receive.
During hand for hand play, Steven “Cornell Fiji” Ware’s stack took a big hit when he called another player’s all in with top pair and the nut flush draw versus the all in player’s set of nines. When the set held, Ware’s stack was knocked down to around 35k and had to wait out the rest of the bubble without much action. Since the bubble burst though, Ware has been on a tear, catching pocket aces, pocket queens, and pocket kings… twice. The second time Ware held kings it seemed his luck had run out as his opponent held pocket aces, but the turn brought a third king and Ware’s stack shot up to 276k. Ware is now right near the top of the chip counts along with Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (270k).
Also notable as a result of the bubble bursting is that player Nikolay Evdakov has now cashed eight times in this years WSOP which ties the all time record held by Michael Binger (2007), Chad Brown (2007), Phil Hellmuth (2006), Richard Tatalovich (2006), and Humberto Brenes (2006).
Event #47, the $1.5k Stud h/l event is progressing and Craig “MrCasino” Gray and Brett “Gank” Jungblut are still fighting to build their chip stacks.
Brett (pictured left) started the day short stacked and got into a big hand earlier. With 3 players in, there was heavy action, betting and raising, until 5th street when one player folded and Brett ended up all in against the other player. Brett showed down (84)48T against the other players (A3)363, Brett’s two pair behind the other players trip threes. Both players were dealt a jack on 6th street, changing nothing, and on 7th the other player peeled the 7 while Brett slowly peeled the 8 to make his full house complete and to more than double his stack.
Barry Greenstein is currently 2nd in chips in the $50k HORSE event, with Phil Ivey right behind him in 3rd. James “mig.com” Mackey and Justin Bonomo have been having a good day and has built their stacks up to more than 300k while Tom “durrrr” Dwan (120k) and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (54k) have lost some ground and will need to get their stacks moving in the right direction if they want to make day 4 tomorrow.
Online Kids Get on Their HORSE
by AdamJ on 06.26.08, 6:01 am
Despite a hefty 50k buy-in, a handful of online kids are making a run at perhaps the most prestigious bracelet in the WSOP in the 50k HORSE Championship WSOP Event #45.
Although the majority of online players in this tournament are those with a high stakes cash game background, a few players more known for their NL tournament games are playing like James “mig.com” Mackey, Justin “zeejustin” Bonomo and Dario Minieri.
The 148 player field is stacked with incredible tables as expected. No table featured a better lineup of elite players than the one that included two of the biggest winners online in 
Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (pictured left) and Tom “durrrr” Dwan with two of the biggest live game winners in Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey. Dwan, Galfond, and Ivey play each other often in nosebleed NL and PLO game online as well.
Mackey has faired very well at his table that includes a tough cast of characters in David Oppenheim, Andy Bloch, Lyle Berman, Jennifer Harman, David Singer, and online cash game player Brian “tsarrast” Rast. Mackey’s stack has been over the average for most of the tournament and is at 209k as play nears to an end.
Here’s a list of notable online players chip stacks with the average at 105k.
Phil Galfond - 185k
Patrik Antonius - 180k
Dario Minieri - 140k
Brian “tsarrast” Rast - 100k
Justin “zeejustin” Bonomo - 81k
Nick Schulman - 70k
Matt “Hoss_TBF” Hawrilenko - 55k