WSOP 2008
Hold Your Fire
by Crystal on 07.02.08, 6:06 am
The $1.5k LHE Shootout has ceased play for the evening. Only 15 of 90 people were eliminated in the first part of the 2nd round. There are still some notable players left in the field including Matt “mattg1983″ Graham, Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke (pictured right), Jordan “scarface_79″ Smith, Ben “bfineman” Fineman, Mike “SirWatts” Watson, Sasha “bikocruz” Rosewood and Blair Rodman. Fricke is short stacked with around 14k while all the others have 20k or more.
Fricke had been in even worse shape before he managed to double up when his pocket sixes were up against pocket tens and the turn brought another six to keep him alive.
In the $1.5k NLHE, the final table has now been set. When there were still two tables remaining, Scott “ssitron” Sitron got involved in a big hand. Scott raised from the cutoff and the small blind re-raised. Scott made the call and they saw the flop come A
J
6
. Both players checked and saw the 3 fall on the turn. The small blind bet 260k and Scott called. When the 4 came on the river the small blind bet 600k sending Scott into the tank. His tournament life would essentially be on the line if he made the call so he was agonizing over the decision. Almost ten mintues passed before another player called a clock. Scott eventually decided to fold his hand and his stack was reduced to a little less than 600k.
The final two players were just eliminated and it looks like Scott will be coming to the final table as 7th of the 9 remaining players in chips with 500k. The chip leader is Corwin Cole who has over 1.6 million in chips. The final table is set to start at 2 pm and we’ll be sure to keep you updated on Scott’s progress.
Mellow Yellow(sub)?
by Brett on 06.26.08, 6:51 pm
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams made a move early on in the restart of the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em w/Rebuys event. With the blinds at 800/1600, a short-stack moved all in for 9K and Williams made the call with T
T, which held against his opponent’s A6 when the board revealed K96QK. After the hand, Jeff received a celebration warning from the dealer for doing an Icky Shuffle-type dance in his seat, and he responded with “Sorry, I’m just doing it for the reporters.” Williams then chipped up again two hands later when he re-shoved a player’s raise and induced a fold and is now up to 33K.
Jordan “scarface79″ Smith was one of the first eliminations of the day. Conor Tate raised to 4,100 from the cutoff and Smith re-raised his last 27,000 in from the big blind. Tate deliberated and finally made the call with KQ and had Smith looking for help with KJ. The 75552 board was no help to Jordan and he was eliminated.
Craig “MrCasino” Gray followed in Smith’s footsteps shortly after. A player in early position raised to 4,500 and Gray (pictured right) re-raised to 15,500 on the button, leaving a little more than 20,000 behind. The original raiser called and immediately shoved his remaining chips in on a Q93 flop. Gray made the call, saying “What did I do to myself,” and saw the bad news when his TT was behind the other player’s AQ. The board bricked for Gray and he was sent to the rail.
Keven “Stammdogg” Stammen took a massive hit to his stack at the 1K/2K level. Stammen raised to 5,100 from under the gun with QQ and a player in late position moved all-in for close to 50K. Action folded back to Stammen, who snap-called and found pleasant news when his opponent flipped up 66. The AT9 flop was kind to Keven, but the 6 on the river was a crushing blow and left Stammen with 25K. “It’s been like this all series,” Stammen said to us as he calmly walked back to his seat.
With 90 players remaining, here’s a look at the unofficial chip counts of some other notable players:
Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks - 215K
Jamie “TheChronic420″ Rosen - 130K
Peter “Nordberg” Feldman - 115K
Justin “Looshle” Pechie - 100K
Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman - 90K
Faraz “The Toilet-0″ Jaka - 80K
Randy “Randers’ Haddox - 80K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 50K
Ben “bfineman” Fineman - 40K
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 40K
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 15K
Online Players Looking to Run Deep
by Crystal on 06.26.08, 5:46 pm
After tournament registration closed for the $5k NLHE six-handed event, 805 players had entered the tournament, beating last years total by 77 entries. Even with 10k starting stacks and blinds starting at 25/50, the play has been fast and furious. There are so many notable online players in the field that we can’t even begin to list them all. One of our reporters counted more than 50 notable online players in the field at the start of the tournament so we wouldn’t be surprised if numerous P5ers ran deep in today’s event.
We caught up with Matt “mattg1983″ Graham in a hand with the board reading 632. It appeared that Matt had bet out on the flop only to be raised another 2.3k by his opponent. Matt was obviously stressed about his decision and then decided to fold his pocket tens face-up. Eric “Rizen” Lynch, Hevad “RainKhan” Khan, Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, Shane “Shaniac” Schleger (pictured right), and Alex Jacob are all doing well and have built their stacks up during the first two levels.
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams was seen walking through the field of six-handed players a little before 2 pm, but he isn’t playing in today’s event because he is in day 2 of the $1k NLHE w/Rebuys tourney. He is seated at table #13 along with Jordan “scarface_79″ Smith and Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman (pictured left). Another table with a few notable players is #15 with Scott “BigRiskky” Clements, Keven “Stamdogg” Stammen, and Eric “EFro” Froehlich all seated together. 81 of the 115 players that started today will make the money so short stacked players are going to have to make moves soon as the bubble isn’t too far away.
Barry Good
by Brett on 06.16.08, 7:26 pm
Could P5ers named Barry win back-to-back bracelets? Barry Greenstein took down the $1,500 Razz event last night, and now Barry “BarryGS” Schultz (pictured right) is approaching the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em final table for a chance at his own bracelet and $628,417. Schultz is currently third in chips of the 10 players remaining, but you’d never guess he was playing in a high-pressure situation. Schultz has been very talkative with everyone — spectators, media members, tournament directors, and even ESPN360’s Erin Coscarelli, who was putting together a report a few tables away.
The 41-year old from Memphis just chipped his way to over a million chips by eliminating Carl Jerome in 13th place. With the blinds at 12K/24K, Jerome completed in the small blind and Schultz checked behind. Both players checked the AQ2 flop and then the T on the turn. The river brought the J and Jerome led out for 60K. Schultz min-raised to 120K and Jerome moved in for 250K total. Barry insta-called and flipped over K3 for broadway and was shocked to see that the pot wasn’t chopped when Jerome showed Q2 for two pair.
Shortly after, Jordan “scarface_79″ Smith was knocked out in 11th place. Bobby Firestone raised to 75K from late position and Smith moved in for 300K in the big blind. Firestone made the call with 88 and had Smith’s A5 in trouble. The board bricked for Smith and he was sent to the rail just shy of his fist WSOP final table.
Fourty-six players are still fighting for a $434,789 prize in the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event taking place in the Brasilia Room. Several pocketfivers are still in the field, including Tony “Bond18″ Dunst, Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin, Ryan “youngluc” Young, Lee Childs and Matt “AllInAt420″ Stout. Play will conclude this evening when the final nine are standing.