WSOP 2008
Beckman Moves Up Leaderboard
by Brett on 07.10.08, 12:21 am
After battling through sickness to get through Day 1 of the Main Event, Garrett “GBecks” Beckman (pictured left) is feeling way better on Day 2b
Beckman’s change of mood isn’t necessarily because the remnants of what he suspected was food poisoning is gone, although that definitely helps, but that his stack has gone from 54k to start the day to over 220k by the dinner break.
Beckman won a 160k pot earlier in the day when he opened for 2k and got re-raised to 7k. Beckman re-raised to 27k and his opponent called. First to act, Beckman checked a 10-10-7 flop and his opponent checked. Beckman checked when another 7 peeled on the turn and his opponent went all-in for 60k. Beckman called with queens and his opponents’ AK didn’t improve.
“It was pretty hard to check twice,” Beckman said.
Mohsin “chicagocards1″ Charania was pleased to make the dinner break after going through what he described as maybe the worst level of his life. Charania started with 108k and went down to 12k only to rebound to 63k by the break. Playing alongside Charania was Aditya “intervention” Agarwal, who hit the break with 150k. Despite having a healthy stack, Agarwal is still remembering the 85k pot he lost when his pocket sevens connected to the 8-7-2 board and his opponents pocket nines turned a set to trump Agarwal’s set of sevens in a hand where his opponent was all-in on the flop.
Aaron “NDGrinder59″ Steury has been steadily building his stack all day long, but he made a huge jump up the chip counts before the break when he got it all-in in a blind versus blind confrontation holding pocket queens to his opponent’s A-K. Steury managed to win the classic race situation when the board came ten high and Aaron increased his chip stack to 250K.
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst remained on life-support before the dinner break, which he planned to spend at the Rio’s Indian restaurant. PocketFives caught up with Tony in the big blind, checking on a flop of A
K
9. When the small blind raised to 5.5K, Tony folded and called the table a “total fiasco” - he was barely treading water as Jean-Robert Bellande a few seats to his left kept chipping up. He couldn’t manage to catch any action on his small blind either; he completed and folded to a late raise. However, on the button, he shoved all in for his remaining 8.5K and the table folded to him. Bellande joked, “You’re the survivor here, kid. You’re the survivor.” He chipped up to a whopping 10.5K before dinner break.
Senovio “Dorsal Fin” Ramirez doubled up to 58K when he and another player got all of their chips in on a king-high flop — Ramirez with pocket aces and his opponent with ace-king. Here’s a look at some other chip counts as players went into the dinner break:
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 224K
Brandon Schaefer - 140K
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 110k
David “davidp18″ Peters - 109k
“BodogAri” Engel - 70K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 50k
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 46K
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 41k
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 30k
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter - 37K
By the Numbers: 2008 WSOP Main Event
by Jill on 07.07.08, 4:10 am
As the final installment of Day 1 of the Main Event came to a close just before 1AM PST, nearly 1,400 players remain from today’s field of 2,461. After calculations from Rio tournament staff, the net prize pool now stands at $64,333,600 with total registration of 6,844 entrants. This figure is almost 500 more than 2007, and amazingly, more than the first 34 years of the Main Event COMBINED. Pretty amazing stuff. First prize will walk away with the coveted bracelet and a cool $9.1M dollars; all players at the final table will make $900K or more.
Overall, PocketFivers fared well in today’s event and many live on to compete in Days 2A and 2B. Tomorrow, all players will take a rest day as the media will compete in a charity tournament. Before we retire for a day, however, there are plenty of stories remaining before the break.
Playing his entire day at one of the featured side tables with Phil Ivey, Garrett “GBecks” Beckman (pictured at left) recently doubled his stack up when his ace-high flush dominated his opponent’s jack-high flush on a paired board. His A
8 was good enough to propel him up the chip counts.
On the last hand of the evening, Garrett was on the button when the player under the gun bet 1K. Garrett called it down and the big blind followed suit. The flop came A92 and the big blind checked. The player under the gun bet 1.5K and both Garrett and the big blind called. The 5 on the turn induced a check from both his opponents and he took the opportunity to bet 3K. Both folded and he showed 22 for the flopped set. He ended the night with 53K in chips and will come back fighting after a restful two days.
Ryan “youngluck” Young also made a run in the last hour of play; PocketFives saw him flop top set and a king-high flush, increasing his stack to 85k near the end of the day.
Some PocketFivers took a hit before the end of the day but will return to play in Day 2. One of our chip leaders, Tom “titantom32″ Braband, took a near-30k hit in the last level of play, but still was sitting comfortable with 90k. Also taking a hit was Scott “BigRiskky” Clements, who was hovering around 45k until he got a bluff snapped off on the river, taking a 10k chunk out of his stack in the last 30 minutes of play. Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez also lost a big pot to an opponent who held pocket eights when the board ran out 4-3-3-8-X. His stack dipped to 12K after peaking at 26K after the dinner break.
Sitting with about 70k near the end of the day, Jason “treysfull21″ Mercier (pictured at right) appeared to be heading to Day 2 with a solid stack. But then came along a hand that he’ll surely be thinking about the rest of the night, a hand Mercier just recently explained to PocketFives. Mercier hit a monster flop when his 64 connected to the Q67 board. Mercier and his opponent got all-in on the flop, resulting in a 90k pot. Mercier just happened to be up against the 85, one of the few hands against which he could in bad shape. The board bricked out for Mercier and improved his opponent and he’s left with 19k nearing the end of Day 1D.
Meanwhile, though Ladbrokes team pro Azad Pirooti sat with only 5K when we last reported on him, he managed to increase his stack through well-picked pots all the way up to 24K. Andreas Hoivold, however, went the opposite way and was sent to the rail despite chipping up early.
Here are some notable unofficial chip counts at the end of the day. Congratulations to all players!
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 90K
Ryan “youngluck” Young - 85K
Scott Pendergrast - 61K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 53K
Bryan Micon - 51K
Bodog Ari Engel - 46K
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 41K
James “POKERPRO33″ Campbell - 40K
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 35K
Daniel “voff” Deveau - 33K
Eric “sheets” Haber - 27K
Ladbrokes pro Azad Pirooti - 24K (pictured at left)
Grant “drossXYU” Hinkle - 13.5K
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez - 12K
ComptonMasta Like Woah
by Jill on 07.07.08, 1:21 am
David “ComptonMasta” Barter (pictured at left) reported to PocketFives that his game be bouncin’ around like a ‘64 Impala on hydraulics over the last level. Apparently, he lost a large blingin’ pot when his KJ bricked out on a two-spade flop and he was down to less than his starting stack. However, David rallied and has built his stack up through small pots to 40K.
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez experienced a similar bounce-back when he more than doubled up his stack. Senovio came back with 6.8K after the dinner break and managed to flop the nut flush in a blind versus blind situation and get it all in on the river. His opponent called and he chipped up to 16K, on the hunt for more blood.
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman still sits at one of the featured table, which is notoriously now devoid of Phil Ivey. Garrett reported to PocketFives that he has been holding strong at 24K, but somehow came down with a cold last night and needs a bit of time to recover. Get well, Garrett! Also, for the record, PocketFives will punch the next person to ask them where Phil Ivey went. Consider this your last warning.
Meanwhile, in the Green section of the Amazon room, Ladbrokes team pro Azad Pirooti sat with a very short 5K stack and was looking to make a move. Patiently picking his spots, we saw him take down a couple of pots of antes and blinds. At a few tables over, Ladbrokes team pro Andreas Hoivold (pictured at right) was faring better with 45K, aggressively raising preflop in a couple of hands we witnessed to slowly chip up and take control of the table.
Here are a few chip counts nearing the end of Level 4, with one Level remaining in Day 1:
Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter - 110k
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 84k
Ben “bfineman” Fineman - 72k
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 72k
Gary “Debo34” Debernardi - 62k
Jeremy “chipsteela” Menard - 52k
Mike “BraveJayhawk” Jensen - 50K
Ryan “youngluc” Young - 50k
Andreas Hoivold - 45k
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy - 45k
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 44k
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin - 42k
Thayer Rasmussen - 41k
David “ComptonMasta” Barter - 40k
Daniel “voff” Deveau - 36k
Shane “shaniac” Schleger - 34k
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 32k
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 30k
Frank “Round42” Rusnak - 29k
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 25k
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 24k
Aaron “ndgrinder59″ Steury - 21k
Mario Silvestri - 19.5k
Sumeet “Batera” Batra - 18k
Brett “Gank” Jungblut - 18k
Jon “FatalError” Aguiar - 16k
Russell “rcrane082985″ Crane - 12k
Grant Hinkle - 10.5k
Glen “choron” Chorny - 7k
Evan “Oakplayer” Schwartz - 6k
Azad Pirooti - 5k
Finally Friedberg’s Time
by AdamJ on 07.06.08, 9:15 pm
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg (pictured at left) has never had any luck in the WSOP Main Event. Not only has he not cashed in any of his four attempts in the Main Event, he’d never gotten any higher than 12k in chips when the Main Event started with 10k and never much more than the initial 20k starting stack last year.
So to see Friedberg with 48k in Level 3 of Day 1D in the Main Event, it’s quite a start for a man who’s hardly even dragged a significant pot in the Main Event until this year. Don’t feel too sorry for Friedberg, however, he did win a bracelet in a huge No-Limit Hold’em field in 2006, taking home $526K.
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez had been stuck in neutral today before scooping a big pot that he wishes would have been bigger. Ramirez check-raised his opponent’s 1,100 bet to 2,800 on a T4T flop and his opponent called. The K peeled off on the turn and Ramirez bet 2K and his opponent called. Ramirez went all-in for over 8K on the river when the 8 dropped. After tanking for a few minutes, his opponent mucked and showed the T. Ramirez later told PocketFives that his opponent made a great lay-down as he turned a boat with K-10. Ramirez’s stack moved up to 18K after the hand.
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter took some time away from his Phil Jackson novel to win a nice pot in the past level. With blinds at 150/300, Porter raised to 800 in middle position and two players called. On a T76
flop, Devin led out for 1,300 and one player called. The 3 came on the turn and Devin bet 3,000. His opponent made the call and watched the A fall on the river. Devin threw out an orange 5K chip and his opponent thought for two minutes before finally calling. Devin flipped over a monster, the 89 for a flopped straight, which caught the other player by surprise. Porter is up to 29K.
James “POKERPRO33″ Campbell is having a difficult time even staying awake today, but has still managed to pick up blinds here and there in between naps. He is currently at 25K.
Ladbrokes team pros Azad Pirooti and Andreas Hoivold were seated in the Green section of the Amazon room, neck-deep in a sea of players clad in Ladbrokes polo shirts. Though his stack remains healthy compared to the 150/300 blinds, Azad Pirooti was sitting a bit short-stacked compared to his tablemates with only 10K - half of his starting stack. Regardless, when we caught up with his table, he remained aggressive, taking down a couple of pots preflop in position and increasing his stack by a few chips each time. Meanwhile at a few tables over, Andreas Hoivold guarded a 38.5K stack, playing tight and conservatively after nearly doubling up.
Here are some other chip counts midway through Level 3:
Ben “bfineman” Fineman - 65K
Gary “Debo34” Debernardi – 60K
Gus Hansen - 44k
Bryan “bparis” Paris – 43K
Mike “BraveJayhawk” Jensen - 40K
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 40K
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 39K
Clayton “clayton_27″ Newman - 38.5K
Aaron “ndgrinder59″ Steury - 36K
Shane “shaniac” Schleger - 35K
Glen “choron” Chorny - 32k
Ryan “youngluc” Young - 32K
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy - 30k
Scott “mindwise” Pendergrast - 30K
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 30K
Kyle “kwob20” Bowker – 28K
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 27k
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 27k
Brandon Schaefer - 25K
Brett “gank” Jungblut - 22K
Frank “Round42” Rusnak – 21K
Russell “rcrane082985″ Crane - 20k
Sasha “bikocruz” Rosewood - 20K
David “ComptonMasta” Barter - 18k
Adam “adamoos” Elpayaa - 18K
Mark “AceSpades” Rodoja – 18K
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 11K
Mike “theredbaron” Beaton - 9K
“Crzysavage” Beat
by Jessica on 06.20.08, 8:16 pm
Jeff “crzysavage” Gressard (pictured at left) lost a big pot just before players in the $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em event went on break. With the blinds at 100/200, Gressard and two other players saw a flop of AQ4. The big blind check to Gressard, who led out for 1150. The player to his left called and the big blind folded. Gressard bet 2500 when the T came on the turn and he was re-raised all in for 1500 more. Jeff made the call, showing AK but had run into a set of queens and was drawing to one of the four jacks in the deck. The river brought a useless K and Gressard lost a pot worth more than 10K, dropping him to under 4K.
With 243 players still alive and the average stack at 10K, here’s a look at some of the notable chip counts in Event #38:
Ben “bfineman” Fineman - 13K
Chad “lilholdem954″ Batista - 10K
Matt “All In At 420″ Stout - 9K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 8K
Scott “mindwise” Pendergrast - 8K
Andy “BKiCE” Seth - 7K
Peter “Nordberg” Feldman - 6K
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 5.5K
Shane “shaniac” Schleger - 5.5K
Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby - 5K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 3.5K
Eugene Todd - 3K
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez has been on a downswing in Day 2 of the $10K Omaha Hi/Lo event. He told Pocket Fives he continues to flop big draws that just don’t get there. One such example came when Chris “SKOAL” Falconer raised in middle position and Senovio defended from the big blind. The flop came Q53 and Ramirez checked. Falconer bet and Ramirez called. When an 8 came on the turn, Ramirex check called again. After the river of Q peeled off , both players checked and Falconer turned over A-2-4-8 for a pair of eights and the nut low which was good enough for the scoop against Ramirez’s A-4-5-6.
Matt “mattg1983″ Graham recently got it all-in in the $10K Omaha with A433 in a multi-player pot. With the board reading T623, everyone else folded to a player’s bet on the turn and he showed down T752 for two pair and a flush draw against Graham’s set of threes and a low. It looked as though Matt was going to scoop the pot until the A came on the river, giving the other player the better low and causing them to split the pot. Graham now has 9K and still has some work to do to get back to an average sized stack.
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki (pictured at right) came into Day 2 of the $1.5K NLHE event with 99k but after, “not winning a single hand all day”, he found himself with nearly half the stack he started with. When a player raised on the button, Klodnicki decided to put it all-in with his A-Q from the small blind only to learn he was in bad shape up against his opponent’s pocket queens. The board was no help to Chris and he was left with only 1,200 chips after doubling the other player up. He was subsequently eliminated a few hands later, earning $5,344 for his finish.
Here are some unofficial chip counts of some of the remaining 86 players:
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 200K
Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaughbaugh - 151K
Brian “bparis” Paris - 150K
Jose “papadelpoker” De La Guardia - 105K
Bryan Micon - 75K
Isaac Haxton - 52K
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 50K
At the final table of the $1.5K PLO w/ rebuys, Tim “tmay420″ West was just eliminated in 8th place earning $72,213. Kyle Kloeckner has lost some pots and now sits in 5th place.