WSOP 2008
Ship It Mike’s Way
by Brett on 06.14.08, 7:28 pm
Mike “shipitthisway” McNeil defeated Andy Black in Round 4 of the $10,000 NLHE Heads Up Championship to advance to the round of 16. McNeil (pictured left) chipped away at Black before finally getting it in with A
6 against Black’s J
T and rivered a flush to pick up the win. We’re still awaiting the announcement of his next opponent, as two matches are still in progress, but McNeill doesn’t seem concerned. The high-stakes heads up cash player is one of the favorites of those still remaining to win the $539,056 jackpot.
Other notable players moving on to Round 5 were Vanessa Selbst, David Williams, Gavin Griffin, Robert Mizrachi and Emil “whitelime” Patel, who took second place in Full Tilt Poker’s inagural $25K Heads Up event at the end of last month. Patel lost to David Singer in the championship match and earned $320,000.
The $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em final table is down to its final six players. Blair “blur5f6″ Hinkle has climbed up to 1.2 million chips, second to David Steicke’s 2.07 million. Blair is trying to match his brother Grant’s achievement of winning a bracelet in this year’s World Series.
Jonathan “HoosierAlum” Depa is vying for a bracelet of his own in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em/Omaha Event. Depa is 3/7 in chips with nearly 400K, trailing Kyle Kloeckner and Allen Cunningham.
A Blair Affair
by Brett on 06.14.08, 3:24 pm
Blair “blur5f6″ Hinkle will enter today’s $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em final table second in chips and attempt to pick up his first-ever WSOP bracelet. Hinkle (1.03 million, pictured right) trails only Andrew Jeffreys (1.05 million) and will be seated to Jeffreys’ left when play begins at 2:00 PM PT. Blair’s brother Grant has already won the hardware this year by taking down Event #2 ($1,500 NLHE).
Jonathan “HoosierAlum” Depa will also be seeking his first bracelet when the $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em/Omaha final table begins at 3:00 PT. Depa will have to make his way through a tough group of players including Max Pescatori, Minh Ly and Allen Cunningham. A prize of $246,471 will be awarded to the winner.
Events resuming play today will be the $10,000 NLHE Heads Up and $1,500 Razz. Barry Greenstein is the chip leader of the Razz event, which will start at 3:00 PT. Also among the 100 players still left are Brett “gank” Jungblut, Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul and Mike “SirWatts” Wattel. Thirty-two of the original 256 players are alive in the $10K Heads Up Event. Here are the matchups of the the remaining P5ers in Round 4:
Emil Patel vs. Michael “worldsgrtest” Banducci
Andy Black vs. Michael “shipitthisway” McNeil
Daniel “Ansky” Stern vs. David Williams
Matt “hazards21″ Giannetti vs. Michael Mizrachi
The $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Event (#27) has just begun and over 2,600 entrants have made their way into the Amazon Room with more expected. Phil Hellmuth is the defending champion and will certainly be making that fact known to his table –and surrounding tables.
The $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys will get underway at 5:00 PM. Stay tuned to PocketFivesLive for coverage on all of the events in what will be a very busy and entertaining day at the Rio!
Gray Done For the Day
by Crystal on 06.14.08, 2:40 am
Craig “MrCasino” Gray’s (pictured at left) stack was dwindling in the $1.5k Razz tourney as antes and bring-ins continued to eat away at his chips. He got all his chips in on 3rd street against one opponent and after the draw was complete the other players 8-7-4-3-A was good enough to best Gray’s T-6-5-4-2, sending him to the rail.
Also in the Razz event, Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul’s stack was moving in the opposite direction after he knocked out Michael Binger. They got all the chips in early, and in the end, Saul had a T-8-7-4-2 while Binger held a J-8-3-2-A (the result of being dealt trip 2s during the hand). Binger was eliminated and Saul added a few more chips to his stack which is now around 11k putting him near the top of the current chip count.
After the last painful beat in Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi took in the $2.5K Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha tournament, it wasn’t long before he was knocked out of the tournament by another. In late position, Mizzi bet 6500 and was called by Max Pescatori who was on the button. The flop came 3Q
J
. First to act, Mizzi bet 8500 of his short stack and was called; when the 7 came on the turn, he thought for quite awhile. Mizzi raised once again, but Pescatori pushed all-in. Mizzi didn’t hesitate to call with Q-T for top pair, but Pescatori caught the A on the river and improved his A-J to win the pot.
Meanwhile, plenty of PocketFivers continued to succeed in Event #25, the $10K Heads Up No-Limit Championship. Anna “VietCutie” Wroblewski won a huge hand and a massive chip advantage in her match. Her opponent raised pre-flop and Anna smooth called to see the flop come A9A. Anna checked, her opponent bet out and Anna called. The 5 came on the turn and Anna checked, her opponent bet, and she called. When the T came on the river the action went similarly with a check and a bet but Anna spent a much longer time contemplating whether to call or not. She shuffled her chips over and over and counted out her stack a few times before eventually making the call. As soon as she threw her chips into the pot, her opponent shook his head in defeat as Anna flipped up the AJ and scooped a huge pot.
Other PocketFivers remained armed to the teeth in battle; Michael “worldsgrtest” Banducci took down a big pot with a jack-high diamond flush, increasing his stack to more than double his opponent’s. He continued to chip away as P5s looked on. Alex Jacob was also close to winning, continuing his aggressive play. Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (pictured at right), however, looked quite short with 25K, but managed to represent a couple of flushes and convince his opponent, Jonas Entin, to fold. The pair constantly joked at the table, Entin reporting that they are friends, as Galfond increased his stack to 50K.
Advancing to the next round, Michael “shipitthisway” McNeil defeated his opponent when he turned and rivered two pair. Isaac Haxton defeated his opponent when his AK improved against pocket jacks. Matt “hazards21″ Giannetti also crippled his opponent by flopping a set of fives and then later eliminating him when he turned a pair of twos. On the other side of the coin, Blake “Balla-B13″ Cahail was eliminated when his opponent, Thomas Lutz made quad tens on the river.