WSOP 2008
Stout, Gross and Levy Eliminated, Potter Drops
by Court on 11.07.08, 9:30 pm
After sitting near the top of the chip counts for most of the tournament up to this point, Jason “JP_OSU” Potter has fallen to below 100k, though he was recently able to pick up a pot against Chris Ferguson to gain a little ground. 
Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Matt “All In At 420″ Stout, and Steve “gboro780″ Gross have all been grounded for this tournament in the last hour of play.
Stout (left) had his aces cracked by queens and was left with only a few big blinds, and was then all in for the last of it with AK against J4. There was no suspense though, as the T-4-4 flop took away any hope of a comeback for Stout. Levy had been battling with around 40-50k for a while after an up and down day between 50 and 100k and ended up all in after flopping a pair of aces but up against a flopped set.
Ben “bfineman” Fineman (below right) also ran into a set, but only lost a small amount of chips when the other player only called his river bet on a board showing 6
3
2
4A. Fineman was hoping to represent the straight, but the other player felt he had to call with his set and picked up the pot from Ben.
On a flop of KQT
Joe “ender555″ Ebanks had flopped a set of kings but his opponent had flopped a straight with J9. After it was checked to him on the river (the 2 and 9 filled out the board) Joe bet 20k and his opponent only called with his straight.
Steve “gboro780″ Gross took a hit to his stack and after playing shortstacked for a while raised over the top of an opening bet, committing nearly half of his stack and quickly calling when the initial raiser moved all in. Steve’s pocket sevens were dominated by the other players pocket jacks and there was no help for him on the board. Steve’s elimination leaves about 100 players left in the field with 30 minutes left in the day.
Christian “charder” Harder (left) is up to 180k late in the day, most recently winning a pot from Adam Lippert after flopping a big hand. Harder had raised to 5,400 preflop and Lippert called from the big blind. On the A95 flop Lippert bet 7k and Christian called. Both players checked the 4 turn and the 3 river and Harder showed his AT for flopped top pair and nut flush draw. The pair of aces was good enough to win the pot and add a few chips to Harder’s stack.
Potter finally backed into a hand on a board of 8523Q and was able to get paid off to the tune of 16,500 by Chris Ferguson. Potter showed the AQ to win the pot.
Play is winding down for the day. End of day counts will be available shortly.
Below 200 Players
by Court on 11.07.08, 4:11 pm
The field at the Foxwoods World Poker Finals has quickly fallen below the 200 player mark. Shortstack Don “dbase22″ Yucius made it through the first level, but couldn’t hang on much longer. 
Jason “JCarver” Somerville (right), Kyle “kwob20″ Bowker, and Mike “inissint” Glasser have also been eliminated in recent action.
Tables continue to break at a rapid pace and players are being shuffled all around the room as play consolidates. At last check there were 175 players left in the tournament, spread over 20 tables.
Amit “Amak316″ Makhija hasn’t been able to get anything going today, and after hovering around 20k for a while he has been eliminated. After an opening raise from another player Joe “ender555″ Ebanks called and Amit shoved for 20,775. The first player flat called and Ebanks then came over the top all in. 
The other player again called and when the hands were turned up Joe’s pocket kings were up against the AK of Makhija and the other players AJ. The kings held up and while Makhija was sent to the rail Ebanks (left) was able to more than double up.
Sitting in the seat that was to the immediate right of Amit is Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul who has been up and down today. He came into the day with 130k, dropped to 70k early on and has recovered to get back to the around the stack he started the day with. Recently he came over the top of an opening raise of 3,200 with a 10k bet, but when another player moved all in for 55k and the initial raiser called Kevin tossed his hand. The two all ins showed pocket queens and AJ.
Steve “gboro780″ Gross (right) has been active at his table and is still among the larger stacks in the room. On a Q66 flop Gross called a bet of 3,500. With the 5 turn both players checked and on the 7 river Gross was faced with an 8k bet which he again called. The other player showed the 87 and Steve mucked his hand. In another pot on a board showing AK46 Steve called a 3,100 bet on the turn and when it was checked to him on the Q river Steve checked behind. The other player mucked his hand before Steve showed, but the dealer still made Gross show his K9 before pushing him the pot.
Folding a set is a hard thing to do, especially on a board that doesn’t run 4 cards to a flush or straight. Mike Matusow folded pocket nines on a QT92 turn to Christain “charder” Harder. The exact betting and stack sizes aren’t known but it looks like the pot was around 50k and it would have cost Matusow around 37k to call Harder’s all in, leaving him with around 30k behind. Instead, Mike folded his nines face up and Harder showed him the KJ for a flopped straight that would have left Mike drawing to 10 outs on the river had he called.
End of Day 1A
by Court on 11.05.08, 9:40 pm
As the last few minutes tick off the clock on the 5th level of the day the staff is getting out the bags and pens for the end of day activities. Once the tables finish the last few hands play will be paused and the players will be done until the field is combined for day 2 on Friday.
Late day eliminations included Joe Sebok and Mike “GoLeafsGoEh” Leah. Sebok was busted by Bradley Berman when both made trip jacks but Berman filled up with a nine on the river to overcome Sebok’s JT.
Jason “JP_OSU” Potter, Steve “gboro780″ Gross and Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul all have healthy stacks as the day winds down.
At the end of the day there were 97 players left out of the 162 that started the day. Here are the chip counts for many of the PocketFivers in todays action:
Jason “JP_OSU” Potter - 183,825
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 145,075
Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul - 135,350
Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little - 131,400 (right)
Matt “All In At 420″ Stout - 72,475
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 63,500
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 63,250
Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks - 59,075
Jim “POKERPRO33″ Campbell - 47,050
Adam “A_Junglen” Junglen - 41,150
Boris “fratboy247″ Kravets - 31,875
Christian “charder” Harder - 22,600
Players that busted on Day 1A included:
Joe Sebok
Mike “GoLeafsGoEh” Leah
Noah “4uhaters” Schwartz
Shaun Deeb
Scott Seiver
Thayer “THAY3r” Rasmussen
David “DavidP18″ Peters
Matt “Mattg1983″ Graham
Allen “albari” Bari
Viva Las Main Event
by Jill on 07.05.08, 4:19 am
The end of Level 5 for Day 1B of the Main Event started off in bizarre territory; as PocketFives caught up with play in the Amazon Room, Kenna James belted out a country ballad to all those within earshot. Meanwhile, Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold was doing Jerry Yang impersonations to the amusement of his table. And finally, at Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu’s table in the Blue section, his dealer was *definitely* an Elvis impersonator.
At Bobby “Gettin Deep” Hodson’s table, he spun a true tale of nearly doubling up after winning a clutch 20K pot. Ironically enough, it was with everyone’s favorite hand - pocket fives! He reported that a player in the hijack open-shoved and Bobby was in the big blind. Whether compelled by a tell or the power of the fives, Bobby called and his hand held against the other player’s A-K. He took down the pot and his stack rose to 30K.
Other players strengthening their stacks in the level included Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu who managed to take down plenty of small pots and work his way up to 85K at the end of the day. Mike “SirWatts” Watson also continued to dominate his table and walked away tonight with more than 100K. Another stellar performance was by Derek “arodss3″ Buonano (pictured at left), who worked his way up to 82K after a highly-televised table and subsequent media crew invaded his space for most of the evening. Apparently, there was a heckler at the table who was openly insulting Tom McEvoy who sat a table away.
Shaun Deeb had been sitting on a short stack for awhile and he and two other players saw a flop of KJ3. Shaun pushed all in on the flop and was called by one player whose QT open-ended straight draw was behind Shaun’s J5 pair of jacks. The turn was the 3 and the river brought the 6 and Shaun managed to double his stack.
Steve “gboro780″ Gross was one of the players that experienced a chip slide in the last level. When we caught up to him midway through the level, he guarded a 38K stack and was in a pot on a TQ6 board. He had bet out and was called; the 9 fell on the turn and he checked to his opponent, who bet out 3.4K. Steve called and the K fell on the river. He checked to his opponent, who made a river bet of 6K. Steve thought for quite awhile before folding AQ face up. He was down to 31K after the hand. Shortly after, he managed to swing up the chip counts to 42K when his KQ held on a queen-high board.
However, it seemed that the chip swings were beginning to tilt Gross, who later raised on the button in a hand. Both the big blind and a limper in early position called. When the flop came 332, one of his opponents bet 3.5K and Steve raised to 8K; his opponent called and the 3 came on the turn. Both players checked and the J fell on the river. His opponent bet out 8K and Steve folded after thinking quite awhile. After a series of downswing hands, Steve was was down to 17K.
Here is a collection of unofficial chip counts prior to the end of Day 1B. Congratulations to all players on a great day and good luck to them as they advance in the Main Event!
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 106K
Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu - 85K
Derek “arodss3″ Buonano - 82K
Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert - 42K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 48.5K (pictured at right)
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 15K
Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor - 26K
Bobby “Gettin Deep” Hodson - 30K
Greg “okstate345″ Cox - 21K
Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy - 28K
Brian “Wing-n-prayer” Reingold - 27K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 18K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 17K
Shaun Deeb - 16K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 8.5K
Beep, Beep: Who’s Got The Keys for the Deeb?
by Crystal on 07.05.08, 2:43 am
First things first: Shaun Deeb lost his phone at the break and needs a ride home. Internet? Are you listening? Shaun asks that someone get ahold of Augie, so he can get home.
Table #5 in the Orange section of the Amazon room is quite entertaining to watch, primarily because of the presence of 3 PocketFivers, Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor, Steve “gboro780″ Gross (pictured at right), and Greg “okstate345″ Cox. When one of our reporters was standing near the table, Greg said that he didn’t know who Stuart was until Steve told him that his screenname was “zpaceman.” “You’re ‘zpaceman’? No way! I’ve read your blogs!” Greg said.
Ironically, Greg and Stuart had been playfully ribbing each other before Greg knew who Stuart was. In one hand, Stuart raised and was re-raised by another player at the table. Stuart agonized for a bit before folding his A-Q face up. Stuart said, “That guy hasn’t three-bet me all day. If it was him (pointing to Greg), I’m going to four-bet him!” The table chuckled and Greg said that he folded A-J in the hand. Stuart claims he thought the player who re-raised had A-K. “I only folded because it was off-suit,” Stuart said with a smile. Meanwhile, Steve Zolotow, also at the table gave all the players a ribbing and proceeded to discuss the merits of being on FullTilt’s bankroll. Must Be Nice.
Tom “SBRounder” West was continuing to do well. Before his table in the Orange section broke, he knocked out a short-stacked player. Tom held the AQ to the all-in player’s 33. The board ran out 776J2 to give Tom a flush and knock out the short stack. The next hand, Tom raised preflop and everyone folded. He showed pocket aces just before the table was given new seat assignments. Tom is obviously hoping his good luck continues at his new table in the Blue section!
After waiting patiently over the last couple of levels with a very short stack, Stu “thedonator” Paterson shoved all-in preflop against another very short-stacked big blind. Stu flipped over pocket aces to the big blind’s K6 and the board ran out QJ7TK. Stu did manage to take down the miniscule pot, but is still looking to make some moves and chip up.
Another PocketFiver chipping up in the last level was Bobby “Gettin Deep” Hodson, who took down a nice-sized pot with A-K suited and flopped top pair. His hand managed to hold and his stack increased to 20.5K.
Not having quite as much luck during the 4th level was Blair Rodman. On a flop of 5-6-7 (with two clubs) Blair bet 800 and was called by his opponent. The Q fell on the turn and Blair bet 2K, but the other player then raised to 6K. Blair shoved the rest of his stack in and was called by the other player who held pocket aces. Blair showed the KQ for a pair of queens and a flush draw, but the river was a brick and Blair was sent to the rail.