WSOP 2008
‘MrTim’ Remains Calm
by Jessica on 07.04.08, 4:08 pm
Less than ten hands into play Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer (pictured at left) already found himself facing a tough decision for a large portion of his chips. ESPN cameras crowded around Steve’s table as the following hand went down:
With the blinds at 50/100 a player limped in early position and Hal Lubarsky raised to 350 on the button. O’Dwyer then reraised to 1,150 out of the big blind, the limper folded, and Lubarsky quickly put in a third raised to 4,350. Steve thought for a good two minutes, counted out his chip stack, and eventually folded, quietly saying, “too soon”, as he threw his hand in the muck. O’Dwyer later informed PocketFives that he held pocket kings, but he thought it was just too early to get involved in such a big pot preflop, especially considering he knew very little about how Lubarsky played.
Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor also found himself embroiled in a big hand during the first level of Day 1B. Sporting his dashing white PokerStars hat amidst a sea of internet qualifiers in logo garb, Stuart reported that he flopped a set of sixes early on and took down a pot to increase his stack to 32K. We watched as he worked his bigger-than-average stack to his advantage, betting out on a flop full of spades and taking it down with no contest. He joked, “This game is easy!”
Steve “gboro780″ Gross showed up 30 minutes late and found himself seated at the same table as Theo “pitrounder” Tran. Theo is down to 17K early after losing a small pot to Raymond Fagan. On a board of T
T
3
5, Fagan checked to Tran, who bet 750, and Fagan called. The 6 fell on the river and Fagan immediately threw out 1,500 chips. Tran made the call after shaking his head and mucked when Fagan showed AQ.
Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold has been very active and talkative at his table. We caught up with Arnold calling a button raise of 250 from the big blind. The board brought 97
3 and Arnold said to his opponent, “You’re supposed to bet 400 here,” which his opponent did, and Arnold made the call. Arnold then led out for 400 when the K came on the turn and the other player quickly called. The 2 on the river resulted in a check from Arnold, and he was put to a decision when his opponent bet 2K. Todd tried to get some kind of read on the player, asking him “Are you tired of losing pots to me already?” before he finally folded. Arnold is still at 23K, which is above the original starting stack.
Six-Handed Players Making Moves
by Crystal on 06.26.08, 7:53 pm
There are many players making moves in event #46, the $5k NLHE six-handed event. Glen “choron” Chorny was trying to get his short stack moving in the right direction when he raised to 600 preflop with the blinds at 100/200 until an opponent re-raised to 2.4k. Chorny (pictured left) looked disgusted and after thinking for a minute he mucked his cards, showing the A. His opponent said “That’s why I didn’t want to see the flop” as he flipped over his pocket kings and raked in the pot. Chorny is sitting with half his original stack so we expect to see him making more moves as the blinds increase.
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer bet out with the board showing T53 and his opponent raised. After thinking for a minute O’Dwyer reraised enough to put him all in and the other player did indeed make the call with the KT only to find that O’Dwyer held the AA and was ahead in the hand. The turn and river came with the Q and 6 and O’Dwyer added to his stack as the other player exited the tournament.
Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert’s luck wasn’t quite as good. We caught up with the action on the river with the board reading T73TK and Wolpert making a bet of 850 into the small pot. He was called by his opponent and Wolpert appeared reluctant to flip over his hand. When he did he showed the AJ for ace high which had been good until the river, as his opponent held the KQ for a pair of kings which was enough to scoop the pot.
Players are just coming back from their second break of the day and the blinds will be 150/300 with a 25 ante when they return. Some unoffical chip counts of notable players left in the field are listed below.
Hevad “RainKhan” Khan - 35k
Blair “blur5f6″ Hinkle - 32k
Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar - 32k
Alex Jacob - 25k
Shannon Shorr - 19k
Gavin Griffin - 19k
Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis -19k
Amit “amak316″ Makhija -17k
Chad “lilholdem954″ Batista (pictured right)- 13k
Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan - 12k
Anna Wroblewski - 12k
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 11k
Players that have been eliminated from the tournament so far include Joe Sebok, Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby, Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, Carter “devinr12″ Gill, Rolf Slotboom, Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet, and Issac Haxton.
Worth More Than a Wooden “Nickel”
by Jessica on 06.22.08, 7:25 pm
Richard “Lee Nickel” Fohrenbach’s (pictured at left) stack has skyrocketed in second level with blinds at 1k-2k-200. Fohrenbach was the beneficiary of his table breaking early on as he no longer had to contend with Joe Tehan and Barry Greenstein, who were sitting to his immediate left. Fohrenbach won a 80k pot when he raised 9-8 preflop and the flop came 10-7-4. Fohrenbach’s opponent bet into him and Fohrenbach shoved all-in only to have his opponent call with Q-10. Fohrenbach rivered a 6 for a straight and is currently over 100k after starting the day with 40k.
Adam “Roothlus” Levy must be watching chip leader Garrett “GBecks” Beckman in envy. The two friends have had contrasting days at the same table with Beckman scooping seemingly every meaningfull pot he plays. In one hand, Beckman raised 5k from middle position and was called by the button. Both players checked a A74 flop and Beckman check called a 7k bet on the 8 turn. A 9 came on the river and Beckman bet 15k and was called, revealing the nuts with KQ. Beckman currently has one of the biggest stacks with a 145k, over two times the 60k chip average.
While Beckman has been consistently increasing his chip stack, Adam (pictured at right) has had quite the roller coaster ride today. At one point he was as low as 22K, but began an upward climb that culminated in him eliminating Kenna James. Adam said he made a “gamblish” call when a short stacked James shoved his remaining 13K with the blinds at 1K/2K with a 300 ante. Levy made the call with A-3 and James showed A-6. Adam managed to spike a three and increase his chip count to over 50K.
A few hands later, Levy raised the button and the big blind re-raised all in for his last 22K. Adam quickly made the call with 99 and appeared to be in great shape against his opponent’s A9. Unfortunately for Adam, the board came out KT87A and the ace on the river cut Levy’s stack in half.
Dan “wretchy” Adams has had an up and down kind of day as well. As we last reported, he took a big hit with pocket queens, but managed to work his stack as high as 65K. However, he has been forced to lay down some hands to reraises since then and is now sitting with 37K.
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer saw an end to his Day 2 when he got it all in with J-9 on a Q-10-X board with two diamonds. His opponent held K7 and when the flush hit O’Dwyer was eliminated. Other recent eliminations include Wayne “Imustcall” Leonard, Scott “gunning4you” Seiver, and Amit “amak316″ Makhija.
Here are our updated chip counts going into break:
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 145K
Richard “Lee Nickel” Fohrenbach - 105K
David “ComptonMasta” Barter - 100K
Barry “barryg1″ Greenstein - 92K
Luke “JohnnyCashOut2″ Priour - 92K
Chris “BigHuni” Hunichen - 80K
David “DavidP18″ Peters - 75K
Kyle “kwob20″ Bowker - 60K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 47K
Dan “wretchy” Martin - 36K
Josh “pbdrunks” Van Duyn - 20K
Beckman and Leonard Shooting Skyward
by AdamJ on 06.22.08, 6:14 pm
A host of P5er’s made it to Day 2 of the 1.5k NL WSOP Event #39, making for some interesting table draws as less than 200 remain.
Two online heavyweights drew each other’s table at the onset in Garrett “GBecks” Beckman (pictured at left) and Adam “Roothlus” Levy.
Levy started the day with 43k but is down to 32k after doubling up a nine big blind short stack that woke up with kings to Levy’s eights. Its been a rollercoster ride for Levy, who was down to less seven big blinds late last night before the money bubble. Beckman has added to his stack early and is up to 65k as blinds are 800-1600-200.
Richard “Lee Nickel” Fohrenbach drew a few live pro’s to his left in Joe Tehan and Barry Greenstein. Fohrenbach’s 43k stack will have to tread cautiously with Greenstein’s 80k stack a few seats over, although it seems like it’s taking a lot for Greenstein to stay awake.
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer’s table woes continued on through Day 2. In the first half hour of play at Steve’s table, which also includes Kyle “kwob20″ Bowker and David “ComptonMasta” Barter, only seven hands had been dealt! The table shenanigans continued when a hand folded around to an extremely short stacked player in the small blind. She appeared to complete the blind, but her chips were in a messy pile rather than a stack, so it was difficult to tell if she had just called or moved all-in. Barter, who was in the big blind, thought she had moved all in and announced call. Bowker then pointed out that there was technically no raise for him to call. The small blind then clearly announced all-in and Barter called with his A-8. The other player showed pocket aces and Barter’s hand failed to improve. We can only hope the other player stacked her newly aquired chips a little better as play continued.
Dan “wretchy” Martin (pictured right) took a big hit early on when he and a shorter stack got it all in pre-flop with QQ to the other player’s JJ. The other player hit is set on a flop of JT8 and Dan, who began the day with 50K was left with right around 25K. His table has since broke and he now has to contend with his new tablemate, Luke “JohnnyCashOut2″ Priour.
Priour just knocked out a short stack when he raised from the cut-off with the blinds at 800/1,600 ante 200 and the player in the big blind moved in for less than 10K total. Priour made the call with KT and the big blind showed 24. It looked like the other player was going to double through when the board came out 98{5h]A and gave him a flush, but the J on the river brought a bigger flush for Priour and shot his chip stack up to 60K.
Another player who got off to a good start today is Wayne “Imustcall” Leonard, who doubled up early when he got it all-in preflop with A-K to his opponent’s K-Q. His hand held and he now has 50K. Other players weren’t so lucky in their attempts to double up. Tony “Bond18″ Dunst and Jose “papadelpoker” De La Guardia were recently eliminated.
“Another Day, Another Donkament.”
by Jill on 06.21.08, 10:03 pm
Nearly at the end of Level 6 in Event #39’s $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em, the field is down to 690 — more than three-quarters of the field has been eliminated. It was recently confirmed that registration did, in fact, max out at 2,720, which created a prize pool of more than $3.7 million and a grand prize of $631,656.
After all the eliminations, play has been moved exclusively to the Amazon Room where several PocketFivers were staying strong. We caught up with Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke as he was limping preflop before the board came 37T. He and two other players checked on the flop and the turn came the T. It checked around to Fricke, who bet 2K and got an insta-call from one other player. When the 2 showed up on the river, his opponent bet 3K and Fricke tanked before folding it down.
Despite the loss, Fricke still has about 13K in chips. Before we left his table, he sighed and joked: “Another day, another donkament.”
Across the room, Amit “Amak316″ Makhija (pictured below) was sitting pretty with 30K in chips. The whole table groaned with Humberto Brenes’ arrival as he was reseated next to Amit. Just before he started miming with his sharks, Amit told Brenes, “I knew there was a reason I brought headphones today, Humberto.”
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer has also chipped up to about 25K. On the button, Steve bet after the turn on a board of 3KJ4. There was an insta-call from one other player and the river came the 9. His opponent bet 2,700 after the river and Steve folded, but his stack stayed strong and took down the next pot uncontested.
Other notable chip stacks in Level 6:
Tristan “Cre8ive” Wade - 42K
R. “Lee Nickel” Foehrenbach - 38K
Amit “Amak316″ Makhija - 30K
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 26K
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer - 25K
Thayer Rasmussen - 19K
Josh “pbdrunks” Van Duyn - 14K
Scott “gunning4u” Seiver - 8.5K
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 8.5K
Maria “Maridu” Mayrinck - 7.5K
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier - 5K
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams - 4.5K
Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke - 13K