WSOP 2008
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 A
Q to the all-in player’s 3
3
. 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 K
6 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.
Zpaceman Lifts Off
by Jill on 07.04.08, 9:21 pm
On Orange Table 10, PocketFives caught up with Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy (pictured at right) heads-up in a hand with Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold. On a board that read A433, Marco bet out 3,450 as he was first to act, leaving 23K behind. Todd reraised him to 9K and Marco went to the tank for a long time before finally deciding to fold with a bemused look on his face. Todd increased his stack to 36K while Marco fell to 24K.
A few tables over at Orange 8, action was getting more exciting as it filled up with PocketFivers. Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor was quite active over the last level, apparently wanting to mix things up a bit since his last level was slow. He sat at the table with another PocketFiver, Greg “okstate345″ Cox, who guarded a 26K stack.
When we caught up with the table, Stuart was involved in a hand with two other players on a flop of J76. Stuart bet out 750 after, but was reraised to 2K by the player on his left. Stuart called and the 8 dropped on the turn. He checked, his opponent bet out 3K, and Stuart took a long time to rake his opponent over the coals while he made his decision. Eventually, Stuart folded the hand with a face-up jack and his opponent also showed a jack. Stuart was left with 34K to question what other card was in the muck as Steve “gboro780″ Gross sat down at the table two seats away.
Shortly afterward, Stuart (pictured at left) led out with a preflop bet of 950, which Steve called. The rest of the table folded the action back around and the flop came AAK. Again, Stuart began the action with a 1,250 bet. After thinking awhile, Steve folded TT face up and was left with a short stack of 14K.
The next hand, Stuart limped in early position with one other player and the small blind completed. The big blind checked his option and the flop came AQ7. The blinds checked and Stuart bet out 600, which was immediately flat-called by the player on his left. The small blind called, the big blind folded and the 2 fell on the turn. The small blind checked, Stuart bet out 1,200 and the limper flat-called. Action returned to the small blind, who tossed his cards in the muck before a 4 came on the river. After shaking his head and musing to himself, Stuart bet out 3,250, taunting his opponent, “If I bet, you will pay me!” Sure enough, after thinking quite awhile, his opponent called and Stuart flipped over pocket sevens for a flopped set. He took down the pot and increased his stack to 42K.
Steve managed to get a few chips back soon after when he saw a flop of KT5. He bet out 1,300 against the button, who called; the 2 hit the turn and both Steve and his opponent checked. The 9 on the river inspired a bet of 2,250 from Steve and his opponent insta-called him, but mucked his hand against Steve’s KT for top two pair. Steve took down the pot and increased his to nearly 20K.
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski made a move in the past hour but couldn’t get paid off on what looked to be a big hand. With the blinds at 150/300, a player raised under the gun to 900 and Sluzinski called in the cutoff. The flop was A86 and the other player led out for 1,100. Sluzinski raised all in for 7,425 more. His opponent contemplated a call before letting it go and Sluzinski is now at 11K.
Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu’s (pictured below) game has apparently not changed on the live circuit. His hyper-aggressive style helped him chip up to 35K through Level 3 but he just took a small hit to his stack. In a blind vs. blind confrontation, Lieu bet 600 on a T73 board and the big blind called. The 8 fell on the turn and Lieu bet 2,500 only to get reraised to 7,000 by his opponent. Lieu thought for close to five minutes, swirling a green chip with his right hand before folding a leaving himself with 30K.
Here are some updated unofficial chip counts:
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 66K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 45K
Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold - 37.5K
Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu - 31.5K
Mike “Schneids” Schneider - 30K
Blair Rodman - 29.5K
Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert - 28K
Greg “okstate345″ Cox - 26K
Shaun Deeb - 25.5K
Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy - 24K
Theo “pitrounder” Tran - 23K
Matt “SameENole” Smith - 21K
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 20K
Derek “arodss3″ Buonano - 19K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 17K
Todd “DanDruff” Witteles - 16K
Brian “Wing-n-prayer” Reingold - 13.5K
Peter “Nordberg” Feldman - 12K
Tim “EightLarge” Vansant - 11K
Empty Seat at Table 50
by Brett on 07.04.08, 7:43 pm
Scott “emptyseat88″ Fischman, who appeared to be in hiding for much of today with his jacket pulled up over his face, has officially been erased from the Main Event field after busting in the past level. Fischman (pictured left) got all of his chips in on a 972 board with 99 against an opponent’s T8. The 3 on the turn gave the other player a flush and Fischman was unable to fill up on the river.
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski ran also into problems earlier, chasing a flush draw on the flop and hitting a running two pair on the turn and river, but paid off a higher two pair to cut his stack to 9K. He currently sits at 8.5K but still seems composed. We joked with Jeff earlier about getting 1-1 odds that he’d make the final table, to which he replied “You got screwed!”
Shortly after we wrote about Shaun Deeb and Tom “sbrounder” West’s table in the last update, it was broken and the friends were sent their separate ways. Deeb is far from alone at his new table though — both Steve “gboro780″ Gross and Theo “pitrounder” Tran were already seated there and now it has become one of the most stacked tables in play today.
Cardrunners’ Mike “Schneids” Schneider has been steadily building his chips since being moved to his new table. We spotted him raising to 600 with the blinds at 100/200. The player in the hijack called and they saw a flop of Q86. Schneider (pictured right) bet out 1K and his opponent quickly called. When the K hit on the turn Mike checked and the other bet out 2K. Schneider thought briefly, then made the call. Mike checked again after the 8 on the river and the other player fired out 7K. Schneider decided to call and his opponent turned over 99 and Mike revealed K-10 to scoop the pot with top pair. After that, he was up to 38K.
When PocketFives caught up with Stu “thedonator” Paterson midway through Level 2, he was raking in a pot with pocket jacks to get back his starting stack of 20K. He joked with his opponent, “Finally, now we can play again. We’re even.” Presumably, he’s been head-to-head with his tablemate before and his spirits were high. He finished the level with 26K in chips.
Meanwhile, Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor bet out a few tables over with 32K behind. After a flop of 976, his one remaining opponent checked to him and he fired out 850 into the pot. His opponent folded and he increased his stack to 35K. Stuart reported that the last level has been slow but comfortable.
Players have just left the Amazon Room to take their second break of the day and blinds will increase to 150/300 when they return at 4:58 PT. Here’s a look at some current chip counts:
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 58K
Todd “DanDruff” Witteles - 38.5K
Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy - 38K
Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold - 37K
Mike “Schneids” Schneider - 36K
Jason Young - 35.5K
Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu - 31K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 30.5K
Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert - 29.5K
Blair Rodman - 24K
Theo “pitrounder” Tran - 21.5K
Peter “Nordberg” Feldman - 21K
Shaun Deeb - 18K
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 14K
Nick “gbmantis” Niergarth - 11.5K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 11.5K
Brian “Wing-n-prayer” Reingold -11.5K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 11.5K
Tim “EightLarge” Vansant - 9K
Eliminated this hour: Micah “mordan” Hendrix
‘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 TT35, 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 973 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.
Seat Open!
by Crystal on 06.28.08, 6:16 pm
Because play ended last night in the $2k NLHE event #48 right after the bubble burst, the “all-in fest” that usually occurs immediately following was saved for today. Less than 30 minutes after play began two tables had already been broken and David “ComptonMasta” Barter and Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin are amongst the early casualties.
Bryan “Devo” Devonshire was also eliminated when his pocket fives ran into pocket jacks and failed to improve.
60 players have been eliminated in the first 75 minutes of play today and the other short stacks will obviously be looking to make moves soon so the high number of eliminations is likely to continue through the early part of the afternoon.
In the $1.5k NLHE event that started at noon today Justin Bonomo (pictured right) has jumped out as one of the early chip leaders with 14k while Theo Tran, Jeff ”yellowsub” Williams and Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul have already been eliminated.
Eric “Rizen” Lynch was guarding a short stack when PocketFives caught up to his table on a T-7-4 flop. Eric moved all in with Q-8 after the flop and managed to double against pocket jacks when he spiked a queen on the turn. Another player at his table asked, “Is there a bounty on you or something?” before Eric laughed and collected the pot. Other players faring less profitably include Dave “davyg” Gyarmti, who had accumulated up to 5.2K in chips until his pocket kings were cracked by pocket nines. He was down to 1.8K at the break.
Other PocketFives members spotted in the event include David “seal” Eisenstein, Scott “thebasher007″ Stubbs, Nick “FU_15″ Maimone, William “gptbigguy” Looper, Joseph “Dyzalot” Morneau, Micah “mordan” Hendrix, Faraz “The Toilet-0″ Jaka, Chris “sooooted” Vaughn, Steve “willywoo” Nolan, Matt “All In At 420″ Stout, Eric “erbloore” Bloore, and Matt “SamENole” Smith. Some chip counts for other players are listed below.
Amit “amak316″ Makhija - 3.5K (pictured left)
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 4K
Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor - 5.2K
Chris “big huni” Hunichen - 4K
Andriy “tormos” Pavlyuk - 6K
Shawn “raptorfan” Morris - 4.5K