WSOP 2008
Graham Cracker Crunch
by Brett on 06.26.08, 4:32 pm
Matt “mattg1983″ Graham is the early chip leader of today’s $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-handed event. With players still making their way into the Amazon Room, Graham (pictured right) called a raise of 175 out of the big blind with 4
3 and another limper called. The flop brought A-3-3 rainbow and Graham led out for 300. The limper folded and original raiser called. The 8
on the turn brought a flush draw and Graham bet 1025 and was raised to 3025. Graham called and made quads when another 3 landed on the river. He moved all in for his last 6K and his opponent called and Graham showed the nuts and pulled in a pot of 20K. We missed what the other player showed, but Graham believed it was A-K.
Cody “thugmoneymakr” Slaughbaugh didn’t have the same fortune. He got all of his chips in on a J
65 board with A8 against J
5 and was unable to make his flush. He, along with Jordan Morgan, Scott “gunning4you” Seiver and Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski were all eliminated in the first two levels. Bogdanski ran a set into a higher set after all the chips went in on the flop.
Eric “Rizen” Lynch is up to 15K after he knocked a player out of the tournament with KK against QQ. All of the chips went in preflop and the board revealed A5327. Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan has also chipped up to 19K after making a king-high flush against a queen-high flush and getting it all in on the turn.
Shaniac World
by Brett on 06.21.08, 6:15 pm
Shane “shaniac” Schleger has decided to take over as table captain in Day 2 of the $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em event, which got kicked off at 2:00 PT. Schleger has been very active early, raising and re-raising often and moving chips at a table which includes Chris “cdbr3799″ Dombrowski and current chip leader Michael Binger, who arrived late.
Schleger (pictured right) started the day with nearly 80K and had built his stack to 95K within the first 20 minutes of play before taking a hit. With the blinds at 800/1,600, a player in middle position raised to 5,600 (with less than 2,000 behind) and Schleger isolated by re-potting in the cutoff. The button then moved in for his last 18,000 and the short stack and Schleger made the call:
Short stack: 55
Schleger: KQ
Button: AQ
The board ran out A8272 and Schleger was left with 77K while the short stack was eliminated. Dombrowski has 33K and Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski has 34K a few tables over.
Eugene Todd and Vanessa Roussa tangled a table over from Schleger’s. With both at exactly 15K, all of the chips went in preflop, Todd with KK and Rousso QQ. The kings held for Todd, who is slightly below an average stack now with 30K. Rousso was eliminated and earned $3,744.
Cody “thugmoneymakr” Slaughbaugh sent the first player to the rail at today’s $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em final table. Slaughbaugh (pictured left) raised to 55K with the blinds at 10K/20K and short stack John Shipley moved in for close to 300K. Slaughbaugh made the call with JJ, which held against the KQ of Shipley, who picked up $56,782 for his ninth-place finish. Slaughbaugh is now second in chips with 1.52 million. P5ers Owen “ocrowe” Crowe (620K) and Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter (370K) are sixth and seventh, respectively.
Pressure Setting In
by Brett on 06.20.08, 9:45 pm
As the field continues to dwindle, tensions are running high in the $1.5K NLHE event. Almost every table has called over a floor during person the past couple of levels for rulings about everything from what constitutes a mucked hand to proper cell phone usage.
Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaughbaugh was the recent benefactor of a ruling by a floor person. Slaughbaugh was recently moved to a table with Bryan Micon, Isaac Haxton, and Leonid Yanovski. As a hand was being dealt, Yanovski was on his cell phone while seated at the table, but hung up as the last card was being dealt to the player on the button. Others at the table contended the hand was dead since the rule stipulates that you have to step a table length away if you are on the phone. The dealer called over a floor person who ruled that since Yanovski hung up before the last card was dealt he had a live hand.
After the delay, the hand finally proceeded and Cody raised from middle position with the blinds at 2K/4K ante 500 and Yanovski moved all-in for approximately 40K more. Slaughbaugh thought for a couple of minutes before making the call with K-Q and Yanovski showed pocket tens. The king on the flop gave Cody the advantage in the hand and with no help for Yanovski on the turn or river, he was eliminated. After the hand, Slaughbaugh had over 300K in chips.
Tom “titantom32″ Braband has also been chipping up these past two levels. Down as low as 50K, he doubled up when his pocket kings held against his opponent’s A-K and he has been building ever since. Going into dinner break, he has 172K. Brian “bparis” Paris has also held on to his big stack and had 180K the last time we saw him.
Players continue to drop in the $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em event. Ben “bfineman” Fineman, Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin and Andy “BKiCE” Seth were all knocked out in the past level and several online stars are short as we inch toward the dinner break. Chad “lilholdem954″ Batista lost a substantial pot to slide down to 3K. With blinds at 200/400, Batista (pictured right) raised to 1150 in early position and a player in middle position called. Both players checked the 976 flop and the J came on the turn. Chad checked and his opponent bet 1650. Chad called and the river was the 3. Batista check-called a bet of 4500, saying “This is the worst call ever made” and quickly mucked his hand when he saw the 99 of his opponent.
Shane “shaniac” Schleger is at the same table and has been moving in the opposite direction. A player in the cutoff raised to 1400, leaving himself with 600 behind, and Schleger called on the button. On the flop of 776, the cutoff moved his last few chips into the pot and Schleger called instantly with KQ, which trailed the 55. The A gave Shane more outs on the turn and he hit the K on the river, eliminating his opponent and building his stack to 10K.
We’re midway through Level 6 (200/400) with 171 players remaining and the average stack at 14K. Here’s a look at some other notable chip counts:
Matt “All In At 420″ Stout - 16K
Eugene Todd - 15K
Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby - 10K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 3.5K
Jeff “crzysavage” Gressard - 3.5K
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 3K
Gary vs. Gray
by Brett on 06.20.08, 1:31 am
Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski took the tournament chip lead from Craig “MrCasino” Gray in Level 8 of the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em, and minutes later watched Gray take a seat next to him after his table broke. Bogdanski (pictured left with Gray) is sitting with 65K and Gray, who seems refreshed after taking a few days off, has 56K with the blinds at 400/800. The two didn’t know either previously but have quickly bonded.
Also working with a lot of chips is Cody “thugmoneymakr” Slaughbaugh, who had close to 50K before he lost a pot to Alex Jacob. Jacob raised to 2,025 in the cutoff and Slaughbaugh called in the big blind. Both players checked the flop of 864 and Slaughbaugh led for 2,900 when the Q fell on the turn. Jacob raised to 6,300 Slaughbaugh called. The K came on the river and Slaughbaugh check-called a 6,300 bet from Jacob, who showed QQ for the flush. Slaughbaugh mucked, leaving him with 35K.
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman had the benefit of good timing when he picked up AA and got all of his 5.6K in preflop. The aces held and he doubled up to a little over 12K.
PocketFives caught up with Phil “USCPhildo” Collins on a board of TQJ9Q, engaged in heads-up play with Duncan Bell. Phil explained that he flat-called Duncan’s raise preflop, then both players checked on the turn. On the river, however, Duncan bet out 4K and Phil moved all in. After a long time in the tank, Duncan folded and Phil flipped over the best hand in poker — POCKET FIVES! He joked to the PocketFives staff that he felt compelled to play the hand. Why? Because he loves us. After winning the big pot, Phil’s stack was up to 44K and he grinned mischeviously.
With 300 players remaining and the average stack at 24K, here some other chip counts of notable P5ers in Event #36:
Shannon Shorr - 55K
Dan “voff” Deveau - 47K
Bryan Micon - 43K
Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman - 33K
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 29K
Richard “Lee Nickel” Fohrenbach - 22K
Justin “jurollo” Rollo - 21K
Dimitri “Skanky980″ Valouev - 20K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 19K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 19K
Carol “colson10″ Olson - 15K
Aaron “ndgrinder59″ Steury - 15K
Dag Martin “dmmikkel” Mikkelsen - 14K
Scott “mindwise” Pendergrast - 12K
Money Makr
by Brett on 06.13.08, 12:24 am
Cody “thugmoneymakr” Slaughbaugh has been on a tear in Level 16 of the $5K NLHE Event. Slaughbaugh began the level with roughly 170K and has since built his stack to 350K, putting him near the top of the leaderboard.
Slaughbaugh (pictured right) first got involved in a pot with Danny Smith. At 3K/6K blinds, Slaughbaugh raised to 17K from the button and got calls from Smith and Anna “VietCutie” Wroblewski in the blinds. On a flop of 553, Smith and Wroblewski checked to Slaughbaugh, who bet 28K. Smith called and Wroblewski folded. The 6 fell on the turn and again Smith checked to Slaughbaugh, who instantly shoved for 122K. Smith thought for two minutes before calling with 88, which was way behind Cody’s QQ. Slaughbaugh faded the two outer as the K came on the turn and he picked up a pot of 360K.
On the very next hand, Slaughbaugh raised to 18K from the cutoff and Wroblewski raised to 42K from the small blind. Scott Seiver then raised enough to put Anna all in, Slaughbuagh folded and Anna called immediately with KK. Seiver flipped up AJ, and then outdrew her when the A spiked on the turn. Wroblewski finished in 39th place, good for $12,712.
Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman (pictured left) has just crept over the 200K mark after busting Sam El Sayed. El Sayed shoved his last 35K from the cutoff and Freeman, being the wizard he is, figured he was priced in and made the call with K3, which was ahead of Sayed’s QT. The board ran out J52A4 and El Sayed was eliminated.
Alex “AJKHoosier” Kamberis has also just been taken out in 34th place for $16,147, but there are still a handful of notable online stars still left in the field. Here are some recent chip counts:
Scott “gunning4u” Seiver - 700K
Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet - 225K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 220K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 210K
A loud roar came from the ESPN Tournament Arena just before players in the $5K NLHE went on dinner break. A large crowd had gathered to watch Daniel Negeanu win his fourth WSOP bracelet as he defeated Ugur Marangoz heads up in the $2K Limit HE Event. He’s in a $200,000 bracelet race with Phil Ivey for this year’s WSOP, and as he hoisted bracelet #4 into the air, he yelled, “Me 1, Ivey 0!”