WSOP 2008
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 K
J
3. Shaun pushed all in on the flop and was called by one player whose Q
T 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
SirWatts’ Tourney Future Bright
by Jill on 07.05.08, 1:37 am
Nearing the end of Level 4 this evening, play condensed further in the Amazon Room, yet the crowd of spectators remained ever large. Plenty of action for PocketFivers occurred in this last level. We caught up with Stu “thedonator” Paterson (pictured at left) who still contended with a small stack, hovering just over 13K. With a couple other players, he limped into a flop of 659 and bet out 1.4K after seeing the board. Another player in later position raised to 3.5K total; one other player called and Stu folded. It seemed he was looking for a good spot to double up at what seemed to be a tight table.
At a nearby table, Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold and Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy protected their pre-dinner stacks, increasing their value by a few thousand chips each. While watching their table, which was right on a very spectator-filled rail, we saw Marco take down a small pot against one other player with K-Q. He chipped up to 26K while Todd accumulated to 41K.
PokerRoad’s own Haralabos Voulgaris has been increasing his chip stack as well; when we caught up to his table in the Green section, he was in the big blind and a few other players had entered play. The flop came 5J9 and players checked the flop. The A came on the turn, and one of his opponents bet out 1K. Haralabos called and the 9 came on the river. Both players checked and he flipped A8 to ship the chips his way.
In the Blue section of the Amazon room, many player have relocated and redrawn for seats, but Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski (pictured at right) informed PocketFives that no one’s left his table all day. “We’ve all become friends,” he said. “We’re just going to fold to the end of the day.” Except he did report to P5s that he managed to recently double up to 17K, so we’re not entirely sure his motives are all friendly!
At the table behind Jeff sat Mike “SirWatts” Watson who accumulated a huge chipstack - he was up to 102K in the last level. We’re not entirely sure how he keeps attracting chips to his stack since action is always calm when we watch; perhaps there are magnets under the table?
At the next table over, Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim reported that he just wants to keep up with SirWatts — He’s convinced that’s his best strategy. In an effort to do this, in one hand, Jeff bet out in the cutoff for 750 before the flop with a chipstack of 52K. The player on the button raised it to 2,400 and pushed everyone else out of the pot. Jeff counted each chipstack and estimated that he had a 5:3 chip advantage over the other player, so he reraised him to 7,450. In what became a betting war, his opponent made it 14K total, 6,600 more. Jeff thought a moment longer before pushing all his chips in the middle. His opponent, clearly agitated, thought long and hard before folding. Jeff slid his cards to the dealer and chipped up to 63K.
Some unofficial chip counts at the end of Level 4:
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 102K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 63K
Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold - 41K
Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor - 40K
Shaun Deeb - 34K
Greg “okstate345″ Cox - 31K
Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert - 31K
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 28K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 26K
Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy - 26K
Bobby “Gettin Deep” Hodson - 24K
Brian “Wing-n-prayer” Reingold - 18K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 17K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 12.5K
Theo “pittrounder” Tran - 5.5K
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
‘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.