WSOP 2008
Beckman Moves Up Leaderboard
by Brett on 07.10.08, 12:21 am
After battling through sickness to get through Day 1 of the Main Event, Garrett “GBecks” Beckman (pictured left) is feeling way better on Day 2b
Beckman’s change of mood isn’t necessarily because the remnants of what he suspected was food poisoning is gone, although that definitely helps, but that his stack has gone from 54k to start the day to over 220k by the dinner break.
Beckman won a 160k pot earlier in the day when he opened for 2k and got re-raised to 7k. Beckman re-raised to 27k and his opponent called. First to act, Beckman checked a 10-10-7 flop and his opponent checked. Beckman checked when another 7 peeled on the turn and his opponent went all-in for 60k. Beckman called with queens and his opponents’ AK didn’t improve.
“It was pretty hard to check twice,” Beckman said.
Mohsin “chicagocards1″ Charania was pleased to make the dinner break after going through what he described as maybe the worst level of his life. Charania started with 108k and went down to 12k only to rebound to 63k by the break. Playing alongside Charania was Aditya “intervention” Agarwal, who hit the break with 150k. Despite having a healthy stack, Agarwal is still remembering the 85k pot he lost when his pocket sevens connected to the 8-7-2 board and his opponents pocket nines turned a set to trump Agarwal’s set of sevens in a hand where his opponent was all-in on the flop.
Aaron “NDGrinder59″ Steury has been steadily building his stack all day long, but he made a huge jump up the chip counts before the break when he got it all-in in a blind versus blind confrontation holding pocket queens to his opponent’s A-K. Steury managed to win the classic race situation when the board came ten high and Aaron increased his chip stack to 250K.
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst remained on life-support before the dinner break, which he planned to spend at the Rio’s Indian restaurant. PocketFives caught up with Tony in the big blind, checking on a flop of A
K
9. When the small blind raised to 5.5K, Tony folded and called the table a “total fiasco” - he was barely treading water as Jean-Robert Bellande a few seats to his left kept chipping up. He couldn’t manage to catch any action on his small blind either; he completed and folded to a late raise. However, on the button, he shoved all in for his remaining 8.5K and the table folded to him. Bellande joked, “You’re the survivor here, kid. You’re the survivor.” He chipped up to a whopping 10.5K before dinner break.
Senovio “Dorsal Fin” Ramirez doubled up to 58K when he and another player got all of their chips in on a king-high flop — Ramirez with pocket aces and his opponent with ace-king. Here’s a look at some other chip counts as players went into the dinner break:
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 224K
Brandon Schaefer - 140K
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 110k
David “davidp18″ Peters - 109k
“BodogAri” Engel - 70K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 50k
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 46K
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 41k
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 30k
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter - 37K
Beckman Eliminated
by Crystal on 06.23.08, 4:09 am
As the blinds continued to rise, Garrett “GBecks” Beckman’s stack began slowly decreasing. The final tables of the $1.5k NLHE event #39 have been filled with aggressive play and it seemed that Beckman (pictured left) just couldn’t get things going in the right direction.
With the blinds at 8k/16k (2k ante) Beckman open shoved all in for his last 140k in chips. The player on the button looked a little too happy as he also pushed all in for 182k total. Both blinds folded and Garrett held the JT
to the button’s KK. The board ran out 7
55A2 and Beckman was sent to the rail just as a cocktail server delivered a drink he had ordered. He finished in 21st place and will take home $17,450.
Mike “inissint” Glasser is still fighting and has around 240k in chips while the current chip leader holds over 1 million.
Daniel “voff” Deveau has been on a rush in the last level of the $1,500 Mixed Hold’em event, adding 18K chips to his stack. The majority came while we were away, but Deveau (pictured right) gave us the details. A player in early position raised to 800 and Deveau called in the cutoff. The player then check-raised Deveau on a J-8-4 flop and he called. Deveau then raised a bet when a blank hit on the turn and he was called. An 8 came on the river and Deveau was check-raised all in. Felt easily priced in, Deveau called with A-J and his opponent mucked, sending a massive pot his way. Deveau then turned quad aces on the very next hand to hit the 30K mark but has since been cut down to 25K.
Ari “BodogAri” Engel has chipped up to nearly 11K, but missed out on busting Mimi Tran. Tran moved in for her last 1K during the limit round with blinds at 800/1600 and Ari and Stu “thedonator” Paterson made the call. Engel led the KQ4 flop and Paterson called to increase the sidepot. The T fell on the river and Engel bet Paterson out of the pot and looked to have Tran heading toward the rail with AK against her A4. That is, until the J appeared on the river, giving her and Engel a straight. Ari smiled at us and said “Got in with the best hand like I always do.”
Engel did, however, knock David Pham out of the tournament not too long after. The short-stacked Pham got his last 2K in the middle preflop with AJ but Engel’s A5 was best when all was done when he spiked the 5 on the flop.
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst was just eliminated in 140th place. He got his last 1900 chips in on a K54J board with AT and was unable to catch up to his opponent’s KQ.
Brock “t_soprano” Parker is hovering near the chip leaders with more than 30K.
Beckman Gets Bluffed
by Crystal on 06.23.08, 1:20 am
As the seconds on the tournment clocked ticked down the last few seconds of level 16 in the $1.5k NLHE tournament, chip leader Garrett ”GBecks” Beckman got involved in a rather interesting hand.
The cards were dealt out and as the other players folded they left the table to go on break but Beckman (pictured right) in the cutoff raised to 24k. Play folded to the big blind, a man named Curtis Early, who decided to make the call. The flop came Q52 and Early bet out 14k. Beckman raised to 64k and then Early re-raised to 114k. Beckman went into the tank and said “Top pair, I don’t know what I’m going to do.” After debating for awhile Beckman eventually folded and left the table to go to break.
Early then told PocketFives that all he had was 92 for a pair of twos. He said, “I just felt like playin’ with him! He’s been pushing everybody around.” Early suspected that his twos weren’t good against Beckman’s hand but that he just wanted to play back at him because he could. Even though Beckman lost over 100k in chips in the hand he is still near the top of the chip counts and will be fighting to build his stack even higher as they get closer to the final table.
David “ComptonMasta” Barter was eliminated after having a big stack for the majority of the day. After being crippled on one hand by another big stack he put the rest of his chips in with the K5 and couldn’t catch up to his opponents AJ.
There are currently 41 players remaining including Chris “big huni” Hunichen (340k), Luke “JohnnyCashOut” Priour (52k), and Michael “inissint” Glasser (195k).
Over in the Amazon Room, 271 of the original 731 players are still going strong in the $1,500 Mixed Hold’em event. The players have just returned from a 30-minute dinner break and were told that they would be playing four more hours before the conclusion of Day 1. Stu “thedonator” Paterson (12K), Mike SowersUNCC” Sowers (10K), Tony “Bond18″ Dunst (9.5K) and Brock “t_soprano” Parker (6K) are some of the notables alive as the average stack is now 8K.
Shannon Shorr and Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg were among those eliminated in the past level. We caught Shorr (pictured left) and David Plastik get all of their chips in on a KT68 board, with Shorr holding KQ and a 2-1 favorite against the 75 of Plastik. The river, however, brought the 9, giving Plastic a straight and sending Shorr packing.
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.
Business as Usual for Riskky
by Brett on 06.17.08, 6:27 pm
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements has a knack for building a large stack early in tournaments. The two-time bracelet winner is already near the top of the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em leaderboard as it approaches Level 4. Just before the 30-minute break before Level 2, Clements (pictured right) got involved in a three-way pot with JT and led out for 175 on a 983 flop. Both players called and then checked to Clements when the A hit on the turn. Clements bet 300 and only the player on the button called. The lovely 7 fell on the river and Clements counted out 900 chips and induced a call by the button, who let his frustration be known when he saw Scott’s straight.
Clements then built his stack to 9K when his QQ held against the TT of an opponent when they got it all in preflop. Clements made a full house on the turn to leave the player drawing dead.
Theo “pittrounder” Tran (9K), Court Harrington (7.5K), Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby (6.5K), Cal Spears (5K) and Anna “VietCutie” Wroblewski (5K) have also been chipping up early in Event #32.
The final table of the $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em event included a trio of P5ers, but one has just been taken out in eighth place. Tony “Bond18″ Dunst shoved his last 130K at the 10K/20K blind level and got a call from Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin (pictured left), who flipped up 89 and found that he was a huge underdog to the KK of Dunst. The T87 flop gave Vengrin some hope, and the J on the turn gave him the lead as Dunst was left hoping for a diamond on the river. The T eliminated Tony, who earned $54,344. Vengrin, however, is now the overwhelming chip leader with 1.4 million. Johnny Neckar is second with 700K. P5er Thuy “ShesNoGood” Doan is holding stong with 420K, good for fourth at the table.
The $10,000 Limit Championship got underway at 3:00 PT. Brock “t_soprano” Parker entered the day as the short stack but has picked up few small pots early. We’ll keep track of his progress throughout the day.