WSOP 2008
Loaded Field in 5k NL WSOP Event #21
by AdamJ on 06.11.08, 5:58 pm
With the second largest NL buy-in aside from the Main Event in the WSOP, tables were stacked with notable NL players from live and online scenes. The 731 player field created a handful of stacked tables throughout the Amazon Room.
P5er Court Harrington was at one of the most eclectic tables of all, sitting alongside Sammy Farha, Ari “BodogAri” Engel, Ray Davis, Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin, and Ben “Milkybarkid” Grundy. Harrington has emerged from the tough draw with one of the biggest stacks at his table, doubling his 10k starting stack to over 20k.
Ray Davis busted before the dinner break when he closed the action on the flop after a player bet into the field and Grundy called and Davis called on a J
9
2 flop. When the K dropped on the turn, the flop bettor led big again on the turn, Grundy folded, and Davis tanked for a few minutes.
Shortly after the player mentioned to Davis that he should try to make the first break, Davis called with QQ
, ahead of his opponents JT. Davis was sent to the rail when the 3h dropped on the river. P5er Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks drew a tough starting table as he was up against three players with NL championship titles in Gavin Griffin, David Chiu, and Glen Chorny, a trio with 13.5 million in tournament winnings between them.
No table featured more notable players than Cory “ugotpzd” Carroll’s table, featuring Chris “Genius28″ Lee, Brian Devonshire, John Robert Bellande, Andrew “good2cu” Robl, and Richard “Quiet Lion” Brody. Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter drew one of the more interesting tables as well, playing alongside cash-game wizard Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby, and Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billarakis.
Stacked 5k Mixed field, Sowers Bad Beats Dicken
by AdamJ on 06.03.08, 1:27 am
For those trying to game select WSOP tournaments to play, looking for fields ripe with weak players to enhance their chances, the 5k mixed hold-em event would fail miserably.
The 332-player field read like a who’s who list of poker professionals from both live and online communities.
Multiple tables had four to six recognizable names in poker and some tables were stocked with a bevy of big names like the table that featured Barry Greenstein, David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Phil Hellmuth, Hoyt Corkins, Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman, and Amit “Amak316″ Makhija.
Ulliott had the distinct pleasure of sitting to Hellmuth’s right, prompting him to attach a piece of paper over his left ear that read “bullshit deflector.”
Greg “FBT” Mueller , last year’s 5k mixed hold-em 2nd place finisher, drew one of the tougher tables in the field with Jon “PearlJammer” Turner (pictured at right), David “Raptor” Benefield, Corey “ugotpzd” Carroll, Gavin Griffin, and Andrew “Good2cu” Robl.
It didn’t take long for Mike “SowersUNCC” and Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken to bump heads, a clash that left Dicken exiting the table talking to his former tablemates about the upcoming rebuy event.
With blinds at 200-400 in the limit round, Sowers raised to 800 from middle position and Dicken reraised to 1200 out of the blind. Sowers put Dicken all-in for his last 300 and Dicken was shocked to see that his Q
8 was dominated by Sowers A8.
‘When you go all-in with Q8 its more likely your not dominated,’ lamented Dicken, as he stood up awaiting his fate.
The board brought no hope for Dicken and he was eliminated.
A hand minutes earlier between Sowers and Dicken played a bigger part in his departure however.
With blinds still at 200-400 in the limit round, Sowers and Dicken got involved in a capped pot preflop where Sowers got all-in on the flop.
On a KKT flop, Sowers found himself in a cooler with AK, trailing Dicken’s TT. After a baby card dropped on the turn, Sowers hit a miracle K on the river.
Another table included a diverse collection of poker players from around the world in both live and online realms with Roland De Wolfe, Noah “Exclusive” Boeken, Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton, former world champion Greg Raymer, and last year’s 5k mixed hold-em champion and youngest bracelet holder, Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis.
It didn’t take long for the affable De Wolfe to get ribbing from the table after his AQ beat his opponents AA in an all-in preflop hand in the NL round after De Wolfe’s second queen dropped on the river, sending his opponent recounting the hand to a friend still in the tournament.
‘The good thing about that is that if you go on to win the tournament you won’t be able to brag about it because i’ll be able to remind you of that,’ Raymer said to De Wolfe.
Good Call, Bad Beat - Carroll Out 4th
by Court on 04.26.08, 9:20 pm
After successfully raising Gus Hansen to pick up a few pots preflop Cory “UGOTPZD” Carroll again popped one of Hansen’s opening raises. Gus made it 480k and Cory raised to 1.65 million chips. Gus called and on the QJ6 flop Cory checked and Hansen stood up to get a look at Carroll’s chips. After seeing that Cory had just over 6.5 million left Gus finally decided to move all in putting Cory to a decision for the rest of his chips.
Carroll (left) thought for a long time at one point saying “do you have a big draw Gus?” and then finally making his mind up after commenting “If you have king queen or queen ten then its over I guess, I call.” Cory had the AJ and his pair of jacks gave him the best hand against Hansen’s holding of the 75. The turn was the Q and Carroll was one card away from becoming a huge chip leader in the tournament. Instead the 3 filled the flush for Gus and eliminated Carroll in 4th place.
The payout for 4th is $593,645 and a large sum, but Cory will have to leave here thinking what could have been and about the almost $3 million more he could have had for first place.
David Chiu and John Roveto have been quiet up to this point. It is possible that neither have raked in a pot yet, but both have jumped way up the payout scale while Gus mows down the field.
Gus Doing the Work Early
by Court on 04.26.08, 9:07 pm
Coming into the final table as the shortstack, Jeff King (right) knew he would have to double up pretty early on to have a chance. Mission accomplished on hand 7. Jeff was all in for just under a million and Gus Hansen said “I hate this hand” but finally called anyway with pocket deuces. King had two overs (shocker) with KJ, and flopped two pair to win the hand and double through Gus and up to around 2 million.
Five hands later the two were all in again, Jeff with the AQ against Gus with the T9. The 864 flop was safe for Jeff and he was only two cards away from his next double up but Hansen had 10 outs. The turn was the K killing 3 of the outs, but the T on the river was one of the cards Gus was looking for. With the pair of tens he busted King in 6th place for $263,815. Gus had just over 10 million chips after the hand.
Not many hands after eliminating King another player was out the door at the hands of Hansen. On a Q-T-5 flop both Tommy Le (left) and Gus had flopped a set, but Hansen’s set of tens left Le drawing to one out. It didn’t hit and Tommy Le (younger brother of Nam Le) saw his final table end in short order and brutal fashion. Le takes home $395,725 for the 5th place finish.
The only chink so far in the armor of Hansen has been a few hands he has folded to Cory “UGOTPZD” Carroll. On multiple occasions Cory has raised and taken decent pots off of Gus without having to show down a hand or even see a flop.