WSOP 2008
Daut Busted in 10k PLO
by AdamJ on 06.30.08, 1:46 am
Despite rebuilding his short stack to a more respectable level at 28k, Ryan “Daut44″ Daut (pictured right) lost it all back in big confrontation with Clonie Gowen in the 10k PLO WSOP Event #50.
Gowen raised to 4.5k and Daut reraised to 15k and Gowen called. Gowen checked to Daut on a 8
73
flop, and Daut went all-in for 13k and Gowen called. Daut tabled the A
A
KQ ahead of Gowen’s 6354 double-draw that he had murked with higher diamonds. Daut lost to Gowen’s straight outs when the board ran Q and the 6.
David “Raptor517″ Benefield lost a near 100k pot, dipping his 175k stack, one of the biggest stacks left, to around 120k. Benefield flopped a set eights to his opponents pockets aces and a nut flush draw and lost when his opponent hit a runner-runner straight.
Here’s a list of other notable chip stacks left with the average stack at 60k.
Shawn “buck21″ Buchanan - 130k
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 80k
Tom “durrrr” Dwan - 40k
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 14k
The $1.5K No Limit Hold Em WSOP Event #49 is losing players at a feverish pace. There are currently 29 players remaining–slightly more than 1% of the intial 2,700 person field. Recent eliminations include Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar in 35th place and Hevad “Rain” Khan. Khan was involved in a 4-way limped pot when the flop came Q98 Khan and another player got it all-in. Khan held KQ while the other player had 67. The 5 brought the other player their straight and Hevad was sent to the rail.
Some notable chip counts of the remaining players include JC Tran (380K), Andy Black (305K), and Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg (170K).
Saddling Up for HORSE
by Jill on 06.29.08, 10:11 pm
Event #51, the $1.5K HORSE tournament is well under way with a strong online presence. Play continued to spread across multiple sections of the Amazon room as well as the Brasilia room. PocketFives spotted Shannon Shorr, Brett “Gank” Jungblut, Matt “SamENole” Smith, Justin Bonomo, and Eric “jakz101″ Crain amongst the field.
David “seal” Eisenstein and Bryan Micon (pictured at right) were seated next to each other, but there was a mix-up about where Micon was supposed to sit. The dealer called the floor staff over to help resolve the situation, and the woman who came knew not what she was getting herself into. “Who are you, now?” she asked Micon. “Who am I?” he replied. “I’m Bryan Micon. I’m very, very, very famous.” The table laughed before Micon assumed the correct seat and play began.
Meanwhile, we spotted Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke, Alex Jacob, and Stu “thedonator” Paterson, all of whom busted out earlier from the $10K Pot Limit Omaha tournament. We caught Stu yawning a number of times, so it looks like they have a long night ahead of them in this big field.
When PocketFives caught up with play in Event #49, Gerry “TheGatherer” Kane (pictured at left in his Scottish gear) continued to use his lucky kilt to accumulate chips; his stack was up to 110K and growing as he was taking down small pots. Taylor “tdomeski” Douglas was short-stacked with 20K and recently moved to Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar’s table, where he had worked his stack up to a respectable 95K. Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg, however, was looking healthy and happy with a stack of 170K.
In the $10K Pot Limit Omaha event, Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi got involved in an interesting hand. We caught up with the action on the turn with the board reading 652K. Sorel checked over to his opponent who bet 9.1K. Sorel tanked for a couple of minutes before tossing out two pink 5K chips to make the call. The river brought the K and Sorel again checked over to the other player who bet 13K.
Sorel went into the tank yet again and after a few minutes had passed another player called the clock. Sorel had 60 seconds to make a decision and as the floor counted 3…2…1… Sorel mucked his hand, conceding the pot. His opponent showed two of his hole cards, the 75 which, by themselves, would have been good for two pair - kings and fives. Players are now on a 90 minute dinner break and some unoffical chip counts are listed below.
Noah “Exclusive” Boeken - 48k
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 46k
Rolf Slotboom - 46k
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 40k
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 36k
Thayer Rasmussen - 33k
Tom “durrrr” Dwan - 20k
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 18k
Mueller Makes a Massive Call
by Crystal on 06.29.08, 8:42 pm
It seems everywhere you turn some player is making a bad call to put their tournament life at stake. This definitely wasn’t the case for Greg “FBT” Mueller (pictured at left). We caught up with the action on the flop with the board reading T72. A short stacked player was already all in and Greg and another player were tangled up in a side pot. Both players on the side had large stacks that were similar in size and when the other player pushed all in Greg went into the tank.
He talked out his entire thought process over a period of time that lasted nearly ten minutes. “You must have aces or kings” he said… followed by “Would you make that move with nines or eights? You could be on a flush draw.” Jon Friedberg got up from the table and whispered to a PocketFives reporter that he was sure Greg had the best hand and the other player probably had A-K or maybe the flush draw. Greg apologized to the table for taking so long to make a decision, but no one seemed upset. Eventually Greg said “I really think I have the best hand. I call.” His opponent said “Nice call” as he flipped over the 99 for a pair of nines and Greg proudly flipped over his KT for a pair of tens. The all in player showed KQ and Greg was set to win the entire pot. The turn came with the 5 and the river was the Q which gave the short stacked all in player the main pot of around 40k, but Greg’s tens took the side pot which totaled nearly 250k.
Gerry “TheGatherer” Kane has also been accumulating chips. He busted a player with his pocket queens and then on a hand not long afterwards the cutoff raised to 9k and Gerry re-raised to 23k from the small blind. The cutoff made the call and the flop came 532. Gerry pushed all in and his opponent folded and Gerry’s stack grew to around 115k.
With 90 players remaining Jon Friedberg has around 180k, Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar has almost 100k, and Hevad “RainKhan” Khan has a little less than 50k.
The $1.5k HORSE event #51 got started at 5 pm tonight and with the smaller buy-in we’re sure we’ll see a large number of online players dipping their toes into this mixed game event even if they aren’t as experienced at all of the games. This is sure to make for some exciting action and we’ll keep you posted as the tournament progresses.
The $50k HORSE final table is still progressing. Barry Greenstein is currently the short stack with 1.3 million while Scotty Nguyen is the current chip leader with 4.4 million.
42o Might Never Lose, but JTo Sometimes Does
by Crystal on 06.29.08, 6:09 pm
Alex “42oneverloses” Case got involved in a huge hand against one opponent only 20 minutes after play started in Day 2 of the $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em Event #49.
With the blinds at 800/1,600/200 Case (pictured at left) raised to 4.8K preflop and was called by the big blind. The flop came AK5 and the big blind checked over to Case, who bet 7.2K. The big blind raised to 25K total and after thinking for a little while, Case pushed all in for a total of 88.4K. The big blind, whose stack was very similar in size, tanked but eventually made the call with the A5 for two pair. Case held JT for a gutshot straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. Both those draws were demolished when the 5 fell on the turn, giving the big blind the full house and a lock on the hand. The meaningless 8 came on the river and the huge pot was shipped away from Case, leaving him with 6.5K in chips.
The very next hand, Case open-shoved only to have Andy Black immediately re-raise to 14K. All the other players folded and Black tabled the AA against Case’s 89. The board ran out T43Q4 and Case was sent to the ever-growing payout line.
Moving the opposite way in chip counts was Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar, who sat short-stacked with 16.4K. He was playing aggressively to try and accumulate chips; in one hand, he moved all in preflop from middle position and managed to get everyone to fold. His count went up to 21K. He moved through the blinds, and late action prevented him from playing. However, when he was in the cutoff position, action folded around to him and he pushed all in. His opponent in the big blind also pushed all in to isolate and had Vivek covered. Vivek flipped over 59 to his opponent’s A-T. The board ran out K76K5; the five on the river managed to keep Vivek alive and elevate his stack to 37K. The other player was quite visibly upset, but Vivek took the opportunity to really tune into the table as his opponents’ concentration waned. Later, Vivek called down an all in with pocket fives, but couldn’t get any help from the board against his opponent’s pocket tens. His stack took a turn for the worse, but he managed to double back up moments later to 28K.
Another PocketFiver was doing quite well in the first level of Day 2; Gerry “thegatherer” Kane reported that he was extremely short-stacked going into the day - he only held 18K to start. However, he managed to double up on the first hand, getting it all in with A-Q against pocket nines in the big blind. The dealer spiked a queen for Gerry and he instantly doubled up to 38K. He thanked the lucky Scottish kilt he’s wearing at the table and wanted to send a shout-out to all poker players in his homeland! Later, we caught up again with Gerry as he knocked another player out of the running - his stack was up to 53K and looking strong.
Clements Takes an Early Lead
by Crystal on 06.29.08, 4:49 pm
In the $10k PLO event #50, a number of players have already built their stacks up while a few have already been eliminated from the tournament. Eric “EFro” Froehlich was knocked out when his opponent flopped top two pair and all Eric had was a pair of aces in his hand. Scott “BigRiskky” Clements‘ stack is heading in the opposite direction. Clements (pictured right) is the current chip leader with 32k and has not used his reload chip yet. Barry Greenstein was one of the chip leaders in the PLO event until a massive hand took his entire stack away. Greenstein flopped a set of kings on a KQT board and the Q came on the turn giving him the best full house possible. Unfortunately for Greenstein, his opponent held the other two queens for quads and scooped up a 50k pot to knock Greenstein out of the tournament. He’ll now have a little over an hour to prepare for the final table of the $50k HORSE event that kicks off at 3pm.
Day 2 of the $1.5k NLHE event #49 is set to kick off at 2 pm with a number of notable online players still in the field.
After starting with a massive field of 2,018, only 215 players survived the day to return on day 2. The bubble burst last night at 270 players and all the players returning today are guaranteed at least $2,968 while the 1st place finisher will take home $631,170 along with the gold bracelet. Some notable players hitting the felt again today include Greg “FBT” Mueller (131.7k), Alex “42oneverloses” Case (97.3k), Hevad “RainKhan” Khan (58.8k), and Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar (20.7).