WSOP 2008
King is Dead
by Brett on 07.10.08, 3:26 am
Carter “ckingusc” King (pictured left) has been hanging on by a thread all day; in fact, the patience he’s continually exhibited has been admirable. However, this patience was wearing thin as his stack was shrinking - when PocketFives caught up to Carter halfway through the last level of the evening, he had less than 15K in front of him. Finally, he saw his chance to make a move and from the button, he shoved all in when it folded to him. After thinking awhile, a player in early position called his all-in and the dealer waved his paddle in the air. When both players flipped their cards, it was a classic coin flip situation: Carter held Q
J
versus his opponent’s T
T. The board ran out K386 and Carter was feeling pretty good, but while the J on the river gave Carter a better pair, it gave his opponent the flush and he was sent to the rail.
Todd “koolkeith13″ Lewis also recently busted when he lost an 80K pot when he got it in with A-K while his opponent held A-9. A nine on the turn spelled disaster for Lewis and he was eliminated with an hour left in play.
Adam “Roothlus” Levy had some good news to share with his friend Ray Henson, who was sitting a few tables over. Levy had much to be happy about after he won a three-way all-in preflop hand where his kings held up against pocket queens and pocket jacks. Levy started the hand with about 75k and after his flopped set of kings held, his stack catapulted to over 200k. Henson has been enjoying some good fortune as well as his 20k stack at the start of the day has ballooned over 230k.
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy increased his stack to 250K following a blind vs. blind confrontation. The player in the small blind raised to 3,600 and Josephy (pictured right) raised enough to put the player all in (nearly 30K). The player called instantly with pocket kings and Cliff flipped over pocket nines. As the dealer prepared to reveal the flop, Josephy yelled “king!” and naturally the dealer dealt the 9 on the flop, putting him in the lead. His hand held and he climbed back toward the top of the leaderboard.
Russell “rdcrsn” Carson’s stack took a big hit in a blind vs blind battle. In a limped pot, Carson and his opponent played for stacks on an A-4-5 flop. Carson’s opponent flopped aces and fours and managed to dodge Carson’s gut-shot straight draw and flush draw, scooping a 90k pot, leaving Carson with 18k.
Both Michael “Benvo123″ Benvonuti and Daniel “voff” Deveau took also big hits this past hour. Benvenuti got all-in on the flop with a set versus a flopped flush which knocked him down under 30K. Deveau got it all-in preflop with aces versus his opponent’s pocket jacks and looked to be in good shape to pick up a big pot, but a jack on the river shipped it the other direction and he was left with 50K.
With an hour left in the final level of the night, here are some unofficial chip counts of P5ers still alive:
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy - 250K
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 212K
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 190K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 190K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 180K
Mike “RunScreamin” Herder - 180K
David “Raptor517″ Benefield - 180K
David “DavidP18″ Peters - 166K
Brandon Schaefer - 165K
David “HosniMubarak” Tazbaz - 150K
Aditya “intervention” Agarwal - 136K
Dag Martin Mikkelsen - 136K
David “Bakes” Baker - 120K
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter - 120K
Aaron “NDGrinder59″ Steury - 120K
Brian “Like7″ Lamanna - 120K
Allen “abari” Bari - 111K
Leo “SuperfluousMan” Wolpert -110K
Thayer Rasmussen - 109K
Nachman “thelandlord” Berlin - 107K
Aaron “NDGrinder59″ Steury - 100K
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 100K
Dylan “ImALucSac” Linde - 100K
Jason “strassa2″ Strasser - 100K
Frank “Round42″ Rusnak - 90K
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 88K
“BodogAri” Engel - 85K
Justin “truesyalose” Truesdell - 77K
Brian “snagglepuss” Powell - 75K
Brian “tsarrast” Rast - 75K
Darren Elias - 65K
Matt “mattg1983″ Graham - 60K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 55K
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 50K
Daniel “voff” Deveau - 50K
Mohsin “chicagocards1″ Charania - 45K
Chris “cmoney3″ Kline - 40K
Michael “martine23″ Martin - 38K
Hevad Khan - 37K
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 29K
Michael “benvo123″ Benvenuti - 28K
Clayton “clayton27″ Newman - 20K
Russell “rdcrsn” Carson - 19K
Dreams Dashed or Doubled Up?
by Jill on 07.09.08, 9:47 pm
Chris “cbdr3799″ Dombrowski continued to be very active in the first half of Level 8 and PocketFives caught up to the action at his table as he was raising under the gun to 2.3K. Three players called in position - both the blinds and the button. The flop came T
9J and he bet 5K into the pot, getting one other call. When the turn brought the J, Chris fired out 8.5K more and his opponent called again from the small blind position. At the 6 on the river, Chris moved all in for 9.5K more and got a call; he showed down KQ and the other player mucked. Chris doubled and now sits at 55K.
A few tables over, Frank “Round42″ Rusnak (pictured at right) reported that he’s the object of batting practice — one of his tablemates just happens to be Jose Canseco’s ex-wife and baby’s momma, Jessica. The pair were confronting each other as PocketFives watched Jessica reraise his preflop 1.9K bet to 6.8K. She stared him down and he gave her a hard time, but flashed a big smile to PocketFives.
Frank recently took down a decent sized pot when a player under the gun raised to 2.1K, Rusnak called in middle position, as did the player on the button. The flop Q75 and all three players checked. The 7 on the turn prompted the initial raiser to check again and Rusnak bet out 4.7K. The player on the button then reraised to 9.7K and Frank thought momentarily before making the call. Both checked after the K came on the river and Rusnak announced, “I have a pair.” The other player stared at him, waiting for him to turn over his cards. Frank revealed 99, his opponent mucked, and he is now up to 80K.
Mohsin “chicagocards1″ Charania had courteously doubled up several players at his table throughout the day today and recently he finally had the same courtesy extended back to him when he and another player got it all-in on a flop of 952 with Mohsin holding pocket sixes with the six of hearts while his opponent had A-K with the king of hearts. No heart came on the turn or river and Charania doubled up to 49K.
Despite starting the day with a less-than-average stack of 23K, Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert has been on a hot run of cards, elevating his stack all the way up to 123K. Although it would be easy for him to tell PocketFives he’s just been playing above the rim and chipping up, Wolpert said that he’s just been sucking out, including snapping of pocket aces with his pocket tens.
Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski (pictured at left) has just been eliminated from the Main Event — and in an ugly fashion at that. We caught up with Bogdanski betting 12K on a board of A43J5 and his opponent moved all in, having Gary covered. Gary leaned back in his chair and said “I can’t fold, I call,” to which the other player replied “You lose.” He flipped over 42 for a straight flush and Gary angrily showed his T8 before heading out of the Amazon Room.
Dan “voff” Deveau avoided disaster just before his table broke in the Brasilia Room. With blinds at 400/800, Deveau raised to 2.3K from under the gun and a player in late position raised to 6K. Deveau asked for a count of his opponent’s stack before making the call with QQ. The board came out T36 and Deveau checked to his opponent, who bet 10K. Deveau quickly folded and the other player showed his AA. Dan is still stitting comfortably with 70K.
Here are some other unofficial chip counts in Level 8:
Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis - 184K
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy - 180K
David “Raptor517″ Benefield - 175K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 160K
Darren Elias - 155K
David “Bakes” Baker - 155K
Aaron Steury - 140K
Brandon Schaefer - 137K
Brian “tsarrast” Rast - 135K
Aditya “intervention” Agarwal - 134K
Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert - 123K
David “davidp18″ Peters - 111k
Mike “RunScreamin” Herder - 110K
Dylan “ImaLucSac” Linde - 110K
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 95K
Thayer Rasmussen - 84K
Matt “mattg1983″ Graham - 80K
Michael “benvo123″ Benvenuti - 80K
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 80K
Frank “Round42″ Rusnak - 80K
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin - 75K
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier - 65K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 62K
Brian “Like7″ Lamanna - 61K
Dag Martin Mikkelsen - 58K
“BodogAri” Engel - 57K
Chris “cbdr3799″ Dombrowski - 55K
David “HosniMubarak” Tazbaz - 53K
Mohsin “chicagocards1″ Charania - 49K
Nachman “thelandlord” Berlin - 48.5K
Chris “cmoney3″ Kline - 40K
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 40K
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter - 35K
Jason “strassa2″ Strasser - 35k
Bryan Micon - 35K
Ben “BSUChamp” Grice - 33K
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 32K
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez - 30K
Justin “truesyalose” Truesdell - 28K
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 27K
Brett “Gank” Jungblut - 24.5K
Scott “mindwise” Pendergrast - 23K
Bryan “bparis” Paris - 20.5K
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 17K
Carter “ckingusc” King - 17K
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 16K
Ladbrokes team pro Azad Pirooti - 16K
No Way, Jose!
by Jill on 06.28.08, 8:35 pm
Event #48, the $2K No-Limit Hold’em tournament seems to have settled down and fewer short stacks remain to continue the shovefest. A few over one hundred players were left standing at the end of the level, batting for the bracelet and $770,540 grand prize.
Several PocketFives players were doing exceptionally well when we last caught up with the tournament; Adam “akat11″ Katz was back with his lucky masseuse, Erin, and he had managed to chip up to more than 170K. Eric “jakz101″ Crain was cruising with about 310K in chips and Adam “Roothlus” Levy increased his stack to 100K.
Dan “wretchy” Martin also managed to chip up when his pocket kings dominated the pocket deuces of his opponent and he won a pot of about 30K. His stack increased to 160K. Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson pictured at right) was also sitting comfortably with 110K.
Tristan “Cre8ive” Wade kept his short stack viable, managing to win a few key pots and chip up to 110K. He explained that he raised under the gun with AT and was called by one other player who held Q-T. Tristan’s hand held and he managed to double up his stack. He took down a few more pots uncontested and worked his life-support stack up to a a much safer one.
The real story of the last level, though was Jose “head2782″ Severino’s ascension to chip leader. In a pot with one other player on the flop, Jose sat in late position and his opponent bet out 7K. Jose flat called him. The turn came the T, his opponent bet 23K, and Jose re-raised him all in. His opponent instantly called, flipping over AQ to Jose’s pocket kings. The river came the T and Jose took down a huge pot that had to be counted and re-counted by the dealer (with some help from Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson at the table). After the win, Jose chipped up to more than 360K in chips, surpassing Eric Crain’s domination.
Other PocketFivers, however, did not fare as well in recent play. Daniel “voff” Deveau, Jon Wein, and Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski were amongst the recent eliminations.
The Katz Came Back
by Jessica on 06.28.08, 4:20 am
If you have been following our coverage regularly, you may remember us reporting on Adam “akat11′ Katz’s (pictured at left) deep run in Event #13, a $2.5K No Limit Hold Em event. You may also remember us mentioning his “lucky masseuse”, Erin. Well, we are happy to report the duo are reunited and it appears to be feelin’ so good. Adam informed Pocket Fives that he was down to a mere 9K going into the dinner break. He was concerned about returning from dinner to 400/800 blinds, but all his fears dissipated when he spotted Erin in the distance.
Erin dutifully reported to Katz’s table after play resumed and has been by his side ever since. Their magic seems to be working again, because Adam is now up to 94K with only 7 players left to eliminate before the money bubble bursts.
Another player who has been moving up, up, and up is Eric “jakz101″ Crain who continues to maintain his chip lead. When we checked in with Eric, he told us that he has been picking up a number of quality starting hands and kept getting it all-in good and eliminating opponents.
Daniel “voff” Deveau reported to PocketFives that he doubled up in the last round at the expense of David “The Dragon” Pham who was on a tear at his table. Daniel picked up pocket kings when Phan had been showing down big pocket pairs for several hands in a row. He shoved all in for 30K and was pleased to see Pham call, as he held the hooks. Daniel’s hand held and his stack increased to 65K.
Here are some unofficial chip counts as play begins to wind down for the night:
Eric “jakz101″ Crain - 220K
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin - 100K
Dan “wretchy” Martin - 45K
Adam “Roothlus” Levy - 38K
David “DavidP18″ Peters - 37K (pictured at right)
David “ComptonMasta” Barter - 28K
Tristan “Cre8ive” Wade - 22K
Jon Wein - 22K
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin - 20K
Over in the $5K Short Handed No Limit Hold Em event, Jason Gray and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier recently tangled in a hand when Grospellier raised to 25K on the button with the blinds at 5K/10K ante 1K. Both the small blind and Gray in the big blind made the call and the trio saw a flop of J73. It checked around to Bertrand, who bet 46K. The small blind folded and Jason made the call. Both players checked the A on the turn and Gray checked once again when the 3 came on the river. Grospellier then bet out 127K and Jason tanked for a couple of minutes before making the call. ElkY rolled over 36 for a rivered set of trips and Gray pushed his hand into the muck.
Here are some updated chip counts from that event:
Alex Jacob - 660K
Davidi “legrouzin” Kitai - 620K
Steven “CornellFiji” Ware - 595K
Jason Gray - 315K
Making ‘Cmoney’
by Jessica on 06.28.08, 1:48 am
Chris ‘cmoney3′ Kline came into Day 2 of the $5K No Limit Hold Em 6-max with only 16K in chips. Chris informed us he came in 95th in chips out of the 96 players who made it to the second day of play and, with the blinds starting at 800/1,600 with a 200 ante, he knew he had his work cut out with him to make it to the money.
Now there are 30 players left in the event, Kline is guaranteed $20,430 and his stack is beginning to grow. Chris nursed his short stack for some time and finally found a good spot to double up. With the blinds at 3K/6K ante 500 a player in early position raised to 16.5K and Kline moved all-in for around 70K total. The other player thought for a minute or so before making a crying call with AT. Chris was in a race situation with 88. The board came K7793 and his pocket eights held and increased his chip stack to nearly 150K.
Other players who failed in their attempts to double up include Chris “cdbr3799″ Dombrowski, who reraised all-in for 70K with 44 after a player under the gun raised. The other player made the call with KJ and, when the board ran out AAJJ6, Dombrowski was eliminated in 34th place.
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut took a big hit to his already dwindling stack when he moved all-in from the cut-off for just shy of 80K. The player in the big blind made the call with TT and Daut was in bad shape with his 88. The cards ran out 733K2 and Ryan was left with only 5K.
Two hands later, Daut was all-in in the big blind for his remaining chips and the same player who held pocket tens earlier raised on the button. The small blind folded and the other player again turned over pocket tens. Daut was in even worse shape the second time around with 39. His hand failed to improve and he was eliminated in 31st place.
Here are some selected chip counts of a few of the remaining players:
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier - 590K
Steven “CornellFiji” Ware - 420K
Jason Gray - 420K
Shannon Shorr - 187K
Alex Jacob - 135K
Over in the $2K No Limit Hold Em Event, David “ComptonMasta” Barter was on red alert with a short stack when he picked up A-Q in the hijack and shoved it in preflop. One opponent with pocket tens called Barter down, but he managed to flop an ace to double up. Moved recently to a new table, he sat much more comfortably with 21K.
Daniel “voff” Deveau (pictured at right) was sitting pretty with about 65K when we caught up to his table, though he reported he’s been moved four times in the last level. His newest table had more chips, but he was still feeling them out. Under the gun, after a short-stacked player in the big blind raised, Daniel called. The flop came 963 and Daniel bet out, forcing him to make a decision for all his chips. The short-stacked player called and showed 10-9 to Daniel’s 9-2. The turn and river came 64 and was no help to Daniel, who looked up and said “Oops!” before laughing. His stack took the hit and was down to 50K, still double the average.
Meanwhile, Tristan “Cre8ive” Wade won several more small pots over the last level, which he reported has been his strategy all day. In a hand that exemplified this no-showdown policy, he reraised 10K more against a player raising under the gun and one caller. The other players folded and he was up to 35K.
John Wein has also chipped up to healthy 30K, though he previously held a larger stack that he spewed through the following hand: There was a late limper and Wein checked in the big blind. The flop came AQ8 and he held A-T with no hearts. His opponent bet 2.5K after the flop, which Wein called. A blank came on the turn, and his opponent shoved for 13K more. Wein called with his pair of aces, but the A on the river caught up his opponent’s J9 for an ace-high flush. Later on, however, Wein looked down at pocket aces and raised 3K on the button. An early player shoved for 13K and Wein called. He won the hand and caught himself back up to 30K.