WSOP 2008
So Long, Farewell
by Jessica on 07.16.08, 1:10 am
With 54 events in the books and the final table set, our summer here at the Rio has come to an end. Along the way numerous Pocket Fivers found themselves in the money, at final tables, and winning bracelets and we send our warmest congratulations to everyone. In the end, Pocket Fivers racked up approximately $20 million in cashes and took down several bracelets in the process.
It remains to be seen how much Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery will add to this tally with his Main Event finish. Montgomery and the eight other players at the final table will return on November 9th to play down to two players. On November 10th the final two will return for heads-up play and the event will air on November 11th on ESPN.
Here are the official chip counts of the November Nine:
Dennis Phillips - 26,295,000
Ivan Demidov - 24,400,000
Scott Montgomery - 19,690,000
Peter Eastgate - 18,375,000
Ylon Schwartz - 12,525,000
Darus Suharto - 12,520,000
David Rheem - 10,230,000
Craig Marquis - 10,210,000
Kelly Kim - 2,620,000
Pocket Fiver, Scott Montgomery, will be coming into the event 3rd in chips. Montgomery is no stranger to high profile final tables. He placed 5th in last year’s LA Poker Classic at Commerce Casino at a loaded final table featuring the event’s winner Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, and Nam Le.
Another online pro to watch out for at this final table is Craig Marquis, known to many online as CMarq. A high stakes online cash game player, Marquis’ railbirds as they played down to the final table included Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Brian “snagglepuss” Powell.
Arguably the most well-known player at the final table is David “Chino” Rheem. This will be his third WSOP final table. Rheem took 2nd in a No Limit Hold Em event at the 2006 WSOP and also finished 5th in the $5K Mixed Limit Hold Em event earlier this summer.
As we have said before, it has been our pleasure reporting for Pocket Fives this summer. We hope you have enjoyed reading as much as we have enjoyed writing. Don’t forget to watch the final table coverage of several P5ers beginning July 22nd (next Tuesday) at 8pm. The first event they will be broadcasting is the $10K World Championship of Pot Limit Hold Em featuring our own Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers and Amit “amak316″ Makhija. Coverage will continue on ESPN weekly through November 11th.
Nenad Medic Wins WSOP Event#1
by Jessica on 06.02.08, 3:09 am
On a flop of 8
5
4 Andy Bloch and Nenad Medic got it all in and Medic had Bloch covered. Nenad held 5 7 for a pair, gut shot straight draw, and flush draw versus Bloch’s 9 9
. The J on the turn gave Nenad his flush, but also gave Bloch a higher flush draw. With a 5
on the river, Medic took down the first event of the 2008 WSOP, earning himself $794,112. Bloch gets $488, 048 for his 2nd place finish.
Be sure to check in again tomorrow at 12pm PST for coverage of Day 2 of Event #2 and the start of Event #3 ($1500 PL Hold Em).
More Players Disappearing as Day 1B Wraps up
by Jessica on 06.02.08, 2:02 am
Still no sign of Chris Savage (it’s more than likely a case of mistaken identity early on in the day) and there are several other players who have disappeared from the Amazon Room as play continued this evening. Some notable eliminations include Glen Chorny and Ezra Galston (pictured at right).
Play only continued for 16 minutes once players returned from their final 20 minute break, but that was long enough for a few more players to bust out as Day 1B came to a close. Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar got involved in a 3-way all in with A2 against pocket deuces and AK and an ace on the flop sent him to the rail shortly after play resumed.
Barry Greenstein was also eliminated after the break when his 7 7 failed to crack his opponent’s A A. He dutifully signed his book for the other player and called it a night ten minutes early.
There were many players who used the final sixteen minutes to their advantage though. Antuan “bigboybunk” Bunkley maintained his healthy stack while his friend, Chad “lilholdem954″ Batista watched him from the rail throughout the evening.
Mark “pokerbok” Vos also continued to accumulate chips during the day’s next-to-last level, chipping up through many small pots. In the cutoff, Vos was first to act and raised to 2300; he was immediately called by the big blind. The flop read 532 and the big blind checked. Vos asked how much he needed to bet to put the big blind all in, which was 10K. When he made the bet, the other player folded and he increased his chipstack to 70K. Vos has a big stack, but the biggest stack at his table belongs to the Day 1B chip leader, David Bach, who is sitting on 114K.
During the table’s next hand, play stalled as the antes failed to add up correctly. Confusion ensued as a tournament official hurried to the table to investigate; she stated that any conflict would stall the entire tournament 20 minutes. A player at the table finally confessed and received a warning just before the break.
The play for Event #2 ceased 16:13 into Level 9, with the ante at $100 and the blinds at 500/1000. Day 1B now mirrors the play of Day 1A and both will join together at the same relative point in the tournament tomorrow. The total registration for the event topped at 3929, and the top prize will be $831,462.
Play will resume tomorrow with the remaining players playing down to the final table. Meanwhile, Nenad Medic and Andy Bloch are now heads up in the 10k PL Hold Em event.
As we wait for Event #1 to wrap up, the search for brsavage continues…
Sowers Eliminated in 8th Place
by Crystal on 06.01.08, 8:01 pm
At the final table of the PLHE tourney Mike Sexton raised to 110k and Mike Sowers (pictured at left) reraised to 390k from the big blind. Sexton moved all in and Sowers called. Sexton held the QQ while Sowers had the 94. The flop of K83 didn’t improve Sowers hand and after the turn showed the A he was drawing dead. The river was the J and Sowers was eliminated in 8th place, winning $99,264 for his efforts.
After the hand Sowers didn’t feel like having an interview with ESPN and left the area, but after he cooled off a little bit he showed true professionalism and returned to participate in the interview.
As the final table of the PLHE event continues, Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul was playing across the room in the 1.5k NLHE event. After losing a big hand with J-J vs his opponent’s K-T he was knocked out of the tournament when he pushed with A-9 and the big blind called him with pocket sixes. Saul flopped a 9 to take the lead, but a 6 came on the turn sealing his fate.
Sowers Stack Slides Up and Down
by Crystal on 06.01.08, 3:21 am
Sowers seems to be running into hands against the same people, with both good and bad results.
Sowers bet 100k after a flop of AJT and after thinking for a while Eli Elezra raised to 300k putting Sowers all in. Sowers quickly called and tabled his KQ for a flopped straight while Elezra held A5 for a pair of aces. The turn was the Q giving Elezra a flush draw, but the river was the 8 shipping the whole pot to Sowers.
In another confrontation between Sowers and Elezra, Sowers called Elezra’s preflop raise of 35k. The flop came 6-3-2 and Elezra bet out 45k. Sowers raised enough to put Elezra all in and after thinking about it for a bit Elezra called. Sowers showed 6-4 for a pair of sixes with a gushot straight draw which was behind to Elezra’s A-6. Fortunately for Sowers, the turn brought a 5 giving him a straight and the meaningless 3 on the river sent Elezra to the rail.
Kathy Liebert raised all in preflop and Sowers happily called showing his pocket aces against Liebert’s pocket kings. The 865 flop was harmless, but on the turn the K spiked putting Liebert in the lead. The 9 on the river was no help to Sowers and Liebert took the 375,000 pot.
In another hand, the board read 6426A and Sowers called Liebert’s bet on the river and mucked his hand when she turned over AQ. That 150,000 pot pushed Liebert’s stack over 500,000 as Sowers slipped to 840,000.