WSOP 2008
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 J
73
. 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
Hanks for Playing
by Brett on 06.09.08, 8:12 pm
Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks (pictured left) lost a crucial 1 million chip pot when he got it all in with AK on the flop of AK
5 against the 78 of Steve Merrifield. The turn brought the 9, giving Merrifield four more outs, and the Q spelled disaster for Hanks as his stack was slashed down to 250K. He was later taken out by Merrifield when he shoved A2 and was unable to outdraw the AT of his nemesis. Hanks took 5th place for $178,327.
In the $1.5K NLHE Shootout, Jon Wein recently doubled to grab the chip lead at his table. With the blinds at 150/300, the button moved all in but had the small blind and Wein covered. Wein called off his remaining 6K with JJ and was in a race sitaution against AK. The J on the flop increased Jon’s lead and the board bricked for his opponent, shipping a 12K pot to Wein. He currently has almost half of the table’s chips with four remaining.
Chris “sooooted” Vaughn and Casey “ccmuney” Coleman advanced to Round 2 and Richard “Lee Nickel” Fohrenbach (6K), Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar (10K) and Tony “Bond18″ Dunst (14.5K) were all heads up in Event #17 as we went into a 20-minute break. Others still battling away are Stu “thedonator” Patterson (3-handed, 10K), Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi (4-handed, 9K), Craig “MrCasino” Gray (3-handed, 15K) and Tim “Tim0thee” Adams (2-handed, 14.5K).
Dan “Stainley88″ Adams elimination from the shoot out was particularly painful. Dan moved all in pre-flop with pocket queens and another player tanked for what Dan said was almost two minutes. He asked for a count of Adams’ chips and stood up, clearly conflicted about what to do. He eventually made the call and turned up…pocket aces. Dan subtly suggested the player was slowrolling him and his opponent insisted it wasn’t intentional. He then apologetically explained to Adams that, “he just didn’t like having to call so much with pocket aces.” It worked out for him this time though, as the board was no help to Adams and the other player is currently heads-up at his shoot out table.
Maria “Maridu” Mayrinck has just exited the $1K Ladies Event in 35th place. Mayrick got the rest of her chips in with AQ and couldn’t get the best of her opponent’s 88 on a board of 877Q5. She picked up her second cash of the Wrodl Series for $4,765.
Original Hanksta
by Brett on 06.09.08, 3:25 pm
Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks earned a trip to his first ever major live final table early this morning when the $2.5K NLHE Event reached its final nine players. Hanks (pictured right) will sit down with 755K in chips (5/9) with the blinds at 12K/24K and a 3K ante when play kicks off at 2:00 PT. First place is a colossal $666,777.
Adam “akat11″ Katz was the unfortunate 10th place finisher in the tournament, earning $38,235 — most of which will probably go to his masseuse Erin, who spent almost all of the first two days keeping Adam relaxed. Katz was knocked out by chip leader Duncan Bell, whose A3 on a board of AQ3K had Adam’s K-Q drawing thin when all of their chips got in on the turn.
Also resuming play today will be the $1K ladies event, where P5ers Maria “Maridu” Mayrinck (25K) and Amanda Leatherman (11.5K) hope to make a move with 61 players still alive. The $2,000 Omaha Hi/Lo event will also pick up where it left of from yesterday. Scott “BigRiskky” Clements (30K), Mark “Omaholic” Roland (28K), Aaron “NDGrinder59″ Steury (24K) and Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke (19K) are some the 169 players remaining in the field.
The $1.5K NLHE event has just kicked off at noon with dozens of online stars hoping to follow in the footsteps of NLHE bracelet winner Michael “worldsgrtest” Banducci and — hopefully after today — Brent Hanks.
Good luck to all P5ers today!
Hanks Final Tables; Katz Bubbles
by Jessica on 06.09.08, 7:56 am
The $2.5K NLHE event played 10-handed for quite a while with several short stacks doubling (or in some cases quadrupling) up. As the clock approached 4am the players and, of course Erin, were beginning to get quite tired. With that in mind, Adam “akat11″ Katz was doing his best to, as he put it, “be somebody” and call when some of the shorter stacks moved all-in. He attempted to knock out a player by calling his all-in shove with AQ, but the other player revealed the same hand and the pot was divided in two.
Adam’s luck took a turn for the worse when, with the blinds at 12K/24K and a 3K ante, Katz raised to 62K in the button. Duncan Bell made the call from the big blind and the flop came out AQ3. Bell led out for 110K and Katz made the call. When the K fell on the turn, Bell fired out 375K more and Katz moved all in. Bell quickly called with his A3 and Adam was in bad shape with K-Q. The river was no help and Adam (and Erin) was sent home.
Still alive and sitting 4th in chips is P5er Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks and internet player Shawn Buchanan, who is 3rd in chips. They will rejoin the newly minted chipleader, Duncan Bell, at the final table tomorrow beginning at 2pm PST.
Katz Lands on His Feet
by Jessica on 06.09.08, 5:26 am
Aaron “akat11″ Katz has been on quite a roller coaster ride the past two levels. He lost a large pot earlier when the blinds were 8K/16K when two shorter stacks moved all-in in front of him for approximately 120K each and he called with TT. The other players showed 55 and KQ and the board ran out K834Q, leaving Katz with less than 200K in chips.
A few rounds later at the same blind level, Katz raised to 40K in late position and the player in the small blind reraised 225K more. Adam paused for a moment (but Erin kept right on massaging) before moving all in for just a few thousand more. The other player called and showed AJ and Katz flipped up AA. The board was no help to his opponent and Katz now has 450K. Shawn Buchanan, Brent Hanks, and Jason Mercier also remain in the field.
Here are some brief updates from the other events that went on today:
Event #12 - $1.5K Limit Hold Em
Play is currently heads up between Zac Fellows and Jimmy Schultz. The winner of this heads up showdown will be taking home $257K while second place will net $165K.
Event #14 - $10K 7 Card Stud Championship
14 players remain and play will continue until they are down to the final table of eight. Several known live cash game players including Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, and Erik Seidel remain. The chip leader is currently David Oppenheim, who has 535K in chips.
Event #15 - $1K Ladies Event
Val “Runnerspleas” Palermo made the money in the ladies event, but failed to make Day 2 when she got it all in preflop with AK vs AQ and lost when a queen came on the turn. We here at P5s Live (and by we, we mean Jess, who went out of the ladies event exactly the same way earlier today) feel her pain, but congratulate her on her deep run in the event. Some familiar faces among the 62 ladies returning to play tomorrow are Amanda Leatherman, Linda Johnson, Maria “Maridu” Mayrinck, and Aimee “Allinat420Girl” Logue.