WSOP 2008
Omaha Field Shrinks
by Jill on 06.20.08, 2:43 am
The $10K Omaha Hi-Low World Championship event marched on as 198 players remained of the original field of 235. Recent eliminations include Jimmy “Gobboboy” Fricke, Thayer Rasmussen, and Jordan Morgan. When the board read J
93
2, Fricke went all in on the turn and was called. He showed down QT9
8 for the straight draw, but his opponent held A
QJ3 for two pair. When the J came on the river, his opponent made a boat and eliminated Fricke from the bracelet running.
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements thought he was in good position to build his short stack back up to his starting 20K when he bet out on an AQ4 flop with AK in the hole. He got two callers and bet again when the K came on the turn only to be raised by the player acting after him. Both the third player and Clements made the call, but Clements was left with only 200 chips. Everyone checked when a 9 came on the river and Scott showed down his two pair. The player who raised the turn revealed KK-4-X for a turned set. Scott was left with 1/4 of a big blind, but has been slowly rebuilding by splitting multi-way pots and has worked his way back up to 2K.
BigRiskky will have to make a move soon to continue the running for yet another final table this WSOP. Meanwhile, Brock “t_soprano” Parker and James “mig.com” Mackey both continued to play in the safe zone with 15K; Matt “mattg1983″ Graham picked up a pot going into break and has 26K; Stu “thedonator” Patterson held his own 20K stack next to Phil Ivey. Brett “Gank” Jungblut was sporting a 29K stack and spending much of the last level in wit-for-wit conversation with Annie Duke. Admittedly, it seemed like she was having a hard time taking him seriously while he wore a plastic WSOP souvenir cowboy hat.
Event #32’s $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em tournament came to a close this evening and Luis Velador took home his first WSOP bracelet and $573,734. The Californian entered his first final table as chip leader and managed to close the deal; congratulations to Velador on his win in this big field of over 2,300 players!
Meanwhile, in Event #34, the $1.5K Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys tournament has nearly reached the final table. Kyle Kloeckner still maintained a huge stack with more than 700K in chips. However, Tim “tmay420″ West took a hit from Layne Flack and was down to 160K, the next-to-shortest stack left. All players are guaranteed $36,109 and are battling down to the final 9 this evening in preparation for tomorrow’s final table.
The early chip leader of today’s $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event, Craig “MrCasino” Gray, has just been eliminated. With the blinds at 500/1K, a player under-the-gun raised to 3K and it folded around to Gray on the button, who called. The flop brought JJ4 and Gray called a bet of 5K. The K fell on the turn and the under-the-gun player moved all in, putting Gray all in for his last 12K. Gray thought for close to four minutes before calling with 54, which needed help against AA. The river bricked and Gray quickly exited the event shy of his fifth cash of the World Series.
Two-hundred twenty-three players still remain, including P5ers Owen “ocrowe” Crowe (chip leader with over 130K), Dan “voff” Deveau (75k), Phil “USCPhildo” Collins (70K), Gary “GB2005″ Bogdanski (60K) and Bryan Micon (60K).
All Night Grind in Stud Event
by Jessica on 06.19.08, 3:05 pm
After playing until nearly 7am the final table of the $5K Stud Hi/Lo Championship event was finally set after the eliminations of Howard Lederer and David Benyamine. Those returning for the final day of play today include Annie Duke, Chris Ferguson, Marcel Luske, and Steve Sung.
Our own Court Harrington put up a valiant fight in the $1.5K Hold Em event, but finished 14th when he got it all in pre-flop with AQ against current chip leader Jose Luis Velador’s AJ and Velador other player ran out a heart flush. Court earned $26,732 for his efforts. Velador and eight others will return at 2pm today to play down to the bracelet.
The $1.5K Omaha w/ rebuys also starts up again at 2pm today. Some of the names we’ll be keeping an eye on today include Jeff “yellowsub” Williams (pictured at right) Tim “tmay420″ West, Jared “TheWacoKidd”, Kyle Bowker, Dan “Stainley88″ Adams, Matt Giannetti, and Jamie “TheNew” Robbins. The $1.5K Stud Event will be playing down to a final table today as well.
The first event of the day is yet another $1.5K No Limit Hold Em event. WSOP staff are predicting another large field and we have already spotted several P5ers filing into the Amazon Room including Jeff “JeffBoski” Sluzinski, Michael “Bertrand13″ Bertrand, Dan “wretchy” Martin, and Phil “USCPhildo” Collins
Super Dario Powers Up!
by Jill on 06.19.08, 2:36 am
Event #31 came to a close when heads-up opponents Dario Minieri (pictured at right)and Seth “grtwhitehoop” Fischer both got it all in preflop after seeing nearly 200 hands at the final table. Fischer flipped KT to Minieri’s QQ and the board came AA523, which was no help to Fischer. Minieri won the bracelet, the bragging rights, and a cool $528,418. Fischer goes home with $330,519 - not bad for the 25-year-old Emory grad’s first year at the WSOP.
As the Event #32 $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em tournament reduced down to three tables, Scott “ssitron” Sitron sat with 175K and was aggressively playing position from the hijack. The next hand, Sitron raised 27K and took down a limped pot with no show. Shortly afterwards, Sitron raised 30K preflop under the gun, which was quickly called by the hijack and both of the players in the blinds. The flop came 629 and Sitron moved all in. The player in the hijack position called and both of the blinds folded. Sitron couldn’t conceal his disappointment when he showed KQ to his opponent’s pocket nines; when the turn and river came A8, he was eliminated in 20th place. Sitron takes home $15,095 for his efforts.
PocketFivesLive’s own Court Harrington (pictured at left) remained in the bracelet running shortly after Sitron’s elimination; after two subsequent eliminations, players redrew for seats at the two final tables. With about 140K in chips and the blinds at 6K/12K, Harrington needs to make a move soon as the average stack is 460K. Good luck, Court!
An Evening of Studs
by Jill on 06.19.08, 12:22 am
The Event #33 $5K Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Championship tournament marched on with an ante and bring-in of 500, now at 2K/4K limits. PocketFives caught up with Barry Greenstein looking for a spot to make a move, as his 18K chip stack sat well below the average of 51K.
Playing extremely tight, Greenstein finally found a hand he could close in on: showing 546, he was running against one opponent who showed AQJ. Greenstein completed on third street and was raised, which Barry quickly called. Fourth street met a check from his opponent, a bet from Barry, and a subsequent call. Action continued the same way on fifth street but induced a fold from his opponent; Barry increased his stack to 27K and was looking a bit healthier by comparison.
One table over, Alex Jacob was also low, his stack at 44K. But Thayer “Thay3r” Rasmussen (pictured at right) was in the worst trouble of all, his 28K stack paltry in comparison to the shark-filled table at which he sat. Seated to the right of David Benyamine, his 8-handed table was stacked with Allen Cunningham, Howard Lederer, and Jason Lester.
Meanwhile, in Event #35, the $1.5K Seven Card Stud tournament, most of the notable players have not fared well. Recent eliminations include David Williams, Anna Wroblewski, and John Juanda. PocketFives caught up with Justin Bonomo as he was also on life support, sporting a stack of 2.5K with 288 players left in the original field of 382. He still found time to get a massage.
Day 2 of the $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em tournament paused for dinner break and will resume at 10PM PST. The average stack is 220K and players are guaranteed $11,951. Notable chip stacks include the following:
Scott “ssitron” Sitron - 240K
Ray Henson - 230K
Court Harrington - 227K
BigRiskky Business as Usual
by Jessica on 06.18.08, 10:36 pm
Things just got even tougher at Scott “BigRiskky” Clements’ (pictured at right) table, but the Omaha expert seems to be taking his rough table line up just fine. Since we last reported on the $1.5K PLO w/ rebuy event, Jamie Gold has busted and a few new faces have been added to this already tough table. Here is a partial rundown of the current line-up:
Seat 2 - Bruno Fitoussi
Seat 3 - Jared “TheWacoKidd” Hamby
Seat 4 - Scott “BigRiskky” Clements
Seat 7 - Jordan Morgan
Seat 9 - Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond
Clements recently got into a hand with several of the players when, with the blinds at 300/600, Hamby and another player limped into a pot and then Clements raised to 2.5K total. The player on the button called, as did Hamby and the other limper. The flop came A64 and it checked to Clements who paused as if he was going to bet before electing to check. The player on the button checked as well and when the turn came 6 it checked around to the player on the button once again. This time the player bet out 6.5K and everyone folded except for Scott, who made the call. The river was the T and both players checked. Clements pulled out K-K from his K-K-10-4 for two pair, kings and sixes, and the other player mucked. Scott is now up to 48K.
Here are the chip counts of some of the other remaining players in the event:
Tim “Tmay420″ West - 110K
Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi - 95K
Jeff “yellowsub” Williams - 50K
Jared Hamby - 24K
Jordan Morgan - 22K
Eric “Rizen” Lynch - 12K
In the Brasilia room, the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event is down to 56 players and Scott “ssitron” Sitron and Court Harrington are adding chips to their stack as the evening moves forward. Harrington began Level 15 with 60K and his built has stack to over 100K without having to show a hand down. Sitron is up to 225K despite sitting at a tough table that includes Morgan Machina, Ray Henson and Fabrice Soulier.
The $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Championship is also taking place there. Sixty-four of the world’s best players are still battling for the crown. Thayer Rasmussen is still representing the online community with 30K — slightly below the average stack.
Over at the ESPN Feature Table, play continues 3-handed at the final table of the $2.5K 6-handed NLHE event. Dario Minieri has relinquished the chip lead to Seth Fischer, but all three players are relatively even stacked.
Minieri took a huge hit when he and Justin “fluffdog” Filtz (pictured right) got it all in on a flop of AT2 with Justin holding 35 to Dario’s QJ. Filtz appeared to be in bad shape until a 4 on the turn made him the wheel. The 4 fell on the river and he doubled up to over 1.5 million chips.