WSOP 2008
So Close They Can Taste It
by Crystal on 06.24.08, 4:47 am
The final table of event #41 is in sight for both Todd “DanDruff” Witteles and Sam “samethebull” Hiatt. Witteles has been working hard and after being short stacked for much of the evening has built his stack back to around 180k while Hiatt (pictured right) is sitting with around 130k. All the players seemed to be excited to see a double knock out when two all in players held the K
J
and pocket sevens on a board that read AT55
T against a third player who had them both covered and flipped up the A6 to scoop the pot. There are now 13 players remaining and other than the occasional big hand play seems to have slowed significantly as players try to fight for their spot at the final table.
Earlier this evening event #39, the $1.5K No-Limit Hold’em tournament, came to a close crowning David Woo champion of the final table. Hailing from Georgia, the poker pro takes home the bracelet and $631,656 in earnings - plus major bragging rights for taking down the maxed-out field of 2,720 players. Woo took fifth in one of the many $1.5k NLHE events last year so this is his second year in a row to final table one of these events. Woo’s winning hand was TT, which held up against runner-up Matt Wood’s 9
6. Congratulations to Woo for his first bracelet and the big win!
DanDruff Doesn’t Flake Out
by Jill on 06.24.08, 3:42 am
In Event #41, the Mixed Hold’em tournament, play is down to the last two tables after several eliminations. Alex Borteh was one of the latest casualties during one of the Limit Hold’Em rounds. Barteh raised in the cutoff and the big blind made the call. The flop came K32 and the big blind checked over to Borteh, who bet. The big blind raised him. Borteh made the call and the 4 came on the turn.
The big blind bet out, Borteh raised, the big blind re-raised and Borteh capped the action, getting almost all of his chips into the pot. The J fell on the river and the big blind checked. Borteh threw in his last 8.5K in chips. The big blind made the call and Borteh tapped the table and held his cards face down, ready to throw them into the muck. The big blind flipped over AT for ace high which was good enough as Borteh mucked his hand and headed to the payout window to collect his $5,688 for his 20th place finish.
Meanwhile, Todd “DanDruff” Witteles was running on fumes in Event #41, the Mixed Hold’em tournament. Down to the two final tables, Todd was looking shy of the average stack of 121K. His 87K stack took a big hit when he tangled in a limit hand from middle position.
The board came KTQ and he engaged with one player in early position that had more than 270K behind him. His opponent bet 10K, Todd raised to 20K, and received a call. After the turn of T, his opponent checked, Todd bet 10K, his opponent raised to 20K and Todd called. The river was the 4 and Todd thought a very long time before folding to his opponent’s bet.
Shortly afterward, Todd kept strong in his resolve, stealing a pot from the button. Concurrently, a sick elimination at the next table over saw pocket sixes run into a flopped king-high flush. When the player was eliminated, Todd remarked that he was definitely the shortest stack in the tournament with 45K.
The next hand, he was in the big blind for 5K, with only 55 seconds remaining in the level. Faced with a raise from a player in early position, Todd grimaced when he looked at his cards and folded. Meanwhile, another player was eliminated and the tournament was down to 16 players remaining. After the level increased and Todd inherited the small blind, he raised to 8K in a no-limit hold’em hand and stole the pot. As he raked in his chips, the small blind promised he’d give him the pot if he could have the next. Todd joked: “As long as I win every other pot, sure!”
Todd continued to remain on life support until he raised under the gun in a no-limit hold’em hand to 8K; he was called by the big blind. The flop came Q85 and the big blind checked. Todd moved all in with his short stack. The big blind made the call with 65 while Todd had 77. The turn came the 7 and rivered the Q, giving him the full house and doubling him up to over 90K.
Still Mixing it Up
by Crystal on 06.24.08, 12:51 am
Event #41, the 1.5k MHE’s field is getting smaller and smaller. Bracelet winner Alex Borteh raised in early position and play folded around to the small blind. The player in the small blind thought for a minute before pushing several 1K chips into the pot. Borteh (pictured left) was confused because he had heard the player say “call” but there were questions about whether the amount of chips the other player put out was even enough to constitute a raise. The floor was called over and the action by the small blind was deemed a call.
The flop came 995 and the small blind bet out 6K. Alex made the call and when the 9 came on the turn his opponent bet 12K. Borteh thought for some time before moving all-in for over 50K. The other player quickly made the call and showed 45 while Alex held KJ. The river was no help to Alex and he was left with 15K after the hand but has since chipped back up to around 40k.
Todd “DanDruff” Witteles called the all in of a short stack at his table and found out he was in trouble with Q9 against the all in’s AQ. The all in player got a little worried when the flop came T86 giving Witteles both a gutshot straight draw and a flush draw so he began softly chanting “Deuce, deuce, deuce” and the turn actually brought the 2. He continued to ask for a deuce but was unhappy when he got his wish on the river in the form of the 2 which gave Witteles the flush. He smiled and said “I guess I asked for it” as Witteles scooped up the pot and now has around 85k.
Daniel “voff” Deveau was nearly eliminated from his table a little while later. We caught up with the action after the turn with the board reading 432T. The other player in the hand had bet and the table was waiting for Deveau to act. Eventually a clock was called and when the floor asked if an appropriate amount of time had passed for Deveau to make a decision, Deveau himself said yes and then decided to put the last of him smallish stack into the pot. The other player made the call and Deveau was inches away from the rail with his AQ against the other players 99 until the Q came on the river to save his tournament life. Deveau is sitting with a little more than 20k so he will likely have to make another move soon to stay in contention.
They just got down to 27 players remaining and have redrawn seats for the final three tables. Play will continue tonight until they reach the final table and we’ll keep you updated as things progress!
Don’t Hassle the Voff
by Jessica on 06.23.08, 10:35 pm
Daniel “voff” Deveau had been on a downswing coming back from the the break. First, during the No Limit portion of the level with the blinds at 500/1K ante 100, Deveau was first to act and raised to 2.8K. The player to his immediate left made the call, leaving just over 5K in chips behind. When the flop came 544 Daniel bet enough to put the other player all in and his opponent quickly made the call with pocket fives for a flopped set. Deveau was way behind with his pocket eights and was knocked down to 20K after the hand was over.
The very next hand he took another hit when chip leader Nick Binger raised to 3K out of the small blind and Deveau made the call from the big blind. Binger checked the flop of AQ2 and Daniel bet out 3.6K. Binger then raised to 10K and Deveau laid the hand down and was left with 15K in chips.
Daniel couldn’t get much going in the Limit half of the level, but early in the No Limit level he got it all-in pre-flop with A-K against another player’s pocket queens. An ace on the flop and a king on the river doubled Deveau’s stack up to 20K.
Brock “t_soprano” Parker (pictured left) was stuck in neutral all day, playing very patiently in the last few levels. Parker was able to steal blinds to stay in the game but eventually fell victim to the high blinds in the limit round with 1300-2500 blinds with a 8k stack.
On his final hand, Parker made it 5k with only 3300 behind. The big blind called 2500 more and checked to Parker, who went all-in on 966 flop. Parker’s opponent called and hit a miracle flop with 67, crushing Parker’s KT, who was drawing dead when his opponent turned the 7.
Parker went out in 44th place and received 3.6k for his efforts.
Sam “samethebull” Hiatt, a high stakes NL cash player who also plays under “samH133″, was crushing Parker’s table throughout the day and is currently fourth in chips with 124k.
Although he plays more cash games, Hiatt has some impressive tournament results as well, winning the WCOOP-1 in 2007 for 173k.
After nursing a short stack most of the day, Todd “DanDruff” Witteles has been on quite an uptick and currently sits with 70k as the average chip stack is 48k.
DanDruff Doubles Up
by Jessica on 06.23.08, 9:06 pm
Todd “DanDruff” Witteles has been all in and doubled up a number of times in the $1.5K Mixed Limit Hold Em event since we last reported on him. Most recently, Todd moved all-in for 6,475 with the blinds at 400/800 after a couple of players limped into the pot ahead of him. One of the players who limped in elected to make the call with AT and Witteles was happy to see he had two live cards with his K9. The flop came 966 and Todd flopped top pair to his opponent’s flush draw. The turn and river came 82 and Witteles managed to increase his stack to 18K going into the break.
Play has been relatively slow in Day 2 of the Mixed Limit event with hand-for-hand play going for nearly an hour. Several tables have expressed frustration about the limited number of hands they are seeing each level, especially considering how high the Limit Hold Em blinds are getting. One player who is putting all his down time to use is Rolf Slotboom, who continues to build interesting sculptures out of his chips. He has even gone so far as to start incorporating props. His chips and his Tic Tacs are pictured at right.
Here are some recent chip counts going into the player’s 20 minute break:
Brock “t_soprano” Parker - 22K
Daniel “voff” Deveau - 18K
Todd “DanDruff” Witteles - 18K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 12K
The $1K Seniors Event field has been reduced by two-thirds as play ended for Level 5. 770 players remain and both Men “The Master” Nguyen and Tom McEvoy are towards the top of the leaderboard.