WSOP 2008
Viva Las Main Event
by Jill on 07.05.08, 4:19 am
The end of Level 5 for Day 1B of the Main Event started off in bizarre territory; as PocketFives caught up with play in the Amazon Room, Kenna James belted out a country ballad to all those within earshot. Meanwhile, Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold was doing Jerry Yang impersonations to the amusement of his table. And finally, at Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu’s table in the Blue section, his dealer was *definitely* an Elvis impersonator.
At Bobby “Gettin Deep” Hodson’s table, he spun a true tale of nearly doubling up after winning a clutch 20K pot. Ironically enough, it was with everyone’s favorite hand - pocket fives! He reported that a player in the hijack open-shoved and Bobby was in the big blind. Whether compelled by a tell or the power of the fives, Bobby called and his hand held against the other player’s A-K. He took down the pot and his stack rose to 30K.
Other players strengthening their stacks in the level included Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu who managed to take down plenty of small pots and work his way up to 85K at the end of the day. Mike “SirWatts” Watson also continued to dominate his table and walked away tonight with more than 100K. Another stellar performance was by Derek “arodss3″ Buonano (pictured at left), who worked his way up to 82K after a highly-televised table and subsequent media crew invaded his space for most of the evening. Apparently, there was a heckler at the table who was openly insulting Tom McEvoy who sat a table away.
Shaun Deeb had been sitting on a short stack for awhile and he and two other players saw a flop of K
J
3. Shaun pushed all in on the flop and was called by one player whose Q
T open-ended straight draw was behind Shaun’s J5 pair of jacks. The turn was the 3
and the river brought the 6 and Shaun managed to double his stack.
Steve “gboro780″ Gross was one of the players that experienced a chip slide in the last level. When we caught up to him midway through the level, he guarded a 38K stack and was in a pot on a TQ6 board. He had bet out and was called; the 9 fell on the turn and he checked to his opponent, who bet out 3.4K. Steve called and the K fell on the river. He checked to his opponent, who made a river bet of 6K. Steve thought for quite awhile before folding AQ face up. He was down to 31K after the hand. Shortly after, he managed to swing up the chip counts to 42K when his KQ held on a queen-high board.
However, it seemed that the chip swings were beginning to tilt Gross, who later raised on the button in a hand. Both the big blind and a limper in early position called. When the flop came 332, one of his opponents bet 3.5K and Steve raised to 8K; his opponent called and the 3 came on the turn. Both players checked and the J fell on the river. His opponent bet out 8K and Steve folded after thinking quite awhile. After a series of downswing hands, Steve was was down to 17K.
Here is a collection of unofficial chip counts prior to the end of Day 1B. Congratulations to all players on a great day and good luck to them as they advance in the Main Event!
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 106K
Paul “ComeOnPhish” Lieu - 85K
Derek “arodss3″ Buonano - 82K
Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert - 42K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 48.5K (pictured at right)
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 15K
Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor - 26K
Bobby “Gettin Deep” Hodson - 30K
Greg “okstate345″ Cox - 21K
Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy - 28K
Brian “Wing-n-prayer” Reingold - 27K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 18K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 17K
Shaun Deeb - 16K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 8.5K
Beep, Beep: Who’s Got The Keys for the Deeb?
by Crystal on 07.05.08, 2:43 am
First things first: Shaun Deeb lost his phone at the break and needs a ride home. Internet? Are you listening? Shaun asks that someone get ahold of Augie, so he can get home.
Table #5 in the Orange section of the Amazon room is quite entertaining to watch, primarily because of the presence of 3 PocketFivers, Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor, Steve “gboro780″ Gross (pictured at right), and Greg “okstate345″ Cox. When one of our reporters was standing near the table, Greg said that he didn’t know who Stuart was until Steve told him that his screenname was “zpaceman.” “You’re ‘zpaceman’? No way! I’ve read your blogs!” Greg said.
Ironically, Greg and Stuart had been playfully ribbing each other before Greg knew who Stuart was. In one hand, Stuart raised and was re-raised by another player at the table. Stuart agonized for a bit before folding his A-Q face up. Stuart said, “That guy hasn’t three-bet me all day. If it was him (pointing to Greg), I’m going to four-bet him!” The table chuckled and Greg said that he folded A-J in the hand. Stuart claims he thought the player who re-raised had A-K. “I only folded because it was off-suit,” Stuart said with a smile. Meanwhile, Steve Zolotow, also at the table gave all the players a ribbing and proceeded to discuss the merits of being on FullTilt’s bankroll. Must Be Nice.
Tom “SBRounder” West was continuing to do well. Before his table in the Orange section broke, he knocked out a short-stacked player. Tom held the AQ to the all-in player’s 33. The board ran out 776J2 to give Tom a flush and knock out the short stack. The next hand, Tom raised preflop and everyone folded. He showed pocket aces just before the table was given new seat assignments. Tom is obviously hoping his good luck continues at his new table in the Blue section!
After waiting patiently over the last couple of levels with a very short stack, Stu “thedonator” Paterson shoved all-in preflop against another very short-stacked big blind. Stu flipped over pocket aces to the big blind’s K6 and the board ran out QJ7TK. Stu did manage to take down the miniscule pot, but is still looking to make some moves and chip up.
Another PocketFiver chipping up in the last level was Bobby “Gettin Deep” Hodson, who took down a nice-sized pot with A-K suited and flopped top pair. His hand managed to hold and his stack increased to 20.5K.
Not having quite as much luck during the 4th level was Blair Rodman. On a flop of 5-6-7 (with two clubs) Blair bet 800 and was called by his opponent. The Q fell on the turn and Blair bet 2K, but the other player then raised to 6K. Blair shoved the rest of his stack in and was called by the other player who held pocket aces. Blair showed the KQ for a pair of queens and a flush draw, but the river was a brick and Blair was sent to the rail.
SirWatts’ Tourney Future Bright
by Jill on 07.05.08, 1:37 am
Nearing the end of Level 4 this evening, play condensed further in the Amazon Room, yet the crowd of spectators remained ever large. Plenty of action for PocketFivers occurred in this last level. We caught up with Stu “thedonator” Paterson (pictured at left) who still contended with a small stack, hovering just over 13K. With a couple other players, he limped into a flop of 659 and bet out 1.4K after seeing the board. Another player in later position raised to 3.5K total; one other player called and Stu folded. It seemed he was looking for a good spot to double up at what seemed to be a tight table.
At a nearby table, Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold and Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy protected their pre-dinner stacks, increasing their value by a few thousand chips each. While watching their table, which was right on a very spectator-filled rail, we saw Marco take down a small pot against one other player with K-Q. He chipped up to 26K while Todd accumulated to 41K.
PokerRoad’s own Haralabos Voulgaris has been increasing his chip stack as well; when we caught up to his table in the Green section, he was in the big blind and a few other players had entered play. The flop came 5J9 and players checked the flop. The A came on the turn, and one of his opponents bet out 1K. Haralabos called and the 9 came on the river. Both players checked and he flipped A8 to ship the chips his way.
In the Blue section of the Amazon room, many player have relocated and redrawn for seats, but Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski (pictured at right) informed PocketFives that no one’s left his table all day. “We’ve all become friends,” he said. “We’re just going to fold to the end of the day.” Except he did report to P5s that he managed to recently double up to 17K, so we’re not entirely sure his motives are all friendly!
At the table behind Jeff sat Mike “SirWatts” Watson who accumulated a huge chipstack - he was up to 102K in the last level. We’re not entirely sure how he keeps attracting chips to his stack since action is always calm when we watch; perhaps there are magnets under the table?
At the next table over, Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim reported that he just wants to keep up with SirWatts — He’s convinced that’s his best strategy. In an effort to do this, in one hand, Jeff bet out in the cutoff for 750 before the flop with a chipstack of 52K. The player on the button raised it to 2,400 and pushed everyone else out of the pot. Jeff counted each chipstack and estimated that he had a 5:3 chip advantage over the other player, so he reraised him to 7,450. In what became a betting war, his opponent made it 14K total, 6,600 more. Jeff thought a moment longer before pushing all his chips in the middle. His opponent, clearly agitated, thought long and hard before folding. Jeff slid his cards to the dealer and chipped up to 63K.
Some unofficial chip counts at the end of Level 4:
Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 102K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 63K
Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold - 41K
Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor - 40K
Shaun Deeb - 34K
Greg “okstate345″ Cox - 31K
Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert - 31K
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 28K
Matt “SamENole” Smith - 26K
Marco “KILL-BILL” Liesy - 26K
Bobby “Gettin Deep” Hodson - 24K
Brian “Wing-n-prayer” Reingold - 18K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 17K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 12.5K
Theo “pittrounder” Tran - 5.5K
Post-Dinner Coma?
by Crystal on 07.05.08, 12:25 am
It seems that with their stomach’s full the players have become a bit less active than earlier. Blair Rodman has been seen raising a few hands preflop and winning the blinds and antes. Occasionally there is a re-raise, but no big pots have happened at his table quite yet. Blair (pictured right) currently has around 17k.
One table over Stu “The Donator” Paterson is nursing a short stack of only 9k and has also been seen stealing some blinds and antes. Stu is obviously looking for a chance to double up but seems a bit frustrated that he hasn’t been able to do so lately. In one hand, with the blinds at 150/300 Stu raised to 900 preflop and was called by both the button and the big blind. The flop came KQ6 and the big blind bet out 2.6k. Stu sighed and tossed his hand into the muck to wait for a better spot.
Doing a little better is Tom “sbrounder” West who has chipped up to around 40k, twice the starting stack.
Play seems to be going a little slower at the moment but with many short stacks looking to build before the end of the day we will inevitably see some big moves before the night is over.
Good Deeb
by Jessica on 07.04.08, 10:29 pm
After being moved to his third table in as many levels, Shaun Deeb finally found himself surrounded by relatively unfamiliar faces. The other players also appeared to be actively rooting against him when he got involved with the only female at the table. With the blinds at 150/300, Deeb raised to 750 in early position and the woman in the small blind reraised to 2.1K total and Shaun made the call. The flop came down 543 and she led out for 3.5K. Deeb thought for a good minute before raising enough to put the other player all-in for her remaining 11K. His opponent thought for a moment herself before calling with KK while Shaun showed 22. The T on the turn brought even more outs for Deeb and the J on the river made his flush and won him the large pot. That brought his chip stack up to 42K. He appears to have taken a few hits since then though and has 26K headed into the dinner break.
Deeb and 908 other players will be on break for the next 90 minutes. Stay tuned for more updates from the final two levels of today when play resumes at 8:30pm PST. In the meantime, here are some pre-dinner chip counts to satiate your poker appettite:
Patrik Antonius (the unofficial chip leader) - 90K
Mike “SirWatts” Watson (pictured at right)- 74K
Paul “comeonphish” Lieu - 43K
Todd “nsxt2″ Arnold - 42.5K
Stuart “zpaceman” Taylor - 39.5K
Mark “sideshowgil” Gilbert - 39K
Mike “Schneids” Schneider - 36K
Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim - 35K
Derek “arodss3″ Buonano - 35K
Steve “gboro780″ Gross - 28K
Blair Rodman - 20K
Brian “Wing-n-prayer” Reingold - 18K
Theo “pittrounder” Tran - 16K
Jeff “jeffboski” Sluzinski - 10K
Stu “thedonator” Paterson - 10K
Peter “Nordberg” Feldman - 8.5K