WSOP 2008
WSOP ME Day 1D End of Day Chip Counts
by Jessica on 07.07.08, 3:51 pm
Here are the official end of day chip counts for Day 1D:
Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter - 99,700
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy - 94,050
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 93,925 (pictured right)
Ryan “youngluc” Young - 83,575
Dag Martin “dmmikkel” Mikkelsen - 80,025
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 74,725
Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis - 70,775
Michael Jensen - 66,375
Brandon Schaefer - 62,975
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 61,925
Jason “strassa2″ Strasser - 58,300
Gary DeBernardi - 57,150
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 54,300
Thayer Rasmussen - 54,075
Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter - 53,600
Bryan Micon - 51,650
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 50,850
Ben “bfineman” Fineman - 49,850
“Bodog” Ari Engel - 49,300
Scott “mindwise” Pendergrast - 49,050
Ian “IanJ” Johns - 47,600
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin - 42,325
Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan - 41,175
James “POKERPRO33″ Campbell - 39,550
Clayton “clayton_27″ Newman 38,375
David “Sugar_Z” Zeitlin - 37,150
Michael “shipitthisway” McNeil - 35,550
Mark “AceSpades” Radoja - 35,300
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 35,300
Eric “sheets” Haber - 35,075
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez - 33,650
Bryan “bparis” Paris - 31,525
David “ComptonMasta” Barter - 30,225
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 29,800
Daniel “voff” Deveau - 29,625
Tracey “XtrACEy” Nguyen - 29,550
Ben “BSUChamp” Grise - 26,600
Matt “dippydough” DiPaoli - 26,075
Ryan Daut - 23,750
Brett “gank” Jungblut - 22,575
Nick “snowman2k6″ Young - 19,250
Frank “Round42″ Rusnak - 16,475
Grant “drossxyu” Hinkle -15,300
Jose De La Guardia - 10,375
Nathan “darkcheck” Tuthill - 7,800
Chris “LUHMAN” Martin - 7,250
Jeremy “Chipsteela” Menard - 5,900
By the Numbers: 2008 WSOP Main Event
by Jill on 07.07.08, 4:10 am
As the final installment of Day 1 of the Main Event came to a close just before 1AM PST, nearly 1,400 players remain from today’s field of 2,461. After calculations from Rio tournament staff, the net prize pool now stands at $64,333,600 with total registration of 6,844 entrants. This figure is almost 500 more than 2007, and amazingly, more than the first 34 years of the Main Event COMBINED. Pretty amazing stuff. First prize will walk away with the coveted bracelet and a cool $9.1M dollars; all players at the final table will make $900K or more.
Overall, PocketFivers fared well in today’s event and many live on to compete in Days 2A and 2B. Tomorrow, all players will take a rest day as the media will compete in a charity tournament. Before we retire for a day, however, there are plenty of stories remaining before the break.
Playing his entire day at one of the featured side tables with Phil Ivey, Garrett “GBecks” Beckman (pictured at left) recently doubled his stack up when his ace-high flush dominated his opponent’s jack-high flush on a paired board. His A
8 was good enough to propel him up the chip counts.
On the last hand of the evening, Garrett was on the button when the player under the gun bet 1K. Garrett called it down and the big blind followed suit. The flop came A9
2
and the big blind checked. The player under the gun bet 1.5K and both Garrett and the big blind called. The 5 on the turn induced a check from both his opponents and he took the opportunity to bet 3K. Both folded and he showed 22 for the flopped set. He ended the night with 53K in chips and will come back fighting after a restful two days.
Ryan “youngluck” Young also made a run in the last hour of play; PocketFives saw him flop top set and a king-high flush, increasing his stack to 85k near the end of the day.
Some PocketFivers took a hit before the end of the day but will return to play in Day 2. One of our chip leaders, Tom “titantom32″ Braband, took a near-30k hit in the last level of play, but still was sitting comfortable with 90k. Also taking a hit was Scott “BigRiskky” Clements, who was hovering around 45k until he got a bluff snapped off on the river, taking a 10k chunk out of his stack in the last 30 minutes of play. Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez also lost a big pot to an opponent who held pocket eights when the board ran out 4-3-3-8-X. His stack dipped to 12K after peaking at 26K after the dinner break.
Sitting with about 70k near the end of the day, Jason “treysfull21″ Mercier (pictured at right) appeared to be heading to Day 2 with a solid stack. But then came along a hand that he’ll surely be thinking about the rest of the night, a hand Mercier just recently explained to PocketFives. Mercier hit a monster flop when his 64 connected to the Q67 board. Mercier and his opponent got all-in on the flop, resulting in a 90k pot. Mercier just happened to be up against the 85, one of the few hands against which he could in bad shape. The board bricked out for Mercier and improved his opponent and he’s left with 19k nearing the end of Day 1D.
Meanwhile, though Ladbrokes team pro Azad Pirooti sat with only 5K when we last reported on him, he managed to increase his stack through well-picked pots all the way up to 24K. Andreas Hoivold, however, went the opposite way and was sent to the rail despite chipping up early.
Here are some notable unofficial chip counts at the end of the day. Congratulations to all players!
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 90K
Ryan “youngluck” Young - 85K
Scott Pendergrast - 61K
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 53K
Bryan Micon - 51K
Bodog Ari Engel - 46K
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 41K
James “POKERPRO33″ Campbell - 40K
Scott “BigRiskky” Clements - 35K
Daniel “voff” Deveau - 33K
Eric “sheets” Haber - 27K
Ladbrokes pro Azad Pirooti - 24K (pictured at left)
Grant “drossXYU” Hinkle - 13.5K
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez - 12K
The Titan Can’t Sink
by Jill on 07.07.08, 2:47 am
Jeff “jpapola” Papola was the last roommate standing in the WSOP Main Event after his good friend Russell “rcrane082985″ Crane (pictured at right) busted out in Level 4. Crain raised his opponents turn bet all-in with a gutterball on a Q-5-5-9 board and ran into A-Q. Crain got 3-bet preflop and called his opponent’s bet on the flop in position.
Since Papola and Crane registered at the same time, the former roommates at Rutgers got placed at the same table on Day 1D. Crane had been short all day and never got any higher than 26k, which was in the first few levels of the tournament. Papola has consistently been over 30k and currently has 50k.
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg continues build his stack after sitting with over 45k in the first few levels. Friedberg has been on a bit of a rollercoaster the past few levels, going from 62k down to 46k back up to his current stack at 72k.
The action at Tom “titantom32″ Braband’s (pictured at left) table has been thrilling. He reported to PocketFives that earlier this evening, he doubled up when he bet out preflop with 34 and both the button and the big blind called him. The flop came 56-A for an open-ended straight flush draw. He led out for 1,700 and the button made it 4,500. Tom four-bet to 15K and both had 35K behind them. His opponent called, the turn was another ace, and Tom shipped it in for 18K more. His opponent called him with AQ and a black seven on the river gave him the straight he needed to scoop the 70K pot.
His stack kept growing over the last level and his recent elimination of Todd Brunson elevates him past the 120K mark. On a board of 4266 and first to act, Tom took a stand and put a stack of orange chips into the middle, putting Todd to a decision for all his chips. Todd took awhile to think before making the call with 56 for trip sixes. While the ESPN mob came rushing over with their cameras and boom mics, the dealer laid out the A and Tom’s AJ nut flush held up. He scooped the huge pot and was up to more than 120K. Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen, also at the table, made the understatement of the year, “Well, aren’t you on a heater?!”
Chip counts midway through Level 5:
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 120K
Mike “BraveJayhawk” Jensen - 65K
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 60K
Ryan “youngluc” Young - 57K
Gary “Debo34” Debernardi - 55k
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 50K
Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis - 48K
Danny “THE_D_RY” Ryan - 45K
Jeremy “chipsteela” Menard - 40K
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 39K
David “ComptonMasta” Barter - 37K
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 29K
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 27K
Frank “Round42″ Rusnak - 19.5K
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez - 18K
Brett “Gank” Jungblut - 16K
Evan “Oakplayer” Schwartz - 14K
Nathan “darkcheck” Tuthill - 8K
ComptonMasta Like Woah
by Jill on 07.07.08, 1:21 am
David “ComptonMasta” Barter (pictured at left) reported to PocketFives that his game be bouncin’ around like a ‘64 Impala on hydraulics over the last level. Apparently, he lost a large blingin’ pot when his KJ bricked out on a two-spade flop and he was down to less than his starting stack. However, David rallied and has built his stack up through small pots to 40K.
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez experienced a similar bounce-back when he more than doubled up his stack. Senovio came back with 6.8K after the dinner break and managed to flop the nut flush in a blind versus blind situation and get it all in on the river. His opponent called and he chipped up to 16K, on the hunt for more blood.
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman still sits at one of the featured table, which is notoriously now devoid of Phil Ivey. Garrett reported to PocketFives that he has been holding strong at 24K, but somehow came down with a cold last night and needs a bit of time to recover. Get well, Garrett! Also, for the record, PocketFives will punch the next person to ask them where Phil Ivey went. Consider this your last warning.
Meanwhile, in the Green section of the Amazon room, Ladbrokes team pro Azad Pirooti sat with a very short 5K stack and was looking to make a move. Patiently picking his spots, we saw him take down a couple of pots of antes and blinds. At a few tables over, Ladbrokes team pro Andreas Hoivold (pictured at right) was faring better with 45K, aggressively raising preflop in a couple of hands we witnessed to slowly chip up and take control of the table.
Here are a few chip counts nearing the end of Level 4, with one Level remaining in Day 1:
Aaron “gotcha55″ Kanter - 110k
Tom “titantom32″ Braband - 84k
Ben “bfineman” Fineman - 72k
Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg - 72k
Gary “Debo34” Debernardi - 62k
Jeremy “chipsteela” Menard - 52k
Mike “BraveJayhawk” Jensen - 50K
Ryan “youngluc” Young - 50k
Andreas Hoivold - 45k
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy - 45k
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 44k
Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin - 42k
Thayer Rasmussen - 41k
David “ComptonMasta” Barter - 40k
Daniel “voff” Deveau - 36k
Shane “shaniac” Schleger - 34k
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 32k
Tracey “xtrACEy” Nguyen - 30k
Frank “Round42” Rusnak - 29k
Ryan “Daut44″ Daut - 25k
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 24k
Aaron “ndgrinder59″ Steury - 21k
Mario Silvestri - 19.5k
Sumeet “Batera” Batra - 18k
Brett “Gank” Jungblut - 18k
Jon “FatalError” Aguiar - 16k
Russell “rcrane082985″ Crane - 12k
Grant Hinkle - 10.5k
Glen “choron” Chorny - 7k
Evan “Oakplayer” Schwartz - 6k
Azad Pirooti - 5k
Vengrin vs. Paris
by Crystal on 07.07.08, 12:17 am
Bryan “bparis” Paris and Matt “plattsburgh” Vengrin (pictured at right) recently got into a hand together. With the blinds at 150/300 Bryan raised to 900 and Matt called from the button. The flop came A22 and both players checked. The turn brought the 8 and both players again checked. The K fell on the river and Bryan checked for a third time but Matt was tired of checking and threw out 1.5k. Bryan shuffed a few chips in his hand and reluctantly made the call. Matt showed the AJ
for aces and deuces and Bryan tossed his cards into the muck.
Mark Newhouse might be a little upset after a hand where the board was showing K86. The two other players in the hand checked to Mark who bet 2k. One called, then the second raised to 9.5k and Mark re-raised all in. The first player folded, and the other, with less chips than Mark, made the call.
Newhouse showed AA, but his opponent held 86 for two pair. The turn was the 4 and the river the 6 and Newhouse has been knocked back to 9k.
It seems that players have again fallen into their post-dinner comas as we aren’t seeing quite as much action as of late but here are a few post-dinner chip counts if you’re still hungry!
Ben “bfineman” Fineman - 72K (pictured left)
Gus Hansen - 48k
Darren “DABADESTCHIC” Nelson - 47k
Thayer “THAY3R” Nelson - 47k
Ryan “youngluc” Young - 41K
Jeremy “Chipsteela” Menard - 40k
Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy - 46k
Shane “shaniac” Schleger - 36k
Tony “Bond18″ Dunst - 35k
Jeff “jpapola” Papola - 34k
David “ComptonMasta” Barter - 27k
Nathan “darkcheck” Tuthill - 19k
Russell “rcrane082985″ Crane - 16k
Senovio “DorsalFin” Ramirez - 8k