WSOP 2008
P5ers In the Hunt for “November Nine”
by Brett on 07.14.08, 3:31 am
Day 6 of the Main Event has come to a halt with 1 hour and 24 minutes left in Level 28. The final 27 players will return Monday at 12:00 PT. Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki, Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery and Owen “ocrowe” Crowe will be representing the Pocketfives community and attempt to reach the final “November Nine,” which will be decided tomorrow.
Klodnicki (pictured right) will enter Day 7 with 6.2 million chips. He reached 7.4 million during the evening but got involved in a few battles and was the victim of a few beats to cut his stack toward the end of the night.
Pocketfives caught up with Klodnicki on their last twenty minute break of the night about an hour before they reached the final 27. Klodnicki characterized his table which included Crowe and Montgomery as “pretty tight” although a late discovery by one of the players about Klodnicki may have changed the table dynamics in that final hour or so of play.
“He (Crowe) just asked me what my online name was,” Klodnicki said. “So maybe he’ll start playing back at me after the break.”
Klodnicki had just assumed Crowe knew who he was by now given that most players generally talk to others about the remaining players or find out from researching the field on the internet. The two actually played together for the bulk of Day 6.
Scott Montgomery struggled through most of the afternoon but caught fire while at a table with Klodnicki. He fell as low as 720K but built it to over 5 million within one level, with most of his chips coming from Andrew “foucault” Brokos. He will show up with 3.56 million tomorrow.
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe maintained close to an average stack for all of Day 6 without ever putting himself at risk. He finished Day 6 with 3.8 million.
Be sure to check back in tomorrow for updates on our remaining online stars playing for a chance at the most prestigious honor in all of poker — making the Main Event Final Table!
GBye, GBecks!
by Jill on 07.14.08, 1:43 am
As Level 27 comes to a close with the blinds at 30K/60K and an ante of 10K, players are really tightening up their games. Though the first two levels of the day saw the field decrease from its starting point of 79 all the way down to 44 remaining, the last two levels have only seen the elimination of 11 additional contenders. All players are guaranteed $193,000, though the final table is so close it’s nearly palpable.
Craig Marquis is the currently chipleader with nearly 11.5 million chips, properly representing for internet poker. Team Ladbrokes player Peter Eastgate (pictured at left) is also in the top three with 8.9M in chips.
Several PocketFivers tried to continue hanging on as the blinds escalate, but were facing stacks quite short of the 4.5M average. Garrett “GBecks” Beckman (pictured at right) recently doubled up when it folded around to him and he shoved all-in for his remaining 870K. Dennis Phillips quickly called and everyone else folded. Phillips turned over Q
Q
and Beckman appeared to be in bad shape with his KJ
. The flop came J44
and Garrett picked up two more outs to take down the pot. The J on the turn put Beckman in the lead in the hand and the K on the river doubled Garrett up to 1.95 million.
However, in an unfortunate turn of events for Garrett, the last hand at the featured table made him head for the exit. Garrett got it all in on the turn with the 6-7-T-9 board showing three clubs. Garrett held AQ for the nut flush draw, but his opponent held Q8 for the made straight. The river bricked out and Garrett was sent home in 31st Place, receiving $193,000 for his efforts. Many congratulations for the deep run!
KLOD Nicks More Chips
by Jill on 07.13.08, 10:47 pm
Peter “number1pen” Neff’s (pictured at right) tournament life ended shortly before the 90-minute dinner break which began at 7:15pm PST. In the hand that knocked him to the rail, the player on the button made it 135K to go preflop. Peter, in the small blind, shoved all-in for his remaining 850K short stack. The big blind called and button folded. Peter showed A9, which couldn’t get any help from the board to improve his hand. His opponent’s AJ held and Peter was eliminated in 36th place and receives $193,000 for his efforts.
Meanwhile, Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki ran into another player, whom he had covered, in a huge 2M all-in preflop pot. Though Chris was ahead with 99 to his opponent’s 55 on a flop of T64, the 5 spiked on the turn to counterfeit Chris’ hand. He doubled his opponent up and fell to around 3.8M.
Later, Chris engaged in another huge pot when he raised preflop, and was called by Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery. The dealer laid out 7K6 on the flop and both players checked. When the 7 on the turn came, Scott check-called Chris’ 200K bet and both players saw the 3 on the river. Scott checked, Chris bet 300K, and Scott raised him to 1M chips. After thinking for more than three minutes, Chris called and flipped over TT to win the hand. Scott tapped the table and said, “You’re good,” before shipping more than 1.5M Chris’ way. Chris was back up to more than 5M chips at the dinner break and looking good.
Here are the most recent unofficial chip counts prior to the dinner break:
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki - 5.2M
Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery - 4M
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 2.7M
Andrew “foucault” Brokos - 1.85M
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 960K
Plens Jets from Main Event
by Brett on 07.13.08, 9:42 pm
Jonathan “therookieqq9″ Plens’ roller-coaster day has come to an end. With blinds at 25K/50K Plens raised to 135K in the cutoff and Anthony Scherer re-raised to 400K from the big blind. Plens moved in for his last 900K and Scherer made the call:
Plens: AK
Scherer: A8
Unfortunately for Plens, Scherer flopped top two pair and Jonathan couldn’t catch a king on the turn and river and he was eliminated in 42nd place for $154,400.
Andrew “foucault” Brokos has been very active at his table, which happens to include Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki, Peter “number1pen” Neff and Owen “ocrowe” Crowe.
He hasn’t tangled with any of them much but has found a nemesis in Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery, whom we just came to realize is a PocketFiver as well. On a board of A52K, Montgomery checked to Brokos, who bet 350K. Montgomery then raised to 950K and Brokos went into he tank for seven minutes. He eventually moved all in and Montgomery called instantly with K5, which had Brokos’ AT drawing thin. The 9 fell on the river and Montgomery doubled up.
We’re midway through Level 26 and the dinner break will come in one hour. With the average stack at 3.6 million, here’s a look at the chip counts of those still hanging on with 37 players remaining:
Scott “r_a_y” Montgomery - 5.65M
Team Ladbrokes player Peter Eastgate - 4M
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki - 3M
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 2.3M
Andrew “foucault” Brokos - 1.5M
Peter “number1pen” Neff - 1.1M
Adam Out in Ruthless Hand
by Jill on 07.13.08, 8:10 pm
Players have now gone on their second 20-minute break of the day, nearly midway through Day 6’s quest for the final three tables. Of the 79 players that began the day here in the Amazon Room, only 44 remain and are guaranteed $154,400.
The most recent PocketFives player to be eliminated is Adam “Roothlus” Levy, who had been nursing a short stack for the entire day. In his last hand of the series, Adam held AT and re-raised his opponent all-in preflop. The dealer ran out the board with {10-Diamonds} {6-Spades} {3-Clubs} {3-Hearts} {2-Spades}, but Adam’s two-pair, top-kicker was dominated by his opponent’s pocket kings. Adam takes home 48th Place for $135,100 and has been good-naturedly sticking around to rail his friends still left in the tournament. Many congrats to Adam on his deep run!
In the aftermath of his Main Event exit, Levy stood over Garrett “GBecks” Beckman who was sitting next to him. “I was gonna fold it,” Adam lamented to Garrett. Beckman affirmed that it wasn’t a bad play. PocketFives caught up with Adam about 45 minutes after the hand and it was still brewing in his head, just like it would be in anyone else’s. Adam said that since the guy who opened the pot had over a 6M stack, he could be opening a lot of hands that would fold to his re-raise — possibly even hands like A-J and most small pairs.
Given the dearth of hands Adam had played up until that point, he estimated he’d get a lot of credit for a hand and his move would have maximum fold equity. “Plus, I had the tightest image at the table by far,” Levy said. “It was amazing how many hands i didn’t see today and how many I saw in previous days.”
Adam compared this tournament to playing in the Sunday Million, where he said you really have to string hands together for such a long period of time to survive long enough to make the final table. “You have to run so good in this tournament for so long… just like in the Sunday Million,” he said.
The last hand before break, Andrew “foucault” Brokos (pictured at right) exacted discipline and punishment in a preflop pot of nearly 500K when he leveraged his power-knowledge and reraised his opponent. Action folded to Andrew and he increased his stack to 5M.
Team Ladbrokes player Peter “Pete4002″ Eastgate has been laying low and blinding down to 2.9M at the side featured table, apparently not catching any cards or unwilling to play back at the several big stacks at his table. One of those big stacks is Brandon Cantu, seated across from Peter, who has just inherited a big stack of new lilac-and-gray 100K chips after coloring-up.
As we approach the final three tables, here are some unofficial chip estimates at the break:
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD”Klodnicki - 5.2M
Andrew “foucault” Brokos - 5M
Peter “Pete4002″ Eastgate - 2.9M
Owen “ocrowe” Crowe - 2.75M
Peter “number1pen” Neff - 1.875M
Garrett “GBecks” Beckman - 1.35M