Tete A Tete
by Jessica on 06.13.09, 10:15 pm
As we noted in our last post, there are some intriguing match ups in the $10K Heads-Up NLHE event, including several pairings in which a “young internet whiz kid” is matched up against a “sage, wise live pro.”
One such match-up is Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman (pictured left) and Antonio Esfandiari.  We missed the preflop and flop action, but watched as Scott bet out 1.5K with the blinds at 200/400 from the big blind on a J
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Q
board and Esfandiari raised what looked like 2.5K on top. Freeman called and checked when the Q
paired the board on the river. Esfandiari fired 6.2K, which Freeman quickly called. Antonio flipped up his A-Q and Scott mucked his hand, visibly rattled by what had just transpired.
After that hand, Scott was starting to get short on chips and when Esfandiari completed from the small blind just a few hands later, Freeman raised 1.1K on top. Antonio called and the flop came QQ3. Freeman led for 1.9K, leaving only 5K behind and Esfandiari opted to call. Freeman checked when the J fell on the turn and Esfandiari bet 2.4K.
“Why don’t you put me in on the flop?,” Scott asked. “I’m obviously calling,” he added. Esfandiari appeared to have missed his opportunity to put Freeman all-in though, as Scott folded on the turn.
Just a few hands later, Scott completed the small blind, leaving only 4.1K behind (roughly 10 big blinds) and Antonio raised 1.2K or so more. Freeman quickly moved all-in and Antonio called with QT. Scott showed AK and the board ran out 9425A to double him up to 9K. Since then, Scott appears to have chipped up back to even and the duo continues to battle on.
Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger drew Daniel Alaei in his first round match and the two have battler back and forth in a close match so far. Andrew was able to pick up a big pot though when he minraised the button with the blinds at 300/600 and Alaei called. Alaei check-called Lichtenberger’s 1.8K bet on the AJ7 flop and check-called 3.7K more from Andrew after the 7 fell on the turn. After a K hit on the river Alaei checked a third time and Lichtenberger fired 4.4K with approximately 16K behind. Daniel thought for a while before folding.
Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer and his heads-up competitor Marco Traniello got in a minor spat after a hand was over. Apparently Traniello checked back on the river and was required to flip up his hand before collecting the pot. Conceding defeat, O’Dwyer tried to muck and Traniello demanded to see his cards. A floorperson was called over and confirmed that Steve didn’t have to show his hand. As Marco tried to explain that he had requested to see Steve’s cards, Steve began to slide them into the muck so they couldn’t be retrieved.
The debate continued though and O’Dwyer made the valid point that the rule that cards must be turned face up if requested is designed to avoid collusion. Considering this is heads-up play, collusion isn’t going to really happen. The floorman agreed and O’Dwyer’s cards were allowed to remain unexposed and play continued.
The 
Chris “Genius28″ Lee / Jason “JCarver” Somerville match-up was a back and forth exchange of chips for some time until Chris raised to 1.3K with the blinds at 300/600 and Jason reraised to 3.8K total. Chris called and the two saw a flop of KQ2. Somerville bet out 4.6K, Lee raised to 10.2K, Somerville moved all-in, and Lee called with K5. Jason showed A-K, which held as the board ran out JQ to win him the pot and the match.
Other players we know are joining Somerville for Round Two later tonight include Brock “t_soprano” Parker, Adam Junglen, and Steven “Zugwat” Silverman.
One player who won’t be seeing Round Two is Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers. With the blinds at 200/400 Sowers raised to 900 total and his opponent called. Both players checked the AA6 flop, but Mike fired out 1.6K after the K hit on the turn. The other player called and then led the river for 6.9K after the A hit. Sowers moved all-in for 14K or so total and the other player quickly calleds with A3 for quad aces to knock Mike out of the event.
WSOP EVENT #28: $1.5K NLHE
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David “DocSands” Sands has been building his stack over in the Miranda Room all day. We stopped by to check on him and his huge stack and saw the following hands take place.
Sands raised to 750 pre-flop and was called by the player in the cutoff. The flop was K88. Sands led out for 825 and the other player called. The turn was the 4. Sands bet again, this time putting out 1,350. The cutoff moved all in for more than 5K more and Sands immediately called. His AK was ahead of his opponent’s QJ. There was no club on the river and Sands has 54K heading into the 90-minute dinner break.
Over in the Amazon Room, Anthony “D1rtyR1v3r” Nardi was chipping up as well, albeit with not quite as good of a hand. Nardi raised 600 more in the big blind after the small blind limped for 300. The small blind called and the flop was J74. Both players checked and the turn was the 7. The small blind made a 1500-chip bet and Nardi called. The river was the K. This time the small blind led out for 2K. Nardi made the call again and turned over AT, which was the best hand.
Here are the latest chip counts we have for some other players in the field:
Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson – 40K
Tyler “tydean” Smith – 31K
Jason “JP_OSU” Potter – 27.6K
David “The Maven” Chicotsky – 20K
Brett “Gank” Jungblut – 19K
Frank “Round42″ Rusnak – 14K
Scott “ssitron” Sitron – 13K
Aaron “NDGrinder59″ Steury – 9K
Clayton “Clayton27” Newman – 6K
WSOP 2009 Event #24: $1.5K NLHE
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After losing a sizeable pot to Dean “StickyINC” Hamrick, Andy “BKiCe” Seth has lost the chip lead for the first time today. He is currently sitting in second place, just behind fellow P5er Glenn “TheGFactor” McCaffrey, who leads with 2.4 million to Seth’s 2.2 million. Hamrick is sitting in 4th with around 1.5 million and Brian “fitzfitz” Fitzpatrick is in 5th place with 984K.
