Wednesday, June 3, 2009

WSOP Day 7 - A Bracelet tease

Day 7 of the World Series of Poker was an absolute zoo. There were 5 different tournaments underway simultaneously, including one that had originally been planned to finish. But it looks as though at least 3 bracelets will be given out on Day 8 now.

While originally slated to provide the bracelet in Event #4, the $1,000 Buy in “Obama Stimulus” No Limit Hold’em event, we just didn’t get that far. Because it required 2 day 1’s, and a monster field of 6012 players, Day 2 wasn’t able to play down to the final table, and the final 51 players began the day in the afternoon. At around 10PM, with 10 people remaining, the players and the event staff discussed moving the final table to today at 2PM, and there was a consensus agreement that once the table had eliminated the player in 10th position, the Wednesday 9 would resume action.

And shortly after the break, that’s exactly what happened, as Steve Sung eliminated Eric Chhor in 10th. Both players took a flop of A-6-4, and Steve raised enough to move Chhor all in. Chhor made the call with AJ, and found himself painfully behind Sung’s 2-pair, A6. The board ran out Turn/River Q-T, and Chhor was done in 10th ($80,567) And so the final 9 players will do battle for the final day today. Here is are how they are chipped:

1 – Dan Heimiller (4,155,000)
2 – Steve Sung (3,395,000)
3 – Vilandos ‘Pete’ Panovote (1,940,000)
4 – James Matz III (1,885,000)
5 – Jeff Oakes – (1,680,000)
6 – Larry Sidebotham – (1,500,000)
7 – Phong Huynh – (1,310,000)
8- Nathan Mullen – (1,210,000)
9 – Danny Fuhs – (965,000)

Steve Sung has performed WONDERFULLY, and I still hope that he takes this one down. He got very lucky earlier against Phong Huynh, when his tournament was at stake. On a board of J-Q-2, Sung put all of his chips in the middle. Huynh thought for a while before making the call, and having Sung covered with AJ. Sung tossed over AK, and was in need of help. He would get it on the river as a T hit giving Sung Broadway, and vaulting him to the top of the leader board with that pot. Hopefully, Steve can continue his good fortune and ride this wave to the 4th bracelet of the WSOP.

In Event #5, the pot limit Omaha Tournament, we have reached our second final table of the day. After 18 levels of play, Day one chip leader Jason Mercier is still in the running, having ridden his large stack to the final nine, and in 4th position overall. Here is how the final Nine in Event # 5 are stacked.

1 – Kevin Iacofano (770,000)
2 – Jonathan Tare (639,000)
3 – An Tran (445,000)
4 – Jason Mercier (384,400)
5 – Victa Park (341,000)
6 – Dario Alioto (315,000)
7 – Matt Giannetti (311,000)
8 – Steven Burkholder (263,000)
9 – Chris Biondino (182,000)

I still think that Mercier is the best player at this table, but he’s really been stuck in neutral for quite some time. Eventually, players are going to be forced to play pots with him, and I would be surprised if he doesn’t emerge with some Jewelry from this event.

Event # 7 was slated to play down to the final 8, however after some 13 hours of play, it was apparent that after 3:00 AM was reached, tomorrow would be better to play 2 tables to a finisher (also, that's one of the rules in the WSOP - no play after 3AM). 101 Players made their way into the 7-Card Stud World Championship, and to me, the most interesting story is that of Daniel Negreanu. Kid Poker was down to around 10,000 chips before making some hands, and using them to rake some incredible pots. Eventually, he’d rally to over 300,000 chips, before seeing those dwindle to under 200,000. Here are how the final 11 players are chipped:

1 – Eric Drache (785,000)
2 – Hasan Habib (593,000)
3 – Freddie Ellis (580,000)
4 – Jeff Lisandro (524,000)
5 – Ville Wahlbeck (472,000)
6 – Max Pescatori (401,000)
7 – Ivan Schertzer (368,000)
8 – Greg Mueller (208,000)
9 – Daniel Negreanu (191,000)
10 – Ray Dehkharghani (141,000)
11 – Tim Phan (45,000)

Tim Phan is hanging on for dear life, but in 7-card stud, I would never rule a player out. Chip swings can happen easily, and quickly.

The last two events in play were events #7 and #8. Event #7 is the $1,500 buy in No Limit Hold’em event. 2791 Entries were involved in Day 1, and as play ended for the night, just 338 players remain. We’re creeping in on the bubble which is 297. The player that I would VERY much like to see take this one down is Lee Childs. Lee had a tough late run, and saw his chip stack take a hit, but he’s still very much in the running. Currently, he’s holding a stack well south of the leaders, but his $15,800 still gives him enough to make some noise with a couple of good hands. Lee is definitely patient enough to make some trouble for anyone that wants to get into a pot with him.

The biggest stacks belong to Victor Greely (195k), Jerry Fowler (183k), Gary Tang (145k), Jacob Fernandez (123k), and Paul Dominski (102k). Those are the 100k club members, with other notable players in the field, including the likes of Brandon Cantu, Shaun Deeb, Alex Jacob, and ‘Minneapolis’ Jim Meehan.

And finally, Event # 8 wrapped it’s day one. There were 147 official entrants in the No Limit Deuce-to-Seven Lowball event, and the big names all turned out for this. Unfortunately for Daniel Negreanu, multi-tabling this event and the seven card stud event proved to be a disaster in this event. But eliminations also took place for players such as Doyle Brunson, Chau Giang, Allen Cunningham, Mike Caro, and Jen Harman. Surviving the day 1 carnage were 35 players, and among them, some of the top names are there. Players still looking for this bracelet include the likes of Freddy Deeb, Phil Hellmuth, Layne Flack, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, and Erick Lindgren. It’ll be interesting to see what the final table of this event looks like, as it is likely to include a star studded table.

Well that about wraps the day. Today should be quite a news-worthy day as 3 bracelets will be awarded for Events #4, #5, and #6. In addition, Event #8 should play down to the final table, and it is hopeful that the same result can be reached for event #7, but I think that is a stretch. In addition to those 5 events, 2 more get under way. Event # 9 begins it’s 3-day adventure, as the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em 6 Max tournament starts. This should be a very large field as well. And Event #10 also gets under way, the $2,500 buy in Pot Limit Omaha Tournament. It should be another crazy poker day at the Rio. Cheers

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