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(Way) Outside the WSOP – Day 4

Kevin Mathers — Mon, 31 May 2010 13:59:50 +0000

After starting your day off right by reading Pauly’s link dump, here’s the recap of Sunday night at the WSOP:

Dilemma Diverted at Donkament

After all those Tweets, forum posts, and other whinging, Day 1b of the $1,000 NL Donkament were able to finish all ten levels of play with 205 players remaining. The day 1b chip leader is Braxton Dunaway, with 139,000 chips. The full list of survivors is now available over at PokerNews. They’ll join the 276 who survived day 1a at 2:30pm, first bursting the money bubble at 441 players, on their way to a scheduled ten levels of play.

Grinder in Gear at the 50k Players’

Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi is the day 3 leader of the $50,000 Players’ Championship with just 21 players remaining when play resumes at 3pm as they play down to the final table, which will consist solely of no-limit holdem for ESPN to broadcast later this summer. Mizrachi, in the news for his issues with the IRS and other financial difficulties, will start day 4 with 1,483,000 in chips. Vladimir Schemelev will start in 2nd with 1,432,000, with David Oppenheim 3rd (1,340,000). The chips for the other 18 names not mentioned are now up over at PokerNews.

Omaha 8

Day 1 of the $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better finished with under 300 players remaining. As noted in the comments of the day 3 post, Thang Luu wasn’t able to attend after his incident with a dealer last year. Oleg Shamardin is the chip leader with 70,800 when play resumes at 2:30pm Monday. Top 10 notables: 2009 $50k HORSE winner David Bach (39,700), 2009 double bracelet winner Brock Parker (36,700), and Chau Giang (31,300). The entire list can be found at PokerNews here.

Can the $1,500 draw 1500?

Monday has one tournament starting today, the $1,500 No-Limit holdem at noon. With lower than expected numbers for the 1k over the weekend, will the trend continue? The first $1,500 event of the 2009 WSOP (held on a Tuesday) had a field of nearly 2800.

You can find updates during the day at PokerNews and www.wsop.com Make sure to check out Bluff Magazine, Wicked Chops Poker and PokerListings for more content from the WSOP.

(Way) Outside the WSOP – Day 10 $1,500 6-max and $2,500 HA conclusion, $2k NL and $10k 8-game Day 2, $2,500 NL and $2,500 Limit 6-max Day 1

Kevin Mathers — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:08:21 +0000

Two players won a WSOP bracelet earlier this morning, but the vast majority of the discussion will be on Phil Ivey, who took down his 6th WSOP bracelet in Event #8 $2,500 NL 2-7 Draw Lowball. While he collected under $100,000 from this event, he surely picked up a few million in bracelet bets with his fellow poker players, recouping some of those millions he had lost last year when he made similar bracelet bet wagers. John Monnette was looking for his first WSOP title, and he did not go down quietly, as the pair were heads-up for over 3 hours. Both had each other on the ropes, but Monnette was able to double up twice to take a huge chip advantage, but Ivey battled back like he had a few million dollars riding on the result. Several pros were on the rail watching the action, more than a few hoping that the professional from San Diego, California would knock off Ivey. Unfortunately for them, Phil would double up himself to retake the chip lead, finally eliminating Monnette when his 7-6 low crushed them pocket 7′s of Monnette. You can follow all the action as it transpired last night over at Pokernews, where I also wrote the recap that will appear later this morning.

Joining Phil Ivey at the bracelet ceremony today will be Travis Johnson who took down the $1,500 NL Holdem event a few hours ago taking over $666,000 in what appears to be his first tournament cash. Might as well make your first cash include a WSOP bracelet.

Two events that weren’t able to make their final table by the 3am deadline will both return at 1pm today to play down to a champion. The scheduled event for streaming on the Bluff Magazine website is the $1,500 NL Holdem 6-max event, which is down to their final 8, who’ll be seated as listed:

Table 154:
Seat 1: Carman Cavella 1,059,000
Seat 3: Charles Furey 1,169,000
Seat 4: Bryce Yockey 1,489,000
Seat 6: Bryn Kenney 656,000

Table 155:
Seat 2: Manny Minaya 339,000
Seat 3: Praz Bansi 630,000
Seat 5: Ken Aldridge 411,000
Seat 6: Peter Gould 780,000

Page 2 for more tournament activities today:

The $2,500 Pot-Limit Holdem/Pot-Limit Omaha event is down to their final 18 players, with Daniel Makowsky and Rami Boukai leading their respective tables. Other notables looking for that elusive bracelet include: Ben Grundy, Surinder Sunar, Hevad Khan, Tony Cousineau and John Kabbaj.

The two tournaments that kicked off on Thursday move to Day 2, as 232 players will return at 2pm today in the $2,000 NL Holdem event with Patrick Stemper the chip leader at 165,000. Other notables returning: Jason Mercier, Jose Rosenkrantz, Phil Hellmuth, Kevin Song, Jason Potter and non-fan of texting/Twittering at the table, T.J. Cloutier.

The $10,000 Mixed Event World Championship sees David Oppenheim as the day 1 leader, with Daniel Negreanu, Jimmy Fricke, and Eric Froehlich among the big names remaining when they return at 2pm for more mixed game action.

Both tournaments today will consist of more Hold’em than you can shake a chip at. With the 12pm tournament being the $2,500 NL Holdem event, which was won last year by Duncan Bell who rang up $666,777 in a field of nearly 1,400. The 5pm event is the $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max event, which makes its debut at this year’s WSOP. The WSOP Resource Guide projects a field of 1,537 for the NL event, while in the Limit 6-max event, a field of 250 are expected. Take the over on both projections, with at least 1,700 in the afternoon, and closer to 370 for the Limit event. Follow the action over at www.worldseriesofpoker.com for updates throughout Friday, and check into Pokerati later to see if the evil that is texting and Twittering under the table is stopped once and for all.

(Way) Outside the WSOP – Day 7 Stimulus Special Conclusion, Day 2 $1,500 PLO and $10k Stud, $1,500 NL Holdem, $2,500 NL 2-7 Lowball

Kevin Mathers — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:47:38 +0000

Finishing up business from Monday night before moving on…

The $1,000 NL Holdem Stimulus Special finished at 3am today with 50 players returning at 1pm to play down to a winner. The chip leader is Robert Comegys from Grand Prairie, TX with nearly 1.2m million in chips. Danny Fuhs is close behind, with notables such as Eric Mizrachi, Lee Watkinson, Dan Heimiller, and Jonathan Aguiar far down the leaderboard. More details will be available in my PokerNews recap later today. Today’s event is scheduled to be the first of over 20 WSOP final tables to be streamed online this year. The scheduled 2pm final table will be pushed back at least a few hours, depending on how fast play is today. Updates on Pokerati during the day today.

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event finished their Day 1 with 81 players remaining, the exact amount needed to reach the money. Jason Mercier, best known for his success on the European Poker Tour, is the chip leader with 227,000 in chips, over 60,000 more than second placed Matt Humphrey. Other notables who’ve made the money include Eric Froehlich,, Dario Alioto, Josh Arieh, An Tran, Warren Karp, Shannon Shorr, Robert Mizrachi, and Kirill Gerasimov. Those players and many more return at 2pm today to play down to a final table.

The $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship ended after eight levels with 101 of its remaining 142 entrants remaining. High-stakes cash game player David Oppenheim emerged as the chip leader, with veterans “Miami John” Cernuto, Nick Frangos, Danny Robison, and Steve Zolotow helping make up the top 10. Others who’ll be looking to work their way up include Eli Elezra, Todd Brunson, Eric Drache, Erick Lindgren, Andy Bloch, Cory Zeidman and Phil Ivey. They also return at 2pm to play down to their final table.

The one event that was able to conclude Monday was the WSOP Champions Invitational as Tom McEvoy, the 1983 Main Event winner, knocked off Robert Varkonyi, the 2002 Main Event champion to win the first Binion Cup along with a 1970 red Corvette.

The preview for today’s events:

Today’s festivities get underway at 12 noon with Event #7 – $1,500 NL Holdem and a field that could reach the 2,800 player maximum. Vitaly Lunkin, who took down the 40k NL Holdem earlier this week, is listed as the defending champion of this event. With several $1,500 NL Holdem events held during the WSOP the past few years, I’d say they winners are interchangable. At 5pm is Event #8 – $2,500 NL 2-7 Lowball (Single Draw). This is the first year for this event, which serves as a warmup for the $10,000 World Championship NL 2-7 Lowball event on June 10.

Time to amuse myself with a few predictions. Monday, both the PLO and Stud events fell under both mine and the WSOP projections so I’m currently at 2-4. The projection for today’s 1,500 NL Holdem event is 2,801 (curiously, over the 2,800 cap listed elsewhere in their Resource Guide). They’ll be able to squeeze a few more people into the field so take the over with a field of 2,840. The $2,500 NL 2-7 Lowball is a bit trickier, being a new event at this buyin amount, as in previous years it would usually be a $5,000 event, usually with rebuys. The projection is 150, so the hopes is that a few people will be adventurous and give this a try. I’ll take the under, with at least 100, but not much more looking for some action. More updates and other stuff from Pokerati during the day.

Layne Flack … Car Wreck

Dan Michalski — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:39:23 +0000

OK, since we don’t know his medical status, we’ll hold off on making jokes about train wrecks. From the PokerNews live-action team:

During the break after the Diamonds Bracket concluded, we asked producer Mori Eskandani why Flack had been replaced, and why Oppenheim was the replacement rather than Chiu. Eskandani stated that Flack was in an automobile accident last night and was therefore unavailable to play today. Chiu, the first alternate, required four hours notice due to the fact that he’s based in Los Angeles. NBC was unable to give him that notice and therefore substituted Oppenheim, who lives in Las Vegas, at the last minute.

Bellagio Break From the WSOP Cash Game Mecca Alive and Well

California Jen — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:18:31 +0000

It is common knowledge that poker players in Las Vegas flock to Bellagio for cash game action, primarily on the higher end of the buy-in scale. While there seem to be a plethora of cash games going on at the Rio around the clock during the WSOP, anyone looking for games higher than $10-$20 usually heads over to Bellagio. Since I ~~am such a high-stakes player~~ can always use a change of scenery from the Rio, I took a trip on over on Monday night around 10pm to see what was happenin’.

Craziness.

First of all, the entire casino was packed, as was the Strip on the way over there. After plowing through the tourists and slot machines, I arrived at the poker room, which was just overflowing with players. At least 20-30 people were milling about near the front of the poker room, the majority of whom were waiting for seats to open up. Among them were David Pham and Padraig Parkinson. And Davood Merhmand was ~~looking for a love connection~~ was enjoying a glass of wine.

As I shuffled past and made my way into the upper level/back room, there wasn’t much room to move around, but I immediately saw Antonio Esfandiari, along with many unrecognizable faces. I was told that those tables were playing $600-$1200 and higher, but I didn’t see anyone I knew well enough to ask for specifics. The intensity of the players was obvious in their faces, though; these were some serious games at relatively high stakes.

And on to the Big Game in Bobby’s Room. There was a small crowd gathered around the door and windows to the room to catch a glimpse of some of poker’s biggest names. Sammy Farha and Minh Ly were at one table with several young internet-ish-looking players, and Sammy looked happy to have the fresh meat. The other table included such names as Eli Elezra, Jennifer Harman, Marco Traniello, David Oppenheim, and Johnny Chan. I was told they were playing $3000-$6000 mixed games. (What better way to prepare for the upcoming $50K H.O.R.S.E. event at the Bellagio in two days?)

According to one source who is a regular in the Bellagio $400-$800 mixed games, it has been a tough road this year. Since coming to Vegas for the WSOP, he has noticed a marked change in the caliber of player in all of the higher limit mixed games. The fields are very tough, much tougher than last year, as if the high stakes players made a concerted effort of late to step up their games. He said there are very few soft spots, and every game is a struggle. When asked about taking the limits down a notch to $200-$400 or lower, he said with certainty that it wouldn’t make a difference. He has friends at those levels, and it is the same story; there isn’t as much money to be made in cash games this year. Standard no-limit hold’em and other games might be different, but the mixed game players have brought, played, and mastered their A-games.

Nevertheless, those who crave the high-limit action go to Bellagio, despite the difficulty of the tables or the wait to get on one. There is no other casino in Vegas that spreads such a wide range of games at such a variety of limits, and Bellagio has a reputation for running one of the best poker rooms around. No matter the hard economic times or bad runs at the WSOP, the Bellagio poker room is bumpin’.