Pius Heinz

Germany’s Pius Heinz eventually wore down the Czech Republic’s Martni Staszko after over 100 hands of heads-up play to win the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event, earning a cool $8,715.638 and coveted gold and diamond bracelet. Staszko settles for runner-up money of $5,433,086 as Ben Lamb earns $4,021,138 after playing only four hands Tuesday night.

If you want to read about what happened Tuesday night, check out Pauly’s live blog from the Rio. Nolan Dalla also has a final table recap and a review of the 2011 WSOP chock full of information. Short-Stacked Shamus’ 15-minute delayed live blog gives a view of the action from the comfort of his home.  You can also catch a replay of the final table at ESPN3.com.

Finally, catch up on Pauly and Michalski’s Tao of Pokerati podcasts from Nov. 9 weekend here.

Here’s the chip counts when action kicks off again tonight with the blinds starting at 600,000/1,200,000 with an ante of 200,000:

Seat 1: Pius Heinz – 107,800,000
Seat 2: Ben Lamb – 55,400,000
Seat 3: Martin Staszko – 42,700,000

Hand for hand updates at PokerNews and WSOP.com. PokerNews also has a chat going off the ESPN broadcast here.

ESPN will start their 15-minutes delayed coverage at 6:00pm PT, 9:00 ET. Streaming will be available at www.watchespn.com as well as the WSOP.com site.

Some twitterers to follow tonight for live updating:

@taopauly, @oskargarcia @howardstutz @casekeefer @pokernews @jesswelman @bluffmagazine @pokerlistings @lance_bradley @eric_ramsey @donnie_peters @avpoker

Live blogging from Pauly while Shamus will be blogging a few minutes behind the coverage.

Expect Tao of Pokerati episodes throughout the night.

6:35pm UPDATE: Ben Lamb was eliminated on the 4th hand after Staszko doubled up on the first hand: 77 >KJ to become crippled. Lamb shoved with Q6 into Staszko’sJJ and didn’t improve to earn $4,021,138 as Staszko takes the chip lead.  Here’s what Lamb got shortly after being eliminated:

Ben Lamb gets punk'd (photo courtesy @BenbaLamb

6:50pm UPDATE: Heinz has dominated the early action heads-up to regain the lead with 132 million chips to Staszko’s 73 million.

7:40pm UPDATE: Staszko has gone on a rush as the blinds are now at 800,000/1,600,000/200,000 to retake the lead 110.65m – 95.25m

8:30pm UPDATE: Staszko gave up his lead, but turned up the aggression once again to hold a 113.6m – 92.3m chip lead. Heinz appears tired while Staszko has renewed confidence.

9:25pm UPDATE: The lead has now changed hands for a seventh time heads-up as Heinz wins several hands in a row to hold a 116.9m to 89m chip lead as the blinds go up to 1,000,000/2,000,000 with a 300,000 ante.

10:20 UPDATE: Now Staszko takes the lead once again as he wins several hands in a row as he now takes a commanding lead again: 146.6m to 59.3m.

11:30pm UPDATE: The poker media is getting restless as the heads-up battle rages on. Staszko had Heinz under 45m in chips, but the gap has been narrowed. Staszko leads 132.8m to 73.1m for Heinz.

12:00am UPDATE: Over 100 hands of heads-up play and not a single hand featured an all-in and call. That would change shortly after the blinds went up to 1,200,000/2,400,000 with an ante of 300,000. Heinz shoved with Ah Qh on a Ks Tc 7c flop. Staszko called with Qc 9c. The turn and river bricked out and Heinz now leads with 161.5m chips to Staszko’s 44.4m.

In the spirit of kicking things old-school, we’re going really new school … on the fly no less … and moving to SoundCloud, which we think will work in really neato ways.

November Nine – Evolution (Ep 1) by taopokerati

November Nine – Evolution (ep. 1)
Dr. Pauly and Dan are back with a new episode of Tao of Pokerati live from the Rio in Las Vegas. Dan showed up late, but watched some of the live feed at home. The WSOP coverage is evolving and the two discuss the latest nuances in poker reporting.

And of course to follow an old-school blogger with faster typing skills than mine, be sure to read actual writing from my partner in podcast crime at Tao of Poker.

Nevada Gaming just approved some new wagers for the November Nine … some of which are obv, and others that may or may not be a little more silly.

The list of approved wagers, at house odds:

One of the new things with this latest World Series of Poker (as significant as ESPN’s live coverage, imho) was the introduction of sports-book bets on WSOP outcomes. Think about how much effort went in to making that possible — first, changing the law such that Nevada sports books could expand their offerings to include non-athletic contests … then running specific bets through Nevada Gaming regulators … all so non-Caesars casinos could spread action on the WSOP? That’s not exactly the kinda thing done on a whim … especially when the introduction of “live” TV coverage adds a whole new element of necessary oversight for GCB enforcement.

The Wynn seems to be wanting to take the lead on spreading such non-athletic “exotics”, with Race and Sports Book Director Johnny Avello establishing himself as the go-to guru for entertainment-based wagers — having set for-entertainment-only odds (with remarkable accuracy) for the Oscars, beauty pageants, Dancing with the Stars … even fashion at the British Royal Wedding, and the breed of dog to win the Westminster Dog Show.

Read below for more official word on Wynn Las Vegas/Encore’s WSOP offerings:

Wynn Las Vegas Accepts Bets on the $10,000 No Limit Texas Hold’em Poker Main Event Championship for the first time in gaming history
Odds are set on the nine players participating in the November final table

LAS VEGAS, July 20,2011—The Race and Sports Book at Wynn Las Vegas is now accepting wagers on the $10,000 No Limit Texas Hold ‘em Poker Main Event Championship to be held November 5 – 7 in Las Vegas. Wagers can be placed on each of the final nine players to win the event or on the top two finishers (quinella).

New Nevada gambling regulations this year allow casinos to offer wagering opportunities on non-sporting events. On July 15, the Nevada Gaming Control Board provided approval to accept wagers on the $10,000 No Limit Texas Hold ‘em Poker Main Event Championship.

Wynn Las Vegas became the first Las Vegas casino to offer wagers on non-sporting events in early July, when the Race and Sports Book accepted bets on the preliminary rounds of the No Limit Texas Hold ‘em Poker tournament. Lines included whether a woman would finish higher than 40th and whether poker legends Johnny Chan, Allen Cunningham or Erik Seidel would win money in the event.

“This is a great event for wagers,” said Wynn Race and Sports Director Johnny Avello. “Not only will gamblers be betting on other gamblers, but non-gamblers who just have a love of poker and follow this event every year can get in on the action too.”

Wynn Race and Sports Book Director, John Avello, has been providing entertainment odds on the Academy Awards, the Emmys, the Golden Globes, beauty and other popular reality competition shows for more than three years.

I knew one of their names to start … think maybe I had previously heard of a second … and over the last few days got to know (as characters) about three more. It apparently looks to be another one of those “skill” tables in November. Should be interesting to see how they set the lines at Wynn or anywhere else offering newly legalized November Nine sports book bets.

Dramatis Personae:

The line-up consists of six kids and an “old guy” (at age 49) … two Vegas pros and the Irish son of a Paddy Poker legend … a colorful Ukrainian, the Richard Lee of Belize (hat-wise), the pride and joy of the Czech Republic, an apparently hard-to-crack German, an Italian-sounding Longhorn who got his schooling in Austin, TX … The group is so diverse that you can mix-mash any combo of them and string together various descriptors to show their global reach with ease … all that from a group that’s virtually all white and unemployed with bad posture.

Poker really is amazing.

Here’s the WSOP report from yesterday’s close of business.

And below are more official details, with a beginner’s breakdown of the nine names you’re supposed to memorize and the prizepool they all return to fight for.

“November Nine” Features Players from Seven Nations

ESPN’s WSOP Coverage Continues on Tuesday Nights through November 8, 2011

LAS VEGAS (July 20, 2011) – The 42^nd annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship – commonly referred to as the Main Event – is down to its final nine players. The “November Nine” – a diverse and international group – is all that remains of the massive field of 6,865 players who entered the iconic tournament seeking poker’s most coveted title and a top prize of more than $8.7 million.

The final nine players represent seven countries – the most ever in WSOP and tournament poker history; Ukraine, Ireland, Germany, Czech Republic, Belize, Great Britain and the United States. The players will return to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in November to vie for poker’s ultimate trophy – a WSOP gold bracelet – and the lion’s share of the Main Event’s $64,531,000 total prize pool. The winner will receive a first-place prize of $8,711,956, with the other eight players sharing another $19 million-plus.

The November Nine and their respective chip counts are as follows:

1.    Martin Staszko – 40,175,000

Staszko, of Trinec, Czech Republic, is a 35-year-old poker professional. He is the first Czech ever to make a WSOP Main Event final table. In addition to poker, he plays competitive chess and tennis for pleasure. He said it would be “unbelievable” to be the first person to bring a Main Event gold bracelet back to the Czech Republic.

2.    Eoghan O’Dea – 33,925,000

O’Dea, of Dublin, Ireland, is a 26-year-old student. The son of Donnacha O’Dea – widely regarded as the greatest Irish poker player of all time – Eoghan is becoming quite the poker force himself. He now has a total of five WSOP cashes, four of which he earned this year. The father-and-son tandem now has a total of three WSOP Main Event final tables, with Donnacha having finished sixth in 1983 and ninth in 1991.  It is the first time in WSOP history a father and son has made it to the Main Event final table.

3.    Matt Giannetti – 24,750,000

Giannetti is a 26-year-old, self-taught poker professional from Las Vegas. Prior to launching his poker career, Giannetti graduated from the University of Texas.

4.    Phil Collins – 23,875,000

Collins, 26, of Las Vegas, Nevada, is a professional poker player. His considerable entourage at the Main Event spurred on the former University of South Carolina student by loudly singing lyrics by the famous musician with whom their friend shares his name. Collins’ chip count kept him near the top of the leader board for much of the past few days, leading to numerous amateur renditions of “In the Air Tonight” echoing throughout the tournament room.

5.    Ben Lamb – 20,875,000

Lamb, 26, is enjoying a career year at the WSOP, leading the race in Player of the Year points by a healthy margin. In addition to making the Main Event final table, Lamb’s other accomplishments at this year’s WSOP include a gold bracelet win, a second-place finish and eighth- and twelfth-place tournament finishes. The Tulsa, Oklahoma, native now boasts a total of 12 WSOP “in-the-money” finishes that have paid more than $2.1 million in total prize money (excluding the minimal ninth-place money he is guaranteed for making the November Nine).

6.    Badih Bounahra – 19,700,000

Bounahra is the oldest member of the November Nine. At 49, the resident of Belize City, Belize, has been playing poker for about six years. Away from the felt, Bounahra says he enjoys fishing and sleep.

7.    Pius Heinz – 16,425,000

Heinz is a 22-year-old student and poker professional from Cologne, Germany. He is the first German ever to make it to a WSOP Main Event final table, a feat he accomplished after a promising seventh-place finish in a previous WSOP event.

8.    Anton Makiievskyi – 13,825,000

Makiievskyi, of Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, is a 21-year-old aspiring poker pro. When he isn’t competing on the felt, he enjoys cycling and anything pertaining to music, particularly teaching himself guitar and drums.  This year marked his first trip to the WSOP in Las Vegas.  Makiievskyi hopes to become the fifth Ukrainian to win a gold bracelet at the 2011 WSOP.

9.    Sam Holden – 12,375,000

Holden, a 22-year-old professional poker player from Sussex, Great Britain, will enter the final table as the short stack. This first-time WSOP participant will need to pick his spots carefully in November if he is to bring poker’s most prestigious title back to England.

John Hewitt, 23, finished in 10^th place, just one spot away from the November Nine. Hewitt is originally from Chicago but now resides in San Jose, Costa Rica. The former student demonstrated an aggressive style of play during the Main Event, at one point even holding the chip lead. In the end, it was not enough to make the final table.

In addition to the first-place prize of $8,711,956, prize money for the remaining eight spots is as follows*:

2^nd place: $5,430,928

3^rd place: $4,019,635

4^th place: $3,011,665

5^th place: $2,268,909

6^th place: $1,720,396

7^th place: $1,313,851

8^th place: $1,009,910

9^th place: $782,115

When play resumes in November, the players will pick up with 34 minutes and 57 seconds remaining in Level 36. The antes will be $50,000 and blinds will stand at $250,000 and $500,000.

The 2011 Main Event has received unprecedented nearly-live coverage on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3.com. Comprehensive WSOP television coverage will begin airing Tuesday, July 26 at 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. Coverage will continue in two-hour blocks each Tuesday at 9 p.m. for 16 weeks, culminating with Main Event Final Table coverage on Nov. 8, 2011.

The 2011 Main Event capped the largest-ever WSOP, both in terms of total participation and prize pool. A total of 75,672 players from 105 countries entered the 58 events on this summer’s WSOP schedule, generating a total prize pool of $191,999,010.

The 2011 Main Event was the third-largest in the tournament’s illustrious history, drawing 6,865 players from 85 nations. Only the 2006 Main Event (8,773 participants) and the 2010 Main Event (7,319 participants) were larger.

*The final nine players each received ninth-place prize money upon reaching the final table; the remainder of the prize pool will be placed in an interest-bearing account to be added to the prize pool on a percentage basis for the final eight finishers.

ABOUT THE WSOP

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the largest, richest and most prestigious gaming event in the world, awarding millions of dollars in prize money and the prestigious gold bracelet – globally recognized as the sport’s top prize. Featuring a comprehensive slate of tournaments in every major poker variation, the WSOP is poker’s longest running tournament in the world, dating back to 1970. In 2011, the event attracted 75,672 entrants from more than 100 different countries to the Rio in Las Vegas and awarded more than $191 million in prize money. In addition the WSOP has formed groundbreaking alliances in broadcasting, digital media and corporate sponsorships, while successfully expanding the brand internationally with the advent of the World Series of Poker Europe. For more information on the World Series of Poker, please visit www.WSOP.com.

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Punters here will now legally be able to bet on:

The Winner
Top Two Finishers

Click here to read official notice of the newly allowed wagers. I’m guessing it didn’t look good for the WSOP to be championing monster prop bets that existed in a “gray area” of Nevada Gaming regulations? Or they were simply pissed that so many of these wagers were going to Bodog? Or they wanted to provide November Niners an ability to hedge their bets. But unlike the case with Pete Rose, it doesn’t necessarily seem like in poker, that betting on one of your opponents will automatically keep you out of the Hall of Fame.

• Players from one of two groups of 13 to last longest
• Will at least one player from a box of 3 make the money
• Will a woman finish in the top 40
• Will at least one of a group of 7 men last longer than all women
• Age of the winner

Kinda a strange bunch of props imho … but hey, they do seem to support Rule #2 of Poker Life, which is, of course, “Never Stop Gambling.”

Should be interesting to see what kinda action Caesars wants to wrap around these newly approved fully legal prop bets … and what additional props show up in future lines.

All this became possible, btw, in January of this year, when Nevada Gaming approved and adopted amendments to Regulation 22, allowing the state’s casinos to offer wagers on events other than just horse races, greyhound races, and athletic events. So now, you can bet in Nevada on the outcome of non-sporting events such as The Academy Awards or American Idol … or whether or not one man out of a group of seven can outlast all women in a $1,500 no-limit hold’em tournament.

UPDATE: @OskarGarcia was all over this one last week, and noted that the Wynn became the first ever Nevada casino to offer non-sporting bets in their sports book with the above wager options on the WSOP. He also talks to a regulator who says this new practice should have big implications for betting on the November Nine.

But soon to be announced and official, the hapless poker multimillionaire from western Maryland has apparently caved — signing a deal with the Heartland Poker Tour to serve as their “ambassador” and wear HPT gear in all tourneys, including the WSOP.

This comes from a plenty reliable source; however, said source would not confirm (nor deny!) that Darvin Moon is near-broke and thus rethinking his aversion to wearing poker-related patches … but did confirm that no poker agents were involved in signing the agreement.

Moon, of course, was the unsignable runner-up at the 2009 WSOP … making him pretty much the opposite of Dennis Phillips, and the only November Niner ever not to be patched up at the main event final table. He also snubbed the WSOP this past November by turning down repeated invitations to be part of 2010 November Nine festivities in Las Vegas, opting instead to play a $1k HPT event at the Meskwaki Casino Bingo Hotel in Tama, Iowa.

One of my favorite fights with Katkin is on the value of Darvin Moon as a sponsored player. I dig the dude as a character … and consider him good for … nay, great extra=solid for poker — while Katkin (clearly stuck in his ’06-’07ish glory-days poker-world mindset) I think believes his donk play and non-pro, non-online nature make him the wrong guy for the WSOP to celebrate in their commercials. To which I say … hater.

They’re playing a $15,000 freeroll, and its been rumored that there might be quite a bit more on the line for the November Niners. In order to keep things interesting and competitive, there are last longer bets and a few other interesting props that I’ll try to keep track of.

The tournament just got underway, and with 30 minute levels and a 10k starting stack, this freeroll looks like it will take quite some time.

Stay tuned for a couple of updates throughout the day here, as well as a comprehensive post of the Tuesday’s events coming up. To keep up to date with the action, as well as watch a live stream featuring Joseph Cheong, Michael Mizrachi, Matt Jarvis and Lon McEachern, head on over to Foxwoods Live.

But actually we’ve seen it before, just last month in fact …

Exhilaration, anticipation, deflation, uncertainty, recalculating your outs with survival on the line … it was enough to get hearts beating worldwide. That’s just poker, right? But hey, now we know … regardless of who sees whom as the Grinder in Washington DC, with some luck and cards still to play, we should be good for a 5th place finish.

Eastgate (22), Cada (21), Duhamel (23) …

Winners

• Joesph Cheong – He flamed out hardcore on Saturday, but was seen in the ESPN3 studio giving commentary in the tail-end of heads up. For the way he went out, I’d have no problem with him just sitting in the stands, so major props to him for coming back to help out.
• Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington – Both gave great speeches in their own ways. Their Hall of Fame inductions are well deserved.
• Jonathan Duhamel’s Fans – It makes very little sense for the Les Habs fans to chant “Ole!” but they are the most electric fans and had been for most of the final table matchup.

Coinflips

• Jack Effel – He was a little less insane today (and yes I acknowledge his job is to keep the crowd interested), but he was still insane. (Maybe that was in the job description)
• The media – There was a lot of “I don’t want to be here” attitude going around, myself included at times. If you can’t do 2 days, how do you do 6 weeks?

Losers

• Twitter – For imposing a twitter cap that took effect at the exact same time as the last hand of the main event. Guess all those hand updates I was doing screwed me where it counted.
• The interest added to the prize pool – Blame the economy all you want, but why even bother putting the prize pool into T-bills when you make a whopping $450 in the process. Hell, I’m pretty sure no one would care if Harrah’s pocketed that.

• Ty Stewart gave an overdue introduction to the 2006 Player of the Year, Jeff Madsen. He couldn’t help but point out Madsen’s rap albums and…interesting thoughts on September 11th.
• Stewart then introduced 2010 Player of the Year Frank Kasella, something thankfully they didn’t try doing on Saturday. Kasella received a check for $30,000.
• Nolan Dalla was then called up to induct Dan Harrington into the Hall of Fame. He had a few jokes that fell flat, but whatever.
• Dan Harrington says his greatest accomplishments were the Harrington on Hold’em books, thanking Bill Robertie and 2+2 for the opportunity. I don’t think we could argue about that.
• Doyle Brunson is called up to induct Erik Seidel into the Hall of Fame. He has mentioned Seidel is more recognized for his part in Rounders than his abilities as a player.
• Erik Seidel is actually being quite funny in his speech. One of the better ones was when he said “one great perk of the Hall of Fame is that Harrah’s pays for all the Hall of Famer’s WSOP buy-ins.” Ty Stewart nearly had a stroke.

We are over a half hour late, but things are finally getting underway. Check @Mark_Gahagan for updates.

One difference, however … Racener has the Sam Chauhan rubber band, while Duhamel … is from Canada, eh?

• As the bust outs started coming quickly last night the guys over at PokerListings were there to get the exit interviews for the last 3 to get eliminated. First was Michael Mizrachi, who was followed not to soon by Fillipio Candio. And finally the interview of Joseph Cheong shortly after his big hand. (PokerListings)

• Cheong Light Savings was the last Tao of Pokerati Podcast to be published last night before the crew went to sleep party throughout the night. Dr. Pauly gives us a brief glimpse into the happenings on Monday when the final 2 come back to play for the Bracelet and $8.9 million. (Tao of Poker)

• Did Joseph simply just have a major blowup or was he just on the next level of thinking and got caught? Short-Stack Shamus from Hard-Boiled Poker takes a look at hand #212 along with a few other dramatic hands from the night. (Hard-Boiled Poker)

• Andrew Feldman and Lance Bradley get together shortly after play has concluded for the day to recap the day. The Poker Edge podcast is a bit long but if you want to hear every players elimination interview along with some insight from the guys then it is definitely a must listen. (Poker Edge Podcast)

Non-Novemeber 9:

• Tatjana Pasalic of Party Poker sits down with the winner from WPT Amneville, Sam El Sayed. (Party Poker Blog)

The Battle of the Jon’s (Johnathan Duhamel and Jon Racener) will commence Monday night at 11:00 EST.

Winners

• Jonathan Duhamel (2-0-3): Another level, another player given a world of hurt by Duhamel. A double up from the chip leader with QQ gives Duhamel 180m. Its his main event to win…or lose.
• John Racener (0-2-3): Patience is a virtue. And for John Racener, watching Cheong punt his stack was probably the best thing that ever could have happened to him. He walks into heads up at least a 6:1 dog, so he’ll have his work cut out for him.

Coinflip

• Our feelings about killing Jack Effel whenever he was over-enthusiastic: We know its wrong, and its probably because we are all tired, but at times it felt that it would be so, so satisfying.

Losers

• Michael Mizrachi (4-1-0): The way this ended was almost sad. Grinder’s play in the last two hours was really disappointing, and he was looking frustrated toward the end. While he got it all-in in what would normally be a decent spot, Duhamel’s crafty plan with his aces proved too much. We all expected great things out of Mizrachi, a combination of bad luck and bad situations ultimately led to the Grinder’s demise. Congratulations are certainly in order for Michael Mizrachi’s 5th place finish, the Redemption of the Grinder is certainly complete.
• Filippo Candio (0-1-4): Candio’s end was even weaker. After playing almost no hands for 2 hours, he shoved KQdd against Joesph Cheong, who called with A3cc. An Ace on the flop put Cheong in command, and the blank on the turn sealed the deal. Candio’s lack of play may have been because he was caught bluffing a few times in a row. An amazing finish for the Italian though, 4th place, $3 million (or 2 euros) and a great run!
• Joseph Cheong (3-0-2): All I’m gonna say is A7 6-bets all in are not gonna be in Cheong’s arsenal ever again. He was on the losing end of the biggest pot in poker tournament history. He fought back to get to 17m, but couldnt quite close it out when Q-high lost to A-high. Congratulations on a 3rd place finish nonetheless!

Interesting Notes

• Bustouts came fast and furious at the beginning of level 40, players with under 30m in chips were feeling the pinch and had to take a stand. Unfortunately, the Cheong-Duhamel hurricane could not be stopped, claiming Mizrachi and Candio within 2 hands. Then the Duhamel hurricane became stronger and knocked Cheong off the face of the earth…eventually.
• Caffeine is overrated. Especially when you have a bunch of all ins at the end.

On behalf of Pokerati, I hope you’ve enjoyed our coverage of the final table up until this point. We’ll be covering some other random stuff in the lead up to heads up, as well as the heads up coverage itself.

• Photos can tell a story better than words can, and the guys over at Greasie Wheels are doing a great job with the official WSOP photo blog. (WSOP Photo Blog)

• The guys over at Wicked Chops feel that John Dolan was a disappointment and try to cheer everyone up with some Cheech and Chong. (Wicker Chops)

• Couple more Tao of Pokerati podcast have hit the air, the November 9 WSOPharmie Report has arrived and a quieter version titled Shhhhh! is here.

• When did the first chopped pot happen on the final table? Find out via the next Bluff update. (Bluff)

• Still have not been able to find a video of the bust-out interview for John Dolan, but the staff over at PokerNewsDaily have a nice writeup and it seems that Dolan was just a jovial as Senti as he was heading out to collect his money. (PokerNewsDaily)

Winners

• Joseph Cheong (2-0-2): He seems to be staying above the fray as of right now, and has the chip lead after Grinder’s failed attempt to knock out John Racener. In fact, he’s the first player to jump the 70 million chip mark, something I thought I would have been saying about Grinder.

Coinflip

• Filippo Candio (0-1-3): Amazingly there hasn’t been much from Filippo this level. And for some reason, I’m ok with that. The lack of weird bluffs is…umm…keeping me sane at this hour. He’s getting a little short, but perhaps waiting can lead to good things.
• Jonathan Duhamel (2-0-2): Duhamel eliminated John Dolan when his pocket fours held up against Dolan’s Q5dd. This helped make him a presumptive table of 3 contender. HOWEVER, he has a habit of dumping chips, and he proceeded to lose in a bad beat AK < AQ. Then he calls his tournament life with A9 and beats Mizrachi’s 33. Wild ride to say the least.
• John Racener (0-2-2): He got it in good against Grinder with AKo and clinched it with a King on the turn. Much better off now and is putting people like the Grinder to the test. However, later in the level, he definitely quieted down.

Losers

• John Dolan (1-3-0): Some players I will elevate to coinflip status depending on how they finished, Senti was a resuck situation. Dolan’s was a….bad coinflip. Congratulations on the 6th place finish and in fairness he didnt want a call, but he got it and the board gobbled up a cold-decked player. Still, the run was a little lackluster at the end, which was unfortunate for him.
• Michael Mizrachi (4-0-0): Mizrachi’s call of John Racener’s all-in was pretty bad, A8dd wasn’t gonna hold up to AK. As such, he splurged a mountain of chips. He then lost half his stack to Duhamel in a all-in shove with 33. He, and this is the only way I can describe it, has blown up. Two big mistakes cost him over 60% of his stack from the beginning of the level. Regardless of what he did to chip up from his low of 28m, he was the definitely loser of this level.

Interesting Notes

• Grinder has done something I only thought people like me were capable of, blow a decent stack on two questionable all in plays.
• Racener is back in the mix of things, but his fans appear to be MIA.
• Jack Effel seems to get more insane with more time at the mike, maybe its his version of crack?
• Some (weak!) media have already left the building. I’m gonna do my best to stick around.