Some people you may recognize not playing in the main event, much to their own surprise after showing up in some cases a good 15 minutes before cards went in the air! (mostly from Feldman at ESPN.com):
Tom Franklin (head of WPA)
TJ Cloutier (legendary+PAC member+craps)
Mickey Appleman (breaking 30-year streak of main events)
Minh Ly (Doyle pal)
Brandon Adams (Full Tilt Red Pro)
Melissa Hayden
Random Australian guy screaming about desire to sue
(Let me know if there are others to add to the list.)
Recapping last night’s events with a preview of today’s action:
The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Eight or Better event was won last night by Martin Klaser, who was dominant in the brief heads-up battle with Casey Kastle to take down his first bracelet and just over $216,000. Kastle winds up with almost $138,000, the biggest cash in his career.
The $1,000 NL Holdem with Rebuys event got down to their final table, here’s how it’ll look like under the hot lights of the ESPN360 cameras at 2pm today:
Seat 1: Scott Freeman 675,000
Seat 2: Max Greenwood 728,000
Seat 3: Curtis Kohlberg 209,000
Seat 4: Rene Mouritsen 1,007,000
Seat 5: Alex Bolotin 308,000 – His 3rd final table of this Series
Seat 6: Albert Iversen 921,000
Seat 7: Aliaksandr Dzianisau 186,000
Seat 8: Phung Ngo 556,000
Seat 9: Jesse Chinni 2,160,000
Other action from yesterday on the next page:
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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.
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Happenings at the WSOP while waiting for Thrillist Syracuse to be created:
The $2,500 Pot Limit Holdem/Pot Limit Omaha final table was known shortly after 5:00am today. They get to be under the glare of the ESPN360 cameras today at 3pm with this set of 9:
Seat 1: Max Pescatori 212,000
Seat 2: Jonathan Depa 185,000
Seat 3: Kyle Hegeman 198,000
Seat 4: Kyle Kloeckner 494,000
Seat 5: John Paul Kelly 79,000
Seat 6: Greg Hurst 197,000
Seat 7: Lennart Holtkamp 253,000
Seat 8: Minh Ly 174,000
Seat 9: Allen Cunningham 484,000
The other final table, plus other tournament action after the jump:
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In a final table filled with high-stakes players and bracelet winners, Eric Brooks ($0 in tournament cashes) beats Fu Wong ($110,000 in tournament cashes) in the $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship. Alexander Kostritsyn, who at one point had a 1,000,000 chip lead over his nearest competitor, finished in 3rd. High stakes regulars Minh Ly and David Oppenheim finished in 4th and 8th respectively. 8-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel finishes in 5th.
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Shortly before the break, Minh Ly walked past the press box …
Minh Ly (to the four of us up here): Hao ma.
Gary Wise: Blah blah blah, Ming?
Minh (still walking): Popa wow me wa.
Gary: Hep now hoo check?
Minh (shrugs): [unintelligible]
Dan (mocking): Moo wa fo ti.
Minh (almost out the door): Ya.
Gary: Did you guys understand any of that?
Pauly: Yeah, he said pocket queens beat by 3-7 offsuit.
Dan and Gary: Really?
Pauly: Really.
Orel Hersheiser and Minh Ly:
Hersheiser, of course, is proving to be the Gonzaga of the 2008 National Heads-Up Poker Championship. The final 8 tomorrow:
Jonathan Little vs. Chris Ferguson
Gus Hansen vs. Phil Ivey
Andy Bloch vs. Orel Hershisher
Huck Seed vs. David Benyamine
All of the above are guaranteed $75k. The final four make $125k, 2nd place gets $250k, and first is still $500,000.
Just about everyone’s brackets have fallen apart — though Gavin Smith is still throwing around the $2,000 wagers on the outcome of each game, and considering that I have no one left alive in my bracket, I gotta pretty much surrender my $20:
Rank Predictor Score Predicted Final Winner Completed
1 Taylor Larkin – 42 Huck Seed 2/29/2008 2:20pm
2 don essinger – 41 Allen Cunningham 2/29/2008 1:05pm
3 Scott – 38 Daniel Negreanu 2/29/2008 1:20pm
4 champsampson – 29 Ted Forrest 2/29/2008 1:39pm
5 Randy Brown – 24 Phil Hellmuth 2/29/2008 12:12pm
6 Kevin Mathers – 24 Daniel Negreanu 2/29/2008 12:32pm
7 California Jen – 23 Scott Clements 2/29/2008 9:43am
8 dan michalski – 21 Howard Lederer 2/29/2008 3:41am
Taylor, Don, and Scott seem to have quite a battle brewing … though it appears they may have made their picks after it got started? Floor!?!
