As predicted, we are seeing a lot of movement on the leader board at the $50k H.O.R.S.E. Championship Event. Some of the recent eliminations include Doyle Brunson, Eric Lindgren, Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein and Daniel Alaei. Hasan Habib has slipped all the way down to one of the short stacks and Erik Sagstrom has taken over as the overall leader with 1,250,000. This tournament still has a long way to go with over 30 players still seated at the tables.
Gus Hanson continues to play strong and is currently sitting at 725,000 in chips. Vitaly Lunkin is once again putting in a very strong performance and is currently located in the top ten with 560,000. There are still a lot of big names left in this tourney and you will probably continue to see a lot of movement as this is one of the most volatile games you will see. Every game guarantees a lot of action and your chip leader very well may be a short stack within 5 hands. They are going to play this one till the early hours of the morning.
In other tournaments…
The Limit Shootout Event is down to 6 players, but the stacks are fairly even among the top 3. This is another tournament that you can expect to go on for quite a bit tonight and not see a winner until after midnight. The current leader is Greg Mueller with 950,000. Marc Naalden and Millie Shue round out the top three and are both within less than 200,000 of Mueller.
The dinner break has sounded in event 51 and there are still well over 100 players alive. You will not recognize many of the names in this one as a lot of the pros have stayed away from these $1,500 tournaments as the WSOP has played on. Huge fields have given them all problems and they seem to be sticking with the higher buy ins and other poker variations for the time being. They are going to have enough problems in the Main Event so why sit down with this aggravation now. The one big name that is making his way up the leader board is Men Nguyen. We haven’t heard much from him so far this year so this may be his warm-up for next week’s tournament.
The Triple Chance No Limit Event is at full steam and has had a surprising amount of eliminations already. They started with 854 players and are close to 300 eliminations so far. Overall chip stacks are not available, but a quick glance around the room says that a lot of the pros were taking advantage of the ability to have the free triple re-buy and play very aggressively. Don’t be surprised to see some big names on the leader board at the end of the day in this one.
In what seemed like an eternity, the Seniors Event finally crowned a winner and it seems as though it could not have happened to a better person. Davis was contemplating having to go back to work to make ends meet, but he managed to turn his $1,000 buy in into a little financial security with the $437,358 first place prize. It looked a little desperate for him when all of the chips were pushed in as his A9 was totally dominated by the AJ of Buller, but the miracle turn continued to show its face and when the 9 hit, a thunderous roar came from around the table. Michael Davis is the Seniors NL Hold’em World Champion!
In other tournaments…
While it has already been mentioned in a previous post, Jeff Lisandro winning a third bracelet in a single WSOP warrants a quick review. The last time that someone won 3 bracelets in a single season was when Ivey did it in 2002. However, the fact that he has done it in all three versions of 7 Card Stud is simply incredible. He has been playing incredible and is now one of the favorites for player of the year.
Event 45 is down to the final 14 and should be an early finisher on Thursday. This is a tournament that has moved along nicely during each session and with the chip leader having about 30% of the chips in play, the rest of the field is going to have a very tough time of it when they get into pots with him. Expect fast and furious action when this one resumes on Friday.
Event 46, the Omaha Hi/Low Split Event, has made it down to the final 23 and they will play to a winner on Friday. This one has seen some radical changes on the leader board for the entire tournament and it would be no surprise to see that trend continue. Mark Tenner is current chip leader with 285,000 in his stack.
The Mixed Hold’em Event got underway on Wednesday and had a star studded field. Barry Greenstein has taken the chip lead with 177,200 in chips, but the every annoying Hasan Habib is a close second with 165,000. If you don’t remember Habib, he is the one that did this little monkey dance around the tables a few years back every time he eliminated a player. A new rule has been invoked just because of his antics that does not allow a player to leave their seat to celebrate a victory in a hand. Eli Elezra is also high up on the leader board as well as Daniel Negreanu.
Event 4 ended rather early on Tuesday Night as the players and casino staff decided to put the final table off for an extra day. Apparently they figured that the online coverage would not be very popular at 4am so the decision was made to delay the final table until today. Considering that the WSOP has a similar turnout and it takes almost two weeks to play, the tournament staff has done a great job in keeping this tournament on track.
The best two players left in the field also happen to hold the number one and two spots on the leader board and have a significant edge over the remaining players. The winner is going to walk away with $771,106. Your standings and chip counts for the final table are:
Dan Heimiller (4,155,000)
Steve Sung (3,395,000)
Vilandos Panayote (1,940,000)
James Matz III (1,885,000)
Jeff Oakes (1,680,000)
Lary Sidebotham (1,500,000)
Phong Huynh (1,310,000)
Nathan Mullen (1,120,000)
Danny Fuhs (965,000)
The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Event has also reached its final table. Event 5 also had a strong turnout with 809 players starting the event. An Tran and Jason Mercier are the two biggest names left playing, but the lead is held by Kevin Iacofano. He only had one WSOP cash under his belt and it was a 53rd place finish in a NL event. It will be interesting to see how he handles the final table pressure. Your final tables chip counts and standing are:
Kevin Iacofano (770,000)
Jonathon Tare (639,000)
An Tran (445,000)
Jason Mercier (384,400)
Dario Alioto (315,000)
Matt Giannetti (311,000)
Seven Burkholder (263,000)
Chris Biondino (182,000)
Event 6, The $10,000 7 Card Stud World Championship is the third final table of the day. There are only 11 players remaining and when this tournament gets back up, expect some chips to be flying with the remaining pros putting extreme pressure on the rookies. There are still some huge names left and this tournament is the best shot of a big name pro taking down a bracelet so far. Even though Negreanu is short stacked, do not count him out if he gets a couple of decent hands early. However, the smart money should be on Lisandro as he is sitting pretty and playing great cards. Rankings are chip counts are as follows:
Eric Drache (785,000)
Hasan Habib (593,000)
Freddie Ellis (580,000)
Jeff Lisandro (524,000)
Ville Wahlbeck (472,000)
Max Pescatori (401,000)
Ivan Schertzer (368,000)
Gret Mueller (208,000)
Daniel Negreanu (191,000)
Ray Dehkarghani (141,000)
Tim Phan (45,000)
In other tournaments…
Event 7, $1,500 NL Hold’em, started out with another large field. 2791 players showed up and almost 80% of them have been shown the door so far. The pro carnage in this tournament was worse than usual. One thing you can always count on though is an early exit from Chris Moneymaker. Once again, he busts out early and does not make the money. In addition to Moneymaker, Ferguson, Juanda, Deeb and Rousso are all looking on from the rail. 297 players will make the money and top prize is $666,727.
Event 8, the $2,500 Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball (No Limit) has had one of the smallest fields of the series so far. Only 148 players signed up and it would be highly surprising to see anyone but a pro take this one down. Mostly because the game is a little off the wall and many people don’t have a clue how to play it. If you ever want a real shot at a bracelet, learn how to play stud, razz and triple draw and you will find yourself in small fields that you just may be able to sneak your way through. Still standing in this event are the likes of Phil Ivey, Erik Lindgren, Freddy Deeb and Phil Hellmuth. The biggest surprise has to be Negreanu going out early as he had to be one of the favorites to take this one down.
Two more tournaments will kick off today so there will be plenty of action to catch up by the end of the night. Keep coming back for the latest at the 2009 World Series of Poker!
