In other tournaments…
Event 36 is moving along very well and as of this posting, there were only 66 players remaining. The bubble was 171 and after it was reached, they never looked back. Chips are continuing to fly and Jonathon Plens holds a small chip lead with 520,000 in his stack. Still a long way to go in this one though and lots of players are well within striking distance.

“You know it baby” is probably being heard quite often in Event 37 as the ever enjoyable Scotty Nguyen holds the chip lead with 317,000. As stated yesterday, this field is packed with superstars and they are all still hanging around. Both Doyle and Todd Brunson have worked their way up the leader board and are only 5,000 in chips apart. Some other notables that are stacking chips are Greg Raymer, Dutch Boyd and Howard Lederer. With only 36 players remaining, this final table is starting to shape up to be an all-star cast.

Event 38 was the only event kicking off today and it is still a little early for overall chip counts, but Kid Poker is making some noise early on in the $2,000 Limit Hold’em event. Erick Lindgren looks to be in trouble and Hellmuth’s stack seems to be growing at a steady pace. This is far and away the slowest day we have had in a while and it seems as though a lot of these players are starting to wear down. This is the break that a lot of them needed, except of course for those in the limit tournament and Stud Championship.

For those of you in the fantasy WSOP leagues, start taking the long days into account as a lot of these old-timers are starting to wear down. Frustration is also taking its toll on a lot of the cash players that are wasting days at a time only to get knocked out right before the bubble. If you want some insight, start reading the Tweets from the players and you can see that these big fields and multiple day tournaments are starting to wear thin. Look for a lot of the younger players and the season tournament pros to really start to shine.

Big names that participated in today’s event included Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, Scott Fischman, Andy Black, Erik Seidel, Josh Arieh, Erica Schoenberg, Steve Zolotow, Ross Boatman, Joe Beevers, Phil Hellmuth, Ted Lawson, Kathy Liebert, Vanessa Rousso, Alexander Kravchenko, Chad Brown, Eli Elezra, Freddy Deeb, Patrik Antonius, Max Pascatori, Phil Ivey, David Benyamine, and Howard Lederer.

David Benyamine was the first big name to be eliminated from this Main Event. Apparently he had tangled early on with Andy Bloch and Bloch took around 6,000 of Benyamine’s 20,000 stack before they got tangled in another huge hand. There was a lot of action preflop between the two before the flop fell 4c-4d-6d. Benyamine bet out 2,800 and Bloch raised enough to put Benyamine all-in. Benyamine went into the tank, probably sensing what was about to come. He finally called showing Kc-Ks. As he was probably guessing, Bloch flipped over Ah-Ad. Benyamine was unable to catch a king and his day was done early.

Howard Lederer was the next to exit. Chris Moorman called a raise to 1,000 from Lederer preflop and the flop fell 9-6-3. Moorman checked and Lederer bet 1,500. Moorman check-raised to 4,800 and Lederer called. When the turn fell a 7, Moorman bet enough to put Lederer all-in and Lederer called. Moorman showed pocket sixes for a set of sixes and Lederer showed pocket aces. The river was a blank, and Lederer headed for the door.

One interesting note was that the seat formerly occupied by David Benyamine was shortly replaced by Erica Schoenberg. Schoenberg is the fiancé of David Benyamine. Also apparently the crews over in Europe aren’t quite sure who Phil Hellmuth is. An intern with ESPN asked Phil Hellmuth to fill out a player profile sheet, which is kind of funny considering that there shouldn’t be a poker fan out there that doesn’t know who he is.

It took a while for the next big name to fall by the wayside, but finally Layne Flack was all in with Ah-Kc against Ac-10s. The flop fell 10c-9c-10h, leaving Flack drawing thin. He was drawing dead after the 8c fell on the turn. Mike Matusow was among the early chip leaders after knocking out Finnish rocker Voittlo Rintala. Around the mid point of the day, Matusow had 75,000 chips.

I’m not sure why Odin is pissed right now, but he must be, because Thor Hansen had a really bad beat put on him at the river. Hansen and Liebert were all in against Liya Gerasimova after a pre-flop raising war. Hansen held Jc-Jd, Liebert held Qc-Qh, Gerasimova held Kh-Kd. Hansen was far behind and fell behind further on the flop of Ad-10h-3d. It must have seemed that Odin smiled upon Hansen when the Jh hit the river, giving Hansen a set. Odin was clearly just teasing Hansen, because the fell the Ks, giving Liebert a straight, and sending Hansen home. Why Odin, why?

Barny Boatman was eliminated later in the day when he moved all in with pocket 10’s. Isaac Haxton had limped in pre-flop with pocket aces and made the call. The board missed both players and Boatman is done. Linda Lee will not be making another final table at this WSOP Europe. She was all in with pocket sixes against the pocket tens of Praz Bansi. Neither player hit the board and Lee was eliminated. Eli Elezra was one of the short stacks the entire day and had survived a few all-in’s. Finally he went all-in with 7h-8h and was called by Andy Bloch who was holding A-K. An ace hit the board, and Elezra hit the bricks.

Phil Hellmuth had been grinding for the better part of the day himself. Earlier in the day he was all the way down to 4,000 after losing to a set holding pocket aces. He had moved up a little over 10,000 and had hovered around there most of the evening. During the last level, Hellmuth was in the big blind and was raised by the small blind. Hellmuth then moved over the top all-in. The call to the small blind was 8,000. After tanking for a while, the small blind made the call. Hellmuth flipped over Ad-Kc and the small blind showed As-Qd. Hellmuth had his opponent dominated. The flop came with two kings on it to give Hellmuth a set. With the hand, he doubled up to 24,800 and remained alive for Day 2. Hellmuth was head saying, “That’s what I’ve been waiting for and I have them dominated. That’s the first time I’ve been all in today.”

Josh Arieh was among the chip leaders when he ran into a big hand against Scott Montgomery. Montgomery went all in preflop for around 40,000 chips and Arieh inexplicably made the call with Ac-Jd. Montgomery flipped over As-Kc. An ace hit both players when the flop fell 7s-5h-Ad. The turn and river fell running 8’s and Arieh was reduced to 43,000 in chips.

86 players remain out of the 159 players that started this Day 1a. Many pros were eliminated on this first day including big names such as Phil Ivey, Max Pescatori, and Patrik Antonius. Justin “BoostedJ” Smith is the Day 1a chip leader with 158,925 in chips. Andy Bloch finished third in chips and will enter Day 2 with 97,100. Many top names remain in contention for this title and Day 2 should prove interesting. Day 1b will commence at 1pm Sunday London Time.

With three players remaining, Howard Lederer was in the lead with 563,000 chips. Sherkhan Farnood was second with 295,000 chips and Ivo Donev was last with 255,000. Ivo Donev took a couple of beats and was getting short stacked, but then went on a little rush of cards, mostly against Howard Lederer. All of a sudden, the three stacks were fairly even. Lederer was on 410,000, Farnood had 355,000, and Donev with 335,000. At this point it was anyone’s game.

No sooner than you could say switcheroo, things started turning south for Lederer. Lederer ran a large bluff against Ivo Donev in a Stud round and Donev called him down all the way with just a lowly pair of queens. After the hand, Lederer was down to 186,000 chips and Dovev was the new chip leader with 516,000 in chips. As I mentioned before, at this level, things can change quick.

Lederer was able to make a bit of a comeback and moved his stack back up to over 360,000, but then he lost back to back hands. First, in a Razz round, Lederer and Sherkhan Farnood tangled in a hand that saw bets on every street to seventh. On seventh, Farnood caught a 9-low to outdraw the 10-low of Lederer.

Next, in a stud round, Lederer and Donev were in a hand that saw Donev raise a bet from Lederer on Sixth Street. On seventh, Donev bet out and Lederer made the call. Donev showed (6h-5d-3c) 6d-4c-7d-Jh for a straight and Lederer just mucked his hand. After the two hands, Lederer was the short stack with 135,000.

Sherkhan Farnood ended up crippling Ledered a hand later during stud. It appeared that Lederer was either running a bluff, or he was on a draw that missed. Farnood won the hand with just a measly pair of eights. After the hand, Lederer was down to only 22,000.

Lederer was able to win steal the antes the next hand during a Stud 8 round, but the following hand, his completion to 12,000 with an 8d showing saw Farnood raise to 24,000. Donov was also involved in the hand and called along. Lederer moved all in with his last 9,000 and both opponents called. Both opponents created a side pot that saw Farnood bet out on both Fourth Street and Sixth Street. In the end, Farnood showing aces and kings for the high, and Donev showed an eight low for low. Lederer mucked his hand and finished as our 3rd place finisher. £30,250 was Lederer’s prize for his strong finish, but I am sure that Lederer probably feels sick right now. After having such a commanding lead, to finish 3rd is tough.

Heads up play between Ivo Donev and Sherkhan Farnood saw them relatively close in chips. Donev held 654,000 and Farnood held 448,000.

Ivo quickly picked up two pots from Farnood to put him in a commanding lead. First in a Stud 8 round, Donev raised a bet from Farnood on Fifth Street. Farnood caght and open pair of deuces but Donev was the aggressor. Farnood called. Sixth Street brought a Js to Farnood and a 7h to Donev. Farnood checked and Donev bet. Farnood must have put Donev on a huge hand, as he mucked.

Next, during a Holdem round, Donev raised and Farnood called. The flop was Qd-9d-8d. Farnood check raised a bet from Donev, and Donev made the call. The Ad fell on the turn and the action was checked around. The river fell the Kc and Farnood bet out. Donev then raised and Farnood made a crying call on the river. Donev showed Jd-3d for the second nut flush, and Farnood mucked his hand. At this point, Donev had almost a 3 to 1 chip lead with 849,000 chips to Farnood’s 253,000.

At this point, limits were 15,000 and 30,000. It only took one hand to put Farnood back in contention. During a Razz round, a big pot of 230,000 happened. Farnood looked far behind being boardlocked to a Jack-low. Donev had a potential seven-low draw. Surprisingly, the best that Donev could pull off was a J-7 low. Farnood caught perfect on the river and won the pot with a J-6 low. It appeared that Farnood started with A-3-5, chased, and got lucky. I wonder what Phil Hellmuth would say about his play?

Over the course of the next half hour, Farnood won a series of pots that turned the tide into his favor. In fact, Farnood was able to take a 798,000 to 304,000 chip lead. Donev was then dealt a crippling blow during an Omaha 8 round. Most of his chips went into the pot with a board of 2s-8s-4d-7c-6. Donev showed 10c-7s-5c-6d for an eight high straight and a 2-4-5-6-7 low. Farnood showed A-2-10d-9c for the nut straight and a A-2-4-6-7 low. This scooped pot left Donov with only 30,000 chips.

Less than 10 minutes later, the last of Donov’s chips went in on Third Street in a Stud round. Farnood started with split eights and Donev had three clubs and two over cards. Fourth and Fifth Street’s were blanks for both players. Donev picked up a flush draw on sixth when the 7c fell. Farnood picked up a Qh on Seventh Street to make two pair. Donov would need a club to win. Donov’s final card was the 4h, and Sherkhan Farnood wins the £2,500 H.OR.S.E. Event. Ivo Donov received £48,125 for his runner up finish.

110 players started this £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. event. The “worst player of all-time” as proclaimed by Phil Hellmuth, outlasted 109 other opponents to take down the gold bracelet and the £76,999 top prize.

Congratulations to Sherkhan Farnood, £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. Event Champion.

On the very first hand we had a player eliminated. In an Omaha 8 round, Raul Paez raised to 8,000 and Howard Lederer made the call from the big blind. The flop fell 7c-6h-2d and Lederer bet out for 4,000. Paez called. The turn fell the 4c and Lederer put Paez in for his last 5,500. Paez held 10h-Ah-10c-8c for a flush draw, gutshot straight draw, and a bad low. Lederer showed 5h-5s-6s-7h for two pair, a straight draw, and a seven low. The river fell the Jd and Lederer scooped the pot and eliminated Paez in 11th place. Paez received £6,188 for his finish.

Yuval Bronshtein was the next player to fall. During a Stud 8 round Yuval Bronshtein was all in on Fifth Street and Phil Ivey made the call. Bronshstein was on an 8 gutshot straight draw on 6th holding 5s-9h-Ad-8d (Jh-Qd). Ivey was holding a pair of kings. The final card for Bronstein was a 4c, and Bronshstein was eliminated in 10th place. £6,875 was his prize for falling to the great Phil Ivey.

Erik Albinsson was forced to take a stand shortly after, going all in on Fourth Street in a Stud 8 round holding (3d-6d) 5c-Qd). Jeffrey Lisandro made the call with (Ah-4s) 10c-10d. Albinsson caught a 5h on Fifth Street to give him a pair, but Lisandro caught a 4c to put him far in the lead. Albinsson would need running diamonds, a queen, a five, or running kings or aces to win the hand. He lost one of his outs on 6th when Lidsandro caught a 5s. Albinsson caught a 9h. A 6h on Seventh Street missed Albinsson, and he becomes the 9th place finisher, earning £6,875.

The final table was now set with Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Spencer Lawrence, Sherkhan Farnood, Jeffrey Lisandro, Ivo Donev, Mark Gregorich, and Jeff Duval.

It took nearly three hours for the next elimination. Spencer Lawrence was all in on Third Street and three players stayed in the pot. Jeff Duval made an open pair of tens on fourth and Ivey ducked out. Duval bet out on fifth into Howard Lederer, who was showing three spades, and Lederer made the call. Sixth Street showed duval with three cards to a straight on board and Lederer with three wheel cards. Both players checked. The same action occurred on seventh. Lederer could only muster a pair of aces. Duval showed buried kings for kings up. Lawrence only held nines and threes, and Spencer Lawrence was eliminated in 8th place for £8,938. This was Lawrence’s third final WSOP final table this year, all coming in mixed events. It will be interesting to see how he follows up this performance at the WSOP in Las Vegas next year.

One of the strongest performers at the World Series of Poker the last two years has been Jeffrey Lisandro. Including today, he has 10 WSOP cashes in the last two years, 4 final tables, and a bracelet in the 2007 $2,000 Seven Card Stud Event. During a holdem round, with the board showing 6h-4c-Kh-8h, Lisandro raised all-in to 15,000. Howard Lederer made the call. Lisandro showed Jh-Jd for a pair of jacks and a flush draw. Lederer showed 7h-5s for a straight and a weaker flush draw. Unfortunately for Lisandro, the river fell the Ac, and he became out 7th place finisher, taking home £11,000.

Phil Ivey had a roller coaster final table. He was up and down throughout. For an half an hour after the Lisandro elimination, Ivey went on a losing streak and was left with only 14,500. During a stud round, Ivey became involved in a hand with Mark Gregorich. Gregorich bet out into Ivey on every street and even bet dark on Seventh Street. Ivey begrudgingly made the call on seventh with the last of his chips. Gregorich revealed buried queens to go with a pair of sixes showing on his board for queens-up. Ivey mucked his hand and headed for the rail. Phil Ivey was our 6th place finisher, taking home £13,750.

Although Gregorich eliminated Ivey, he still was only sitting on around 32,000 chips. With the limits 6,000-12,000, Gregorich has to make a stand. In a holdem round, the pot was three bet between Sherkhan Farnood and Gregorich. The flop fell Kc-9c-8c. Gregorich bet and Farnood threw out a raise. Gregorich made the call. The turn fell the 4d and Gregorich checked to Farnood, who bet. Gregorich only had 13,000 left and he elected to put the chips in. Farnood called. Farnood showed 5c-5s for a pair and a flush draw and Gregorich showed Ad-Jh for air. A 9s on the river sealed Gregorich’s fate, and he becomes our fifth place finisher. £17,188 was his reward for a strong performance.

Howard Lederer was controlling most of the action at this final table to this point. He had moved up to 553,000 in chips at one point four handed due to a big stud pot between him and Sherkhan Farnood. Lederer is known for being a limit holdem expert, but other than a win in an Aussie Millions preliminary, Lederer has not had a really big score in poker for a while. He holds two bracelets, one in Omaha Hi-Lo and Deuce to Seven Lowball.

While Lederer was the chip leader at this point, things in Limit poker can change quickly. By the time the players were four handed, the limits were 8,000 and 16,000. A couple of pots could mean a big swing in chips.

The conclusion of this event will be posted in the next post. Did Lederer pull off capturing his 3rd bracelet, or did someone else make a startling comeback?

Daniel Negraneu was sitting short stacked after a hand against Howard Lederer in a limit holdem round. With a board of 9h-2h-Qs-Jc-Qc, Lederer bet out and Negreanu had to fold. Negreanu was left with only 18,000 in chips. Lederer moved up to 107,000 chips, which was second overall.

The best poker player alive, Phil Ivey, continued to show his dominance in this event. With 14 players left, he was sitting with 124,300 in chips. Jeff Lisandro, winner of the $2,000 Stud Event at the 2007 WSOP was sitting third at 102,000 chips.

Spencer Lawrence has been on a tear in limit events at this year’s World Series of Poker. He had three cashes and two final tables. He finished 2nd in $1,500 Omaha 8 or better event and then 6th in the Limit Holdem Shootout. I was on hand to watch both performances. His other cash was in the $10,000 Limit Holdem Championship where he finished 22nd. Regardless of where he finishes in the event, he is proving himself to be one of the most prolific limit poker players in the world.

Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey got into a raising war on a flop of 7s-9d-6h. When the smoke cleared, Negreanu was all in and showed As-6s-2d-6c for a nut low draw and a set of sixes. Ivey showed 10d-7c-2s-8s for the flopped straight and weak low draw. The turn fell the 2h, counterfeiting Negreanu’s nut low draw, but leaving him a weak low draw. The king of diamonds on the river ended Negreanu’s quest for a bracelet and made him our 14th place finisher.

Mark Gregorich doubled up twice in a row during a stud round against Phil Hellmuth. First he made an eight against Hellmuth’s jack. The very next hand, he was able to secure another double up and move up to 50,000 chips. Hellmuth had been complaining earlier about the dealer’s shuffling habits and continued to do so after these back to back losses.

The Tournament Directors went around and talked to all the players about putting an early end to the event as it appeared that we were nowhere near making the final 8. It was decided that play would conclude at the end of level 13.

Hellmuth’s attacks on the dealer ended up getting out of hand. At one point, he made the dealer cry. The tournament director came over and explained to her that it is not her fault that he is losing. The dealer was so upset that the TD told him that he would receive a penalty if his behavior did not improve.

Phil Ivey put Isaac Haxton all-in during a holdem round. Unfortunately for Haxton, Ivey came out on top. Haxton becomes our 13th place finisher taking home £5,500.

I don’t know if you are a believer in Karma, but sometimes things happen that has to make us wonder. For example, in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, Prahlad Friedman accused Jeffrey Lisandro of stealing an ante chip during the Main Event. This ended up becoming a big issue when he continued to berate Lisandro for over an hour regarding the “ante theft.” Finally, the Tournament Director had to get involved to restore order. It was later discovered that Lisandro did not steal the ante, but Friedman never apologized. Since that event, Friedman has not been heard of on the tournament scene. He has not cashed in an event in over 2 years. Lisandro on the other hand has had 9 cashes at the WSOP, including 3 final tables and one bracelet. He also finished 2nd in the 2007 WSOP Player of the Year Race. The game he won the bracelet in was 7 Card Stud. In stud, you must ante before each hand.

What does the above have to do with this event? Preflop during a holdem round, Phil Hellmuth angrily threw his chips in announcing all-in. Since this was a limit event, this was actually just a raise. Sherkhan Farnood raised enough to cover Hellmuth and they were off to the races. Just to give you a little background, Farnood had won a few pots earlier in the day and Hellmuth had berated him as being the “worst player in history.”

Hellmuth held As-Kh and Farnood held 3h-3c. The flop came Jd-Qh-Kd to give Hellmuth top pair and a straight draw. The turn fell the 5d. Only two cards in the deck could come to give Farnood the win. The river fell the 3d, giving Farnood a set of threes and eliminated Hellmuth from the event. Hellmuth stormed off to complain about Farnood, the dealer, and anything that folks would listen to him complain about. How much you want to bet that Farnood is the dealer’s new best friend.

Howard Lederer made a late day push and is our current chip leader with 208,500 chips. After his suckout against Phil Hellmuth, Sherkhan Farnood is right behind him with 141,500 chips. Phil Ivey is sitting in fourth position with 114,000. Spencer Lawrence is the middle of the pack with 88,500. Raul Paez is our short stack at the moment with 17,500. With the limits about to go up to 4,000 – 8,000, he is left with just over two big bets.

The final 11 players will return tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. and play until we reach our champion. Also, the £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha event starts tomorrow. The best Omaha players from both the U.S. and Europe will gather to take their shot at the bracelet. PLO is the most popular form of poker in Europe, so the Americans will have a disadvantage in tomorrows contest. Play for that event starts at 3 p.m. London time.