The match that has been going on between Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius was eating up many a headline before the WSOP, but was pretty much put on hold once the series started. Antonius was holding the lead at the time, and now that the WSOP is finally over, these two can get back to what they started.
When Dwan put the original challenge out, there were plenty of players that said they wanted a piece of him, but Dwan stated, “There looks to be a lot of interest in people wanting to play me, but they never seem to appear online.” That being the case, he has taken his challenge live and will be putting up $500,000 to play anyone for 500 hands in either Omaha or No Limit Hold’em.
All of the matches will take place in London and will start out with $500/$1,000 blinds. The match cannot end until someone is broke or the 500 hands have been played out. Rumor has it that 4 players have stepped up to take on Dwan in his latest challenge, but no details have been released as of yet as to who they are.
Dwan continues to be one of the hottest young names in the game and with his latest circus act, he pretty much assures himself that he will remain in the limelight. While his online play speaks for itself, his live play comes under a lot of fire as he plays very aggressively and recklessly. He has benefited from some incredible cards during his days on the High Limit Poker show, but still donked off a lot of money as he refused to ever back off. The style did manage to get him some large payoffs as the session was winding down, but you have to question how that will work in a heads-up match.
He no longer has the benefit of the element of surprise as everyone knows his name and how he plays. Antonius is proving that he is very beatable if you are patient and don’t get caught up in letting him bully you out of pots. Dwan is not afraid to throw a large amount of money at the pot in order to take it down regardless of what he has in his hand. You better be prepared to fight back when you have something or he will walk all over you.
Antonius has laid down the blueprint of how to beat him so far, but will other players follow his lead. When he pushes, you have to push back and when you get a hand, you have to make him pay. The ideal match would have him up against Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey or Daniel Negreanu. All three of those players treat chips as weapons and have no problem mixing it up with middle cards. The fireworks would surely be going off if they sit across from Dwan in London.
It is hard to believe that the Main Event of the WSOP is here, but it has finally arrived. The last two bracelets were won late Wednesday Night and Thursday night. The card room at the Rio is silent for the first time in weeks as the banquet staff hustles to move all of the tables in that will be needed to accommodate what will more than likely be the largest field ever for a main event. However, we still need to talk about the last two winners before we get all jacked up about the Main Event of the 2009 WSOP.
Event 54 wrapped up late Wednesday Night as Tony Veckey bested a field of 2818 players to win the $673,276 first place prize. These $1,500 tournaments have become huge moneymakers for the eventual winners and you can expect that the management may have to consider extending them into 4 day tourneys and make sure that they are always the early starting events. After 11 hours of play, Veckey proved to be the master as he bested Jason Wheeler for one of the last bracelets of the season.
Matt Hawrilenko has the privilege of being the last person to win a bracelet before the Main Event. He takes down an astonishing $1,003,218 by winning Event 56, the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em 6 Handed Event. These events are always great to watch because of how fast the action moves. When you get an elimination from one of these tables, it really picks up. Compated to some of the other tournaments, this final table was fairly quick as the last session only lasted until just before midnight.
The heads-up action was far less than we witnessed earlier in the week with the $50k H.O.R.S.E Event as it took a mere four hands to get this thing settled. Josh Brikis made it 300,000 from the SB and Hawrilenko took little time in making a 7 digit bet. Brikis called all-in and Matt could not get his chips in quick enough. He had Brikis dominated, but there were plenty of reasons to be scared as his JJ faced off against A9d for the million dollar first place prize. The board ran out as 2h8c8d and when the 3s hit the turn the only card that could help Brikis was one of the three remaining Aces. A 10c showed up instead and that Hawrilenko put on the jewelry for the first time in his life.
The marathon of the Main Event kicks off on Friday and we are sure to see some fast and furious action. The pros are going to have targets on their heads at every table that they are seated at. Patience is the key in a monster like this as you need to find a way to survive. Normal card playing techniques go out the door as you have to keep the prize in your sights. It should be a fun 2 weeks as we work our way down to the Final 9 that we will see later in the year battle for the most coveted title in the world of poker.
Jeffrey Carris has only cashed in the WSOP on two occasions, but he made his second one count. The winner of the No Limit Hold’em Shootout tournament outlasted 9 other players in what amounted to be a 12 hour SNG tournament. With all players starting out with the same amount, this final table is like nothing you will see in any other format. Play usually drags out and it is a true test of grit and talent.
It all came down to Somerville and Carris, but the two players did not waste any time in settling this one. After only a few hands of heads up play, Somerville threw all his chips into the middle of the table with Qs6d. Carris took a few seconds to think about it but then decided correctly that his Kc6d was a big enough hand to make the call. The board fell harmlessly and totally missed both players’ hands and Carris got the jewelry and $313,913 to go with it. In other tournaments…
The story of the day on Saturday so for is easily Phil Ivey. He has been dominating the Omaha/ Seven Card Stud Hi/Low 8 or better tournament from close to the beginning and is still not letting up. At this point, they are down to only 3 players and he has a huge chip lead of almost a half million chips over second place. As impressive as that is, he is also about to make the money in the Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Low Split 8 or better tournament as well.
The truly amazing thing is that he has barely played a hand in the second tournament. As chip leader of the other mixed tournament, he has been unwilling to leave the table and risk his position in the second tournament. He has only been over there when he is on break. Once he reached the final table, he was barely noticeable, but on every break he seemed to win a key hand that kept him alive. There currently 22 players remaining with only 18 getting paid and while he is one of the short stacks, he continues to make an appearance at precisely the right time to stay alive. This will be a huge accomplishment if he somehow stays alive in that tournament long enough for his final table to be over and then make a run here as well. More to come on this one as soon as it is available.
Event 24 is also on its final table, but it would appear to have quite some time left to go as the chips are pretty event. Panayote Vilandros is the current leader with 5 players remaining. Event 26 is now down to 34 players and should be able to get down to the final table tonight as well as Event 27 with only 22 players remaining. Event 28 has already lost about 75% of the starting field and Event 29 is just getting underway. No chip counts or leader information is available as they are both on Day 1.
The heads up action did not last long as Tschirch got a little aggressive with his A5 and ended up shipping his chips over to Kelly. This table had been playing quickly all night long so it was no surprise at how fast these two got the championship settled. Tschirch will get $120,102 for 3 days work, but that is little comfort for getting to heads up and coming up short at the WSOP.
The final hand had Tschirch on the button and raising to 55,000. Kelly came over the top and made it 150,000 to go. Tschirch made the call to a flop of 8c5d4s. Kelly put out another 155,000 and Tschirch again made the call. Kelly upped the ante when a Qc hit the turn and made it 300,000 to go. Tschirch pushed all in and Kelly could not get his chips in there fast enough. When the cards were turned, we saw the reason why, he was sitting on AQ in the hole. This had to be a heart breaker for Tschirch as he had actually hit the flop holding A5 in his hand. The river was a harmless 2c and that was all she wrote. In addition to the bracelet, Kelly takes home $193,434.
In other tournaments…
Event 21 is still motoring along, but it is going to be quite a while before we have a winner in this one. 8 players are still left and James Van Alsytne has almost half of the chips in play with 1,059,000. While he has never won a bracelet, he does have 11 WSOP cashed under his belt and over $500,000 in earnings. It is unlikely the pressure will make him buckle and he should finally get his first WSOP championship.
Event 22 is only about halfway through this round. The No Limit Hold’em Shootout tournament is a SNG masters dream and at the end of the round we will only have 10 players remaining. At this point, there are still about 50 players seated at the table and play is moving along fairly slowly for this type of tournament.
Event 23, the 2-7 Lowball Draw tournament is the buzz saw of the day. They are already down to just 27 players with a lot of short stacks hanging around. Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow still has chips in front of him, but he is way down on the leader board. The name to be feared at this point is John Juanda as he can be absolutely deadly with a stack. He is currently sitting at 181,000 and very close to the overall leader.
Another name that is way up on the board that has not been around for some time is Jean-Robert Bellande. You may remember him from a circuit event in 2005 as he was giving Jennifer Harmon the business at the table and he eventually came away with third. He does have a few cashes since, but the closest he has come to winning anything is last year with a second place finish in the Limit Hold’em Shootout.
Day 2 of the 40th Annual No Limit Hold’em event was filled with fireworks. Mike ‘the mouth’ Matesow finally started to get some cards, but was eventually eliminated. Chris Moneymaker showed his true form and once again went out before the money. It is amazing that he managed to squander away a second place chip position early on in day two. You read it right here that he was quite capable of doing exactly that and he did not disappoint.
Moneymaker broke one of the cardinal rules of poker in shoving a huge stack into the middle of the table with anything less than AA or KK. The hand that started him on tilt happened around 6:15pm. Tony G. started the action and Moneymaker immediately applied the pressure with QQ in the hole. Tony G. made the call and turned over AK. We all know what happened and with Moneymaker getting up to take a walk, you almost knew the end was near.
Chris should have stayed away from the tables a few minutes more because when he returned, he found himself looking at 1010. He made a move in middle position by throwing out a $43,000 bet that was quickly called by Forrest and his KK. Moneymaker walked away disgusted and before Forrest could stop him, a flop of KJ10 showed up to but a further damper on Moneymakers outs.
With only one card left I the deck to help him, he was sent to the rail when it did not hit the turn or river. Once again, Moneymaker misses the cash in a major tournament. Some will say he can take solace in finishing only 10 out of the money, but it is quite apparent that his 2003 win was nothing more than a fluke as he continues to get shut out at the WSOP.
The leaderboard now looks more like a who’s who of poker as a lot of the pretenders have finally been dropped. While there are still a few amateurs left, the bulk of the field consists of big name pros that are out for that monster payday. Even with the all-star cast, the biggest name on the board is Greg Raymer.
The 2004 WSOP Champion has proven that he was no fluke. He continues to grab headlines and made it all the way back to the top 25 in 2005 after his amazing win in 2004. He has been playing perfect poker in the second session and it shows as he was the first player to cross the 2,000,000 chip barrier. As of this posting, he holds a 1,000,000 chip lead over the next closest competitor.
The hand that put him over the top of this mark was one of the biggest of the tourney so far. Steve Z. was dealt the dreaded QQ and Raymer found AK in the hole. Raymer had called a raise by another player and then Steve Zotlow pushed the action to 100,000. Neil Chirss, the initial raiser, called and then it was Raymer’s turn to start the fireworks. He came over the top and pushed all in and Steve Z. pushed in his remaining 670,000. Chriss decided to get out of the way of this battle. Steve Z. was still good on the flop, but once again, AK pops as a K hit the turn and Zotlow was sent to the rail.
Raymer is always tough with a chip stack as there are few better at big stack poker than him. He has not fear and will put every small stack on a decision as the money gets closer and closer. With only 7 players left to the money, people will be holding onto their stacks with both hands. It would not be a surprise to see Raymer knocking on the door of 3,000,000 when the money is finally hit.
