Thang Luu Wins Event #3 and Earns His Second WSOP Bracelet

Posted by pokerguru on June 2, 2009

If you are an Omaha Hi-Low player, Thang Luu is a name that you never want to hear has just been seated at your table. His reputation as one of the world’s best Omaha players was solidified further on Sunday night when he won his second WSOP Omaha Hi-Low bracelet. It is a rare occasion that a player can defend a WSOP championship, but he has done exactly that.

Earlier in the tournament, he jokingly made a comment that the bracelet for the winner was exactly like the one he had on his wrist, except that there was a 9 where there was an 8 on his. Unfortunately for the other players, they will never get to see it since he has both of them on his wrist now.

The final hand of the tournament had Luu in heads up action against Ed Smith. Smith tried to get in cheap and Luu was having none of it. He made a raise that had Smith all but committed for his stack. After a flop of Q54, Luu made a bet that would have all of Smith’s chips in the middle and now the turn and river would decide his fate. When the cards were turned, Luu was ahead with top pair and there was little hope of Smith catching up. A 5h and a 10d sealed his fate and Luu had seemingly done the impossible and repeated at the Omaha Hi-Low champion.

In other tournaments…
Event #4 finished up its second day as Day 1b concluded with about 700 players left remaining from the field of 6012. The third day of action will continue through late Monday night and should continue to move quickly as they are already into the money. The top 621 players will cash.

The Champions Invitational initially seemed like it was going to be like a bunch of buddies sitting around to play cards on a Friday night, but that tone quickly changed as everyone competitive nature took over. As of this posting, they are down to the final three with McEvoy holding a 2:1 chip advantage over the rest of the table.

Event 5, the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament started to day with 809 people making it to the felt. The top 71 players will be paid and as of this posting, they were already down to 198. Chip counts were not currently available, but we should have more information in our overnight report.

The World Championship of 7 Cards Stud, Event #6 $10,000 buy in, also started today. The field was rather small with only 142 players going after the coveted title. As the tournament is just getting started, there are no significant updates to report, but more information will be posted on the overnight summary.

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Filed Under: WSOP

Tags: 7 Cards Stud, Ed Smith, McEvoy, Omaha Hi-Low, Omaha Poker, Pot Limit Omaha, Thang Luu, The World Championship, WSOP

Justin Bonomo Leads the Pack Going into Day 3 of the $40k Event

Posted by Dan on May 30, 2009

Just when you thought normalcy was going to settle in at the WSOP, all hell broke loose. As the bubble got closer, some big names took major hits and the leader board got flipped around just a bit. Once again, one of the younger players on tour, Justin Bonomo, took charge and headed into the third day of the tournament as the chip leader with 2,678,000.

Grey Raymer has been playing great poker for the entire tournament and although he hit a small hiccup, he is still in this tournament with 2,287, 000. A name we have not seen atop the leader boards in quite some time, Ted Forrest, is also perched to make a run at the final table. With 2,586,000, he is sitting in second place and looking strong.

They had intended on playing down to 18, but play slowed down dramatically and 23 players will sit down at the table on day 3 in an effort to get to the final table. There are a lot of short stacks which may lead to a very short session. The next few players should go out rather quickly as they begin to play short-handed tables.

Here are your chip leaders heading into day 3:
Justin Bonomo 2,678,000
Ted Forrest 2,586,000
David Baker 2,367,000
Greg Raymer 2,287,000
Lex Veldhuis 2,103,000
Alex Torelle 1,725,000
Keith Lehr 1,257,000
Vitaly Lunkin 1,166,000
Matthew Marafioti 1,003,000
The rest of the field is under 1,000,000 in chips with the bottom 6 having less than 500,000.

In other tournaments….
The first bracelet of the season was won by Andrew Cohen, winner of the $500 Casino Employees Event. He takes home a healthy $83,778 as he bested 866 other players. He also had the honor of going through the first ever bracelet ceremony.

Day 1 is over for the Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (Event #3). This tournament saw a record breaking entry of 918 players. If it is a sign to come, this WSOP is going to have the largest prize pools that we have ever seen. The day saw a lot of action with over 700 players in the starting field finding the rail. Chip counts were not yet available as of this posting, but some big names are still hanging tough. Defending Champion Luu is still in the field and Eli Elezra finished the day very strong and is over 50,000.

In addition to Day 3 of the $40k event and Day 2 of the Omaha Hi/Low tournament, Event #4, a $1000 NL Hold’em event, kicks off today at 12 noon Vegas time. This event will actually be covered on ESPN if you are interested in seeing the live stream.