On Tuesday, the march to the money began during Day 3 of the World Series of Poker Main Event. 67 players returned to work their way into the money in this event and try to set themselves up for a final table run.
The big names still in the event included Andy Black, Phil Laak, Vicky Coren, Ted Lawson, Ross Boatman, Alexander Kostritsyn, David “DevilFish” Ulliott, Josh Arieh, Mel Judah, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Erik Seidel, Scott Fischman, Andy Bloch, Brian Townsend, John Juanda, and Daniel Negreanu.
Andy Black was the first big name eliminated from the field. He was all in against Thomas Bentham. Black held Kd-Kc and Bentham held Ac-Ks. The flop fell 8s-Js-3d and Black was well in the lead. Unfortunately, Bentham spiked the Ad on the turn. Only one of the two remaining Kings in the deck would save Black. The river card fell the 4d and Black’s WSOP Europe has concluded.
Phil Laak was the next big name outsted. He was all-in with Ad-Qc against Daniel Negranu’s 10c-9c. The flop missed both players when it fell 7-7-J, but the turn fell a 10, putting Laak behind. The river fell another 10 and Laak gets to join his girlfriend Jennifer Tilly on the rail. Isaac Haxton soon fell victim to Negranu as well. He had 8s-8h against the Ah-9d of Negreanu. Daniel flopped a nine, as well as a backdoor flush draw. The turn and river were both hears and Negreanu’s flush eliminated Haxton.
Ted Lawson and Vicky Coren were near bubble casualties. With Vicky Coren’s elimination, we no longer have any women present in this year’s Main Event. It looks like the title will go to a guy this year. Sorry ladies.
Preflop, John Juanda raised to 7,200 from the cutoff and Ross Boatman moved all in from the button. Juanda made the call showing Qc-Qd. Boatman held Ah-Js. The flop missed both players, but the turn gave a gutshot straight draw for a chop. The river missed both players and Boatman is out short of the money.
The DevilFish was the next big name that hit the rail. He was all-in preflop with Ac-Jh against Toni Hiltunen’s Kc-Kh. The board missed both players and the DevilFish was filleted.
We reached the bubble period of 37 with the elimination of Chris Moorman in 38th place. Normally, the bubble period can be a long process, sometimes taking as much as an hour. I was once in a tournament where the bubble lasted 2 hours. That was not the case today. Just as the Tournament Director was about to pause play to start hand for hand, Stephen Ladowsky was all in preflop. He was called by Peter Turmezey. Ladowsky held Qc-Qh and Turmenzey held As-Kh. The flop fell Kc-6s-4d, giving Turmenzey a pair of Kings. Ladowsky needed one of the two queens to fall in order to stay alive. Both the turn and the river blanked out, and Stephen Ladowsky is our bubble boy, finishing in 37th place.
After the bubble burst, it didn’t take long to lose our first player. The very first hand after Ladowsky’s bustout, James Keys called a preflop raise all in with 10s-2d. Erik Seidel was the raiser in the hand and showed Qc-Qd. The board missed both players and James Keys was our 36th place finisher. He received £25,340 for his efforts.
A few hands later, Jani Sointula raised to 9,000 and John Juanda made the call. On the flop of Qc-6c-4c, Sointula bet out for 18,000. Juanda called. The turn was the 7d and Sointula made a 30,000 bet. Juanda then moved all in. Sointula asked Juanda if he had pocket sevens and then made the call. Indeed, Juanda had pocket sevens for a set of sevens. Unfortunately, Sointula had flopped a set of sixes. His 45 to 1 longshot did not hit on the river and Sointula was eliminated in 35th place.
Christofer Williamsson reraised Erik Seidel all in for 38,000 total. Seidel tanked for a moment and then called with 2c-2s. Williamson had As-9s. Amazingly enough, the board missed both players and Seidel eliminated his opponent with a lowly pair of deuces. Christofer Williamson is our 34th place finisher.
Josh Arieh’s run at this Main Event title is over. He was all-in against Perttu Bergius holding 9h-9d. Bergius held Ac-Qc. Bergius hit the perfect flop when the 10c-Kc-5c fell to give him the nut flush and royal flush redraw. The turn paired the board, giving Arieh some hope, but the river queen ended Josh Arieh’s run. Arieh finished in 33rd place.
Alexis Guimbal was eliminated next by Daniel Negreanu. He moved all-in and was called by Negreanu, who was holding Ad-Js. Guimbal held Qh-Jh. The flop gave Guimbal a straight draw, but the board blanked out and Daniel won with Ace high. Guimball finished in 32nd place.
Peter Turmenzey was eliminated in 31st place when his Ad-5d was outdrawn by Toni Hiltunen’s K-Q on the flop. Shortly afterwards, Tome Moreira was all in on a flop of 5h-4d-3s. Bengt Sonnert made the call. Moreira held 7h-7s and Sonnert held Jh-Jc. The turn and river missed both players and Moreira was eliminated in 30th place.
Brian Johnson was eliminated in 29th place when he moved all in and was called by two players. By the river Soren Kongsgaard had bet the other opponent out of the pot. With a board showing 6c-7s-2h-9d-5s, Kongsgaard showed 8s-8c for the straight and Johnson showed Kd-10d for air. Robert Machado was the next elimination. Preflop, Machado moved all in and was called by Stanislav Alekhin. Machado held pocket Jacks, but Alekhin had pocket aces. The board missed both players, and Machado was our 28th place finisher.
Harri Pehkonen made a bet on a flop of Jh-8s-5h. Daniel Negreanu raised by 60,000. Pehkonen moved all in. Penkonen held Kc-Kh and Negranu held Jd-8d for two pair. The turn and river missed both players and Pehkonen was our 27th place finisher.
The rest of Day 3 action will continue in the next post.
Sherkhan Farnood check-raised Ivan Demidov all-in on a flop of Qd-9s-5h. Demidov made the call. Farnood showed Jh-Jd and Demidov showed As-Qs. Unfortunately for Farnood, both the turn and the river fell and Ace and “the worst player in history” has been eliminated. Meanwhile, Andy Bloch decided it was his turn to take the chip lead. He moved up to 300,000 in chips. Seidel is right behind him with 297,000.
Erica Schoenberg raised preflop for 3,200 and was called by Andy Bloch, Philippe Rouas, and Andy Black. The flop fell As-Js-2d and everyone checked to Schonberg, who bet 8,000. Andy Bloch check-raised to 20,000 and everyone folded to Schoenberg, who then moved all in. Bloch made the call. Bloch showed Ad-Js for two pair, and Schoenberg showed Ac-10h for just top pair. The turn and river both fell blanks, and Erica Schoenberg was eliminated from this event. Vicky Coren is left as the last woman standing in this event.
John Monnette bet out 6,000 on a flop of 9c-Ks-5c. Bengt Sonnert made a raise to 25,000 chips. Monnette went into the tank for a bit. He even tried to call the clock on himself. Finally, he declared all-in and was called by Sonnert. Monnette showed Kd-Qs and Sonnert showed 9d-9h. The turn fell the 5c and the river fell the 3h and Monnette was eliminated.
Day two ended with 67 players remaining. Andy Bloch finished the day with the chip lead, amassing 321,600 in chips. Brian Townsend finished 2nd with 290,100. Erik Seidel was third with 282,300 and John Juanda was fourth with 252,500. Daniel Negreanu finished with 203,700 chips.
Many names finished the day still in contention. Brandon Adams, Mike Matusow, Scott Fischman, Dave Ulliott, Ross Boatman, Mel Judah, Josh Arieh, Phil Laak, and Ted Lawson are all still in the hunt. Andy Black is one of the shorter stacks with 21,600. He will have to make a move right away to have a shot to stay alive.
Play will begin at 1p.m. London time on Tuesday and will continue until 27 players are reached.
Day 3 of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker Main Event saw 179 players return to try and begin their march towards the 2nd ever Main Event title on European soil. This field is incredibly pro heavy for a Day 2 with many having aspirations of Main Event glory.
Some of the players still alive in this event include Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Marco Traniello, Vanessa Rousso, Scotty Nguyen, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Tilly, Erica Schoenberg, Joe Beevers, Steve Zolotow, Nenad Medic, Andy Black, Brandon Adams, Scott Fischman, David “DevilFish” Ulliott, Ross Boatman, Mel Judah, Josh Arieh, Phil Laak, and Ted Lawson.
Tom “Durrrr” Dwan was the first big name to fall today. He started the day around 60,000 chips, but he either had a high stakes cash game to get to or he just wanted to game, because he was all in multiple times early on. With a flop of Qs-Kh-9s, Dwan raised Scott Montgomery all-in. Montgomery went into the tank for a while before calling with Ac-As. Dwan showed 3s-4s for a flush draw. The turn and river missed Dwan and he was eliminated. Unfortunately for Durrrr, this wasn’t an online cash game, and he couldn’t buy back in.
Chris “Jesus” Ferguson was eliminated shortly after by Sutha Nirmalananthan. On a board of Qd-5c-Jd-Jh-7d, Ferguson moved all in for 10,600. Nirmalananthan made the call showing Kh-Qh and Ferguson showed a bluff with Ah-Ks. With this, Ferguson headed out the door.
The champion of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event at the World Series of Poker departed next in the man known as Scotty Nguyen. He was all in with A-J and was called by a paltry 6-3. Sadly, a six hit the flop and we don’t get to see a repeat performance by the man I consider the “True World Champion.”
In an elimination that made many men sad, Vanessa Rousso was next to go. She was all in with Jh-Jd against Kc-Kd. The turn brought a flush draw for Rousso, but the river blanked out and Rousso is history. Meanwhile, Daniel Negreanu regained his position as chip leader, amassing 225,000 chips.
Doyle Brunson will not be able to catch Phil Hellmuth this year. Brunson was all in with A-K against pocket Kings. An ace did not hit the board, and Brunson was eliminated. His elimination was announced to the room, and he exited to a round of applause. Roland de Wolfe followed shortly afterward. He had flopped two pair holding Ac-Kc but his opponent, Martin Vallo, flopped a set of fours on a flop of Ad-Ks-4h. The turn and river missed both players, and De Wolfe hit the rail.
Phillipe Rouas has some light reading for the rest of the event. He was fortunate enough to knock out Barry Greenstein. As is his custom, Greenstein signed Rouas a copy of his book, Ace on the River. Meanwhile, Daniel Negreanu continued to build his chip lead. At this point, he had 285,000 in chips.
Mike Matusow had one of the funniest comments of the tournament. Gordon Vayo and Phil Hellmuth were in an argument about a hand they had played on Day 1a. Mike Matusow spoke up and said, “Kid, are you trying to have a rational conversation with Phil Hellmuth? That’s like trying to talk to the rail on Full Tilt.” I don’t know if any of you have watched some of the conversations in the high stakes games amongst the railbirds, but if you have, you know that his comment is very true.
Phil Hellmuth and Sherkhan Farnood have a little bit of a history. During the £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. Event, Farnood gave Hellmuth a series of beats and Hellmuth had declared him, “The worst player in history.” After Hellmuth berated a dealer a good part of the evening, Hellmuth then ended up getting sucked out on the river by Farnood to eliminate him from that event. Hellmuth made a couple of comments to Farnood at the beginning of the day trying to needle him.
Later, Hellmuth was all in on a flop of 5d-8h-2c. Farnood insta-called Hellmuth’s bet, showing 5s-5h. Hellmuth showed Ks-Kc. The turn and river were both blanks, and Hellmuth was eliminated from this event. Several people were asking Farnood if he was still the “worst player in the world.” He replied, “I’m trying to prove I’m only the second worst.” Personally, I think its poetic justice that the man that Hellmuth belittled so much got the best of him twice. Maybe next time Hellmuth will be nicer to players and dealers. Right, and Phil Ivey won’t make prop bets.
Bruno Fitoussi was the next to go out as he was all in against Mel Judah. Fitoussi held As-Ks and Judah held pocket Queens. The flop missed both players and Fitoussi was eliminated. Erica Schoenberg was the last of the last women remaining in the field. After eliminating a player, she built her stack up to 70,000.
Brian Townsend eliminated Martin Vallo when Vallo’s Ac-Kh ran into Townsend’s Ah-Ad. It is unclear where the money went in, but chances are it went in after the flop of 3c-7c-As. Vallo needed running clubs to win, but a spade on the turn sealed the deal for Townsend and sent Vallo packing. Steve Zolotow was unable to get anything doing during Day 2 and was soon seen exiting the tournament area.
Out of seemingly nowhere, Erik Seidel took the chip lead shortly after the start of level 10. Jean Thorel bet out 7,000 on a flop of Ac-7d-2c. Talal Shakerchi made the call and Seidel raised to 23,000. Thorel was the only one to make the call. The turn fell the Js and Thorel checked to Seidel. Seidel bet 40,000 and was called. The river came the Ad. Thorel checked again to Seidel and he moved all-in for 61,000. Thorel made the call. Seidel showed Ah-Kd for a set of Aces and Thorel mucked his hand. After the pot, Seidel moved up to 278,000 chips, wrestling the chip lead from Daniel Negreanu.
The rest of the action for Day 2 will be concluded in the next post.
The World Series of Poker Main Event began on Saturday at the Empire Casino in London. 159 players put up £10,000 on this Day 1a to take their shot at this championship, which is the last bracelet of this year. Many of poker’s top names from both the United States and Europe gathered to take their shot at the title. Annette Obrestad is the current defending champion of this event. She became the youngest person in history to win a bracelet last year and the only woman to ever win a WSOP Main Event title.
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.
