LETS VC YOU AT THE SERIES
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THE ELEVENTH HOUR
As the $2,500 No Limit tournament got under way, most of the talk in the Amazon Room focused on Phil Hellmuth. Philly boy is at the final table of the $1,500 No Limit hold’em event, and he has chips.
Hellmuth will start the day second in chips. If he is the last man standing he’ll have won his eleventh bracelet. That’s one more bracelet than anybody else in the history of the World Series.
Fabrice Soulier is there too, though he’s going to need some luck, he’s starting the day second to last. But he narrowly missed out on the bracelet won by PRaz Bansi last year. He knows what it’s like to come close and wont want to let this chance slip by.
Morgan Machina will be there as well, right in the middle of the pack. As usual the room promises to be like a zoo. As the day goes on, more and more events will be convening until there are six different events in full swing.
On the menu today…
A FEW RUNNERS IN THE $2,500
Took a stroll through the $2,500 event and saw a few familiar faces: Pardraig Parkinson, Erica Schoenberg, Layne Flack, Jamie Gold, Mike Sexton, Humberto Brenes, Joe Awada, Gavin Smith, Scott Fischman, Jason Strasser, Praz Bansi, Annie Duke, Bill Chen, Hasan Habib, Jared Hamby.
On the other side of the room were: Mike Matusow, Daniel Alaei, Mark Seif, Noah Boeken, Greg Raymer, Dario Minieri, Paul Wasicka, Anna Wroblewski, Ross Boatman, Greg Mueller, Chau Giang.
The Silver Fox
EARLY DOORS
Almost before things had started the $2,500 had some fallers. Jamie Gold was among them.
During last year’s main event Jamie Gold was only ever spotted (when away from the table) striding down the corridors of the Amazon Room between breaks, a colourful team of associates behind him like a flying ‘V’ of geese, and all with a mobile phone stuck to their heads.
Well, he was the same today just without the entourage, out of the tournament in an hour.
Following him though, with a little more sympathy, was Isabelle Mercier. She joined team mate Greg Raymer on the rail as the end of level two approaches.
RUBBED OUT
Roland De Wolfe, interrupting is massage with some poker today, had to cut it short - eliminated in level two.
WHINY PHIL.. NO NOT THAT ONE
Phil Gordon was whining to his table. He said,”All I’ve been thinking about is a hand I played with Al Cunningham a couple of days ago. It was a huge pot and, I had him all in and I was an 82% favorite to win the pot and he sucked out on me. I would’ve had a ton of chips instead of being out. Instead Al drew out and he had all the chips. Then he went on to win the bracelet.”
”All I’ve been thinking about is what would’ve happened if I had won that pot.” Hate to break it to you Phil, but it probably wouldn’t have made a huge difference.
$1,000 LADIES NO-LIMIT HOLDEM
They’re back, and all seems right with the world. The Ladies are here for day two – at least one with a new perm - but they’re dropping fast.
“Stay strong Michelle!” cries one railbird to a woman all-in and about to be eliminated. It’s a more emotional tournament than others, and Michelle went out to a round of applause and a few grand for trying.
“Winner on 62!”
“Winner on 70!”
These are the dealers calling out to floor men after each elimination; so players can be escorted to get their money. It’s as good a word as any but seems to pin point the optimism and good spirit of this event - headphones are not allowed today, but even yesterday few opted for private music over chat. Those who did were frowned upon.
All except Katja Thater. Katja is a nice lady but as a professional used to competing in a tough world, she hasn’t quite adjusted to the atmosphere here. Or it could be that she was sick yesterday.
When she called an all-in of pocket Tens with Ace-Seven of hearts (she could afford it), she hit two hearts on the flop. The clincher hit the river and her opponent was next out.
“It was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it!” she said.
Not a word from Katja, looking tired. She just gathered her chips, on her way to the chip lead.
$5,000 LIMIT HOLDEM
”Hey, do you know where the Limit Hold’em is?”
This is Barry Greenstein, and he’s asking around. It’s 3pm and this means another tournament is starting. It’s between the ladies event at the $2,500 Hold’em.
Greenstein is one of a few notables picking up from yesterday… others include Clonie Gowan, chip leader Thomas Wahlroos, Chris Ferguson, William Thorsen, Doyle Brunson, David Benyamine, Vanessa Rousso and Ted Forrest.
William Thorsen
Not to mention… Jesse Jones, Thor Hansen, Jan Sjavik, Miami John Curnuto, Jennifer Harman, Tony G, Howard Lederer and Mats Gavatin. They’ll play today until nine remain.
Howard Lederer
BROKEBACK RAISING
It appears the records just keep coming. We’re not entirely sure, but our best guess is that another one has been broken in today’s $2,500 No-Limit event, thanks to poker players persevering and playing through even the toughest of medical conditions.
We’ve heard the legends of poker players having heart attacks, going to the hospital for help, and coming back just hours later. We’ve seen a couple of pregnant women playing through. Today there appears to be two players toughing it out with broken backs! Nothing will stop these guys from making it to the felt.
It appears the previous record has been shattered…
Feel better guys!
AROUND THE CAMPFIRE
A dealer at Bryan Devonshire’s table forgot to give the button his second card.
”May I have another card please?” asked the player.
The dealer pitched the card over and replied, ”I guess you do need two cards.”
This fumble prompted Bryan to tell a little story…
”I was playing a couple of months ago and the dealer only gave me one card. So I decided to just raise it with the old six of diamonds. Just the big blind called, so I said ‘can I have another card please?’ She gave me another card and the flop came ace high. The guy just open-folded pocket Jacks faceup and said, ‘Well, I guess he has to have an ace!’ I didn’t even look at the second card.”
Tony G, sitting next to Bryan, just came in from the streets
OLD TIMERS
With 80 players left they’re still some way to go before the money in the $5,000 Limit Hold’em. Only the last 27 will get paid.
Doyle Brunson, Barry Greenstein and David Benyamine share one table, the next to be broken up, which may come as a shame because the three of them have been chatting for a while. Doyle is keeping up the chatter; something about the old days…
Barry Greenstein is listening, whilst the rest of the table try not to draw attention to themselves. Barry is making notes as he goes too, which occasionally Doyle peers at. He looks old now Doyle, a preserved relic that still has that killer spirit to beat off whatever generation comes next.
He’s not done yet though. He sits back, adjusts his hat, a leather cell phone holder clipped to his belt – his link to a modern new world.
“My my… my my…”
HELL TO PLAY
“Look at this battle of the titans!” Says one player, looking over at Daniel Negreanu and Bill Chen side by side in the Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better.
Few players play this game and even fewer understand it. No, just kidding, but this marks one of the lower key events of the World Series.
Negreanu looks different today, no doubt due to his new sponsorship deal announced today. It hasn’t stopped him working the room though; he’s still up talking to people and practicing his golf swing between hands.
A few tables along sits Marcel Luske…
“You know when you go on holiday? And you come back and they say ‘you’re brown and tanned where have you been?’ And then you say ‘playing poker..’?
This is rhetoric, followed by a shrug and spoken with a slight smile. Marcel is on table 170 out in the Pavilion, next to glass doors through which the sun blazes. Despite air conditioning Marcel’s table’s temperature sits in the high 80s.
BREAKING NEWS
The ‘breaking news’ here on Day 11 concerns ‘Eskimo’ Clark. He was out in the Pavilion playing the Stud event when he apparently began shaking and then collapsed at the table.
The tournament was immediately stopped and paramedics were called as the area was evacuated. Word is that it was a suspected stroke or heart attack, no one seems sure at present.
But reports say he’s being treated, his eyes are open and he’s conscious. We’ll bring more details of this as we get them.
JOHN TURNER ADDS TO HIS STACK
$2,500 No-Limit Hold’em
John ”PearlJammer” Turner and an opponent just played a big all in pot. Understandably so given the two hands the players held.
The flop came…
Turner was holding…
His opponent was holding the… 
Turner called a bet on the flop, not knowing the only diamond he wanted to see was the 9.
The turn…
This time both players checked.
The river brought…
Jackpot for Turner, as he bet, and his opponent moved all in. Turner didn’t hesitate to call with the absolute nuts, knocking out his opponent, and increasing Turner’s stack to $16,000.
JESSE’S LAST STAND
Jan Sjavik - The Hoody - Some people can carry this look…Jan…well…
Norwegian Jan Sjavik has a little over 70,000 left in the Limit Hold’em event, with just 51 players remaining. Wearing a hoodie from The Venetian, he looks a little like an overgrown Jawa but he sits here as one of the best players on the European circuit; opposite Barry Greenstein, Jesse Jones and William Thorsen.
A hand involving all three of them saw Jesse Jones escape elimination. With Sjavik leading the betting, his pocket Kings were outdone by Jones’s pocket Threes that made a full house on the flop. A little chuckle from him and he was back in the event with a lifeline.
DOYLE PROPS
Doyle and Eli are at the same table of the limit holdem event. Whenever you see these two together there’s no way they’re not going to be betting props. Props are when players bet on what cards are going to come on the flop. Sometimes the action during the prop bets is as big or bigger than the game itself. Gamble, gamble!
Doyle with a sheet of paper on the rail to keep track of his props
ELKY GETS IT IN GOOD
$2,500 No-Limit Hold’em
Bertrand ‘Elky’ Grospellier raised the pot in late position to $2,200. Dustin ‘Neverwin’ Wolff, who was to Bertrand’s immediate left, moved all in for his last $7,900.
Bertrand called immediately with…
Dustin showed…
The table gasped when the flop hit…
Bertrand took it in stride, as he payed off the $7,900 chips. Joe Tehan however couldnt help himself. ”That’s what you get for playing those rags,” Tehan said. Just as Dustin looked at him to respond, Tehan said,” no offense to you, i was talking about the aces.”
LADIES NO LIMIT HOLDEM
Earlier today the Ladies No-Limit event found it’s final nine players to compete on the final table tomorrow afternoon…
The most notable name amoung the finalists is German professional Katja Thater, who battled illness to make it to tomorrow fourth in chips. With a top heavy payout, tomorrow may see little of the friendliness so prominent in this event so far. Or will this event surprise us again?
Katja Thater
HAIL TO THE BRAT
Maybe he is the best after all? Phil Hellmuth has divided opinion over this for many years, but now, perhaps more officially than ever before, Phil Hellmuth may claim that crown after winning his record breaking 11th WSOP Bracelet.
It came in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event on a closed door final that featured, among others, Fabrice Soulier; the Frenchman keen to get his first bracelet.
Phil Hellmuth being congratulated by Mike Matusow… Johnny Chan, on the left, looked happier on stage… Thanks to Pokulator.com John for providing us with the images!
But with fate on his side in the form of all the chips, no one would stop the Poker Brat who, when collecting his bracelet in an impromptu ceremony, was gracious onstage alongside ten time winners Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan.
Phil Hellmuth is now alone in leading the field.
$2,500 HORSE
A curiosity in the near corner of the Amazon Room is the oft forgotten HORSE final. This event is no joy ride. Half hour rounds of each of the five disciplines, over the longest hours, and with seemingly little interest from anyone.
But that seems inconsequential to the four remaining players…
James Richburg 1,000,000
Walter Browne 455,000
Chris Bjorin 285,000
Tom Schneider 230,000
Were it not for the limitations of television cameras (stud is hard to film), space and popular opinion, this would be a final table of elite players worth playing out in front of the cameras. But these events come second to Hold’em.
James Richburg
Whilst James Richburg won the 7 Card Razz event last year and had a second place as far back as 1991, Walter Browne made a final table just last week in a NLH event, finishing seventh.
He has another story. A Grand Master at Chess, he was playing this morning and made it to the Rio with four minutes to spare after winning 15, losing one and drawing five. Not bad but, ”I usually win 90 per cent”. Too bad.
Walter Browne
Chris Bjorin recorded his last bracelet win back in 2000 in a Hold’em event, his first coming back in 1997, not to mention several final tables.
Chris Bjorin
That leaves Tom Schneider. Should he win this event it would be his second bracelet in eight days. He won the Omaha/Stud Hi-Low 8 or Better event on Day 3 this year.
It may be that these guys are older, or the game has none of the pace of straight Hold’em, but one of the fiercest finals is slipping by as spectators crane their necks to see TV characters.
HUMBERTO!!!
Humberto Brenes raised preflop to $3,000 from the cut-off. The smalll blind, who was very short, stacked up his chips, while thinking about moving all in.
”If you move in, I call,” said Humberto.
The player promptly moved all-in. ”I call,” said Humberto. ”See I told you I call, because you’re my friend!” he continued.
Humberto showed Jack-Six, while his opponent showed Ace-Four, and looked uneasy.
”See you’re my friend, thats why I call!” said Humberto.
The board came Queen-Eight-Seven-Jack-Eight, and Humberto had sucked out to win the pot.
”Some friend you are…” said another player.
”What was I supposed to do? I was trying to double up my friend!!” responded Humberto.
The player thought, and added, ”Well, you could have folded.”
NO ACTION!
Over in the limit tournament, Liz Lieu had been hanging tight right around the bubble. The bubble burst and Liz was still in, albeit a bit short. She raised under the gun and it folded all the way around. She smiled and cried,”No action!!!” and turned over her pocket aces.
HORSE IN THE DISTANCE
Whilst Tom Schneider, in tracksuit trousers, bounces his leg up and down; water, Pepsi and moisturiser in front of him; Chris Richburg has a soft drink cup filled to the rim with red wine.
Schnieder gulps down the Pepsi; Richburg sips the wine. It’s a slower pleasure and one that’ll have to last. For Schneider it’s all over too soon.
All in during the Stud round, Richburg got the better of him as the money went in on Sixth Street, and Schneider’s hopes of a second bracelet in a week were ended.
“You did great baby” said his wife as he ambled over, a ripple of applause from the gathered crowd of three, almost intruding on the pain. “You did good, don’t be sad…”
Three remain.
MATUSOW MAKING THE ROUNDS
We all know Mike Matusow is a quiet, reserved fellow. Imagine my surprise when he strolled over to the $5,000 Limit Holdem tournament just to check out the scene and opine on something.
”$79,000 Thor?!?!? Are you ever going to get to average chipstack!?!? This guy is always around but never has even CLOSE to average chips.” At the time the average was $155,000 and Thor laughed and replied,”I’m trying Mikey! I’m trying!”
HORSE TALES
Down to two in the H.O.R.S.E. event as Chris Bjorin finishes third. It left Walter Browne and James Richburg; James holding the chip lead.
At one end of the table James sits laid back, minimum effort as he checks his cards. At the other end is Walter, all fidgets and nerves like the village obsessive, wide deliberate movements with his arms.
Between hands he takes swigs from a bottle of water as though he were taking nips from a hip flask. He then puts the bottle back on the chair next to him, along with a copy of Story of a Chess Player. And a banana.
“8 or better?” he asks.
“Yep, 8 or better” says the official and the game goes on.
Heads up and there are two spectators, and not always the same two. The players chat. Into Omaha and a big pot develops which TW takes with Kings. It’s a big hand but not quite enough. Always ahead it’s James who manages to pull through, winning the bracelet and $238,881.
Reluctant for attention, he waited patiently for those in the press corp. who would demand eye contact photos. What will he do with the money? “It’ll go to my bookie”.
James Richburg, in a quiet, forgotten corner of the Amazon Room, is the winner of the $2,500 H.O.R.S.E.
$2,500 NO LIMIT HOLDEM
As the bubble burst in the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em event, play drew to a close on day one. 42 players remain, the last of which is Lars Bonding. Chip leader for much of the day, Lars clawed his way into the money but finished the day with a chip and a chair.
Other notables include…
Humberto Brenes, Rob Hollink, Dario Minieri, Jared Hamby, Billy Baxter and Joe Tehan.
STUD HI-LOW 8 OR BETTER
Just short of 140 players remaining in the Stud Hi-Low 8 or Better event as play comes to a close.
In the last hour Daniel Negreanu was eliminated, so too Amir Vehedi and Eric Lynch. Play resumes tomorrow with the leaders as follows…
Other notables include…
David Williams 4,500
James van Alstyne 4,500
Michael Mizrachi 3,800
Mel Judah 3,500
Young Phan 3,220
Chris Ferguson 2,550
Gutshot’s Bastard Child Bryan Micon 2,150
ESKIMO CLARK
The update on ‘Eskimo’ Clark is that there isn’t an update. But we’re going on the premis that no news is good news, and that Eskimo is on the road to recovery.
$5,000 LIMIT HOLDEM
The last of the day’s events comes to a close with the elimination in tenth place of Max Casal. Now just nine players remain…Thor Hansen still just below average chips
PLAY CONCLUDES
That’s it for today. Tomorrow the Ladies will end their event alongside the Limit Hold’em; whilst both the Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better and the $2,500 No-Limit events will play on.
Unusually only one new tournament starts tomorrow, the No-Limit Shootout, which should mix it up a little. We’ll be back then.
