LETS VC YOU AT THE SERIES
WSOP NEWS UPDATES
IS IT DAY 14 ALREADY?
Three events run today.
The Pot Limit Omaha is scheduled for a noon kick-off, yesterday’s $5,000 No Limit Hold’em resumes and 2.00pm local time (10pm GMT) and the Seven Stud event starts at 5.00pm. All three events running today will end tomorrow (Friday) as the Hold’em event will play down to a final and the other two are only two day events.
ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
”Oh my God! That guy over there has a baby on his back! Oh my God that is so wrong!” said one of the rail birds as I walked by the Pot Limit Omaha tournament.
I saw what they were talking about after a few seconds. Unlike them, I didn’t believe for one second that someone would be stupid enough to bring a baby into a tournament area. I walked over to see what this guy was up to and, of course, it was just a fake baby in a backpack. I’m not sure just what this guy gets out of having a fake baby on his back all day, but whatever floats your boat.
It did remind me of a story from last year. I remember a man trying to bring his four or five year old into the tournament area and a security guard blocked them at the door, ”Sorry sir, no kids are allowed in the tournament area.”
”He’s just a baby, it’s not a big deal.” said the daddy.
”We’re sorry, but we just can’t let him in here. Sorry.” replied the guard.
The daddy picked up the child and held him up so the kid could look into the room, ”I’m sorry honey, but I can’t take you in there, here take a look at everything.”
The little kid looked inside the room with a look of desire in his eyes. I pictured the father being one of those obsessive parents, keeping his kids up all night, making them watch re-runs of poker shows then finishing off with twelve pages of Super System before lights out.
”Raise daddy! Raise!!!”
TEN-HUT!
$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha
With the organisers doubling the starting stacks this year, it brings a whole lot of play to smaller buy-in events like this one. With the hourly blinds starting at 25-50, a 3,000 starting stack may not have you pot committed so early in the event.
As expected, the European Omaha divisions are out in force on the parade ground. Devilfish, Andy Black and Thomas Wahlroos in the front ranks – John Gale, Ben Grundy and Noah Boeken in the rear.
It’s a fallacy that the Americans can’t play this particular game because the best of them can teach a thing or two to anyone. The Europeans will no doubt be taking friendly fire from their comrades across the pond with the likes of Robert Williamson III, Steve Zolotow and Freddie Deeb all looking to get there first.
Padraig Parkinson
We’re already into the second level and with blinds at 50-100 the action will soon be furious.
Taxi For…
Already eliminated…
With Erik Seidel, Richard Brodie, Erick Lindgren, Clonie Gowan and Phil Gordon already on the rail, we’d best stay clear of the Omaha section in that Full Tilt book of theirs.
John Gale and Marcel Luske gone too.
THE NEWS OF TOMORROW TODAY
Whilst covering the WSOP from front to back is one of the most exciting times of the year, sometimes you’ve seen enough, analyzed enough, and written enough about poker that you need to sauce up the proceedings:
You need to play.
Earlier in the week, I had the chance to play what many (or at least me) are calling ”the game of the future”: limit hold ‘em.
At my table, I met Rob Olivetti, a dealer who has been in the business for over twenty years. This year he is making his debut at the WSOP Razz Championships.
”It’s my first event ever and I’m going to win it. That has to be a story, right?”
”Why did you decide to pick Razz for the event to play?”
”I figured it was my best shot at a bracelet.”
”True,” I said. ”You figure after a few levels you’re already down to the final table.”
He laughed and corrected me: ”There will be four hundred or so guys. Still a lot better odds than the hold ‘em events.”
GOLF > POKER ?
Event 23: Pot Limit Omaha
Why is Dewey Tomko waving at me?
I’m standing on the side of the room, maybe ten feet from him, watching a half-dozen tables, looking for someone to say or do something interesting.
He isn’t in a hand, so I walk up to him to see what he wants.
”Would you mind not standing there?” he asks.
”My apologies,” I answer. ”I’m sorry to have bothered you.” There’s no need to tell him that I’m not trying to bother him, but I’m just trying to do my job. With thousands of other places I can stand, there’s no need to fret about this spot.
”No, no, you’re not bothering me,” he corrects. ”But if you could just not stand right there as I’m trying to watch golf.”
I turn and, as expected, there is a TV I didn’t notice.
THEY’RE OFF!
Day 2 of the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Event is underway. 640 were there at the start, only 85 remain. First place will pay $730,740 and as we said yesterday the bubble will be the sixty fourth entrant to leave the field.
Dustin Dirkson is way out in front on just over 379,000 with his nearest rival, Tex Barch on 240,000.
I was trying to remember the last time I took a shot of Tex Barch and here it is from the vaults. Tex left, Steve Dannenman centre and ‘random dude’ Joe Hachem just to the left of the dealer. Ah…Binions… like another world!
31,400, Ross Boatman 37,800, Ian Woodley 46,300. At the other end of the chip telescope Nick Gibson is on 25,000 and Phil Laak on 19,500. Other low stacks include Mike Sexton 28,000, David Benyamine, Ben Roberts 56,000 and Guy Bowles on 34,900.
Just outside the top twenty though, Michael Gracz, Alex Jacob, Allen Cunningham and Jan Sorensen all lurk in the chasing pack.
POT COMMITTED IN POT LIMIT
Event 23: Pot Limit Omaha
”You will never do what you just did ever again,” Freddy Deeb tells the player sitting across from him.
”I don’t think I played anything too bad,” the guy responds, stacking up his chips.
”You don’t understand. You don’t see. And you’ll never do what you did ever again.”
Jeff Lisandro, behind Freddy at the next table, stands up to hear what’s going on.
”Listen to this,” Freddy tells Jeff. ”In the last hand we had a Queen-Ten-Seven flop with two hearts. I bet the pot, after raising pre-flop, with the Ace-King-Jack-Nine with two hearts. He raises a little, pushing in his last few chips over the bet, and I call. He has Five-Five-Four-Two with no hearts. My hand doesn’t improve.”
”I had a pocket pair and I didn’t think I could lay it down.”
”Why even call pre-flop when I raise?” Freddy berates. ”What do you think I’m raising with? Pocket Fours? And what about the hand before when you–” Freddy stops talking long enough to look at the next hand.
Welcome to 2007: who said the shenanigans of hold ‘em don’t translate to the wonderful world of Omaha?
ROOM AVAILABLE
Here in Vegas water is a precious resource. It costs a lot to get it out here and there isn’t much to go around. It’s good to see that even poker players are conscious of our environment.
BEER ME!
Last year there were a couple of guys hanging out in the hallway offering to listen to your bad beat story for a few bucks. Those guys are nowhere to be found this year. Right about where they were there is instead a large inflatable beer can.
Sometimes not even a good quality American beer is enough to quench the thirst of a bad beat. In those situations violence is the preferred method of dealing with it. This beer can looks like it took a beating or two.
HOT DIGGEDDYDAWG!
There are a couple of cuties playing today: Men the ‘Masssah and Freddie Deeb. Also there’s…
Jennifer Tilly
and Brandi Hawbaker
FISH FOOD
Due to strict restrictions in place to keep the poker floor area from being swamped, only official tournament staff and players are allowed inside the ropes. Took a walk by Devilfish and he was having some grapes.
It seemed like he didn’t want to take the time to wait for them to ferment so he was just eating them raw.
POKER EVERYWHERE
Word travelled through the poker room like wildfire. Sure there is a lot of action going down in the Amazon room, but the big story was of a real blood game going on outside. Apparently there was a serious match going on between a couple of the valets. In between parking cars they were check raising for stacks. I ran outside to document the action, but they were already done — or just parking some cars.
On the way back there was a man who I saw, he might be in his late sixties…He was on the phone with someone.
”Oh man, it’s so crazy here. Last night we drank like three bottles of wine. Then we went back to the hotel and played tennis. It was like three in the morning! We were actually out there playing tennis at three A.M.!”
Vegas does, indeed, make people do crazy things.
HAD A BAD DAY - I COULD NOT UNDERSTAND
Today isn’t a good day for Jeff Madsen; the unofficial 2006 WSOP Rookie of the Year was just told he is last year’s Brandi Hawbaker.
Bookies predict a 75-95% chance she will best his stellar début season.
HEADS ROLLING
Taxis for…
Nick Gibson, Alex Jacob, Mike Sexton, Allen Cunningham, Jennifer Tilly, Ben Roberts and Mark Gregorich.
Dustin Dirkson has lost the chip lead to James Mackey who’s a mile in front on over 900,000. Michael Gracz is in second place with 540,000. Phil Laak who started the day way down on the chip ladder is now on around 275,000.
Still in contention; Kathy Liebert, Nick Shulman, TJ Cloutier and Michael Binger. The chasing pack includes Jan Von Halle, Tex Barch, Ross Boatman and Jan Sorensen. Ian Woodley, Alex Kravchenko and Guy Bowles are hanging on by the skin of their teeth, all three are under 45,000 with the blinds on 4,000-8,000
Jan X 2
A LUSKE FOR LIFE
Event 24 - $3,000 Seven Card Stud Hi Lo
Not everything has to be a drama bomb. Sometimes you just need to sit and relax, enjoying the finer things in life. Marcel Luske, out of the Omaha Event jumps quickly over to the next tournament.
An intense massage falls into that category; just ask Marcel Luske.
PEACE AND QUIET
Things have really quietened down in the Amazon room, as they usually do later on in the evening. There was one guy telling his table a mildly interesting story about someone he saw getting it all in pre-flop in an Omaha game drawing completely dead.
”You can’t do that in Omaha! It’s OMAHA!” said one of the players at the table.
”Umm, yes you can,” said the player who started the story.
A few of the players at the table leaned forward a little to listen to the story. It seemed as though they didn’t think it was possible either — which seemed entirely possible considering that this is just a $1,500 event.
”Well, the guy thought he had a really great hand, and he kept raising and re-raising the pot until all the chips were in there. He had four kings. The other guy had A-A-J-T double suited. The guy with four kings was so excited… he thought he had such a great hand. Needless to say he lost and was knocked out of the tournament. I laughed so damn hard after he left.”
I hung around waiting to see if the guy that was unaware of drawing dead pre-flop in Omaha would ask,”Wait… couldn’t he make a flush?” He didn’t, and I moved on.
HELLUVA TABLE
Seems like an interesting final table is in the making in the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event. Tex Barch, Michael Gracz, Ross Boatman, Michael Binger, Jan Sorensen, and Nick Schulman are all still in. They’re down to ten players and need to drop one more.
I stood around and watched the final two tables for a couple of hours without anything too interesting happening. A ginger kid made a huge call against Phil Laak with pocket Sixes to knock him out when Phil’s Ace-Queen didn’t improve. After that they combined to one table.
The only time I saw Ross put chips in the pot over those two hours was to put in the antes
I could hear Mike Matusow from the stud tournament across the room while the people racked up their chips to move to the final table. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I’m sure it was something we’ve heard before. There was a cup holder in Ross Boatman’s new seat and he wasn’t interested in having it there. He took the cup holder and tossed it onto the table he had just left. It landed in front of the dealer, startling him a little.
”Oh, I’m so sorry,” said Ross.
”It’s ok, just give me a percentage,” said the dealer.
”Now I’m REALLY sorry,” laughed Ross.
”Ok, half a percent!” chirped the dealer.
Ross did his best to turn around and indulge the guy with a half smile.
”Ok, see you in the parking lot,” said the dealer.
Ross gave a somewhat confused look in the dealers direction, as if he was trying to figure out if he was serious. I couldn’t tell myself, but it’s OK, I think Ross can take him.
IN THE STUD EVENT
There are lots of familiar faces in the stud event. Mike Matusow is over at his table chatting up a storm. He got up briefly to talk about how poor his luck is. It went kind of like this, ”Blah, blah, blah, blah, I play so good, blah.”
Mikey’s neighbour planned ahead and brought earplugs
On the table next door, Ted Forrest had just finished receiving a massage.
”Damn, it felt like that girl was trying to shove her thumb right through my hand! She was doing the same thing on the back of my head and it felt pretty good but on my hand it hurt like hell!”
Wants finger in brain
Marcel Luske, currently chip leader.
$5,000 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
It seems the high standard of final tables continues at pace with the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em final.
It all ended when Ross Boatman pushed in with Ace-King against the Sixes of Karga Holt. That race looked abandoned when the flop effectively hugged and kissed Ross, bringing two Aces and proof indeed that Ross is a man who lives right.
The turn, a Jack, was harmless also. A double up for Ross surely, and a shot at his first bracelet.
Not so fast. The only card able to help Karga struck the river. A six gave him the full house and torpedoed Boatman; a nasty business that saw him go from In to Out in the space of a card.
A silent scream for Ross, but who does that leave in tomorrow’s final?
GREG RAYMER
”Honey I have $100 less than I started with, and I have more than I did at the beginning of the level. Maybe if I’m really lucky by the end of this level I’ll have more chips than I paid for.” said Greg Raymer to his wife on the rail.
”We don’t need you having more chips,” laughed John Phan from the table next door.
”You won’t have to worry about that until probably the last two tables. Besides, who would you rather have them?” asked Greg
”Final two tables? First of all you have to learn how to play good!” laughed Phan.
Greg turned back to his game as his wife watched on.
$1,500 POT LIMIT OMAHA
Next to finish tonight is the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha. Earlier today there were taxis for the likes of…
Josh Arieh
Chris Ferguson
Jeff Lisandro
Hoyt Corkins
Ben Grundy
Dave Ulliott
Fabrice Soulier
Humberto Brenes
John Gale
Marcel Luske
Thomas Wahlroos
Just 23 players remaining…
The others include…
Andrew Black
Gary Lundgren
Richard Olofsson
Jody Simon
Jason Newburger
Burt Boutin
Brad Libson
Anthony Maccanello
Charles Gibbs
Mark Davis
K.U. Davis
James Dunkelberger
Martin Davis
Play continues at 2pm on Friday.
SEVEN CARD STUD HI LO
Bringing the day to a close is the Stud Hi-Lo event, which ends its first day with 118 players left. It won’t be sweet dreams for everyone though…
Taxis for…
Barny Boatman
Chad Brown
Chris Ferguson
‘JohnnyBax’
Cyndy Violette
David Grey
Howard Lederer
Isabelle Mercier
Kenna James
Men Nguyen
Michael Mizrachi
Phil Ivey
Todd Brunson
At the fun end of the tables though…
There are others of course, all back tomorrow at 3pm…
Daniel Negreanu
Layne Flack
David Sklansky
Mike Sexton
Greg Raymer
Annie Duke
Dutch Boyd
Mel Judah
Thor Hansen
Tony G
Bill Chen
