LETS VC YOU AT THE SERIES
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Is it really the start of Week Four? Friday 22 June - Only the five events running today. Here they are…
SUBTITLES OF THE PSYCHE (PT.2)
Tells…and how to spot them.
Yesterday we took our first little baby steps into the world of body language while we waited for play to begin here at the Rio. Today we'll continue with a journey into the ancient art of mind reading. In our first example we have Mark Goodwin from England. Sometimes players don't even need to be in a hand to reveal more than they might want to. So…what's going on in Mark's mind in this one?
A. There's Daniel miming his golf swing again…jeez it looks like he's throwin' a lasso! What I'd give to get on the fairway with this guy!
Or
B. “Oh, Oh…Here comes Ivey… If he does that thing with his eyes again…I swear I'll….”
Ok, sometimes they're easy like that one but try this one for size. With Mike Sexton deep in contemplation… What's the King of Poker TV thinking here?
A. “It seems like only yesterday when she walked out on me! All we have left are the memories of what we had and what we lost… Of course, the others that came and went were just ships in the night. I treated ‘em bad… I treated ‘em cruel. First there was Courtney, then there was that Sabina girl from Polanski… and now Layla Whatsername… Oh Shanna baby, you don't understand… maybe you never will. But I’ve got a job to do, too. Where I’m going, you can’t follow. What I’ve got to do, you can’t be any part of. Shanna, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people (lets not forget Vince) don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that. Now, now… Here’s looking at you kid.”Or…
B. “Oh, Oh…here comes TJ… and he's been in the dice pit… and it doesn't look good! … don't look up… don't look up… ok he's getting closer… start snoring!”
and finally…Heeeerrrrrreeeee’s Davood!
What do Davood Mehrmand’s eyes tell you? What are they saying?
A. ”Ziss iss my happy face, you sink ziss iss crayzeee face? You ain't seen crayzeee face! You don't wanna see crayzeeeface!”
Or…
B. ”Did you juss call zuh clock on me?”
BRANDI GOING TO UGANDA
Had a little chat with Brandi Hawbaker today. Poor girl is running bad in this years series.
”I don’t get it. Everyday I fucking bust out in the first level, and then I go and make $2,000 to $10,000 in the cash games. Today, now tell me if I played this wrong. I have aces and I raised pre-flop and I got two callers and the flop came down Q-J-Ten, he bet and I just called. The turn came and he pushed all in and I folded. He said he had a set of tens. Did I play that wrong?”
”That’s a tough spot, doesn’t seem like you can beat much on that board.”
”I know, it’s just so hard because I know that I’m doing the right thing, but I can’t win anything.”
”What else are you playing?”
”Well I’m going to play a few more events. I’m doing the Darfur charity one too.”
”How does that one work?”
”Half of the money goes to charity and I think the other half I’m going to donate to (insert charity name here). They’re doing a lot to stop genocide. I’ve learned so much studying about that. I didn’t even know that kind of thing was going on!”
”Yeah, it’s all pretty far away.”
”So after the series I think I’m going to go to this (insert new age therapy here) spa. It’s really cool. You do yoga during the day, and then meet with a doctor for a couple of hours and it seems really cool. It’s either that or I’ll go to Uganda and work with a charity that one of my friends started and help some children.”
”Sounds like a hell of a choice, go to the spa.”
”I’m also doing a lot of work with WPA. I just joined and I’m going to be a founding member (huh?). I was thinking maybe I’ll become a member of the board. I want to do work for changing womens image in poker. Like my image, I’ve been working so hard to turn it all around.”
I took this opportunity to introduce myself officially and we shook hands. ”I’m Brandi.”
”Oh, I know. Everybody knows Brandi.” She rolled her eyes and smiled. I asked her what next and she said probably some $30/$60 or $100/$200 at Bellagio. That’s where I make all my money.”
Brandi seems like a very sweet girl. She was super friendly and polite. It’s easy to talk to her and forget that there might be something else going on there, but no matter what I found myself rooting for her.
TIME FOR SOME POT LIMIT
The Pot Limit holdem is in full effect right now.
Jan Sorensen
Johan Storakers is sitting next to the happiest looking guy in the room. The pic is a little blurry, but my hands wouldn’t stop trembling.
John Duthie is here. Two players at the table blew up at each other on a king high / two club flop. It was the Ace-King against Nine -Ten of clubs. The player hit a flush on the turn, then made a straight flush on the river. The dealer said flush, but didn’t include the card to make the straight flush. ”Um sir, that’s a straight flush,” said the other player, re-arranging the board, as if it mattered…
RUNNERS AND RIDERS
A few more in the $2,000 PLH
Joe Hachem, Vicky Coren (despite flight delays), Phil Laak (Jennifer Tilly's boyfriend), Martin Green, Jennifer Tilly, Thomas Wahlroos, David Plastik, Shannon Elizabeth, John Gale, Michel Gracz, freash from his first bracelet Jeff Lissando, Paul Wassika, Grinder, Humberto and Marcel…amongst others.
LOST IN TRANSLATION
The Omaha hi/lo event was just about to get under way. There was a man sitting there thumbing through a translation guide. Not sure what foreign-speak his native tongue is, but it looks like the man might be in some serious trouble.
Poor guy has been in Vegas for three weeks and still hasn’t found the ‘chanding room’
UNDER PRESSURE
$5,000 Omaha High-Low
”You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about,” Todd Brunson yells at the floorman. ”You really need to get a clue before making such idiotic rulings.”
I wander over to find out what the hubbub’s about but before I can the floor says to Todd, ”Just settle down and drop it. You have the ruling and that’s that.”
”Whatever. I will but you’re wrong.”
”How’s that blood pressure?” Layne Flack jokes from the next table.
Todd lifts both his hands up and initiates Operation Double Middle Finger salute.
”So it’s up?” Layne replies.
Moments later Layne is busted from the event. As he ducks under the rail, Todd quips, ”No more smart comments then funny boy?”
HOW IS THE WEATHER IN OMAHA?
$5,000 Omaha High-Low
”You need to be patient,” Tony G says to a short-stacked player who has just raised the last two hands. ”Keep playing like that and you’ll be out sooner than you should be.”
Watching Omaha High-Low requires a bit of patience; almost every pot is chopped in half and no ground seems to be made or lost by anyone.
One of the main tables in this event features notable poker pros Tony G, Bart Hanson, and David Chiu.
Whilst he doesn’t play many hands — he limps one, picking it up on the flop, the rest he folds — Tony involves himself with every pot. ”I’m the Captain,” he tells the new dealer. ”I know you don’t know this game as well as I do so I’ll tell you who you give the money to.”
The dealer thanks him and Tony continues: ”Let’s enjoy the game, boys. Soon we’ll all be dead and so we should enjoy ourselves whenever we can.”
Cheers, Tony, that’s the type of positivity that makes watching this event worthwhile.
”Barron, can I borrow a dollar?” Bart asks after folding his next hand. ”I only have hundreds,” he says, flashing out his pimp roll.
”That’s an awful problem to have,” I reply, unleashing my less-than-stellar roll and giving the lady a crinkled US dollar.
Tony G resumes folding but doesn’t stop talking.
I need a break from OHL.
POT LIMIT OMAHA W/RE-BUYS
Well, we’re a few hours in with all but one event underway. Time for a night re-cap…
Qushqar Morad maintains the chip lead in the Pot Limit Omaha with just five players remaining…
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
NO LIMIT HOLDEM
As the Limit Hold'em final gets underway, on this side of the curtains Dustin Dirksen leads the No Limit event…
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
SMOKE EM IF YOU GOT EM
$2,000 Pot Limit Hold ‘em
William Thorson gets all his money in pre-flop against his opponent with his Jack-Eight suited versus the other guy’s pocket Eights.
Thorson flops the joint and eliminates his opponent.
”You deserve an award,” TJ Cloutier says to Thorson. ”Not for the way you played that hand, but you deserve one for something.”
”Sometimes you have to gamble,” Williams says to TJ.
”Son, you don’t need to tell me about gamblin’,” TJ thinks.
”I didn’t get this sucker the easy way.”
All the old school gamblers sport this relic from Binions; you can see it worn by many legends of this town.
$2,000 POT LIMIT HOLDEM
After a few hours Steve Pendergrast leads the way in the Pot Limit Hold'em, ahead of Kevin O'Donnell and a certain Joe Hachem…
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
ONE STORY - TWO VERSIONS
$1,500 No Limit Hold’em
Version 1:
Everyone’s favourite English dealer, Simon Hennessey flags me down in the main room to tell me how he busted out of the event:
”A few players limp, including the tightest player on the table. Joe Hachem pushes all-in for ten or eleven bets. It’s folded to me and I have Ace-King suited and I’m the second tightest player on the table and cold-call, dedicating half my stack. The big blind pushes in his whole stack. Everyone folds and I call off the rest of my chips. Joe has pocket Sixes and the big blind has pocket Nines and they hold up, eliminating Joe and I. With all the limpers, Joe going all in, and me cold-calling him, he had to know he was behind or at best a coin-flip and should’ve folded but instead he gets lucky and knocks us out.”
Version 2:
Not too long after I’m in the men’s room and hear this discussion:
”So Joe Hachem goes all in, some guy calls on the button, and I’ve got Nines in the big blind. Who knows what Joe has and what the other guy called with and you know the limpers all have nothing so I know I’ve got the nuts and try to pick up the pot. The button calls with me with his Ace-King and doesn’t hit his six-outter so I knock them both out.”
QUESTION: DEFINE HILARIOUS
$2000 Pot Limit Hold ‘em
A: Watching William Thorson sit across the table from nonstop chatterbox TJ Cloutier who is babbling about barbeque.
Or…
B. ‘Friendly guy’, who keeps looking more and more loveable as the night goes on, was not amused by TJ’s story.
MARTIN WENDT
A guy at a table got pretty heated at Martin Wendt,”You’re acting like a five year old!!!” he snapped.
”I’m acting like a five year old, then what are you?” Martin asked. The other guy muttered something unintelligle and Martin replied with,”It was just a joke. Obviously you don’t understand what sarcasm is.”
A different player to Martin’s left said,”He only thought you were serious because you said it with a serious face.”
”It was just a joke,” said Martin and that was the end of it. I still didn’t really know what was going on and wanted to ask Martin about it. I caught up with him outside to get the scoop.
”Well, what happened was that twice that guy called the clock on me. The second time it was in a big pot, I had a tough decision, I had only thought for one minute, and he wasn’t even in the hand! It was so stupid. I hate it when people who aren’t in the hand call the clock. It should be none of their business.
”So what happened was that when it was his turn, he was in the small blind. It folded over to the button who raise and then the big blind started to think. After only about ten seconds, I said ‘clock’. And the clock didn’t even come, but he got so mad. It’s so stupid he didn’t know it was a joke.”
We spoke for a couple of minutes more on unrelated matters and Mike Keiner came over to join the conversation. He had a question for Martin about a laydown that me made.
”So with one other limper, I called in the small blind with 2-4. The big blind check and the flop came 2-2-8. I bet the pot. After a little bit Kevin O’Donnell in the big blind reraised pot. I called and then the turn came something small. I checked and he bet pot. It was almost all of my chips so I thought. I passed,” Michael said with a bit of a concern on his face.
Martin took a minute to think about it (nobody called the clock on him) and finally decided that it was indeed a good pass. ”He had either a bigger kicker than you or maybe he flopped a full house of eights,” was his verdict.
”He said he had a two and I believe him because he said he had the two of hearts. I had the two of diamonds.”
”Yeah, it was a nice laydown,” Martin reaffirmed.
I just happened to be walking by at the right place at the right time while Mike was mulling over his decision with 2-4 about 15 minutes before the conversation outside.
WHERE IS THE DAMN CHANDING ROOM?!?!
After three weeks of not being able to find the ‘chanding’ room and who knows what else, our foreign friend seems to have given up on the language altogether.
$1,500 POT LIMIT OMAHA W/RE-BUYS
In amongst the locals, Irishman Alan Smurfit came through today to win Event 33, the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha with re-buys.
Smurfit started the day last in chips, with the chip leader sitting with ten times his stack, but didn't let this stop him winning his first WSOP bracelet, beating the likes of Chris Bjorin and Chau Giang along the way.
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
Alan Smurfit (this picture courtesy of imagemasters)
ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL
$1,500 No Limit Hold’em
It's sometimes the case after a long day, that you look from the rail at a tournament that is playing down to a final, only to see plenty of players still chipping away, no sign of elimination, no one looking tired. Then, two players go out on the same hand and it's all over.
That just happened in Event 35, the latest $1,500 No Limit Hold'em.
Michael Ium and Ken Adams happened to move in on the same hand; John Esposito was all in as well but had the others covered.
for Adams
for Ium
for Esposito
There was nothing on the King-High flop for any player. The others watched on, no doubt on Espositos side. The turn paired the King but the Jack on the river put end to this days play, and Ium and Adams, who went out in 11th and 10th respectively.
$3,000 LIMIT HOLDEM
(Borteh pic courtesy of Imagemasters)
Alexander Borteh, in a display of leading start to finish, took the bracelet in Event 34, the $3,000 Limit Hold'em. The final today saw him beat Brandon Wong heads-up for the $225,483 for first place.
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
$1,500 NO LIMIT HOLDEM
The cookie-cut $1,500's keep on coming, producing new winners each time who take away a bracelet and a big cheque. Like hotel guests, they need to be out by noon to make way for the next $1,500 starting tomorrow – or something like that.
With Michael Ium and Ken Adams gone, it leaves nine players…
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
STILL PLAYING
In Event 36, three tables of players remain in the Omaha Hi/Low Split 8 or Better. Anthony Reategui leads the last 23 with a good chunk of chips ahead of Mike Henrich.
Todd Brunson is perhaps the biggest name to appear near the top, with Annie Duke and Mike Matusow not far behind.
Annie Duke
Among the foreigners Markus Golser is still in contention and can teach these people a thing or two with a display of European panache.
$2,000 POT LIMIT HOLDEM
As the Omaha Hi/Low crawls towards a last table, Day 1 of the Pot Limit Hold'em event draws to a close with 45 remaining. Richard Ferro leads; Sweden's William Thorson is currently in tenth place.
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
Notables still in contention…
T.J. Cloutier
Devin Porter
Mark Weitzman
Michael Keiner
Scott Pendergrast
Wayne Harvey
Richard Kirsch
Jason Newburger
Daniel Alaei
Inevitably, to some, poker offers nothing but cruelty…
Taxi for…
Juha Helppi
Paul Wolfe
Vicky Coren
Greg ”FBT” Mueller
Dave Colclough
Gary Leibovitz
Ron Faltinsky
Kyle Bowker
Tony Hachem
Terrence Chan
An Tran
Kenna James
Dan Schmiech
Brandi Hawbaker
Paul Wasicka
Erica Schoenberg
Tony Ma
Joe Reitman
John Gale
J.C. Tran
Shawn Deeb
Martin Green
Johan Storakers
James Worth
Jason Lester
Raymond Davis
Nick Binger
Darrell Dicken
Vanessa Rousso
Jennifer Tilly
Jon Turner
Sorel Mizzi
Joe Hachem
Steve Billirakis
Barry Greenstein
Chris Ferguson
J.J. Liu
Danny Wong
Thomas Wahlroos
Sean McCabe
Mark Seif
Burt Boutin
Mimi Tran
Allen Cunningham
Joe Awada
Shannon Elizabeth
Humberto Brenes
Amnon Filippi
Michael Mizrachi
Ralph Perry
Michael Gracz
Phil Laak
Jeff Lisandro
Steve Paul-Ambrose
Alex Jacob
Sherkhan Farnood
John Phan
Jason Strasser
Melissa Hayden
Michael Binger
ALL ELIMINATED…
CLOSING IN
With two tables the Omaha Hi/Low upped the pace a little, as if those involved realised they could be in for a long night otherwise.
After the redraw a flurry of eliminations followed. First it was Anthony Reategui on the rail. He'd lead earlier on but was out in 17th.
Mike Matusow fell shortly afterwards, then Todd Brunson. The writing was on the wall for Annie Duke when she suffered a blow in a pot against John Grove which left her with next to nothing. She went out in 13th place.
$5,000 OMAHA HI/LOW SPLIT 8 OR BETTER
The last event still playing has wrapped up for the evening. The Championship Omaha Hi/Low has its final table set, to be played at 4pm tomorrow (Midnight GMT).
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
It wasn't to be for Markus Golser, who exited in 11th place, narrowly missing the final table. Mike Henrich preceded him in 12th place but it was Robert Kirkwood going out, at the hands of Randy Jensen that ended play for the day.
With just nine players left, there's a long list of those who didn't make it…
Taxi for…
Annie Duke
Todd Brunson
Doc ”Prince of Docness” Kegal
Mike ”The Mouth” Matusow
Anthony Reategui
David Eller
Steve Kopp
Eric Dalby
Patrick Bueno
Anthony Chatelain
Allen Kessler
Marc Gardner
Chris Reslock
Paul Scherr
Lee Watkinson
Huck Seed
Peter Costa
Bob Slezak
Davood Merhmand
Mike DeMichele
Perry Friedman
David Benyamine
Rusty Florante
Kiril Gerasimov
Sam Khoueis
Gavin Smith
Patrick Antonius
Mel Judah
John Phan
Scott Clements
Dustin Holmes
Rafi Amit
Tad Jurgens
Bill Argyros
Mads Andersen
James Richburg
Bryan Andrews
Tim Buckley
Jeff King
Marc Karam
Erik Seidel
Mariealena Calabrese
Tex Barch
Andy Bloch
Kirk Morrison
Tony Cousineau
Chris ”Jesus” Ferguson
Layne Flack
Nick Schulman
Jerrod Ankenman
David Chiu
David Levi
Scotty Nguyen
Thomas Keller
John D’Agostino
John Shipley
Josh Arieh
Jennifer Harman
Mike Wattel
Tony ”G” Guoga
Robert Williamson III
Thor Hansen
Linda Johnson
Barry Greenstein
Justin ”ZeeJustin” Bonomo
Hasan Habib
Men ”The Master” Nguyen
PLAY CONCLUDES
That's it for Day 22. Two winners today and just one new event started means an unusually quiet day tomorrow with just four events in total – not counting another Mega Satellite for the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. in a few days time.
Event 38 will start things off tomorrow at Noon – another $1,500 No Limit Hold'em competition. At 2pm its predecessor will start its final table.
At 3pm the Pot Limit Hold'em starts its second day, whilst at 4pm the final of the World Championship Omaha Hi/Low will see the Amazon Room up to full speed.
The time difference makes it complicated, but join us at 8pm GMT and you'll be alright.
Until then…
