LETS VC YOU AT THE SERIES
WSOP NEWS UPDATES
MONTH TWO
A new day, a new month, and on the conveyor belt tonight…
FANCY A PUNT?
Pot Limit Omaha - the game for players who have made the leap from Hold’em; a badge of seriousness, of experience and a few other things too.
The event today is also a sign that you have ten grand to pay your way in, for today the main event for Omaha players begins.
So far faces in the crowds include…
Juha Helppi
Bill Gazes
Ram Vaswani
Ross Boatman
Rafi Amit
Johan Storakers
Rolf Slotboom
Jani Sointula
William Thorson
Marcel Luske
Erik Seidel
Gavin Smith
Doyle Brunson
Annie Duke
Chris Reslock
Robert Mizrachi
Huck Seed
Dave Ulliott
Phil Ivey
Humberto Brenes
Erick Lindgren
Lyle Berman
Mike Sexton
Dewey Tomko
Phil Laak
Scotty Nguyen
… and there are others.
It’s the third highest profile event of the Series and it has attracted the biggest and the best. Traditionally PLO is the game of the British, or at least the Europeans. This one could easily become a battle of the Atlantic, and it’s about to get underway.
PHIL LAAK - THE NEW FACE OF PLO
Pot Limit Omaha Championship
”How can I get away from this?” Phil ”The Unabomber” Laak asks the crowd, standing to his feet. ”I cannot possibly fold this, can I?”
I head over as Phil is jumping up and down behind his chair, figuring out what he should do. There are thousands of chips in the pot already and two players (Sam Farha and one other) are all-in. Phil is debating the call.
The board is: 
Students of PLO know this is a draw-heavy board. Phil, after another minute, makes the call. The hands are revealed:
Player 1: 
Sam Farha: 
Phil Laak: 
”What card do I need on the river?” Phil asks. ”I think I lose with everything. C’mon, dealer, bring on the pain, just bring it on already, do what you’re going to do and make me feel the pain.”
is the river.
Phil jumps about three feet into the air, flipping back his sweatshirt, high-fiving the railbirds, and then he grabs my shoulders and shakes me in excitement.
”Can you believe it?” he asks. ”It held up!”
He sits down and starts stacking the massive pile of chips. ”Security!” he yells, getting the attention of a security guard. ”Can you check that deck to find out how a blank hit the river?”
Whilst many know that Europeans are the dominant players in this game, I think it’s safe to say there is a new sheriff in town and we may have our inevitable PLO bracelet winner in The Unabomber.
REBUY!
Today’s Pot Limit Omaha tournament is a little different than the others. Everybody gets $10,000 starting chips for their money, but they also get a $5 tournament chip. The little chip represents a re-buy or an add-on. Most of the players didn’t take the rebuy when they first sat down, but it didn’t take long for people to start needing them.
A LITTLE CONFUSION
It seems like Doyle and John Juanda were playing some Chinese during break. Right as the players were returning to their seats, John Juanda went up to Doyle. There was some confusion over the last hand they played before coming back from break. Doyle thought Juanda owed him money while Juanda thought the opposite.
Juanda was getting a little upset as Doyle shook his head and insisted that he was right. John went back to his chair as Doyle followed him, ”You know what, I remember the hand I had a house in the back John!”
John shook his head muttering as Doyle walked away, ”I’m telling you I remember the hand and I had a house in the back. What do you want me to do John?”
Looks like they’ll have to settle up later.
Later at the table Doyle was overhead saying to David Gray, ”That’s what I get for playing Chinese against a Chinaman!”
THE UNIVERSE (AND WSOP) ALIGN AGAINST YOU
Pot Limit Omaha
As folks bust, others are moved about, supposedly at random.
I don’t buy it, not when Erik Friberg and William Thorson end up at the same table.
Will these two Swedes collide? We’ll let you know.
OVER IN THE HOLD’EM
$2,000 No Limit Hold’em
The small matter of the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event, another perhaps keeping one or two players away from the PLO, got underway just after 3pm.
British interest rested with Roland De Wolfe, whilst enthusiasts would remember Anna Wroblewski as Phil Ivey’s drinking partners at the WPT Championship event earlier this year.
Mark McKibben was out first in ninth place. He moved in the small blind with pocket nines, only to find Steve Crawford calling with pocket Kings. Crawford would make a house on the river.
It was over an hour before the eighth placed player was eliminated.
When David Schnettler moved in it was his make or break hand. Blair Rodman called him and was ahead form the start.
for Rodman
for Schnettler
David was looking for rescue but showed no signs of helping. The Ace on the river saw the final down to seven.
$10,000 POT LIMIT OMAHA
Two hours in and it’s Patrick Antonius ahead of the rest, with a list of familiar faces mounting up behind him…
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
$1,500 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
Over in the less glamorous but equally competitive $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event, Shaun Deeb is ahead as day 2 ploughs onwards…
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
BACK IN BLACK
A man was sitting across the table from Andy Black jamming hard to iPod. Andy Black was curious about what he was listening to and asked if he could have a listen. The man slid the iPod across the table and Andy plugged in his headphones. I was standing next to him when the music started blaring in his ears, I could hear it perfectly, almost as if it was coming out of a stereo.
Andy stiffened up and shouted,”It’s a bit loud don’t you think?!?!”
He uses something other than iPod so he didn’t know how to adjust the volume on it. The girl next to him had to turn down the volume. ”Woah this is so trippy!” said Andy as his head started bobbing up and all.
DOWN TO FIVE
$2,000 No Limit Hold’em
It’s hardly a mad rush in the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em, although the final has lost two more players.
First it was Joe Pelton who bet, was raised by Blair Rodman and then pushed all in. When Rodman eventually called it was with King-Queen. Pelton was ahead with pocket Tens.
The flop looked harmless but the King on the turn put an end to the race, and Pelton’s bracelet hopes. Out in seventh.
The short stack Roland de Wolfe was looking for a lifeline. Behind an Amato Gelasso raise he moved in sending Galasso into deep thought for a while. When he calls it’s Roland who’s ahead.
For Galasso… 
For De Wolfe… 
A harmless looking flop brought one club, the turn a second, and the river a fourth. It was over for Roland in sixth place. $135,384 for the Londoner.
MASSAGES ANYONE?
People are getting non-stop massages in the PLO tournament. Sometimes the players will get massaged literally all day long. The masseuses sometimes run out of areas to rub.
Yesterday we saw Robert Williams get his big toe massaged. Just the big toe, nothing else. The girl was sitting cross legged on the floor with Robert’s size 12 in her lap working away. Hellmuth loves getting massages as well.
A masseuse was walking by and a player stretched out his arms, calling her over. ”Sorry honey, I have to go do him first,” and pointed to Hellmuth.
She must know what Phil likes, she went right for the eyebrows. I couldn’t tell by watching if Phil was in pain or ecstasy, but he didn’t ask her to stop.
DROP THE DEUCE — TO SEVEN
Like many of the sick gamblers that are out on that floor right now, Rafi was registered for two tournaments today. He was in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha, but still had chips over in the Deuce to Seven event.
For most of the day, Rafi’s chips sat alone, untended. They were down to three handed when it was time for a break. Amit asked the table if they could take an additional 20 minutes so he could get in some hands at the Pot Limit Omaha event. The table didn’t seem to have a problem with it, so the break went from 15 to 35 minutes.
Amit arrived at his Omaha table and the players were having fun asking him some questions. Mel Judah was shocked to hear that he was still in the lowball event while Todd made some jokes about it. Judah asked Amit, ”Who else is at the table?”
”Anthony Lellouche is there, he is the nicest Frenchman alive, and it’s not even close!” answered Amit.
Rafi squeezes in some Omaha during his break
THE MOST STACKED PLO TABLE EVER?
Pot Limit Omaha
With so many tables left in the PLO event, despite it drawing a higher concentration of talent outside the H.O.R.S.E., one doesn’t imagine that five of the game’s greats would be seated at the same table.
There is such a table and it’s what should be the featured table if they did that for the PLO as it holds Erik Friberg, Joe Beevers, Thomas Wahlroos, Chau Giang, and even that rascal Doyle Brunson.
Business is about to pick up.
THOMAS WAHLROOS TRIPLES UP
Pot Limit Omaha
Down to $4600 in chips and facing $600 and $1200 blinds, Thomas Wahlroos isn’t in great shape.
When it’s folded to him in middle position, he open-raises to $4200.
It’s folded around to the small blind (Erik Friberg) who calls. The big blind calls as well.
The flop is 
The blinds check to Thomas who goes all-in for $400. They both call.
Turn is…
River is…
The blinds check it down.
Wahlroos shows:
…and it’s good, tripling him up.
After stacking his pot, he calls over to Patrik Antonius on the next table, who has about $200,000 in chips and is the event’s leader.
”Patrik!” he yells to the next table. After getting his attention he says, ”I’ve tripled up. I’m coming for you.”
Patrik smiles at him, causing sixteen railbirds (mostly women) to faint.
FEW YET TO GET THE BOOT
$1,000 S.H.O.E.
Playing out in the back Pavilion tent, the black sheep event of the day has been the S.H.O.E. event, the last mixed game event, for anyone allergic to Omaha, ten grand, or Razz.
730 in all, including…
Men ‘The Master’ Nguyen
Daniel Negreanu
Shannon Elizabeth
Perry Friedman
Gavin Griffin
Jeff Madsen
Cyndy Violette
Marcel Luske
Jason Newburger
Tom Schneider
For the first few hours the only excitement in an event known for passing like a kidney stone was the clock, which showed a different time to those in the main room to those out in the tent. The floor was called, riots were averted, tempers settled.
LET’S MAKE A DEAL
Rafi Amit is currently heads up against Lenny Martin. It’s unclear what’s going on, but the two of them just took a walk and it sure looks like a deal in the making. It didn’t seem like one was struck, Lenny returned to the table and sat there for a few minutes waiting for Rafi. Rafi came back a little out of breath, ”Sorry, I had to play my big and small blind over there,” he said.
They resumed play, but Rafi looked a bit uncomfortable. Every time announcements were made in the main poker room Rafi would stretch out his neck trying to hear. The Pot Limit Omaha director announced a 15 minute break and Rafi looked like he might relax for a second.
”Come on man, look we take a break and I’ll go play Omaha for a little bit, then I can come back and we finish this one. I’ll give you a FREE percentage in the other one.”
”Yeah I know that Omaha is your best game, but let’s play.” Lenny then put on a big hoodie and began shadow boxing, showing Rafi he wants to fight right now. Lenny knows how important the Omaha event is for Rafi. That little bit of added pressure on him might give Lenny a bit of an edge, and there is nothing wrong with making Rafi play.
ALL HELL BREAKING LOOSE
$2,000 No Limit Hold’em
The $2,000 No Limit Hold’em is suddenly heads up after three players fell in the space of 15 minutes.
Steve Crawford went out in fifth place, in with Jack-Eight of Spades, out against Klein Kim Bach’s Ace-Ten. The board missed both players but Crawford needed something. He collects $135,384.
Crowd favourite Anna Wroblewski was out next, moving in for over 400,000 with King-Four, called by Back with Ace-Nine. The nines on the turn and river represented slight overkill but regardless Anna was out.
Bach was next out with nothing more than a tune though. Just ten minutes later his tournament was over after a hand against Blair Rodman.
The flop… 
The turn… 
The river…
There had been betting all the way, and it was Rodman moving in first on the river card. Bach called with Six-Deuce for a full house, good for the pot. Third place and $289,314 for Bach.
It has left Blair Rodman head to head with Amato Galasso.
DUTHIE RUNNING TABLE
John Duthie has been doing a good job of making sure he has complete control of the table. He’s up to $127,000 while playing about 75% of pots.
”I’m robbing these boys blind, and even when they wake up with a hand and play back at me, I pass and raise the next hand! It’s good to play a lot of pots because then, when you have a big hand, you get paid off.”
HEADS UP
$2,000 No Limit Hold’em
As the heads up match started it was Amato Galasso slightly ahead of Blair Rodman
Blair Rodman 3,800,000
Amato Galasso 4,300,000
It was a slow process, with few big hands defining the last stages of the tournament. Instead pots went back and forth.
Rodman went as low as under 2,500,000 before doubling up in what was the only major hand before the last hand. That came an hour later.
With Galasso on the button Rodman, slightly ahead in chips now, moved all-in and found his opponent calling in a flash. This is often a bad sign.
For Galasso… 
For Rodman…
Yep, a bad sign…
The flop… 
Suddenly Rodman was ahead, the Jack leaving Galasso in need of a King to stay alive.
The turn… 
The river… 
The Jacks are good for Rodman; good for the professional gambler’s first bracelet and $707,898. Amato Galasso settles for $448,808 as runner up.
Blair Rodman
ALI THE SHARK
In a three way pot between Ali Sharkasheik, Tony G, and Andy Bloch, Ali Sharkasheik fired a pot sized bet on the turn. Tony G had already gotten all in on the flop, but there could still be a side pot between Bloch and Ali Sharkasheik.
Bloch took a minute or so to think about it before mucking his hand. Ali Sharkasheik turned over a baby flush draw and a pair of sixes. Tony G had already stood by this point, figuring his hand might be crushed — two pair, sevens and deuces. The river came an offsuit four, which gave Ali Sharkasheik two pair, but still not good enough.
”Nice bet, I would’ve made a straight,” snipped Bloch.
”Was that not a good bet? I don’t know if that was bad, but I don’t play too many poker tournaments,” replied Sharkasheik.
”Well, it’s hard to say if it was a good bet,” interjected Raymer.
”Well, you tell me sir, you play in a lot of poker tournaments, because I don’t. Was it a good bet?”
”Well, it gave you the best chance to win the pot, so I guess it was a good bet,” replied Raymer.
”Thanks, you know I don’t play a lot of poker tournaments,” said Ali for the last time.
Ross Boatman who was laughing his ass off by this point, leaned forward and said,”Oh shut up!”
Ali and Ross had a good laugh while everybody else wondered who the hell this Ali guy was.
$1,000 2-7 TRIPLE DRAW
Finally over, the 2-7 Triple Draw event has declared Rafi Amit its winner ahead of Lenny Martin.
In the last hand Martin raised, Amit re-raised, which was called.
As the three rounds went on Martin took three, another two before standing pat. Amit on the other hand stood pat all the way through, moving all in before the third round.
Called, it would come to this. Amit showed 7-6-4-3-2; whilst Martin had 8-7. Enough for Rafi Amit to take the bracelet and the $227,005 for first. Then, a quick sprint across the room to rejoin the Omaha event.
Lenny Martin takes second place and $128,102.
Triple Draw Champ Rafi Amit
$1,500 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
The final nine of the last $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event has been settled.
Taylor Douglas leads them into the final tomorrow. Whilst he’ll feel quite good about life Thomas Middleton, winner of the Master Classics in Amsterdam back in 2005, will feel worst.
He went out in tenth place, holding pocket Queens against Duane Felix and his Ace-Jack. A Jack on the flop, a rail chanting for an Ace on the River and BAM!!, there it was.
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
Taxis along the way for…
Thomas Middleton
Todd Lundwall
Marc Phan
Shaun Deeb
Arnold Spee
Shelley Rubenstein
Mark Teltscher
Mark Rubin
David Tran
Shannon Shorr
Michael Mizrachi
Brad Berman
Rayan Nathan
Sverre Sundbo
Chad Brown
Patrice Boudet
Marc Friedmann
Todd Martin
Mads Wissing Andersen
Mike Gracz
James Whitehead
$10,000 POT LIMIT OMAHA
55 players remain in the Pot Limit Omaha event which has now finished for the day. Antonio Solario leads the field with the likes of Andy Bloch, Annie Duke and Greg Raymer among the leaders.
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
The list of notables still in the pack is a worthy one. It includes…
Roy Brindley
Patrik Antonius
Marco Traniello
Tim Phan
Doyle Brunson
Dave Colclough
Eric Froehlich
Minh Ly
Michael Binger
Kido Pham
Alex Brenes
Joe Beevers
Huckleberry Seed
Jan Boubli
Jani Sointula
Mickey Appleman
Leif Force
Dario Alioto
David Chiu
Donnacha O’Dea
Barny Boatman
JC Tran
John Duthie
Henning Granstad
Ross Boatman
Paul Jackson
Chau Giang
It was curtains for others though, a list that includes nothing but the big names…
Phil Hellmuth
Terrence Chan
Scott Clements
Julian Gardner
Daniel Alaei
Eli Elezra
Tony G
Fabrice Soulier
Surinder Sunar
Rafi Amit
Thor Hansen
Chris Reslock
Dewey Tomko
David Sklansky
Johan Storakers
Johnny Chan
Sam Grizzle
Thomas Wahlroos
Ben Roberts
Bill Gazes
Ted Forrest
Chris ”Jesus” Ferguson
Mel Judah
Rolf Slotboom
Alex Jacob
Patrick Mortensen
Amir Vahedi
Hasan Habib
Mark Vos
Allen Cunningham
Erick Lindgren
Ted Lawson
Willie Tann
Hoyt Corkins
Bruno Fitoussi
Sam Farha
David Ulliott
Max Pescatori
Phil Laak
Humberto Brenes
”Miami” John Cernuto
David Grey
Scott Fischman
Patrick Bruel
Andy Black
Joe Hachem
Steve Zolotow
Juha Helppi
Davood Mehrmand
Barry Greenstein
John Juanda
Jan Sorensen
Kristy Gazes
Ram Vaswami
John D’Agostino
Daniel Negreanu
Jeff Lisandro
Mike Sexton
Gavin Smith
Mark Karam
Jennifer Harman
Phil Ivey
Jim Bechtel
Dario Minieri
Bill Chen
Erik Seidel
David Williams
Todd Brunson
Howard Lederer
Amnon Filipi
Chip Reese
William Thorsson
Kirk Morrison
David Benyamine
Gus Hansen
Gavin Griffin
Bill Edler
Robert Williamson III
Noah Boeken
Marcel Luske
Josh Arieh
Men ”The Master” Nguyen
Lyle Berman
Jeff Madsen
ALL ELIMINATED…
$1,000 S.H.O.E.
The last event of the day still playing has ended. The leaders in the SHOE include Alex Kravchenko, Erik Seidel, Chip Jett and of course JJ Hazan, but it’s Susie Genard who leads the field overnight.
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
Other notables include…
Hani Awad
Jerrod Ankenman
Michael Gracz
Raymond Davis
David Mitchell-Lolis
Keith Sexton
John Esposito
Michael Craig
Matt Grapenthien
But for everyone else it was out in line a long time ago…
Peter Dalhuijsen
Lacey Jones
Jeff Madsen
Chris Ferguson
Bill Chen
Richard Brodie
Tom Schneider
Andreas Hoivold
Cyndy Violette
Allen Kessler
Gavin Griffin
Men ”The Master” Nguyen
George Danzer
Melissa Hayden
Al Barbieri
Daniel Negreanu
Jason Newburger
Perry Friedman
James Van Alstyne
Chad Brown
Mark Vos
Shannon Elizabeth
Josh Arieh
Marcel Luske
ALL ELIMINATED…
PLAY CONCLUDES…
Day 31 comes to an end. Blair Rodman and Rafi Amit left the Amazon Room as winners tonight (we’re not counting Rafi’s elimination from the PLO); thousands more left with nothing.
Chin up though! There’s more top play for tomorrow!
At noon a new event kicks off, a free for all $1,000 No Limit Hold’em with re-buys. At the same time the final of the $1,500 No Limit event also begins.
Then at 2pm the Pot Limit Omaha event starts its second day with 55 players left, followed at 3pm by the second day of the SHOE event.
That should do it for tomorrow. Looking forward to day 32? It starts here at 8pm GMT.
