LETS VC YOU AT THE SERIES
WSOP NEWS UPDATES
WE’RE OFF AGAIN…
Is it Day 32 already? Here’s what’s in store today…
RE-BUY? NOT FOR THIS GUY!
No Limit Hold ‘em with Re-buys
Just an hour into the event and seats are vacant and tables are broken as people bust out and leave.
Whilst the re-buy action is the traditional fast and furious — why bother to think about a hand when you just need to plunk down another grand to jump back in? — what is always surprising about these events is how many people aren’t willing to rebuy more than once or twice or at all.
I spoke with John Miller who busted out and refused to even get one rebuy: ”Why bother?” he asks. ”I played it like a regular no limit tournament: when you’re out, you’re out.”
”Then why not play in a non-rebuy event?”
”With all those re-buys, it’s a bigger prize pool, and a bigger payday. I’ll get ‘em next year.”
Spoken like the true 2008 No Limit Hold ‘em Re-buy bracelet winner.
WHY KEEP THE DEALERS HAPPY?
No Limit Hold ‘em with Re-buys
A floorman approaches another floor and says, ”The dealers are complaining about the lack of a push. They want a break.”
”Can’t do it,” the Dale Carnegie Jr. answers. ”No one is getting pushed. Tell them to shut up.”
LOOKIN FOR ACTION IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES
No Limit Hold ‘em with Re-buys
Andy Black is at a juicy table where re-buys are flying almost as fast as the cards. His forehead appears bare as it is without his usual pare of sunglasses.
The problem is that he isn’t in any of the hands to partake of the all-in fests that are ensuing as everyone is re-buying and passing loads of chips back and forth.
Once he gets in a hand, he raises a few limpers and, in a troublesome moment, they both fold rather than do the normal push.
”You all keep giving each other loads of action but when I make a bet everyone folds,” Andy declares. ”Swines! All of you.”
After the hand in question, Andy Black and his opponent had an uncomfortable staredown that ended in a stalemate. They agreed to not look at each other for the rest of the tournament to avoid any more uneasiness.
MIKE MATU-SHOW
Mike Matusow is putting on quite a show this afternoon. He’s being much louder and more obnoxious than usual, but the crowd is doing a good job egging him on. At one point Mikey raised in the dark four times in a row, taking down each pot. A couple railbirds, that were way too drunk considering how early it is, would scream every time Matusow did anything. He checked his cards, they screamed. He bet, they screamed. He just sat there, they screamed.
One of them was wearing a ridiculous hat, and he kept begging Mike to wear it. ”Yo man, put on my hat! If you wear my hat I’ll give you a dollar!” shouted the guy.
”One dollar? Maybe ten thousand! You look like a idiot!” replied Matusow.
”Ten thousand? I can’t afford that, I’m poor,” replied hat guy.
”Nah, I’m just kidding the hat’s alright. It’s been on your head though, and I don’t know where it’s been,” said Matusow.
”I’m gonna have my own reality show!” Matusow yelled.
Barney Boatman looked over at Mikey and asked,”What the heck do you know about reality?”
”Oh I know everything about it man! Believe you me! I know everything about everything man!”
Matusow took a short stroll in his section and his eyes locked on Men the Master. He pointed at the little guy shouting,”Men is the man! You’re the best man!”
Shortly after, the floor went over to break the table and the people on the rail looked like they might cry.
DANIEL UNDER THE WEATHER
Daniel Negreanu has a case of the sniffles. Someone said,”You look sick!”
”Yeah, it’s because of that stupid tent. They have that nasty air blowing down on you. I should sue Harrahs!”
Watch out Harrahs, you’re about to feel the Canadian Thunder!
TABLE DAVOOD
No Limit Hold ‘em with Re-buys
Early in these major events much time is spent hunting for where the various players are which you care to cover; whilst many might believe we are handed a sheet saying Player X is at Table Y, that is not the case.
This means putting on your track shoes and walking the earth, searching for the stories and the names in the sea of wannabes.
”How are you, my friend?” a player underneath a tight hooded sweatshirt asks.
I look down and see Davood Mehrmand extending his hand in my direction. Scared, I shake it, Davood can often look ferocious.
”That Andy Black,” he says, talking about his little spat with the Irishman yesterday. ”He has a lot of nerve, no?”
What to say? ”What are you going to do?”
He mumbles something and starts laughing. I smile and get out of there as quick as I can.
I GUESS IT IS BETTER THAN HAVING LUCKY UNDERWEAR
SHOE
”Yesterday I played the best poker of my life,” JJ Hazan tells me between hands.
Coming from someone with his admirable acumen, that is saying something.
He continues: ”I was invincible yesterday, hitting everything. I was up to twenty-six K but then I didn’t switch gears and chased where I shouldn’t've. I’ll get it back though.”
He smiles and adds, ”For me, it’s no different coming in 90th or busting out first on day one; I’m here to win. I’ve even got on my lucky shirt.”
He leans back in his chair so I can get a better look at his handsome attire. ”Most of the tourneys I’ve won, plus my second place in Amsterdam, all came whilst wearing this very shirt.”
As the cards are dealt for the next hand, he concludes by saying, ”I know I’ve only got ten K now but check back in a little and it’ll be more. You’ll see.”
JJ Hazan
NOT EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE HERE TODAY
SHOE
Whilst he has been concentrating on the juicy cash games during The Series, like everyone else New Englander Joe Tall isn’t impervious to the tournament bug.
”Signing up for this event was a last second decision,” he explains. ”It might seem random but I love the games in the format and the competition is unbelievably soft. I’m running so bad and yet here I am on day two.”
Let’s hope the cards start breaking right so Tall adds to his short-stack.
HELLMUTH DISPLAYS CHIVALRY AT RIO
Pot Limit Omaha
Smelling ESPN cameras shooting footage of the PLO Championship, Phil Hellmuth makes his entrance, sizing up the stacks of various players, hoping everyone sees him and will then, hopefully, love him.
”Go Dolly,” he says, walking past Doyle Brunson’s table.
Doyle smiles at Phil and shakes his head, knowing he’s just a prop in the Phil Hellmuth show.
Phil turns whilst still walking and bumps into Vicky Coren, who is standing up from a table at the No Limit Hold ‘em with re-buy tournament, whose tables are just feet away from the PLO.
Phil looks at her, his feelings hidden a bit by his sunglasses, doesn’t apologize, and continues on his way.
Matusow runs over to let Phil know how many idiots are currently playing in the rebuy event.
BARRY GREENSTEIN SUCKS (OUT ON RAYAN NATHAN)
No Limit Hold ‘em with Re-buy-
The hee-hawing doesn’t stop even when the re-buy period is over.
A player open-raises in early position to $400 and Barry Greenstein cold-calls.
Adelaide, Australian poker superstar Rayan Nathan makes it $2800 to go.
Everyone folds except for the initial raiser and Barry Greenstein.
It’s checked to Rayan on the Six-Four-Two rainbow flop and he goes all-in for about $13,000.
The first player folds but Barry calls, pushing in his $9000 and leaving Nathan with just $4000 if he loses this pot.
Rayan shows a monster: pocket Nines.
Barry shows a marginal holding: pocket Twos which became a set on the flop and hold up through the turn and river.
”I knew that was a bad call pre-flop,” Barry comments, trying to make excuses for his play. ”But I figured I’d either double up or I’d bust out as I want to play in the Deuce-Seven.”
Rayan Nathan
CHAMP VS CHAMP
$1,000 No Limit Hold’em with re-buys
As far as marquee hands go you cant get much higher than when two world champions face each other.
In the re-buy event reigning champion Jamie Gold found himself up against his predecessor Joe Hachem.
On a flop of Ace-Queen-Six, with two diamonds, Gold checked, Hachem bet and both Gold and another player called.
After a Three on the turn, Hachem bet out 11,200 which Gold them raised to 39,000, a figure that should he call would put Hachem all in. It’s just the two of them and after serious thought Joe made the call.
Whilst Hachem held Ace-Eight, Gold showed Deuce-Three.
The river brought an Ace to help out the 2005 Champ, keeping The Aussie’s hopes alive.
ROY THE BOY
Roy the Boy has been card dead for the last hour and a half. On $185,000 he was still pretty comfortable. Three minutes later his wishes are answered when he gets A-A-Q-Q against Christian Kjhondal’s Q-Q-J-T. The flop came T-T-2 and the Roy failed to catch. Christian doubled up and Roy said, ”I wish I would’ve still been card dead!”
Roy Brindley
IRISH EYES AREN’T SMILING
Pot Limit Omaha
Irish legend Donnacha O’Dea, one of those European players who often flies under the radar to hosts of diligent youngsters, found that his luck in the Pot Limit Omaha had run its course.
He went out in fourteenth place when he moved in and found Rene Mouritsen calling. Mouritsen, who has two cashes this year and finished second in the Mixed Hold’em event a few days ago, called showing K-J-J-9. Donnacha showed A-J-T-7
The board decided against O’Dea, bringing Q-9-4-8-7.
Mouritsen’s hand held up. He advances towards the final, while O’Dea picks up $30,992 for his two days work.
POT LIMIT OMAHA TABLE SET!
The Pot Limit Omaha event made it to the final ten, and it was a good one. Patrik Antonius, Tommy Ly, David Chiu, Doyle Brunson, Marco Traniello, Rene Mouritsen, Robert Mizrachi, Steve Sung, Steve Ladowsky, and Jonas Flug-Entin. They were to play down to nine before quitting for the night. It only took a little more than thirty minutes before the ‘real’ final table was set.
The final hand was a painful one to watch. David Chiu got all in on the flop against Tommy Ly with the nut flush draw and an overpair of aces. Tommy Ly had outflopped him, though only making two pair. The odds were almost an even 50/50, but Chiu didn’t care about the numbers, he just needed to hit a card, and do it quickly.
Some of the crowd was standing on chairs while the media people crowded around the table trying to see what the remaining cards would bring. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be for Chiu. Although he had so many outs, he had missed all of them. Chiu punched the table out of frustration as the rest of the table passed around a few handshakes. The first thing Marco did right as the river came out was run over to Jennifer Harman to tell her the good news.
Chiu walked off into the distance, clearly despondent due to his loss, and just stared out into the poker room. The rest of the players left began to bag and tag their chips before going to get some rest before their big day. Tomorrow we shall get to see a few of the best mix it up in that crazy game called Omaha.
Antonius has chips, so he’ll definitely be a force to be reckoned with. Doyle has some chips too and he’s already used to final tables. Marco wants to make Jen proud, while Robert Mizrachi tries to make a real name for himself by taking home his first bracelet. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this one, it’s easily one of the richest final tables of the Series this year.
WAHLROOS OUTPLAYS THEM ALL
No Limit Hold ‘em with Re-buys
Thomas Wahlroos spins the button in his hand as the dealer pitches out the cards. Moments later it’s folded around to the hijack who open raises the $600 and $1200 blinds (let’s not forget the $100 antes!) to $3200. Wahlroos calls on the button and the blinds fold.
Flop: 
The hijack bets $4000, leaving himself with about $10,000 and Wahlroos says, ”I’ll put you all in.”
Thomas has much more than the hijack and after a few moments the hijack tosses his pocket Eights face-up.
”Good fold,” Wahlroos says, flashing his pocket Sevens.
It’s scary how good he is.
PHIL HELLMUTH - TABLE CAPTAIN
No Limit Hold ‘em with Re-buys
It’s Phil Hellmuth’s big blind and he lets the table know. ”Be careful, gents,” he warns. ”Realize if you raise you may end up head to head with me.”
He cannot be real. This cannot be his legit personality.
Everyone folds around to the small blind who checks his cards. ”Take it easy, buddy,” Phil says. ”No shame in folding.”
The small blind does and Phil picks it up along with all the antes. I’ve seen this happen before and it never stops amazing me.
Then, from across the room people cheer something that just happened in another tournament. Phil stands up, flips back his Oakleys, pops out his iPod, and watches and listens.
He looks sad, a bit pensive, and upset that the cheers aren’t for him. What drives you, Phil Hellmuth, and do you die a little inside when the applause from others falls onto those not you?
$1,500 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
The winner of the latest $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event was Chandrasekhar Billavara who becomes the latest player to take home a bracelet, and of course the accompanying $722,914.
Chandrasekhar Billavara
(photo courtesy of imagemasters)
Typically there’s a story behind Chanrasekhar’s victory. In an event a few days ago the Indian native was out third hand. Frustrated he wasn’t sure whether or not to play this one but had had a good run on the craps table. After the buy in for this he was up $200 on the trip. Not bad. Now add over $722,000.
$10,000 POT LIMIT OMAHA
Tommy Vy leads the field into tomorrow where notably Doyle Brunson sits with his eyes on his 11th WSOP bracelet. Should he win he will match the record set by Phil Hellmuth a few weeks ago, and perhaps peg the Poker Brat back a little.~
All eyes will be on him and what should, as mentioned, prove a strong final.
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
There was a long notable list of taxi hunters today…
David Chiu
Andy Bloch
Roy Brindley
Donnacha O’Dea
Scotty Nguyen
Annie Duke
Kido Pham
Eric Froehlich
Jani Sointula
Michael Binger
Tim Phan
Leif Force
Magnus Persson
Antonio Salorio
Joe Beevers
Dario Alioto
Paul Jackson
Mickey Appleman
Jan Boubli
Dave Colclough
Tore Lagerborg
John Duthie
Greg Raymer
Martin Wendt
Alex Brenes
JC Tran
Chau Giang
Minh Ly
ALL ELIMINATED…
$1,000 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM WITH RE-BUYS
David Williams leads the No Limit Hold’em rebuy event after day ends on day 1. Also among the leaders is Paul McCaffrey, and Irishman now living the American Dream.
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
Among those still in contention as the money bubble bursts…
Berry Johnston
Jeffrey Lisandro
Shaun Deeb
Barny Boatman
Thomas Wahlroos
Carl Olson
Jimmy Tran
Sverre Sundbo
Jamie Gold
Sabyl Cohen
Jon Friedberg
Daniel Alaei
Brandon Lee
Phil Hellmuth Jr.
Mark Seif
Haralabos Voulgaris
Mike Matusow
Michael Binger
Joe Hachem
J.C. Tran
As for the rest, among those looking for the door…
Sherkhan Farnood
Noah Boeken
Vicky Coren
Mikael Thuritz
Erick Lindgren
Kenna James
Joe Sebok
Nick Binger
Joe Awada
Mimi Tran
David Singer
David Bach
Barry Greenstein
Davood Mehrmand
Juha Helppi
Hasan Habib
Marc Karam
Nick Schulman
Bill Chen
Dan Shak
David Plastik
Josh Arieh
Surinder Sunar
Thomas ‘Thunder’ Keller
Roland de Wolfe
Cyndy Violette
Shannon Elizabeth
Bill Gazes
Kathy Liebert
Daniel Negreanu
Tony G
Shannon Shorr
Antonio Esfandiari
Scott Fischman
David Levi
Chris ”Jesus” Ferguson
Bill Edler
John Juanda
James Van Alstyne
Victor Ramdin
Dewey Tomko
Michael Mizrachi
Tony Ma
Men ‘The Master’ Nguyen
Humberto Brenes
TJ Cloutier
Shane Schleger
Kevin O’Donnell
David ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott
Andy Black
Anna Wroblewski
John Phan
David ‘The Dragon’ Pham
Chad Brown
James Mackey
Chris Reslock
John Gale
Jeff Madsen
Will Durkee
Isabelle Mercier
Phil Gordon
ALL ELIMINATED…
$1,000 S.H.O.E.
It seemed the SHOE event would be one of those in no rush to find its final table. With ten players left no one seemed keen to risk their tournament life on a whim.
But alas, the final eventually was settled when Juliano Maesano was eliminated and then, just minute later, Eric Tomberlin followed. It left eight players who will reconvene here tomorrow…
(chips counted by worldseriesofpoker.com)
It wouldn’t be a good day for everyone…
Eric Tomberlin
Juliano Maesano
David Duran
Doug ”Rico” Carli
Matt Matros
Susie Genard
Robert Goldfarb
Ali Eslami
Rolf Slotboon
Paul Parker
Kevin O’Donnell
Luca Pagano
Alex Kravchenko
Brian Nadell
Erik Seidel
JJ Hazan
Michael Schneider
Mike Gracz
Jerrod Ankenman
Andy Ward
PLAY CONCLUDES…
That’s the lot for today. Chandrasekhar Billavara picked up the bracelet in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event and boosted him Vegas trip profit by $722,914.
The Pot Limit Omaha event also reached its final; so too the S.H.O.E. event. Both will find winners tomorrow.
Day 33 starts at Noon with the start of the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout event. The Pot Limit Omaha final starts at 2pm, as does the second day of the $1,000 No Limit re-buy.
Finally the S.H.O.E. is back on to round up the day.
A few more familiar faces have begun to descend on Vegas as the main event is now just four days away.
Coverage of this year’s World Series continues at 8pm GMT.
