Matthew Lefkowitz Poker Tournament Updates

Level 10: Hellmuth And Bach Tangle Again, Seed Short

Jun 07, '10

Blinds: Ante 500, Bring-In 500, 2,000-4,000 Limits

Players Remaining: 91 out of 170

Average Chip Count: 51,044

Tournament Leaderboard:

1. Sirious Jamshidi – 134,000
2. Christopher George – 130,000
3. Marco Johnson – 120,000
4. Dan Heimiller – 117,000
5. Alexander Dovshenko – 116,600
6. Phil Ivey – 105,000
7. Frank Kassela – 100,000
8. John Hoang – 93,000
9. Barry Greenstein – 91,000
10. Max Pescatori – 91,000

Card Player Chip Counts:

Max Pescatori — 63,100
Phil Hellmuth — 31,300
Steve Zolotow — 46,400
Barry Shulman — 39,100

Notable Eliminations:

Player’s Twitter Accounts:

Barry Shulman
Cyndy Violette
Kristy Gazes

Big Hands:

Jason Mercier Scoops With 2 Pair

Tom Schneider and Jason Mercier called a raise from Matt Lefkowitz on third street, then Mercier took over the lead on 4th street, betting and getting called by Lefkowitz while Schneider folded. After checking on 5th street Lefkowitz took back over and bet on 6th street, then called when Mercier bet first on the river. Their hands:

Mercier: (K-8)-K586-(10)

Lefkowitz: (X-X)-4J74-MUCK

Mercier took the pot down with two pair and had 59,000 after the hand.

Seidel Takes It Down

Picking up the action on fifth street, Erik Seidel bet 4,000 and the player in seat 7 made the call. Eli Elezra was also in the hand but decided to muck.

Seidel fired another 4,000 on sixth street and seat 7 called. On seventh street, Seidel fired 4,000 showing K10105. Seat 7 decided to muck his AK96 and Seidel took down the pot. HE was at 66,300.

Bach Scoops Hellmuth

Phil Hellmuth bet 4,000 on fifth street and David Bach made the call. Hellmuth checked sixth street and Bach bet 4,000. Hellmuth called and check-called another 4,000 on seventh street.

Bach turned over (AK4)Q276 for ace-king high and an 7-6 low.

Hellmuth turned over (Q63)A985, unable to squeeze out a pair or a better low than Bach and was scooped.

Hellmuth dropped another pot to Bach and was at 31,300 while Bach was up to 83,000.

Seed Chops To Stay Alive

David Bach made it 2,000 to go and Huck Seed raised to 4,000. Bach made the call and then led out for 2,000 on fourth street.

Seed called for his last 900 in chips and Bach pulled out his change. Bach was showing 82 but flipped his hole cards, revealing KK.

“I don’t like my hand,” Seed said. He turned over 76 to go with his AQ. Bach eventually made two pair, kings and fours, while Seed made a 7-low on sixth street and improved to a 6-low on seventh to salvage half the pot.

He still only had 6,500 while Bach was at 84,000.

Player Tags: Huck Seed,   Matthew Lefkowitz,   Phil Hellmuth,   David Bach,   Jason Mercier

Level 11 Update: Rodeen Talebi (Stud), Matt Lefkowitz (NLH) Eliminated

Jun 05, '09

Level Structure:

2-7 triple draw, limit hold’em, and Omaha 8OB: 1,300-2,500 blinds and 2,500-5,000 limits

7-card stud, razz, and 7-card stud 8OB: 500 ante, 700 bring-in, with a 2,500 completion and 2,500-5,000 limits

no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha: 600-1,200 blinds with a 300 ante

NOTES: Games change every eight hands. Two players will be forced to sit out during 2-7 triple draw each hand.

Players Remaining: 81 out of 194

Chip Counts:

1. Soheil Shamseddin — 210,000
2. John Hanson — 172,000
3. Ville Wahlbeck — 160,000
4. Patrick Bueno — 156,000
5. Anthony Lellouche — 140,000
6. Eric Froehlich — 135,000
7. James Van Alstyne — 133,000
8. Huck Seed — 122,000
9. Allie Prescott — 118,000
10. Harris Pablou — 116,000

Average Chip Count: 71,852

Notable Eliminations:

Rodeen Talebi
Matt Lefkowitz
Sebastian Ruthenberg
Ivan Demidov
David Singer
David Gray
Eugene Katchalov
Ted Forrest
Vanessa Rousso

Big Hands:

STUD

Rodeen Talebi Eliminated by Jimmy Fricke

Rodeen Talibi opens the pot for 700 with the 2, Jimmy Fricke completes the bet to 2,500 with the 6, George Danzer calls with the 7 as does Talebi.

Talebi: X-X-24
Fricke: X-X-66
Danvers: X-X-78

Fricke pairs his six and bets 2,500, both opponents call.

Talebi: X-X-244
Fricke: X-X-66Q
Danvers: X-X-78K

Fricke bets 5,000, Talebi calls all in for 1,100 with a new pair of fours and Danzer folds. The dealer proceeds to deal the rest of the cards face-up.

Talebi: (K)(3)24410-X
Fricke: (A)(10)66Q8(4)

All-in and facing elimination Talebi’s river card is dealt face-down. He mucks his hand to Frick’s pair of sixes. Talebi is eliminated while Fricke is back up to 100,000 this hand.

STUD/8

Billirakis & Negreanu Split Pot with Miami John’s Money

Steve Billirakis opens the pot for 700 with the 3 and Miami John Cernuto completes the bet to 2,500 with the 8. Daniel Negreanu calls with the 8 as does John Hennigan with the 7. Billirakis raises to 5,000 and everyone calls.

Billirakis: X-X-310
Cernuto: X-X-84
Negreanu: X-X-85
Hennigan: X-X-7Q

Cernuto bets 2,500 and Negreanu raises to 5,000. Hennigan folds and Billirakis calls.

Billirakis: X-X-3106
Cernuto: X-X-849
Negreanu: X-X-852

Cernuto bets 5,000 and Negreanu raises to 10,000. Billirakis calls all in for 1,100 and Cenruto calls the raise.

Billirakis: X-X-31064
Cernuto: X-X-8499
Negreanu: X-X-852J

This time Cernuto checks to Negreanu who bets 5,000 on sixth street. Cernuto calls. Billirakis is all in. Both Cernuto and Negreanu check the river as three players turn over their cards.

Billirakis: (3)(3)31064(4)
Cernuto: (J)(J)8499(K)
Negreanu: (5)(7)852J(Q)

Billirakis takes the high-hand with a full house while Negreanu tales the low-hand with 8-high. They split the pot and Billirakis stays alive with 25,000 after the hand while Negreanu is up to 110,000 and Cernuto is down to 33,000.

NLH

Matt Lefkowitz Eliminated!

Matt Lefkowitz moves all in for 8,600 from middle position and the player in the small blind calls.

Lefkowitz: 107
Small Blind: 88

Board: AA786

Lefkowitz gets it behind and finds no help from the board. He is eliminated from the tournamnet.

Player Tags: Daniel Negreanu,   Matthew Lefkowitz,   Steve Billirakis,   Jimmy Fricke,   George Danzer,   Rodeen Talebi

Two More to Go

Jul 03, '07

Level 17 has just ended and the remaining 11 players are about to begin Level 18 where the blinds will increase to $10,000-$20,000 with a $3,000 ante.

We lost two more players in the last level with Vivek Rajkumar finishing in 14^th place ($45,173) and Matthew Lefkowitz in 13^th place ($50,012). Lefkowitz moved all-in before the flop and Chad Batista made the call. Lefkowitz turned over A Q while Batista showed 8 8. The board came K 4 2 K K, no help to Matthew Lefkowitz as he is eliminated in 14^th place ($45,173).

Facing near elimination, Jordan Morgan moves all-in from the short stack and doubles up. The player in seat no. 3 calls Morgan all-in with A 9, but Morgan turns over A K. The board came K J 4 5 9 and Morgan doubles up.

Isaac Haxton was the next one to double up when he got involved in a huge pot with Chad Batista. Haxton raised to $45,000 before the flop and Batista re-raised to $115,000. Haxton then came back over the top and pushed all-in for another $450,000. Bastista makes the call with Q J but Haxton turns over 7 7 for the lead. The came K J 9 giving Bastista a pair of jacks for the lead and the A on the river made him a huge favorite to win the hand. The 7 hit the river and Haxton spiked his two-outer to stay alive and double up to over $1,000,000. Needless to say, Batista wasn’t too happy about the whole thing and some words were exchanged.

Jordan Morgan would be eliminated soon after doubling up when he ran into Shawn Hattem’s A-K. Morgan moves all-in before the flop with 9 8 and Shawn Hattem calls behind him with A K. The board came K 9 6 5 6, not enough help to for Jordan Morgan as he is eliminated in 12^th place ($54,852).

Player Tags: Matthew Lefkowitz,   Jordan Morgan,   Shawn Hattem,   Vivek Rajkumar,   Chad Batista,   Isaac Haxton

Big Stacks Paying

Jul 02, '07

The trend in the last hour has been for most of our chip leaders to keep their opponent's in the game.  Possibly the players who employed such aggressive tactics to acquire these large stacks haven't yet changed gears, and their short-stacked opponent's are reaping the benefits.  Barry Greenstein paid off a short stack who moved all in on the river only to find he had turned a full house after flopping a set of Jacks.  Jamie Gold bet $3,000 into Matt Lefkowitz on the turn in one hand, committing himself to calling Lefkowitz's subsequent all in push drawing dead with middle pair to Lefkowitz's top two pair. 

In a similar situation Chris Ferguson moved all in for $2,325 more, after his opponent bet $700 into a board of A J 9 4.  His opponent called with J 10 only to find Ferguson had out flopped him with J 9.  Ferguson doubled up when the 6 fell on the river. 

Isabelle Mercier, Raymond Davis. and Nam Le have all been eliminated in the last level while Jordan Morgan, Joe Hachem, and Jamie Gold have climbed among our chip leaders.

Some Europeans building chips include Barny Boatman on $19,700, Thomas Wahlroos on $24,800, Willie Tann on $19,400, Chris Bjorin on $15,500 and Vicky Coren on $10,600.

Player Tags: Chris Ferguson,   Barry Greenstein,   Matthew Lefkowitz,   Jamie Gold

Two More to Go

Jul 03, '07

Level 17 has just ended and the remaining 11 players are about to begin Level 18 where the blinds will increase to $10,000-$20,000 with a $3,000 ante.

We lost two more players in the last level with Vivek Rajkumar finishing in 14^th place ($45,173) and Matthew Lefkowitz in 13^th place ($50,012). Lefkowitz moved all-in before the flop and Chad Batista made the call. Lefkowitz turned over A Q while Batista showed 8 8. The board came K 4 2 K K, no help to Matthew Lefkowitz as he is eliminated in 14^th place ($45,173).

Facing near elimination, Jordan Morgan moves all-in from the short stack and doubles up. The player in seat no. 3 calls Morgan all-in with A 9, but Morgan turns over A K. The board came K J 4 5 9 and Morgan doubles up.

Isaac Haxton was the next one to double up when he got involved in a huge pot with Chad Batista. Haxton raised to $45,000 before the flop and Batista re-raised to $115,000. Haxton then came back over the top and pushed all-in for another $450,000. Bastista makes the call with Q J but Haxton turns over 7 7 for the lead. The came K J 9 giving Bastista a pair of jacks for the lead and the A on the river made him a huge favorite to win the hand. The 7 hit the river and Haxton spiked his two-outer to stay alive and double up to over $1,000,000. Needless to say, Batista wasn’t too happy about the whole thing and some words were exchanged.

Jordan Morgan would be eliminated soon after doubling up when he ran into Shawn Hattem’s A-K. Morgan moves all-in before the flop with 9 8 and Shawn Hattem calls behind him with A K. The board came K 9 6 5 6, not enough help to for Jordan Morgan as he is eliminated in 12^th place ($54,852).

Player Tags: Matthew Lefkowitz,   Jordan Morgan,   Shawn Hattem,   Vivek Rajkumar,   Chad Batista,   Isaac Haxton

Big Stacks Paying

Jul 02, '07

The trend in the last hour has been for most of our chip leaders to keep their opponent's in the game.  Possibly the players who employed such aggressive tactics to acquire these large stacks haven't yet changed gears, and their short-stacked opponent's are reaping the benefits.  Barry Greenstein paid off a short stack who moved all in on the river only to find he had turned a full house after flopping a set of Jacks.  Jamie Gold bet $3,000 into Matt Lefkowitz on the turn in one hand, committing himself to calling Lefkowitz's subsequent all in push drawing dead with middle pair to Lefkowitz's top two pair. 

In a similar situation Chris Ferguson moved all in for $2,325 more, after his opponent bet $700 into a board of A J 9 4.  His opponent called with J 10 only to find Ferguson had out flopped him with J 9.  Ferguson doubled up when the 6 fell on the river. 

Isabelle Mercier, Raymond Davis. and Nam Le have all been eliminated in the last level while Jordan Morgan, Joe Hachem, and Jamie Gold have climbed among our chip leaders.

Some Europeans building chips include Barny Boatman on $19,700, Thomas Wahlroos on $24,800, Willie Tann on $19,400, Chris Bjorin on $15,500 and Vicky Coren on $10,600.

Player Tags: Chris Ferguson,   Barry Greenstein,   Matthew Lefkowitz,   Jamie Gold

Juanda Bubbles

Jun 28, '07

The final nine are set for Event #44

It took a while but Thang Luu finally put the last nail in John Juanda's coffin.  After Matt Lefkowitz busted in 12th place the following hand cropped up.   Mark Tenner was all-in preflop and called by Juanda and Luu.  The flop came down J 10 6Juanda bet $10,000, and Luu called.  The turn was the 9, Juanda bet $20,000, and Luu raised to $40,000.  Juanda barely had enough to cover the bet and thought for several minutes.  Finally he folded and Tenner was given the bad news, Luu held K-Q and he was drawing dead.

After Tenner's elimination the final 10 redrew seats.  Juanda managed to stick around for over 40 minutes, hitting two wheels and doubling up twice.  However soon Luu would be back to finish the job.  Juanda and Luu saw a flop with Juanda having less than one big bet left.  The flop was A 10 8, and Juanda called Luu's bet, to find he was essentially only drawing for a chop.  Luu held 10 10 6 4 to Juanda's A 7 3 3.  The 9 and the Q hit on the turn and river, missing Juanda's low, and eliminating him in 10th place ($9,719)  The final nine players are

Seat 1- Martin Corpuz, Jr. $292,000
Seat 2- Ming Lee $373,000
Seat 3- Mitch Maples $70,000
Seat 4- Thang Luu $238,000
Seat 5- Jess Robinson $255,000
Seat 6- Frankie O'Dell $318,000
Seat 7- Marcel Luske $427,000
Seat 8- Marvin Ryan $104,000
Seat 9- Stuart Paterson $58,000


They will return to play a different version of a webcast final table.  The table will be webcast, but they will not be sequestered behind the black curtain, and their holecards will not be shown.

That final table will get underway at 2pm.

Player Tags: John Juanda,   Matthew Lefkowitz,   Mark Tenner,   Thang Luu

Two Tables

Jun 28, '07

With the elimination of Robert Wittman in 19th place ($6,803), the players have now redrawn seats for the final two tables.

John Juanda and Thang Luu will still butt heads, but the other table is a bit more daunting with Stuart Patterson, Marcel Luske, Matt Lefkowitz, Ernie Scherer, and Tony Cousineau.

Blair Rodman was eliminated in 24th place when his opponent called his all in after outflopping him with only a pair of fives.

Luske was very active in the last level, but didn't see the cards go his way, often doubling up the short stacks at his previous table. 

There are about 10 minutes left in the current level, and the players will go on dinner break once the level is completed.

Chip Counts

Thang Luu	290,000
Marcel Luske	250,000
Martin Corpuz Jr.	183,000
Jess Robinson	175,000
John Juanda	170,000
Frankie O'Dell	170,000
Mitch Maples	140,000
Marvin Ryan	110,000
Mark Tenner	100,000
Stuart Paterson	90,000
Matt Lefkowitz	75,000
Dan Mowczan	67,000
Tony Cousineau	65,000
Ming Lee	65,000
Gene Fisher	58,000
Richard Naiman	24,000

Player Tags: Tony Cousineau,   John Juanda,   Matthew Lefkowitz,   Blair Rodman,   Ernie Scherer III,   Thang Luu,   Stuart Paterson