Nick Cassavetes Poker Tournament Updates

Hour One Recap

Jul 10, '07

Why So Quiet?

With only 1,037 players starting the day and no other activity in the Amazon room, things are eerily quiet. No cash games, no spectators, no satellites and the Amazon room at half capacity makes for a very different feeling on this day two. The sound of rustling chips usually evokes a feeling of being in a rainstorm, today it sounds more like crickets.

Early Eliminations

Director, actor, writer, these are all titles that apply to Nick Cassavetes. The title of Main Event Champion looks like it will not be added to that list. Cassavetes came into the day with a relatively healthy chip stack. With the board showing 10 8 3 and $60,000 behind him, Cassavetes found himself all in against only one opponent. Cassavetes showed J J and said to his opponent, "you got a set of eights?" His read was spot on as his opponent turned over 8 8. The turn was the 2 and the river brought the K. Cassavetes shook his opponent's hand and exited the Amazon room.

Joe Hachem, member of Team Pokerstars, was also eliminated in the early hours of day two. Hachem got all his money in on a flop of A-10-10 with A-8. His opponent in the hand called him with A-Q and when the turn and river both bricked out, the queen ended up playing. Hachem was out kicked and eliminated from this year's Main Event.
 
Bringing a little bit of humor to the room today was Ivan Saul. Playing for Pokerstars, Saul pushed all in before the flop from late position. The player in seat three asked the dealer to count out the bet and Saul immediately stood up and started putting on a show. "Seat open! Table 64!" shouted Saul, inciting laughter from Kirk Morrison who is seated at his table. Saul, clad in an Argentina hat and towel draped around his neck, looked more like a crazed World Cup fan than a poker player. "Seat open! Seat open! Table 64!" shouted Saul again. The player in seat three called and Saul showed A 4. The player in seat three showed 3 3. The board came Q J 6 5 5 and Saul was sent to the rail.

Looks like Montel Williams won't be leaving his television show anytime soon, after busting out today he'll more than likely keep his day job. Williams was all in with A 4 up against his opponent in seat eight who was holding pocket sevens. The board bricked out for Williams when it came J 3 2 J 9 and he exited the Amazon room.

Up and Down Day  for Sebok

Joe Sebok came into the day short stacked and has had a rocky day thus far. Sebok was able to double up early to almost $23,000 when he was all in with pocket kings against Pascal Perrault and his pocket eights. The board bricked out for Perrault and Sebok's kings held up. With things looking up for Sebok, he played the rush and took a stab at a point just a few hands later. Sebok made a large bet on the turn and was met with a large raise from his opponent. Sebok got away from the hand but now has only $13,000 to work with.

Hamby Passed the $100K Mark

Jared Hamby, one of poker's hottest new players, has just passed the $100,000 chip mark. The player in seat three at Hamby's table raised to $3,700 preflop and Hamby bumped it up to $10,700. The player in seat nine called from the small blind and the initial raiser got out of the way. The flop came J 4 3 and the player in seat nine checked. Hamby bet out $15,000 and the player in seat nine called without hesitation. The turn was the 5 and again the player in seat nine checked. Hamby pushed all in and the player in seat nine shook his head in frustration. Seat nine eventually folded and and Hamby asked him, "queens?" The player in seat nine nodded and Hamby showed the table his pocket kings. Hamby took down the pot and now has $105,000.

Featured Table

Sharing the felt at today's featured table are "Miami" John Cernuto, Mack Lee, Sabyl Cohen and Scotty Nguyen.


Notable Chip Counts

Scotty Nguyen	152,000
Berry Johnston	145,000
David "The Dragon" Pham	105,000
John Cernuto	91,000
Alex Kravchenko	84,500
Brad Garrett	81,000
Barry Greenstein	81,000
Robert Mizrachi	80,900
Huck Seed	67,500
Minh Ly	67,000
Evelyn Ng	67,000
Shirley Williams	62,700
Raymond Davis	60,300
Nam Le	57,100
Jeff Madsen	56,500
Joe Tehan	56,000
Richard Lee	55,200
Bruno Fitoussi	47,100
Daniel Harrington	44,800
Tony G	42,400
Kirk Morrison	42,000
David Levi	38,000
Tom McEvoy	37,400
John Hennigan	36,100
Tobey Maguire	24,200
Sabyl Cohen	24,000
Joe Sebok	24,000
Paul Wasicka	23,000
Doug Kim	18,000

Player Tags: John Cernuto,   Scotty Nguyen,   Mack Lee,   Pascal Perrault,   Joe Sebok,   Joe Hachem,   Nick Cassavetes,   Sabyl Cohen-Landrum,   Jared Hamby,   Ivan Saul,   Montel Williams

First Hour Gone

Jul 07, '07

Cards in the Air

The cards have been in the air for only one hour and already day 1B feels different than day 1A. Day 1A was filled with nervous anticipation and tons of hype. Today feels more like a poker tournament, a convention of gamblers if you will. The day started with World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack unveiling the 2007 Main Event Champion's bracelet. This year's bracelet is made of white gold with 120 diamonds and a 1.3 karat weight. Pollack handed the microphone to the Rio's own Penn and Teller who were given the honor of announcing "Shuffle up and deal!"

Stacked Field

Although many notable names played in yesterday's field, today may have it beat. Scott Fischman, Erik Seidel, Joe Sebok, Sam Farha, Evelyn Ng, David "The Dragon" Pham, Paul Wasicka, John Juanda, "Miami" John Cernuto, Roland De Wolfe and Jennifer Harmon are just some of the big names sharing the felt in today's heat of Main Event entrants.

Champions Present

On any day one of the Main Event it is easy to walk around the Amazon room and count anywhere from five to twenty bracelet winners littered amongst the field. Eric Seidel, Scott Clements, David Williams and Jeff Lisandro are a few of the notable bracelet winners in today's field but more noteworthy may be the number of Main Event bracelet winners that are all playing today. Tom McEvoy ('83), Berry Johnston ('86), Dan Harrington ('95), Scotty Nguyen ('98) and Joe Hachem ('04) have all elected to play on day 1B of this year's Main Event.

A Family Affair?

Poker skills may or may not be hereditary, the jury is still out on that one, but there is something to be said for families that play the game. Brothers Ross and Barny Boatman are both in the field today and sitting just a few tables apart are David Williams and his mother, Shirley. Barry Shulman, his wife Allyn Jaffrey Shulman and his son Jeff Shulman are all at different tables but playing on the same day as well, while father and son Donnacha O’Dea and Eoghan O’Dea from Ireland are also in the field.

Hollywood in the House

Tournament official Nolan Dolla announced over the loud speaker that TV personality Montel Williams was amongst the 1,300 or so that started the day. It is not uncommon on day one to spot a few celebrities either playing or watching. Director and writer Nick Cassavetes is playing today as well as Norm McDonald who is playing for PokerStars.

www.pokerstars.com

Euro news

The European contingent is out in force today. Some interesting tablemates include Neil Channing and Michael Keiner, Ross Boatman and Pat O’Callaghan, Dave Shallow and Alexander Kravchenko, Al Kelleher and Max Pescatori, Rob Taylor and John Juanda, Bruno Fitoussi and Dan Harrington, Kathy Liebert and George McKeever.

Early chip movements include popular Blonde Poker journalist and birthday girl Jen Mason down to $13,050 in chips and equally popular European Poker Tour honcho John Duthie up to $34,050 in chips.

Recent bracelet winner Alan Smurfit is also playing as are Carlo Citrone, Praz Banzi, Juha Helppi, Vicky Coren, Marc Goodwin, Bruno Fitoussi, Simon Trumper, Pascal Perrault, Martin Wendt, Noah Boeken and Martin Green.

Trumper trumps opponent

Simon Trumper, from English crew Dusk Til Dawn, pulled what he described as 'an outrageous bluff' and was inordinately happy with his early play.

'I haven't made day two for five years and that has pi*sed me right off,' he told CardPlayer.com. 'I'm in the small blind with 8-6 and with three limpers i call. The flop came J-4-7 with two spades so if i hit a five i'm ahead or a spade i reckon i can represent the flush.' Cutting a long story short the limpers were weeded out when a spade came on the turn and another on the river. Trumper made it $2,500 into a pot of $4,500 on the river and the early raise dwelled.

Picking up the story Trumper said,' Just then they announced former world champion Berry Johnson was playing today so i took my hands off my cards and clapped. When the other guys saw how relaxed and casual i was he immediately mucked,' beamed an upbeat Trumper.

Notable Chip Counts

Berry Johnston	37,000
Joe Sebok	34,000
Kirk Morrison	33,000
Tony G	29,000
Justin Bonomo	28,200
Sammy Farha	27,000
Evelyn Ng	27,000
Scotty Nguyen	25,800
J.J. Liu	25,000
Joe Hachem	24,000
Barry Shulman	23,500
Bob Bright	23,100
Erik Seidel	23,000
Paul Wasicka	22,700
Robert Mizrachi	22,000
Norm MacDonald	22,000
Isabelle Mercier	21,500
Kathy Liebert	21,000
Allyn Jaffrey Shulman	21,000
Scott Fischman	20,500
Tom McEvoy	20,000
Scott Clements	20,000
Sam Grizzle	20,000
Rett Butler	20,000
Jordan Morgan	20,000
Jeffrey Lisandro	20,000
Howard Lederer	20,000
Dan Harrington	20,000
Alexander Kravchenko	20,000
Sabyl Cohen	19,800
Jennifer Harman	19,650
Noah Boeken	19,000
Annie Duke	18,500
John Juanda	18,300
Kido Pham	17,500
'Miami John' Cernuto	17,000
David 'The Dragon' Pham	16,800
Barny Boatman	15,800
Roland De Wolfe	15,500
Hoyt Corkins	15,400
Juha Helppi	14,600
Mark Seif	14,500
Max Pescatori	14,000
Aaron Kanter	13,500
David Singer	13,000
Davidson Matthew	12,500
Dan Shak	11,000
David Williams	10,500
Bill Chen	10,000

Player Tags: Donnacha O'Dea,   John Cernuto,   Tom McEvoy,   Scotty Nguyen,   Allyn Jaffrey Shulman,   David Pham,   Erik Seidel,   Evelyn Ng,   Jeff Shulman,   John Juanda,   Scott Fischman,   Ross Boatman,   Dan Harrington,   Barry Shulman,   Jennifer Harman,   Jeffrey Lisandro,   Bruno Fitoussi,   Barny Boatman,   Berry Johnston,   John Duthie,   George McKeever,   David Williams,   Sam Farha,   Simon Trumper,   Paul Wasicka,   Scott Clements,   Pascal Perrault,   Joe Sebok,   Shirley Williams,   Carlo Citrone,   Roland de Wolfe,   Joe Hachem,   Jennifer Mason,   Nick Cassavetes,   Martin Wendt,   Victoria Coren,   Praz Bansi,   Norm MacDonald,   Montel Williams

Hour One Recap

Jul 10, '07

Why So Quiet?

With only 1,037 players starting the day and no other activity in the Amazon room, things are eerily quiet. No cash games, no spectators, no satellites and the Amazon room at half capacity makes for a very different feeling on this day two. The sound of rustling chips usually evokes a feeling of being in a rainstorm, today it sounds more like crickets.

Early Eliminations

Director, actor, writer, these are all titles that apply to Nick Cassavetes. The title of Main Event Champion looks like it will not be added to that list. Cassavetes came into the day with a relatively healthy chip stack. With the board showing 10 8 3 and $60,000 behind him, Cassavetes found himself all in against only one opponent. Cassavetes showed J J and said to his opponent, "you got a set of eights?" His read was spot on as his opponent turned over 8 8. The turn was the 2 and the river brought the K. Cassavetes shook his opponent's hand and exited the Amazon room.

Joe Hachem, member of Team Pokerstars, was also eliminated in the early hours of day two. Hachem got all his money in on a flop of A-10-10 with A-8. His opponent in the hand called him with A-Q and when the turn and river both bricked out, the queen ended up playing. Hachem was out kicked and eliminated from this year's Main Event.
 
Bringing a little bit of humor to the room today was Ivan Saul. Playing for Pokerstars, Saul pushed all in before the flop from late position. The player in seat three asked the dealer to count out the bet and Saul immediately stood up and started putting on a show. "Seat open! Table 64!" shouted Saul, inciting laughter from Kirk Morrison who is seated at his table. Saul, clad in an Argentina hat and towel draped around his neck, looked more like a crazed World Cup fan than a poker player. "Seat open! Seat open! Table 64!" shouted Saul again. The player in seat three called and Saul showed A 4. The player in seat three showed 3 3. The board came Q J 6 5 5 and Saul was sent to the rail.

Looks like Montel Williams won't be leaving his television show anytime soon, after busting out today he'll more than likely keep his day job. Williams was all in with A 4 up against his opponent in seat eight who was holding pocket sevens. The board bricked out for Williams when it came J 3 2 J 9 and he exited the Amazon room.

Up and Down Day  for Sebok

Joe Sebok came into the day short stacked and has had a rocky day thus far. Sebok was able to double up early to almost $23,000 when he was all in with pocket kings against Pascal Perrault and his pocket eights. The board bricked out for Perrault and Sebok's kings held up. With things looking up for Sebok, he played the rush and took a stab at a point just a few hands later. Sebok made a large bet on the turn and was met with a large raise from his opponent. Sebok got away from the hand but now has only $13,000 to work with.

Hamby Passed the $100K Mark

Jared Hamby, one of poker's hottest new players, has just passed the $100,000 chip mark. The player in seat three at Hamby's table raised to $3,700 preflop and Hamby bumped it up to $10,700. The player in seat nine called from the small blind and the initial raiser got out of the way. The flop came J 4 3 and the player in seat nine checked. Hamby bet out $15,000 and the player in seat nine called without hesitation. The turn was the 5 and again the player in seat nine checked. Hamby pushed all in and the player in seat nine shook his head in frustration. Seat nine eventually folded and and Hamby asked him, "queens?" The player in seat nine nodded and Hamby showed the table his pocket kings. Hamby took down the pot and now has $105,000.

Featured Table

Sharing the felt at today's featured table are "Miami" John Cernuto, Mack Lee, Sabyl Cohen and Scotty Nguyen.


Notable Chip Counts

Scotty Nguyen	152,000
Berry Johnston	145,000
David "The Dragon" Pham	105,000
John Cernuto	91,000
Alex Kravchenko	84,500
Brad Garrett	81,000
Barry Greenstein	81,000
Robert Mizrachi	80,900
Huck Seed	67,500
Minh Ly	67,000
Evelyn Ng	67,000
Shirley Williams	62,700
Raymond Davis	60,300
Nam Le	57,100
Jeff Madsen	56,500
Joe Tehan	56,000
Richard Lee	55,200
Bruno Fitoussi	47,100
Daniel Harrington	44,800
Tony G	42,400
Kirk Morrison	42,000
David Levi	38,000
Tom McEvoy	37,400
John Hennigan	36,100
Tobey Maguire	24,200
Sabyl Cohen	24,000
Joe Sebok	24,000
Paul Wasicka	23,000
Doug Kim	18,000

Player Tags: John Cernuto,   Scotty Nguyen,   Mack Lee,   Pascal Perrault,   Joe Sebok,   Joe Hachem,   Nick Cassavetes,   Sabyl Cohen-Landrum,   Jared Hamby,   Ivan Saul,   Montel Williams

First Hour Gone

Jul 07, '07

Cards in the Air

The cards have been in the air for only one hour and already day 1B feels different than day 1A. Day 1A was filled with nervous anticipation and tons of hype. Today feels more like a poker tournament, a convention of gamblers if you will. The day started with World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack unveiling the 2007 Main Event Champion's bracelet. This year's bracelet is made of white gold with 120 diamonds and a 1.3 karat weight. Pollack handed the microphone to the Rio's own Penn and Teller who were given the honor of announcing "Shuffle up and deal!"

Stacked Field

Although many notable names played in yesterday's field, today may have it beat. Scott Fischman, Erik Seidel, Joe Sebok, Sam Farha, Evelyn Ng, David "The Dragon" Pham, Paul Wasicka, John Juanda, "Miami" John Cernuto, Roland De Wolfe and Jennifer Harmon are just some of the big names sharing the felt in today's heat of Main Event entrants.

Champions Present

On any day one of the Main Event it is easy to walk around the Amazon room and count anywhere from five to twenty bracelet winners littered amongst the field. Eric Seidel, Scott Clements, David Williams and Jeff Lisandro are a few of the notable bracelet winners in today's field but more noteworthy may be the number of Main Event bracelet winners that are all playing today. Tom McEvoy ('83), Berry Johnston ('86), Dan Harrington ('95), Scotty Nguyen ('98) and Joe Hachem ('04) have all elected to play on day 1B of this year's Main Event.

A Family Affair?

Poker skills may or may not be hereditary, the jury is still out on that one, but there is something to be said for families that play the game. Brothers Ross and Barny Boatman are both in the field today and sitting just a few tables apart are David Williams and his mother, Shirley. Barry Shulman, his wife Allyn Jaffrey Shulman and his son Jeff Shulman are all at different tables but playing on the same day as well, while father and son Donnacha O’Dea and Eoghan O’Dea from Ireland are also in the field.

Hollywood in the House

Tournament official Nolan Dolla announced over the loud speaker that TV personality Montel Williams was amongst the 1,300 or so that started the day. It is not uncommon on day one to spot a few celebrities either playing or watching. Director and writer Nick Cassavetes is playing today as well as Norm McDonald who is playing for PokerStars.

www.pokerstars.com

Euro news

The European contingent is out in force today. Some interesting tablemates include Neil Channing and Michael Keiner, Ross Boatman and Pat O’Callaghan, Dave Shallow and Alexander Kravchenko, Al Kelleher and Max Pescatori, Rob Taylor and John Juanda, Bruno Fitoussi and Dan Harrington, Kathy Liebert and George McKeever.

Early chip movements include popular Blonde Poker journalist and birthday girl Jen Mason down to $13,050 in chips and equally popular European Poker Tour honcho John Duthie up to $34,050 in chips.

Recent bracelet winner Alan Smurfit is also playing as are Carlo Citrone, Praz Banzi, Juha Helppi, Vicky Coren, Marc Goodwin, Bruno Fitoussi, Simon Trumper, Pascal Perrault, Martin Wendt, Noah Boeken and Martin Green.

Trumper trumps opponent

Simon Trumper, from English crew Dusk Til Dawn, pulled what he described as 'an outrageous bluff' and was inordinately happy with his early play.

'I haven't made day two for five years and that has pi*sed me right off,' he told CardPlayer.com. 'I'm in the small blind with 8-6 and with three limpers i call. The flop came J-4-7 with two spades so if i hit a five i'm ahead or a spade i reckon i can represent the flush.' Cutting a long story short the limpers were weeded out when a spade came on the turn and another on the river. Trumper made it $2,500 into a pot of $4,500 on the river and the early raise dwelled.

Picking up the story Trumper said,' Just then they announced former world champion Berry Johnson was playing today so i took my hands off my cards and clapped. When the other guys saw how relaxed and casual i was he immediately mucked,' beamed an upbeat Trumper.

Notable Chip Counts

Berry Johnston	37,000
Joe Sebok	34,000
Kirk Morrison	33,000
Tony G	29,000
Justin Bonomo	28,200
Sammy Farha	27,000
Evelyn Ng	27,000
Scotty Nguyen	25,800
J.J. Liu	25,000
Joe Hachem	24,000
Barry Shulman	23,500
Bob Bright	23,100
Erik Seidel	23,000
Paul Wasicka	22,700
Robert Mizrachi	22,000
Norm MacDonald	22,000
Isabelle Mercier	21,500
Kathy Liebert	21,000
Allyn Jaffrey Shulman	21,000
Scott Fischman	20,500
Tom McEvoy	20,000
Scott Clements	20,000
Sam Grizzle	20,000
Rett Butler	20,000
Jordan Morgan	20,000
Jeffrey Lisandro	20,000
Howard Lederer	20,000
Dan Harrington	20,000
Alexander Kravchenko	20,000
Sabyl Cohen	19,800
Jennifer Harman	19,650
Noah Boeken	19,000
Annie Duke	18,500
John Juanda	18,300
Kido Pham	17,500
'Miami John' Cernuto	17,000
David 'The Dragon' Pham	16,800
Barny Boatman	15,800
Roland De Wolfe	15,500
Hoyt Corkins	15,400
Juha Helppi	14,600
Mark Seif	14,500
Max Pescatori	14,000
Aaron Kanter	13,500
David Singer	13,000
Davidson Matthew	12,500
Dan Shak	11,000
David Williams	10,500
Bill Chen	10,000

Player Tags: Donnacha O'Dea,   John Cernuto,   Tom McEvoy,   Scotty Nguyen,   Allyn Jaffrey Shulman,   David Pham,   Erik Seidel,   Evelyn Ng,   Jeff Shulman,   John Juanda,   Scott Fischman,   Ross Boatman,   Dan Harrington,   Barry Shulman,   Jennifer Harman,   Jeffrey Lisandro,   Bruno Fitoussi,   Barny Boatman,   Berry Johnston,   John Duthie,   George McKeever,   David Williams,   Sam Farha,   Simon Trumper,   Paul Wasicka,   Scott Clements,   Pascal Perrault,   Joe Sebok,   Shirley Williams,   Carlo Citrone,   Roland de Wolfe,   Joe Hachem,   Jennifer Mason,   Nick Cassavetes,   Martin Wendt,   Victoria Coren,   Praz Bansi,   Norm MacDonald,   Montel Williams

Bust Out Bonanza

Jun 11, '07

A veritable plethora of big name pros bit the dust during the past hour.  At the very end of level two Johnny Chan was all in with an open-ended straight draw, a flush draw and two over cards against Melissa Hayden's pocket sixes.  Hayden's hand held up, and Chan was eliminated.

Jeff Madsen took a big hit this level and was left with only $1,600 following this hand. From the cutoff, the player in seat three makes it $600 and Madsen calls from the small blind. The flop came KJ8. Madsen checked and the player in seat three bet out $1,500. Madsen raised to $9,500 and the player in seat three responded by calling, and pushing all in. Madsen turned over A9 and was on the flush draw. His opponent in seat three showed K7 for top pair. The turn was the 2 and the river (4) couldn't bring a club for Madsen either.

Kevin "BeLOWaBOVe" Saul took a crippling hit as well this level. With the board showing K107 Saul bet out $2,300. The player in seat six pushed all in for $3,075 more. Saul made the call and had K10 for top two. His opponent in the six seat showed 1010 for middle set. The turn was the 2 and the river was the A. Saul was left with less than $600 after the hand.

Michael Mizrachi was crippled after he pushed in preflop with the 8 8 and got called by a player with the A 10, which made broadway on the turn and left Mizrachi drawing dead.  Mizrachi busted soon after.

Other notables eliminated include Phil Laak, Sorel Mizzi, Freddy Deeb, Nick Cassavetes, Amnon Filippi, David Ulliot, and Erick Lindgren.

Make sure to check back every hour for more updates and Pro Blogs here at Cardplayer.com.

Player Tags: Erick Lindgren,   Phil Laak,   Michael Mizrachi,   Johnny Chan,   Amnon Filippi,   Melissa Hayden,   Kevin Saul,   Nick Cassavetes,   Jeff Madsen