Closer and Closer
Jun 06, '07
Tournament officials have moved the remaining 18 players down to two tables, effectively condensing the amount of talent left in the field. Seated at one table are Sorel Mizzi, Shane Schleger, Jason Strasser and Mike Gracz. The other table contains Tommy Vu, Mark Newhouse and Amir Vahedi.
Vinnie Vinh was finally blinded off and eliminated after failing to show up for day two of play. Vinh came into day two amongst the chip leaders but failed to play even a single hand all day. Vinh finished in 20th place and earned $16,232.
Barry Cales had the good fortune of doubling up through Gioi Luong and eliminating his opponent in the process. Luong pushed all in with K
Q
and Cales called with A
K
. The board came 9
3
2
7
8
and Cales doubled up and Luong was eliminated in 19th place. Luong takes home $16,232 for his efforts in this event.
Mark Newhouse was the 18th place finisher, earning him $18,475. Newhouse pushed all in for the second hand in a row with Tommy Vu and Amir Vahedi still to act on his left. Vu reraised and Vahedi angrily folded his hand. Heads up, Newhouse had 9
9
and Vu showed K
Q
. The flop was Q
10
6
and Newhouse stood up from his seat. The turn and river were no help (8
,A
) and Newhouse was sent to the rail.
After being crippled, Sorel Mizzi has been eliminated in 17th place. Mizzi had 10-5 with a 10 on the flop against his opponent who had K-10. Already behind, a king came on the river and when the dust settled, Mizzi was left with few chips. Mizzi was eliminated when his A
10
ran into Joshua VanDuyn's pocket aces. Mizzi earns $18,475 for his finish.
There are 16 players remaining and play will continue today until the final table is reached.
Player Tags: Amir Vahedi, Gioi Luong, Michael Gracz, Shane Schleger, Jason Strasser, Joshua VanDuyn, Mark Newhouse, Sorel Mizzi, Tommy Vu, Barry Cales
Strasser Takes Lead
Jun 06, '07
Play began after the color up, 10 minutes earlier than the remaining players were told. Most returned to their seats in good time as several announcements were made about the early restart. Michael Binger, however, did not hear the annonuncements, and was livid when he returned to find he had missed 10 minutes of action.
This level of play saw the exit of many top pros. Jeff Shulman and Antonio Esfandiari could no longer survive on their short stacks and were knocked out. Amir Vahedi, took one back for the old guard when he was able to make his pocket Aces hold up against Eric “Sheets” Haber’s pocket Queens. Kristy Gazes rode quite a roller coaster. She was crippled down to her last $11,000 after her opponent cracked her pocket Queens with a A-4. She was all in on the next hand with J-10 suited against two callers holding A-6 and 7-7. She flopped a flush draw and managed to hit a Jack on the river to stay alive. A few hands later her luck ran out as she lost a race with 10-10 to Jason Strasser’s A-K. Brett Jungblut and Steve Paul Ambrose were also eliminated.
At the internet the table the attitude seems very upbeat, despite each of the players trying to ‘stack’ each other. Pokerstars superstar Dario Minieri, the first to win a Porsche Carrera by accumulating 3 million Frequent Player points, was involved in two big hands with online pros. First Dario lost a race to Josh Vanduyn with A-K versus 7-7. Then Dario moved all in after a Todd Witteles raise. Witteles made the call and both players flipped over A-K, and each ended up making two pair, and they chopped the pot.
Jason Strasser has quietly crept into the chip lead, continuing his fantastic showing so far at this year’s World Series
There are currently 29 players remaining.
Player Tags: Amir Vahedi, Brett Jungblut, Kristy Gazes, Jeff Shulman, Eric Haber, Antonio Esfandiari, Todd Witteles, Michael Binger, Jason Strasser, Joshua VanDuyn, Steve Paul Ambrose, Dario Minieri
Josh "PBdrunks" VanDuyn was all in holding pocket jacks against Jim Hof's pocket sixes.