Mike Caro - Live Updates

Level 12 Update: Mike Caro Eliminated

Jul 01, '09

Blinds: 1,000-2,000 with a 300 ante

Players Remaining: 120 out of 928

Chip Counts:

1. Rui Cao — 445,000
2. Rory Matthews — 369,800
3. Sean Keeton — 355,000
4. Faraz Jaka — 325,000
5. Lars Bonding — 288,300
6. Lex Veldhuis — 240,000
7. David Peters — 239,500
8. Eugene Katchalov — 237,400
9. Phil Hellmuth — 216,100
10. Thorsten Schaefer — 215,000

Average Chip Count: 116,000

Notable Eliminations:

Matt Woodward
Jeff Williams
Mike Caro
Phil Laak
Darryll Fish
Bahador Ahmadi

Big Hands

Matt Woodward Eliminated

Matt Woodward gets it all in before flop with A-K against one opponent holding pocket aces.

The board comes 10-10-9-9-4, eliminating Matt Woodward from the event just minutes into Level 12.

Jeff Williams Eliminated

Jeff Williams gets it all in before the flop with 10-8 offsuit against Steve Weinstein’s pocket queens.

Williams failed to improve and is eliminated form the tournament.

Mike Caro Eliminated by Phil Hellmuth

On a flop of 622, Caro bets 16,000 and Phil Hellmuth calls.

The turn is the 6, double pairing the board, Caro moves all in for 40,000 and Hellmuth calls.

Caro: 77
Hellmuth: KK

The river is the 5, no help to Caro who is eliminated from the tournament.

Left in the Deck

Players will take a twenty-minute break at the completion of Level 12 and will return at approximately 4:30 pm PDT.

Player Tags: Phil Hellmuth,   Mike Caro,   Matt Woodward,   Jeff Williams

Level 4 Udate: Pham Chips Up

Jun 15, '09

Blinds: 250-500

Players Remaining: 178 out of 185

Chip Counts

1. Shaun Deeb – 85,000
2. Dario Minieri – 63,000
3. Greg Mueller – 60,000
4. Lex Veldhuis – 60,000
5. Markus Golser – 56,000
6. David Oppenheim – 50,600
7. Michiel Brummelhuis – 50,000
8. Daniel Negreanu – 49,500
9. Maria Ho – 49,000
10. David Benyamine – 45,000

Average Stack: 30,833

Notable Eliminations:

Andy Bloch
Brett Richey
Jeff Lisandro

Big Hands:

The Dragon’s Fire

Five players including Sam Grizzle, Doyle Brunson, Chad Brown and David Pham, all called 500 preflop. The flop came down Q94 and the big blind fired 500 after David Pham checked from the small bling. Grizzle, Brunson and Brown all called and then Pham check-raised to 1,000. Everyone except Brunson called and the turn was the 2. Pham led out with 1,000 and everyone called. The river brought the 7 and Pham led out again with 1,000. Only Chad Brown looked him up and Pham turned over KQ for top pair and Brown mucked. Pham took the pot and he was over 40,000 while Brown was at 32,000.

Perry Doesn’t Care For Mad Geniuses

Action folded around to Mike Caro in the small blind and he raised to 1,000. Ralph Perry made the call from the big blind and the players saw a flop of JJ5. Caro checked and Perry bet 500. Caro made the call and the turn was the 3. Caro then led out for 1,000 but Perry would have none of that nonsense and raised to 2,000. Caro then gave up and mucked his hand. He was at 16,000 while Perry was at 33,000.

Rheem Leaks Chips

Chino Rheem raised to 1,000 preflop and Bill Edler three-bet to 1,500. Rheem made the call and the flop came A55. Rheem checked and Edler fired 500. Rheem check-raised to 1,000 and Edler called. The turn was the 2 and both players checked. The river was the 7 and Rheem checked again. Edler bet 1,000 and Rheem mucked his hand. He was down to just 17,000 while Edler was around 34,000.

Kaplan Pushes Ho and Lindgren Away

On a flop of K103, Gabe Kaplan bet 500 into a 2,500 pot and Mario Ho made the call. Erick Lindgren came along as well and the turn was the 8. Kaplan fired another bet, this one 1,000 and Ho mucked her hand. Lindgren followed suit and Kaplan took in the pot. He was around 40,000 while Ho was down to 45,000 and Lindgren was at 31,000.

Left In The Deck:

It was announced that 18 players will be paid. The final survivor of this tournament will earn $460,841 and a bracelet. Players have also gone on a one hour dinner break and will return around 10:40 p.m.

Player Tags: David Pham,   Erick Lindgren,   Chad Brown,   Doyle Brunson,   Mike Caro,   Gabe Kaplan,   Maria Ho,   Chino Rheem,   Ralph Perry

Hour 8 Update: Mercier Out Early

Jun 14, '09

Hour 8 Update

Players Remaining: 15 out of 256

Completed Round 5 Matches (Winner in Bold:

1. Nathan Doudney vs. Jason Mercier

Eliminations:

Jason Mercier – $38,424

Big Hands:

Jason Mercier Eliminated by Nathan Doudney

Not even 10 minutes into the match, Jason Mercier found himself all in preflop with JJ vs. Doudney’s QQ. The board bricked out for Mercier, and was eliminated in 16th place.

Mike Caro Makes a Big Laydown

After a preflop raise, Mike Caro and Dustin Woolf take a flop of 10Q6. Woolf checked and called Caro’s 16,000 bet. The turn was the 2 and both players checked.

The river fell and was the 10. Woolf checks again and this time Caro fires 35,000. Woolf proceeds to check-raise to 120,000. Caro turns up his hand and shows 9 10 before folding. Woolf mucked his cards.

Justin Smith Gets the Best of Chan

Justin “BoostedJ” Smith raised the button to 10,000 and Johnny Chan calls. The flop fell 1066 and Chan checked and called 14,000 from Smith.

The turn was the 10 and both players checked. The 5 fell on the river and Chan now leads out for 16,000 and was met with a raise to 41,000 by Smith. After a moment, Chan tossed in the call and Smith showed him the Q10. Chan mucked his hand.

Pellegrino Makes a Good Call on Timoshenko

After a preflop raise, Bryan Pellegrino and Yevgeniy Timoshenko take a flop of 2 4 10.

Pellegrino checked and Timoshenko bet 13,000. Pellegrino then raised to 35,000 and Timoshenko made it 83,000. Pellegrino tanked for a few moments before making the call. The turn was the 3 and the river was the K, both of which were checked by both players. Pellegrino tabled the A4 and Timoshenko mucked.

Player Tags: Johnny Chan,   Mike Caro,   Dustin Woolf,   Justin Smith

Hour 5 Update: Round 4 Begins, Mike Caro Advances

Jun 14, '09

Hour 5 Update

Players Remaining: 29 out of 256

Completed Round 4 Matches (Winner in Bold):

1. Justin Smith vs. Dragan Galic
2. Mike Caro vs. Alexey Popov (Finished from round 3)
3. Yevgeniy Timoshenko vs. Evan Roberts
4. Jhonny Chan vs. James D’Ambrosio
5. Alec Torelli vs. Nathanael Poysti

Eliminations:

32. Dragan Galic – $17,987
31. Nathanael Poysti – $17,987
30. James D’Ambrosio – $17,987
29. Evan Roberts – $17,987

Big Hands:

Mike Caro Finally Wins

Shortly after a double up hand where Mike Caro’s AQ won against the AK of Alexey Popov, Caro called the all-in bet from Popov. Caro exposed another big ace, this time the AK while Popov was well behind with the Q8. The board offered no improvement for either player, as Caro’s ace-high was good enough to end the over four hour match.

Yevgeniy Timoshenko Takes Early Lead, Eliminates Evan Roberts

In his match against online heads up cash game specialist Evan Roberts, Timoshenko called a turn bet on a board of A648. The river was the 5 and Roberts checked to the 2009 WPT Championship winner. Timoshenko contemplated briefly before firing out 37,000. Roberts went into the tank before finally making the call. Timoshenko exposed the 107 for a flush, while Roberts mucked. Timoshenko was out to a 300,000 to 180,000 chip advantage. About twenty minutes later, Timoshenko once again held a flush, eliminating Roberts when he had two pair.

Left In The Deck:

Caro has been given a 20 minute break before resuming play with the rest of the field in round four. His opponent, Dmitry Lesnov, has been waiting for the Caro vs. Popov match to conclude.

Player Tags: Mike Caro,   Evan Roberts,   Yevgeniy Timoshenko,   Alexey Popov

Hour 4 Update: Vanessa Rousso Eliminated, Alec Torelli Advances

Jun 14, '09

Hour 4 Update

Players Remaining: 33 out of 256

Completed Round 3 Matches (Winner in Bold):

1. Jonathan Jaffe vs. Dario Minieri
2. Nathanael Poysti vs. Nicholas Rampon
3. Andrew Lichtenberger vs. Matt Hawrilenko
4. Brock Parker vs. Branden Hampton
5. Dustin Woolf vs. Mike Baxter
6. Jason Mercier Defeats Michael Pesek
7. Justin Smith vs. William Thorson
8. Steve O’Dwyer vs. Jeff Madsen
9. Jason Senti vs. Erik Seidel
10. Benjamin Sprengers vs. Noah Schwartz
11. Reberto Romanello vs Tom Dwan
12. Ben Tollerene vs. Chris Feguson
13. Yevgeniy Timoshenko vs. Scott Fischman
14. Leo Wolpert vs. David Pham
15. Johnny Chan vs. Kyle Brossia
16. Evan Roberts vs. Vanessa Rousso
17. Alec Torelli vs. Joao Barbosa
18. John Duthie vs. Terrence Chan
19. Dragan Galic vs. Jesse Martin
20. Andrew Lichtenberger vs. Matt Hawrilenko
21. Steve Zolotow vs. Jeff Garza
22. Benjamin Lamb vs. Shawn Buchanan
23. James D’Ambrosio vs. Masaaki Kagawa
24. Matthew Woodward vs. Justin Filtz
25. Clavet Mathieu vs. Alex Keating
26. Brian Lemke vs. Michael Banducci
27. Ben Spindler vs. Jaimie Armstrong
28. Dimitry Lesnoy vs. Antonio Esfandiari
29. Bryan Pellegrino vs. Adam Ewenstein
30. Jamin Stokes vs. Konstantin Puchkov
31. Albert Iversen vs. Steven Crawford
32. Nathan Doudney vs. Cory Carroll
33. Nathanael Poysti vs. Nicholas Rampone
34. Mike Caro vs. Alexey Popov (Not Yet Finished)

Big Hands:

Vanessa Rousso Eliminated

Evan Roberts open-shoved for the last of Vanessa Rousso’s stack of 39,600. Rousso went into the tank before finally calling with ace-six. Roberts tabled pocket fives and they held up to eliminate the 2009 NBC National Heads Up runner-up.

Alec Torelli Advances

The short stack of Joao Barbosa moved all-in preflop and Alec Torelli went into the tank. He said, “this is going to be a close one.” He eventually made the call and exposed the A2 and was slightly ahead of the Q9 of Barbosa. The flop was ugly for Barbosa as it came A54, giving the Event No. 2 (40,000 no-limit hold’em) sixth place finisher a pair of aces. The 7 hit the turn and the 8 fell on the river.

Mike Caro Doubles Up

Approaching almost four hours of play, Mike Caro went all-in with the AQ and was instantly called by Alexey Popov with A8. Caro survived the hand and doubled up to a 2-1 chip lead but the heads up match shows little signs of ending soon. Their match is the only one still going from round three.

Left In The Deck:

Everyone that has advanced to round four has made the money. The next round will begin very shortly. If the Caro vs. Popov match has not ended by then, the rest of the field will still begin the next round.

Player Tags: Mike Caro,   Vanessa Rousso,   Alec Torelli,   Evan Roberts,   Joao Barbosa

$2,500 2-7 Triple Draw - Level Two Recap

Jun 22, '08

Note: Players are currently on a 20-minute break.

Blinds: 50-100
Limits: 100-200

Players Registered So Far: 235

More Notable Names in the Field:

Mark Seif
Freddy Deeb
Jeff Madsen
Allen Cunningham
Andy Bloch
Chau Giang
Annie Duke

Chip Counts:

David Chiu - 9,500
Jean-Robert Bellande - 7,500
Marco Traniello - 7,500
Daniel Negreanu - 7,200
Alex Kravchenko - 7,100
Bruno Fitoussi - 7,000
James Van Alstyne - 6,900
Chad Brown - 6,600
David Singer - 6,600
Alexander Kostritsyn - 6,500

Hands and Storylines:

Caro sends Smith in a frenzy

After a hand Gavin Smith, who always has something to say, said to Mike Caro, "That was mad, but also kind of genius." Then he jumped out of his seat to tell other players what happened. When he returned to his seat a couple minutes later he announced, "Mike Caro played this guy like a fiddle." Smith finally explained that Caro played a hand in the dark and the final street told his opponent, "I don't even need to look at my cards to beat you."

Brown takes large pot with wheel

Chad Brown raised to 200 and then called a reraise to 300. Brown drew one card and check-called a bet. Both player then stood pat and Brown check-raised to 400. His opponent raised to 600 and Brown made it 800. Then on the river Brown bet and his opponent called. Brown flipped over 7-5-4-3-2 for the nuts and took down the large pot.

Filippi gets some chips back

On the third draw, Amnon Filippi, Jean-Robert Bellande and another player all drew one card. Then it checked to Filippi on the button. He bet, Bellande called and the third player folded. Filippi flipped over 8-7-5-3-2 and Bellande shook his head and mucked. After the hand Filippi was up to 4,500 chips, while Bellande was over 7,000 chips.

Player Tags: Chad Brown,   Gavin Smith,   Mike Caro