Steve Paul Ambrose Poker Tournament Updates

Steve Paul Ambrose Doubles Up

Jan 08, '10

Team PokerStars pro and former PCA champion Steve Paul Ambrose moved all in under the gun for 40,100 and Hafiz Khan made the call. Their cards:

Khan: AJ
Ambrose: QJ

Board: 1088106

Ambrose doubled up on the hand to survive and he now holds 90,000. Khan now holds 298,000.

Player Tags: Steve Paul Ambrose,   Hafiz Khan

Level 4 Updates: Today's Field = 668 Players

Jan 05, '10

Blinds: 150-300

Players Remaining: 575 out of 668

Average Chip Count: 34,850

Notable Chip Counts:

Daniel Negreanu — 72,000
Bill Edler — 62,000
Barry Greenstein — 57,000
Angel Guillen — 56,000
Steve Paul Ambrose — 53,000
Dario Minieri — 52,000
Kevin Saul — 47,000
Dennis Phillips — 45,500
Tom McEvoy — 39,500
Eric Buchman — 38,000

Card Player Family Chip Counts:

Barry Shulman — 63,000
Allyn Jaffrey Shulman — 33,000

Notable Eliminations:

Kevin Stammen
Sam Iola
Timothy Finne

Big Hands:

It’s Going to be a Big One

The official field size for day 1A at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is 668 players. Many more are expected tomorrow so the record size for this event (1,347) should be topped again this year.

Rublee Hits a Set

John Rublee raised pre-flop to 2,300 from late position and Halil Yavuz made the call on the big blind. The flop was dealt 843 and Yavuz checked. Rublee bet 3,000 and Yavuz called. The turn fell Q and Yavuz checked again. Rublee bet 7,500 and Yavuz called. After the river Yavuz checked a third time, Rublee bet 15,000, and Yavuz called yet again.

Rublee turned over pocket eights for a set and Yavuz threw down his pocket kings.

Steve Paul Ambrose Goes Sailing

Former PCA champion and Team PokerStars pro Steve Paul Ambrose (pictured right) held A-6 in the hole on an A-6-4 and Sam Iola held pocket sixes. Iola was all in on the flop and he was going to double up until an ace came and Ambrose eliminated him to grow his stack to 53,000.

Dario Minieri Climbing

Team PokerStars pro Dario Minieri raised to 1,200 preflop from the small blind and one opponent called. The flop was dealt Q63 and Minieri bet 1,725. The opponent called and the turn fell A. Both players checked and the 4 fell on the river. Minieri bet 6,100 and his opponent made the call after going into the tank. Minieri flipped over AK and his opponent mucked. Minieri held 52,000 after the hand.

Player Tags: Steve Paul Ambrose,   Dario Minieri,   Samuel Iola

Steve Paul Ambrose Doubles Up

Jan 08, '10

Team PokerStars pro and former PCA champion Steve Paul Ambrose moved all in under the gun for 40,100 and Hafiz Khan made the call. Their cards:

Khan: AJ
Ambrose: QJ

Board: 1088106

Ambrose doubled up on the hand to survive and he now holds 90,000. Khan now holds 298,000.

Player Tags: Steve Paul Ambrose,   Hafiz Khan

Level 4 Updates: Today's Field = 668 Players

Jan 05, '10

Blinds: 150-300

Players Remaining: 575 out of 668

Average Chip Count: 34,850

Notable Chip Counts:

Daniel Negreanu — 72,000
Bill Edler — 62,000
Barry Greenstein — 57,000
Angel Guillen — 56,000
Steve Paul Ambrose — 53,000
Dario Minieri — 52,000
Kevin Saul — 47,000
Dennis Phillips — 45,500
Tom McEvoy — 39,500
Eric Buchman — 38,000

Card Player Family Chip Counts:

Barry Shulman — 63,000
Allyn Jaffrey Shulman — 33,000

Notable Eliminations:

Kevin Stammen
Sam Iola
Timothy Finne

Big Hands:

It’s Going to be a Big One

The official field size for day 1A at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is 668 players. Many more are expected tomorrow so the record size for this event (1,347) should be topped again this year.

Rublee Hits a Set

John Rublee raised pre-flop to 2,300 from late position and Halil Yavuz made the call on the big blind. The flop was dealt 843 and Yavuz checked. Rublee bet 3,000 and Yavuz called. The turn fell Q and Yavuz checked again. Rublee bet 7,500 and Yavuz called. After the river Yavuz checked a third time, Rublee bet 15,000, and Yavuz called yet again.

Rublee turned over pocket eights for a set and Yavuz threw down his pocket kings.

Steve Paul Ambrose Goes Sailing

Former PCA champion and Team PokerStars pro Steve Paul Ambrose (pictured right) held A-6 in the hole on an A-6-4 and Sam Iola held pocket sixes. Iola was all in on the flop and he was going to double up until an ace came and Ambrose eliminated him to grow his stack to 53,000.

Dario Minieri Climbing

Team PokerStars pro Dario Minieri raised to 1,200 preflop from the small blind and one opponent called. The flop was dealt Q63 and Minieri bet 1,725. The opponent called and the turn fell A. Both players checked and the 4 fell on the river. Minieri bet 6,100 and his opponent made the call after going into the tank. Minieri flipped over AK and his opponent mucked. Minieri held 52,000 after the hand.

Player Tags: Steve Paul Ambrose,   Dario Minieri,   Samuel Iola

Level 4 Hour 2 Update: Last Hour of the Day

Jul 03, '09

Blinds: 150-300 with a 25 ante

Players Remaining: 921 out of 1116

Chip Counts:

1. Redmond Lee – 130,000
2. James Navlanic – 100,000
3. Bryan Colin – 98,000
4. Jason Riesenberg – 92,000
5. Domen Pinteric – 90,000
6. Dragan Gelic – 88,000
7. Jason Alexander – 84,500
8. Eli Elezra – 84,300
9. Chris Demaci – 80,000
10. David Sands – 80,000

Notable Eliminations:

Jerry Yang, Perry Friedman, Darryl Dicken, Orel Hershiser, David Grey, Isaac Haxton, Andy Bloch

Big Hands:

Tilly Can’t Win A Flip

The player in seat 4 raised to 800 and Jennifer Tilly made the call. The player in seat 9 then moved all in for 13,000 and seat 4 mucked. Tilly then took a session in the tank and decided to make the call.

Seat 9: 33
Tilly: A9

Board: Q62J4

Tilly was in a race situation with two overcards but could not connect and she was down to 12,000 in chips.

Hansen Picks Up Aces, Takes Pot

Gus Hansen was in the big blind and was battling with the small blind. On the river the board read 62KJ7 and there was already over 10,000 in the pot.

The small blind checked over to Hansen, who bet 4450. The small blind tanked for a minute or so before begrudgingly tossing in the call. Hansen showed the AA and his opponent in the small blind just shook his head and mucked his hand.

Johnny Chan Doubles Up, Cripples Steve Paul-Ambrose

Johnny Chan got all of his chips in the middle preflop against Steve Paul-Ambrose. With his tournament life on the line, Chan tabled AK and was way ahead of the AQ of Ambrose.

The board ran out J223A, which was not good enough for Steve Paul-Ambrose, and gave Chan the pot. Chan doubled to 14,000, but Ambrose was left with just 6000

Andy Black Takes A Pot

On a flop of 953, Andy Black bet 1,200 and his opponent in seat 2 made the call. The turn was the 7 and Black fired another 3,000. Seat 2 decided to muck his hand and Black took the pot, improving his stack to 66,000.

Naujoks Lives To Fight Again

Picking up the action on the river, the board read Q9946, Sandra Naujoks fired 8,100 into the pot. The player in seat 3 then raised to 63,000, having Naujoks well covered.

Naujoks then took a long tank session to decide whether to commit her remaining 18,750 into the pot. After a couple of minutes, she finally decided to release her hand.

David Grey Busts

David Grey was all in against his opponent. Grey was holding 85 and flopped two pair as it fell J85. However, his opponent made a flush and Grey was ousted from the main event.

Straight Flushed

With over 12,000 in the pot preflop, the flop came down 532. Mike Sexton moved all in and his opponent made the call. Sexton tabled 54 for top pair and a straight flush draw while his opponent tabled 33 for a set. The turn made Sexton his flush as the 8 fell. The river then brought the 6, making Sexton a straight flush to add insult to injury as his opponent was eliminated and Sexton was up to 40,000.

Andy Bloch Loses Race and Ends Main Event Run

After a middle position limper, a short stacked Andy Bloch moved all in for his remaining chips. The limper ended up calling Bloch’s all in and showed 44 and was racing against Bloch’s AJ.

The flop was 8KQ, giving Bloch a straight draw to go along his overcards. The turn gave Bloch more outs as it was the Q. Bloch was unable to catch a K, 8, 10, J, or A on the river as the 7 fell and eliminated him from the tournament.

Player Tags: Gus Hansen,   Johnny Chan,   Mike Sexton,   Jennifer Tilly,   Andy Black,   Steve Paul Ambrose,   Sandra Naujoks

Level 4 Hour 1 Update: Jerry Yang Eliminated

Jul 03, '09

Blinds: 150-300 with a 25 ante

Players Remaining: 921 out of 1116

Chip Counts:

1. Dragan Galic – 110,000
2. Jeff Williams – 100,000
3. Jeremy Ausmus – 88,000
4. Radek Stockner – 88,000
5. Eli Elezra – 84,300
6. Kevin Stammen – 74,000
7. Bryan Colin – 72,000
8. Michael Kamran – 72,000
9. Allyn Jaffrey Shulman – 40,000
10. Barry Shulman – 28,500

Notable Eliminations:

Jerry Yang, Perry Friedman, Darryl Dicken

Big Hands:

Jerry Yang Eliminated

A short stacked Jerry Yang was all in preflop with J7 and was up against his opponent’s AK. Yang caught a good flop when it came 789, but the K on the turn put Yang in a bad spot.

Yang’s fate was sealed as the 4 fell on the river. Yang’s quest for a a second main event title will have to be postponed for at least another year.

Mark Gregorich Takes A Pot

On a board showing 10535, Mark Gregorich and his opponent checked with the pot around 4,000. The river was then the K and the action was checked to Gregorich. He bet 3,500 and his opponent went into the tank. After some thought, he said, “I’ll let you have it,” and mucked his cards. Gregorich raked in the pot and he was at 41,300.

By George!

The player in seat 6 opened the action for a raise to 1,150 and action folded around to Jason Alexander. He then reraised to 3,200 and seat 6 made the call. The flop then fell J52 and the action was checked to Alexander. He fired 6,000 and seat 6 came over the top, moving all in for 26,500. Alexander took a session in the tank and then pushed in the call.

Seat 6 showed 86 for a made flush and Alexander turned over 1010. He needed a lot of help and the J paired the board on the turn. The river then brought the J, giving Alexander a backdoor full house and the massive pot. He was at 84,500 after the hand.

Brad Garrett then had a little fun with his friend. “Wow,” he started. “As bad as your game is buddy, that’s incredible.” The table had a laugh and Alexander left his chips strewn about in front of him. “I’ll be back,” he joked, pretending to walk away from the table. “Yeah, to the pharmacy,” Garrett joked again. After all of this, Garrett forgot to input his ante and the dealer asked him to do it. “I’m sorry sweetheart,” he said. “Can I just get a minute to absorb what just happened.” Garrett then placed his ante in and play continued.

Duthie Shows Some Heart

Picking up the action on the turn, action was checked to John Duthie with the board showing Q7510. He fired a bet of 2,000 and his three opponents quickly mucked. Duthie took in the pot, but was still below his starting stack with just 20,000 in chips.

Michael Gracz Doubles His Opponent

Michael Gracz called his opponent’s all in bet, totaling around 24,000. Here were their hands.

Gracz: AK
Opponent: JJ

Board: J536A

Gracz hit his ace, but unfortunately for him it was after his opponent flopped a set. Gracz took a hit down to 50,000.

Those Flush Draws Will Cost You

After a flop of 724, Steve-Paul Ambrose called his opponent’s all in bet of about 21,000. Ambrose showed J9 for a flush draw, but his opponent held AA and Ambrose needed help. The turn was the 2 and the river was the 5 and Ambrose lost a big chunk of his stack, going down to 15,000.

Affleck Gets Opponent to Fold a Set

Matt “mcmatto” Affleck, the winner of the $3000 SCOOP event on PokerStars, and his opponent on the button got in 5600 preflop and took a flop of AKQ. Affleck bet 6500 and was called by the player on the button.

The turn was the 4 and Affleck bet 11,200 and was called. The river was the 5 and Affleck bet 24,000 of his 26,000 stack. The player on the button stood up and announced that he had a set and was seriously considering folding it. “This is disgusting,” said the player on the button as he agonized with his decision.

Finally, after a few minutes of thought, he tossed the QQ face up into the muck. Even though the entire table begged Affleck to show his hand, he did not oblige and tossed his hand into the muck without showinig.

Left In The Deck:

There were 1,116 players in day 1a for this year’s main event. This is down just slightly from last year’s numbers, as there were 1,297 players in 2008.

Player Tags: Michael Gracz,   Mark Gregorich,   Steve Paul Ambrose,   Jerry Yang,   Jason Alexander

Will Failla Eliminated in 56th Place ($23,052)

Feb 24, '09

Will Failla moved all in from middle position and Steve Paul-Ambrose moved all in behind him.

Failla showed QJ and was happy he was live against Paul-Ambrose and his AK. The board ran out AK729 and Failla was eliminated from the tournament.

Failla earned $23,052 for  his 56th place finish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Player Tags: Steve Paul Ambrose,   Will Failla

Steve Paul-Ambrose Eliminated

Jul 10, '07

Steve Paul-Ambrose was just elminated in time to watch himself on ESPN and their coverage of event #1 Mixed Hold'em. 

Player Tags: Steve Paul Ambrose

Hour Two

Jul 06, '07

Thirty tables had already broke as hour two played down into the first 20 minute break of the day. Chips were flying and an ill advised all-in push was by no means a rare occurrence. The spectacle of poker that day one of the main event has become was in full swing. One player to join the early bustout victims was Ram Vaswani. He was at a table with Vince Van Patten, and Andrew Black, before he was spotted exiting the tournament field. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi was already dangerously low on chips, and told another player he had only $1,400 remaining.

It wasn’t as tough as finding a needle in a haystack to see big name players in the field, but close. Doyle Brunson was seated at the featured table with a number of unfamiliar faces. One of whom, was furiously scribbling notes in a notebook after every single hand. Marcel Luske was seated at the on-deck circle, with ESPN cameras rolling, but he too was swimming in a sea of unknown players.

Somebody Hates Raymond

Celebrities were present in the field, a number of English soccer players, Tobey Maguire, and the stars of Everybody Loves Raymond were all playing on day 1A. Nolan Dalla announced Ray Romano to the crowd and that induced his co-star, Brad Garrett, to begin booing him from a few tables away.

Professional Intimidation

Professional players would often raise and not receive any calls, even in cases where they made small bets. Huck Seed bet $100 on a flop of A Q J. While team www.pokerstars.com member Steve Paul-Ambrose bet $1,000 on a flop of J 8 2 to induce his opponents to fold. He picked up a cool $1,200 on the hand.

A $10,000 Drink

One player busted out of the tournament early and lamented to his table, “That was the most expensive jack and coke ever.”

When Prop Bets Attack – Jeff Madsen Edition

The thing that stood out most prominently in the field was the interesting outfit that Jeff Madsen was wearing. He was dressed as a court jester, complete with an over-the-top hat that was sagging to one side. Madsen looked none to happy about his fate. If you’ve ever seen A Christmas Story, just think of Ralphie in the bunny suit that his aunt made him, and you begin to get the idea how forlorn his face looked. He had been on the losing end of a three-way bet with Gavin Smith, and Joe Sebok. Whoever won the most points by going deep in prospective events at this years’ World Series of Poker, would be carried in on a throne by the other two for his day one flight, while the two losers would wear jester outfits on their’s. Gavin and Madsen lost to Sebok, who will be transported via a carried throne, to his day one seat.

Player Tags: Doyle Brunson,   Michael Mizrachi,   Ram Vaswani,   Marcel Luske,   Steve Paul Ambrose,   Brad Garrett

John Hoang Wins Event #24 ($97,280)

Jul 05, '07

With the elimination of Aleksandr Uskov in 4th place the remaining three players in the $5,000 no-limit hold'em event decided to chop the rest of the prize pool.  John Hoang held the most chips, with Adrian Hanauer coming in second and Steve Paul-Ambrose coming in third in chips. 

Player Tags: John Hoang,   Adrian Hanauer,   Steve Paul Ambrose

John Roveto Eliminated 7th ($14,385)

Jul 05, '07

Steven Paul Ambrose raised to $10,000 and John Roveto went all-in for $8,500 behind him.  Both Dane Lomas and Aleksander Uskov called the $10,000 and four players saw the flop.  The A 10 2 fell and after  Uskov checked Ambrose bet.  All other players folded and it was Ambrose's A 10 against Roveto's K 10.  The turn and river bricked off and Roveto was eliminated in seventh place.  

Player Tags: Steve Paul Ambrose,   John Roveto Jr.

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

Steve Paul-Ambrose Eliminated in 4th Place ($146,259)

Jun 03, '07

The comeback trail of Steve Paul-Ambrose was short-lived, due to a cruel sense of humor from lady luck.  On a board of J107A Ambrose moved all in and Steve Billirakis called. Ambrose showed J8 and Billirakis turned over AA. The river card brought the only nine that could send Ambrose packing, the 9. Ambrose was eliminated in fourth place.

Player Tags: Steve Billirakis,   Steve Paul Ambrose

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Jun 03, '07

Steve Paul-Ambrose has been taking some hits as of late. He lost over $1 million on two consecutive hands, then found all of his remaining chips at risk against Greg Mueller. Mueller flipped over AQ after calling the $195,000 all-in bet and Ambrose showed pocket jacks. The board came 853710 and Ambrose doubled up on the hand. He will have his work cut out for him though, and we will keep you posted on his comeback efforts.

Player Tags: Greg Mueller,   Steve Paul Ambrose

Kirk Morrison Eliminated in 7th Place ($63,591)

Jun 03, '07

Steve Paul-Ambrose and Kirk Morrison three bet the action preflop and Morrison has only $10,000 left in front of him. Ambrose then tosses $10,000 into the pot in the dark. The flop comes Q62 and Morrison quickly tosses in his remaining chips. Ambrose flips over pocket queens and Morrison shows pocket tens. Morrison gets a little help on the turn in the form of a four-flush draw, when the 3 is peeled off the deck. The hope is short-lived though, and the K is dealt on the river. Morrison is eliminated in seventh place.

Player Tags: Kirk Morrison,   Steve Paul Ambrose