Claude Cohen Poker Tournament Updates

$1,500 H.O.R.S.E. - Day 1 - Level 6 Recap

Jun 29, '08

Note: The players are now on a 20 minute break

Stakes:
Hold’em/Omaha:  150-300 blinds
Stud/Razz/Stud8:  75 ante, 100 bring in, 300-600 stakes

Players Left: 320 of 803

Chip Leaders:
Mary Jones - 20,500
Keith Sexton - 16,500
Tom Schneider - 16,000
Perry Friedman - 14,500
Victor Ramdin – 13,500
John Juanda - 12,600
Claude Cohen - 12,000
Phil Hellmuth Jr. - 11,000
Joe Hachem - 11,000
Yueqi "Rich" Zhu - 10,500
Mickey Seagle - 10,000

Average Stack: 7,525

Eliminations:
Chris Ferguson
David Chiu
Howard Lederer

Big Hands and Storylines:

Hold’em

Neither Turn Nor River Save Jesus

Chris Ferguson raised from under-the-gun to 600, leaving himself a mere 250 chips behind. The button called, as did the small blind, and the three saw a flop. The flop rolled off K82. The small blind checked, Ferguson put his last sad chips into the pot, the button called and the small blind folded. The two showed their hands:

Ferguson: A6
Opponent: QQ

Ferguson would need one of the remaining aces in the deck to stay alive. The turn was the 2 and the river was the 5 though, ending Ferguson’s day prematurely.

Omaha

Ramdin Keeps Rollin’

Victor Ramdin raised it up from the button and, as so often happens in Omaha/8, the big blind called. On a flop of QQ10 the big blind bet out and Ramdin quickly met him with a raise. The big blind called and then check-called a bet on the turn (4). The river was the J and the action went check-call yet again. Ramdin showed AQ54 for a full house and took down the pot. That hand kept Ramdin climbing, now all the way up to 13,500.

Stud/8b

Now Those Are Some Scary Boards

Cyndy Violette: 6K66
Opponent: 29J8

Violette raised on third street with the 6 and her opponent called with the 2 up after having brought in. Violette bet again when she drew a king and her opponent appeared to blank with a nine. The boards only got better from there. On the next two streets, Violette received a pair of sixes while her opponent drew two hearts. On every single street Violette bet, and on every single street she was called. “Boat,” was her simple response when met with the last call, showing (7)(7)(8). After taking down that pot Violette sits just above average with 7,500.

Player Tags: Mickey Seagle,   Chris Ferguson,   John Juanda,   Phil Hellmuth,   Victor Ramdin,   Tom Schneider,   Keith Sexton,   Perry Friedman,   Claude Cohen,   Mary Jones,   Joe Hachem

$1,500 H.O.R.S.E. - Day 1 - Level 5 Recap

Jun 29, '08

Stakes:
Hold’em/Omaha:  100-200 blinds
Stud/Razz/Stud8:  50 ante, 50 bring in, 200-400 stakes

Players Left: 440 of 803

Chip Leaders:
Keith Sexton - 16,500
Tom Schneider - 16,000
Perry Friedman - 14,500
John Juanda - 12,600
Claude Cohen - 12,000
Phil Hellmuth Jr. - 11,000
Joe Hachem - 11,000
Victor Ramdin – 11,000
Yueqi "Rich" Zhu - 10,500
Mickey Seagle - 10,000
Chad Brown - 9,800
Alex Jacob - 8,000

Average Stack: 5,475

Eliminations:
Daniel Negreanu

Big Hands and Storylines:

Show Them What They’re Playing For...

An announcement was just made by the tournament director, and with a field of 803 players starting the tournament, first-prize will be $256,412. This is nearly $100,000 more than last year’s first-place finisher took home, in large part due to the fact that the buy-in has been increased by 50%.

The Table of Death

With a few more than 400 players remaining the tables here in the Amazon Room (and some in the Brasilia Room) have begun to get more saturated with pros. No table is a better example of this than table 28. Sitting there earlier were David Sklansky, David Chiu, and Brian Micon. They were just joined by Victor Ramdin and Mike Matusow, whose chatter has been non-stop since arriving despite having only 2,800 chips.

Omaha

Jacob Busts Another

Alex Jacob raised pre-flop from early position and the only caller was a short-stacked player in the blinds. The flop came J83, and the short stack check-called a bet from Jacob. Jacob’s opponent was all-in after a 3 on the turn and the players showed:

Jacob: AA76
Opponent: AK109

The river was a harmless 8 and Jacob claimed another scalp. This one helped escalate his chip stack to 8,000.

Stud

Ramdin in Charge

Victor Ramdin: A6A8
David Chiu: 5852

David Chiu completed on third street and Victor Ramdin and another player made the call. Ramdin bet fourth street and was raised by Chiu. The third player folded, and Ramdin made the call. Both players open-paired up on fifth street, but Ramdin’s aces were far scarier than Chiu’s fives. Ramdin bet and Chiu called. Action was the same on the last two streets, and after the final call Chiu asked, “Jacks up good?” Ramdin turned over (8h)(6s)(5c). Jacks up were, in fact, no good. This pot propelled Ramdin to the heights of the chip leaders with 11,000. Chiu is not hurting for chips himself, with 7,600.

Player Tags: Mickey Seagle,   John Juanda,   Phil Hellmuth,   Victor Ramdin,   Tom Schneider,   Keith Sexton,   Perry Friedman,   Claude Cohen,   Joe Hachem,   Alex Jacob,   Yueqi Zhu

$1,500 H.O.R.S.E. - Day 1 - Level 4 Recap

Jun 29, '08

Note: The players are now on a 30-minute mini-dinner break

Stakes:
Hold’em/Omaha: 75-150 blinds
Stud/Razz/Stud8: 25 ante, 50 bring in, 150-300 stakes

Players Left: 552 of 803

Chip Leaders:
Tom Schneider - 15,400
Richard Brodie - 10,500
Perry Friedman - 9,125
Yueqi "Rich" Zhu - 8,400
Mickey Seagle - 8,000
Bryan Micon – 7,400
Sam Simon- 7,400
Thomas Hunt - 7,000
Joe Hachem - 6,500
Claude Cohen - 6,500

Average Stack: 4,365

Eliminations:
Max Pescatori

Big Hands and Storylines:

Stud

Micon Outspoken Despite Losing Pot

Bryan Micon: AQ3
Opponent: 10K10

Bryan Micon raised on third street and was called by his opponent, showing a ten. “You and I the whole day!” Micon continued, “At least we keep winning before playing each other.” Micon bet again on fourth street and was called. Then on fifth street, his opponent made a pair of tens and Micon folded to his bet. Micon exclaimed – more matter-of-factly than in any sort of Hellmuthian manner – “I had like the most concealed hand ever, and there wasn’t a single heart out!” As he said this he flipped over (8)(7). His opponent replied in kind by showing his (A)(K). Micon has gotten off to a very strong start and currently has 7,400.

Stud/8b  

Habib Doubles Up

Hasan Habib: 84Q
Opponent: A5K

A short-stacked Hasan Habib found himself all-in against on third street against an unknown opponent. Habib turned over (A)(3) for an ace-high flush draw against his opponent’s (K)(J) for a pair of kings. Habib spiked a diamond on 6^th street and that would be enough to take down the pot. Habib now has 1,300.

Razz

Greenstein Starts Anew

Greenstein: 8759
Opponent: A525

Fresh off of his sixth place finish in the H.O.R.S.E. championship, Barry Greenstein took a seat in $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. tournament, hoping to continue his recent success. We joined one of his hands in progress on fifth street, where Barry called a bet from his opponent despite his opponent showing A52. His opponent paired his five on sixth street, and Greenstein check-called. On seventh street, Greenstein check-called again. His opponent turned up (4)(3)(J) for a wheel, and Greenstein mucked his hand. Despite this temporary setback, Greenstein would end the hand with 5,300.

Player Tags: Mickey Seagle,   Barry Greenstein,   Richard Brodie,   Hasan Habib,   Tom Schneider,   Perry Friedman,   Claude Cohen,   Joe Hachem,   Sam Simon,   Bryan Micon

$2,500 Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw Lowball - Day 2 - Level 14 Recap

Jun 23, '08

The players are now on an hour-long dinner break

Blinds: 1,300-2,500

Players Left: 18 of 238

Chip Leaders:
John Phan - 156,000
Billy Baxter - 128,500
Shunjiro Uchida - 114,500
David Sklansky - 106,000
Robert Mizrachi - 100,000
Michael Wattel - 96,000
Gioi Luong - 92,500
Greg Raymer - 89,000
Richard Chase - 55,000
Dario Alioto - 54,500

Average Stack: 66,100

Eliminations:
15^th – Raymond Davis
16^th – Juan Luis Velador
17^th – Chau Giang
18^th – Claude Cohen

Big Hands and Storylines:

Billy Baxter’s Tremendous Turnaround

Billy Baxter started today with only 6,000 in chips, slightly more than a single big bet. 30^th of 30 in chips, it didn’t seem like he would make any sort of run today. Astoundingly, Baxter has turned it around completely and now stands at 2^nd in chips with 128,000. Baxter’s rapid rise in the deuce-to-seven event has caused a bit of a conflict however. While his stack grows and grows in the lowball event, his stack is being blinded off in the seniors’ event. Baxter had pre-registered for the seniors’ event assuming that he would bust early in the deuce-to-seven triple draw event. Mr. Baxter seems unperturbed by this development.

Billy Baxter Eliminates Chau Giang

“Cold deck,” Giang repeated as he was eliminated by Billy Baxter in a serious cooler of a hand. Action pre-draw saw four bets by each player and Baxter stood bat from the get-go. Giang drew one on each of the first two draws and then stood pat on the final draw. Giang check-raised Baxter on the final round of betting to get all of his chips in with no. 3: 7-6-5-3-2. Baxter’s good day kept getting better though, as he unveiled a perfect 7-5-4-3-2 to bust Giang. It’s good to be the king.

John Phan eliminates Raymond Davis

John Phan eliminated Ray Davis, moving into the chip lead in the process. It was an unfortunate end to the day for Davis, who had been talking boldly about his final-table aspirations all afternoon long. Davis, standing pat on the final two draws, ran into the 7-5-4-3-2 of Phan. The nut-low propelled Phan to 155,000 in chips, tops on the day.

Player Tags: John Phan,   Gioi Luong,   Robert Mizrachi,   Michael Wattel,   Chau Giang,   David Sklansky,   Shunjiro Uchida,   Claude Cohen,   Greg Raymer,   Richard Chase,   Billy Baxter,   Dario Alioto,   Jose Luis Velador

$2,500 Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw Lowball - Day 2 - Level 12

Jun 23, '08

Note: The players are now on a 20-minute break

Blinds: 800-1,500

Players Left: 22 of 238

Chip Leaders:
Shun Uchida - 101,000
Jose Luis Velador - 78,000
Gioi Luong - 74,100
David Baker - 70,500
Ray Davis - 67,700
Michael Wattel - 67,000
James Copeland - 62,700
Billy Baxter - 58,000
Chris Vitch - 54,500
Robert Mizrachi - 52,400

Average Stack: 44,100

Eliminations:
Bill Chen
Trung Ly

Big Hands and Storylines:

Trung Is The Bubble Boy... Juuuuust Bare-Ly

Trung Ly was so low on chips that there was no trying to sneak into the money for him. Left with only 1,000 chips, Ly found himself all-in on the 1^st draw. The drama didn’t come until after the 3^rd draw however. Ly declared a jack-low... and so did Claude Cohen. Ly clarified, “Jack-seven,” and again, Cohen had the same. The third card was the deciding one, and Ly’s J-7-6 low was bested by his Cohen’s J-7-5. Ly was eliminated in 25th place.

Ray Ray Ruins Chen Check-Raise Connivance

Ray Davis raised to 3,000 on the button and was called by Bill Chen in the big blind. Chen drew 2 and Davis took 1. Chen then check-called Davis’s bet. On the next draw each player asked for 1 card and, again, Chen check-called a Davis bet. On the final draw Chen drew a single card and Davis stood pat. Chen checked and Davis fired again. Chen sprung into action for the first time in the hand with a raise which was quickly called by Davis. Chen’s check-raise was a bluff however, and his pair of deuces was soundly defeated by Davis’s 8-7-5-4-3.

This would signal the beginning of the end for Chen’s day, as he would be eliminated in 24^th place, just squeaking into the money.

Sklansky Bucks Elimination, Triples Up

David Sklansky raised from early position with a short stack and eventually got his money all-in after the final draw. Both Steve Sung and Greg Raymer folded to Sklansky’s last bet of 2,500, but John Phan made the call. Sklansky showed 9-8-5-4-3 and Phan could only claim a 10-low before folding. That hand boosted him to 24,000 and allowed him to make the money.

Raymer Celebrates a Cash

Greg Raymer has just informed his table that this is his first cash in his past 24 World Series attempts. Congratulations are in order for Greg, but don’t feel too bad for him. After all, not many players have cashed for $5 million in a single World Series event.

Player Tags: Gioi Luong,   Robert Mizrachi,   Raymond Davis,   Michael Wattel,   Trung Ly,   Shunjiro Uchida,   Claude Cohen,   Greg Raymer,   Bill Chen,   James Copeland,   Billy Baxter,   Chris Vitch,   Jose Luis Velador