$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 K
8
2
. 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, Zhu Yueqi
$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, Chad Brown, 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 6th 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, Zhu Yueqi
Billy Baxter’s Tremendous Turnaround
Trung Is The Bubble Boy... Juuuuust Bare-Ly