Michael McClain Poker Tournament Updates

Mike McClain Eliminated By Vivek Rajkumar

Feb 28, '11

Mike McClain was short stacked and all in holding pocket fours against the A-J of chip leader Vivek Rajkumar. The board gave Rajkumar a queen-high straight and McClain was shown the door.

Player Tags: Michael McClain,   Vivek Rajkumar

Michael Pesek Eliminated

Feb 28, '11

Mike Sowers raised to 23,000 and Mike Pesek moved all in for 130,000. Mike McClain then moved all in to isolate and Sowers folded.

Pesek showed KJ, but was behind to McClain’s pocket queens. The board fell A43103 and Pesek was eliminated. McClain now has 370,000 in chips.

Player Tags: Michael McClain,   Michael Pesek

Jason Mercier Eliminated By Mike McClain

Feb 27, '11

Jason Mercier was all in for his last 90,000 in the small blind and Mike McClain called from the big blind.

Mercier showed A8, but was dominated against McClain’s A10. The board ran out A97QJ and Mercier was eliminated. McClain is now big stacked with 420,000.

Player Tags: Michael McClain,   Jason Mercier

Mike McClain Eliminated By Vivek Rajkumar

Feb 28, '11

Mike McClain was short stacked and all in holding pocket fours against the A-J of chip leader Vivek Rajkumar. The board gave Rajkumar a queen-high straight and McClain was shown the door.

Player Tags: Michael McClain,   Vivek Rajkumar

Michael Pesek Eliminated

Feb 28, '11

Mike Sowers raised to 23,000 and Mike Pesek moved all in for 130,000. Mike McClain then moved all in to isolate and Sowers folded.

Pesek showed KJ, but was behind to McClain’s pocket queens. The board fell A43103 and Pesek was eliminated. McClain now has 370,000 in chips.

Player Tags: Michael McClain,   Michael Pesek

Jason Mercier Eliminated By Mike McClain

Feb 27, '11

Jason Mercier was all in for his last 90,000 in the small blind and Mike McClain called from the big blind.

Mercier showed A8, but was dominated against McClain’s A10. The board ran out A97QJ and Mercier was eliminated. McClain is now big stacked with 420,000.

Player Tags: Michael McClain,   Jason Mercier

Michael McClain Eliminated in 27th Place ($28,569)

Dec 17, '09

Curt Kohlberg raised to 36,000 from the button and Michael McClain reraised all in for 150,000 from the small blind. Steve Brecher made the call from the big blind and Kohlberg mucked. The two final players then turned over their cards:

Brecher: AQ
McClain: Q9

Board: Q75J10

McClain was eliminated on the hand in 27th place and Brecher grew his stack to 670,000.

Player Tags: Steve Brecher,   Michael McClain

Level 2 Update: Daniel Negreanu Upset

Dec 14, '09

Blinds: 100-200

Players Remaining: 236 out of 244 (unofficial)

Chip Counts:

1. John Cernuto — 135,000
2. Mike Watson — 110,000
3. Antonio Esfandiari — 105,000
4. Adam Geyer — 95,000
5. Evan McNiff — 95,000
6. Chad Batista — 95,000
7. James Mackey — 90,000
8. Jennifer Tilly — 90,000
9. Carter King — 80,000
10. Yevgeniy Timoshenko — 78,000

Card Player Chip Counts:

Barry Shulman — 68,000

Average Chip Count: 62,000

Notable Eliminations:

Jason Burt

Big Hands:

Chino Rheem’s Trips Boost Him Above Starting Stack

Mike McClain raised to 525 in early position and was called by Mohsin Charania and Chino Rheem in the blinds. The flop came down K42 and everyone checked.

The turn was the 8 and Rheem fired in a bet of 800. McClain called and Charania got out of the way. The river was the 8 and Rheem bet 2,200. McClain called and Rheem showed him 108 to scoop the pot with trips. The defending champion now has over 65,000 in chips.

Scott Montgomery Makes Sure He Gets Paid

The cutoff raised to 600 and Scott Montgomery called on the button. The flop came A89 and both players checked.

The turn was the 2 and the cutoff bet 1,000. Montgomery called and the river was the A. The cutoff checked and Montgomery put in a bet of 2,700.

His opponent thought for a few moments before making the call, however, his chips did not entirely cross the line. Montgomery paused to ask the dealer if it was an official call and once he receieved confirmation, he turned over the winning AJ for trip aces.

We’re not sure if Montgomery was afraid of an angle shoot, but either way, he now has a stack of 51,000.

Jason Mercier Headed South With His Stack

We’re not entirely sure of the preflop action, but it appeared as though Jason Mercier raised to 625 in the cutoff and Soheil Shamseddin reraised to 1,800 from the small blind. Benjamin Zamani then reraised to 5,925 and Mercier made the call.

Shamseddin folded and both players checked a flop of K103. The turn was the 6 and Zamani bet 7,000, getting a call from Mercier. The river was the 3 and both players checked.

Zamani showed A10 to take the pot and boost his stack to 68,000. Meanwhile, Mercier is down to 48,000.

Left In The Deck:

Negreanu Not Happy About Table Draw

There are currently three tables in the poker room and Daniel Negreanu is seated at one, clearly not happy about his table draw.

On his personal twitter account (RealKidPoker), Negreanu voiced his concerns.

“Wow Bellagio officially runs the worst tourney in the country now. Sign up after a guy and you get position on him at the table. Mind boggling. At my table Men and Scotty Nguyen and Elky. We all signed up together.”

Here’s a look at the rest of Negreanu’s lineup.

Seat 1: Billy Kopp
Seat 2: Men Nguyen
Seat 4: Scotty Nguyen
Seat 6: Daniel Negreanu
Seat 8: Bertrand “ElKy” Grospellier
Seat 9: Mike Leah
Seat 10: Russell Rosenblum

All three tables are pretty stacked with well-known professionals, but it doesn’t look like they will break anytime soon, thanks to the very slow structure and extremely deep stacks.

POY Watch:

Card Player TV spoke with current Player of the Year leader Eric Baldwin about his chances to take the overall crown, as well as his recent victory in the $1,000 rebuy tournament here at Bellagio.

Player Tags: Daniel Negreanu,   Michael McClain,   Chino Rheem,   Soheil Shamseddin,   Eric Baldwin,   Benjamin Zamani,   Scott Montgomery,   Jason Mercier

Michael McClain Eliminated in 27th Place ($28,569)

Dec 17, '09

Curt Kohlberg raised to 36,000 from the button and Michael McClain reraised all in for 150,000 from the small blind. Steve Brecher made the call from the big blind and Kohlberg mucked. The two final players then turned over their cards:

Brecher: AQ
McClain: Q9

Board: Q75J10

McClain was eliminated on the hand in 27th place and Brecher grew his stack to 670,000.

Player Tags: Steve Brecher,   Michael McClain

Level 2 Update: Daniel Negreanu Upset

Dec 14, '09

Blinds: 100-200

Players Remaining: 236 out of 244 (unofficial)

Chip Counts:

1. John Cernuto — 135,000
2. Mike Watson — 110,000
3. Antonio Esfandiari — 105,000
4. Adam Geyer — 95,000
5. Evan McNiff — 95,000
6. Chad Batista — 95,000
7. James Mackey — 90,000
8. Jennifer Tilly — 90,000
9. Carter King — 80,000
10. Yevgeniy Timoshenko — 78,000

Card Player Chip Counts:

Barry Shulman — 68,000

Average Chip Count: 62,000

Notable Eliminations:

Jason Burt

Big Hands:

Chino Rheem’s Trips Boost Him Above Starting Stack

Mike McClain raised to 525 in early position and was called by Mohsin Charania and Chino Rheem in the blinds. The flop came down K42 and everyone checked.

The turn was the 8 and Rheem fired in a bet of 800. McClain called and Charania got out of the way. The river was the 8 and Rheem bet 2,200. McClain called and Rheem showed him 108 to scoop the pot with trips. The defending champion now has over 65,000 in chips.

Scott Montgomery Makes Sure He Gets Paid

The cutoff raised to 600 and Scott Montgomery called on the button. The flop came A89 and both players checked.

The turn was the 2 and the cutoff bet 1,000. Montgomery called and the river was the A. The cutoff checked and Montgomery put in a bet of 2,700.

His opponent thought for a few moments before making the call, however, his chips did not entirely cross the line. Montgomery paused to ask the dealer if it was an official call and once he receieved confirmation, he turned over the winning AJ for trip aces.

We’re not sure if Montgomery was afraid of an angle shoot, but either way, he now has a stack of 51,000.

Jason Mercier Headed South With His Stack

We’re not entirely sure of the preflop action, but it appeared as though Jason Mercier raised to 625 in the cutoff and Soheil Shamseddin reraised to 1,800 from the small blind. Benjamin Zamani then reraised to 5,925 and Mercier made the call.

Shamseddin folded and both players checked a flop of K103. The turn was the 6 and Zamani bet 7,000, getting a call from Mercier. The river was the 3 and both players checked.

Zamani showed A10 to take the pot and boost his stack to 68,000. Meanwhile, Mercier is down to 48,000.

Left In The Deck:

Negreanu Not Happy About Table Draw

There are currently three tables in the poker room and Daniel Negreanu is seated at one, clearly not happy about his table draw.

On his personal twitter account (RealKidPoker), Negreanu voiced his concerns.

“Wow Bellagio officially runs the worst tourney in the country now. Sign up after a guy and you get position on him at the table. Mind boggling. At my table Men and Scotty Nguyen and Elky. We all signed up together.”

Here’s a look at the rest of Negreanu’s lineup.

Seat 1: Billy Kopp
Seat 2: Men Nguyen
Seat 4: Scotty Nguyen
Seat 6: Daniel Negreanu
Seat 8: Bertrand “ElKy” Grospellier
Seat 9: Mike Leah
Seat 10: Russell Rosenblum

All three tables are pretty stacked with well-known professionals, but it doesn’t look like they will break anytime soon, thanks to the very slow structure and extremely deep stacks.

POY Watch:

Card Player TV spoke with current Player of the Year leader Eric Baldwin about his chances to take the overall crown, as well as his recent victory in the $1,000 rebuy tournament here at Bellagio.

Player Tags: Daniel Negreanu,   Michael McClain,   Chino Rheem,   Soheil Shamseddin,   Eric Baldwin,   Benjamin Zamani,   Scott Montgomery,   Jason Mercier

Level 9B Recap Part 1

Jul 11, '07

639 players returned from the dinner break on 71 tables, and after it was announced that they would play only this level and an hour and twenty minutes into the next before play was stopped for the day, many of those players must have taken this to mean turn on the gas.

No Agony Just Yet

Michael McClain 2004 Main Event 9th place finisher is more widely known for being the player immortalized as the "Agony of Defeat" as his infamous pout was replayed on all telecasts of the 2003 World Series Poker on ESPN.  McClain is currently a short stack, and got a reprieve when he was able to sniff out a river bluff by his opponent and double up.  With the board reading J 6 2 9 2, McClain's opponent bet $30,000 which more than covered his remaining chips.  McClain announced, "I think your weak here," and made the call.  His opponent showed K Q, and McClain showed 9 8 for the win.  We won't be seeing McClain's agony face just yet.

I'll See Your 56 And Raise You 25

Table 56 was already impressive, but with the addition of one more notable player, it truly becomes worth mentioning.  Two poker's old guard are seated alongside, two of the up-and-coming young internet players.  In seat 1 Hans "Tuna" Lund sets up shop, while seated across in seats 4-6 are Thor Hansen, Carl "colson" Olson, and Jon "PearlJammer" Turner.  So far no large confrontations have occured, but there's plenty of play left tonight.

This table is nothing compared to Table 25 which features 3 of the players in the top 5 in chips in tournament.  The most recent addition to the table is Sorel "ImperIum" Mizzi, who was recently seen struggling to carry 6 full racks over to the stacked table (albeit 3 of these racks are black chips).  He greats the Great Dane Gus Hansen in seat 7, and PokerStars Supernova Hevad "RaiNKhaN" Khan, both who are nursing huge chip stacks.  Currently two ESPN cameras, about 5 media reporters, and the kitchen sink are camped out around the table waiting for some fireworks.

John Murphy Loses Freeroll

Action is folded around to John Murphy who raises from late position to $6,000.  Seat 7 reraises all in for $30,000 from the cutoff.  Seat 1 raises to $60,000 from the big blind to isolate, but Murphy then moves all in over the top for about $180,000.  Seat 1 folds Q Q face up, and Chip Jett commends him for a good fold, but then Murphy flips up A K, while Seat 7 holds 5 5.  The board runs out 8 6 5 6 3, and Seat 7 manages to double up, while Murphy ends up almost where he started the hand.

Dario Wins Big

PokerStars wunderkind Dario Minieri collected a huge pot after his pocket Kings were outflopped.  Mineri pushed all in over the top of Seat 2's raise on the flop of Q 10 9 with K K, and was called fairly quickly, elicting a frustrated response from Mineri, as he was behind Seat 2's Q 9.  The turn caught Mineri up quick as the J peeled off giving him the straight.  The J on the river was not enough to save Seat 2 and he was eliminated sending well over $100,000 to Mineri.
Notable Chip Counts

Gus Hansen	480,000
Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi	365,000
Carlos Mortensen	255,000
Mickey "Mouse" Mills	250,000
Darrell Dicken	225,000
Fabrice Soulier	220,000
Chip Jett	215,000
Ted Forrest	205,000
Thor Hansen	180,000
J.C. Tran	138,000
Chris Ferguson	115,000
Gavin Smith	90,000
Humberto Brenes	70,000
Mimi Tran	42,200
David Chiu	27,800

Player Tags: Thor Hansen,   Chip Jett,   Gus Hansen,   Hans Lund,   John Murphy,   Michael McClain,   Jon Turner,   Carl Olson,   Dario Minieri,   Sorel Mizzi,   Hevad Khan