Rafe Furst Poker Tournament Updates

Level 1 Update: World Championsip of Seven Card Stud Underway

Jun 01, '09

Ante: 50
Low Card: 50
Completion: 200
Limits: 200-400

Players Left: 122 out of 122

Big Hands:

Matt Glantz vs. Rafe Furst

The player in seat 5 opens for 50 with the 6, Matt Glantz completes the bet to 200 with the 7 and Rafe Furst raises to 400 with the K.

Furst: X-X-K2
Glantz:X-X-73

Furst bets 200, Glantz raises to 400, Furst reraises to 600, Glantz four-bets to 800, Furst calls.

Furst: X-X-K2J
Glantz:X-X-73J

Furst checks to Glantz who bets 200. Furst raises to 800, Glantz reraises to 1,200 and Furst calls.

Furst: X-X-K2JQ
Glantz: X-X-73JK

Furst checks to Glantz who bets 400, Furst calls.

Both players are dealt their river cards and Furst checks blind, Glantz bets 400 and Furst calls. Glantz turns over 33 for trip threes and rakes the pot. After this hand Glantz is up to 34,000 while Furst falls down to 26,600.

Shawn Sheikhan vs. Daniel Negreanu

Daniel Negreanu opens for 50 with the 7, Shawn Sheikhan completes the bet to 200 with the A and Negreanu calls.

Sheikhan: X-X-A4
Negreanu: X-X-79

Sheikhan bets 200 and Negreanu calls.

Sheikhan: X-X-A48
Negreanu: X-X-79A

Sheikhan bets 400 and Negreanu folds, showing A4 for a pair of aces with a flush draw. Sheikhan rakes the pot and brings his stack up to 32,000 this hand while Negreanu falls to 28,000 in chips.

Justin Smith vs. Max Pescatori

The player in seat 5 opens the pot for 50 with the 2, Max Pescatori completes the bet to 200 with the 8 and Justin Smith raises to 400 with the K. Seat 5 folds and Pescatori calls.

Smith: X-X-KQ
Pescatori: X-X-89

Smith bets 200 and Pescatori calls.

Smith: X-X-KQQ
Pescatori: X-X-897

Smith bets 400 and Pescatori calls.

Smith: X-X-KQQA
Pescatori: X-X-897J

Smith bets 400 and Pescatori calls.

Both players check their river cards and Smith turns over QQ33 for two pair. Pescatori folds and Smith rakes the pot. Smith is up to 31,000 after this hand while Pescatori falls down to 32,000 in chips.

Left In The Deck:

There are currently more stacks than players in today’s $10K World Championship of Seven Card Stud as late arrivals keep pouring in to fill their seats. Notable pros spotted in the field so far include Frank Kasella, Bret Richey, Nick Frangos, Scott Fischman, Jeff Lissandro, Daniel Negreanu, Matt Glantz, Rafe Furst, Shawn Sheikhan, Allen Kessler, Jerry Buss, Chad Brown, Shawn Buchanan, Bill Edler, Bruno Fitoussi, Farzad Bonyadi, and Bill Chen.

Player Tags: Daniel Negreanu,   Max Pescatori,   Shawn Sheikhan,   Matthew Glantz,   Rafe Furst

61 Players Remain

Jun 30, '07

There are only 61 players left in day two of event #47, $2,000 No Limit Hold 'Em. The current chip leader is Steve Crawford and Jennifer Tilly has climbed into the number two spot.

Rafe Furst is still in the tournament, but holding on to a very short stack. Furst lost a lot of his chips to Joe Pelton in the following hand. With the board showing Q 8 8 Pelton bet out $25,000. Furst called and the turn came 7 and Pelton checked. Furst pushed all in and had Pelton covered. Pelton called and both players turned over their cards. Furst showed J J and Pelton was ahead with K K. Furst needed a jack or any club to take down the pot but the river was the 9 and Pelton took it down. Furst was left with $50,000 after the hand and at the end of level was under $10,000.

Ari Eslami picked up a nice pot and doubled up in the last level. Eslami was all in preflop with 3 3 against his opponent in the two seat who held A-J. The board came 5 4 3 9 3 to give Eslami quads and keep him alive.

The players will go on dinner break at 9 p.m. tonight.

Notable Chip Counts

Steve Crawford	400,000
Jennifer Tilly	340,000
Eugene Todd	260,000
David Singer	183,000
Nick Frangos	175,000
Roland de Wolfe	174,000
Noah Boeken	166,000
Joe Pelton	100,000
TJ Cloutier	93,000
Anna Wroblewski	63,000
Rafe Furst	7,500

Player Tags: Joe Pelton,   Rafe Furst

Hour One Recap

Jun 30, '07

The cards finally got into the air on day two of event #47 at around 3:30 p.m. The returning players finished the last few minutes of level 11 and played straight into level 12. The players are now on a 15 minute break following the completion of the twelfth level.

There are fewer than 90 players left and with tables breaking and players moving seats some tough tables have been formed. At table 68 David Singer, Nick Frangos and Blair Rodman are all sharing the felt. Across the tournament area T.J. Cloutier, Raymond Davis, and Rafe Furst can all be seen sitting at the same table.

Though the money bubble has burst, there is still a long, hard road ahead for any of these players to survive until the final table. Jordan Morgan is making a serious push for the final table and has been putting pressure on the other players at his table all day. Morgan raised to $6,500 preflop and the player in seat eight pushed all in for a little under $50,000. Morgan didn't even wait for the dealer to count out the bet before announcing that he would make the call. The player in seat eight showed A 10 and Morgan was holding J J. The board came 5 5 2 Q 4 and Morgan added his opponent's chips to his stack. Morgan now has over $130,000.

Kirk Morrison was eliminated in 111th place, earning $4,822. John Esposito raised to $9,000 from middle position and Kirk Morrison reraised to $29,000 total. Esposito went deep into the tank and began to interrogate Morrison for information. "You trying to pull something?" asked Esposito. "If I'm gonna call I might as well put you all in, " said Esposito. Esposito then put $50,000 into the middle, reraising Morrison all in. Morrison only had a few thousand left and made the call. Esposito showed A Q and Morrison was holding 6 6. "Thought you had somethin' like that, " said Esposito. The board came K Q 9 K 10 and Esposito took down the pot, eliminating Morrison in 111th place.

Notable Chip Counts

Eugene Todd	210,000
Jennifer Tilly	170,000
Roland de Wolfe	135,000
Jordan Morgan	133,000
Anna Wroblewski	130,000
Nick Frangos	120,000
Rafe Furst	118,000
TJ Cloutier	62,000
David Singer	62,000
Noah Boeken	61,000
Tom McEvoy	43,000
Joe Pelton	25,500

Player Tags: T.J. Cloutier,   John Esposito Jr.,   Raymond Davis,   Blair Rodman,   David Singer,   Nikolaos Frangos,   Rafe Furst,   Jordan Morgan,   Kirk Morrison

Hour Six/Seven Update

Jun 23, '07

There are approximately 580 players remaining in the field, heading into the dinner break.

Table 14 has a nice little selection of familar faces; its the current home to Erica Schoenberg, Rafe Furst, and Men Nguyen.  Furst and Schoenberg have witnessed Nguyen double up two short stacks at their table in succession.  First Nguyen raised to $1,700 from early position, the player in seat 7 called, the player in seat 10 moved all in on the button, and Nguyen called.  Seat 10 showed A K, and Nguyen showed 10 7. The board ran out Q 5 3 5 9 and Nguyen couldn't catch up.  Two hands later, Nguyen called an all in raise from the big blind with K Q, only to find he was dominated by his opponent's A K.  The board read K 6 3 J 6, and Nguyen shipped some more chips.

Anna Wroblewski had some fun with her opponent in Seat 1 in a couple of back to back hands.  Wroblewski raised to $1,675 from under-the-gun and was called by Seat 1.  The flop came A 4 2, Wroblewski checked, Seat 1 bet $4,000 and Wroblewski folded. Wroblewski jokingly asked the dealer to check the deck, saying, "Always an Ace, there must be 50 in there"  On the very next hand Wroblewski and Seat 1 knocked heads again.  On the river with the board reading 10-6-2-6-6, Wroblewski bet $2,500, Seat 1 raised to $5,000 and Wroblewski called.  Seat 1 showed 2-2, but Wroblewski had caught up to him with 10-3.

Players will return from dinner break at 9pm.

Notable Chip Counts

Alex Jacob	43,000
C.K. Hua	40,000
Marcel Luske	38,000
Robert Chueng	34,000
J.C. Tran	32,500
Jon "Pearljammer" Turner	31,500
Kathy Liebert	26,575
Men "The Master" Nguyen	24,400
Sorel Mizzi	18,000
"Miami" John Cernuto	17,400
Juha Helppi	13,000
Eric "Rizen" Lynch	9,300
Ron "Grumpy" Ware	9,000
Chris "Jesus" Ferguson	8,500
Scott Clements	6,500
Shane Schleger	6,000
Rene Angelil	5,750
Erica Schoenberg	4,100
Joe Pelton	3,000
Young Pham	1,500

Player Tags: Men Nguyen,   Rafe Furst,   Erica Schoenberg,   Anna Wroblewski

Players on Break

Jun 04, '07

Following the completion of level eight, the players are on a 15 minute break. Level nine will begin shortly and the blinds will be $400-$800 with limits of $800-$1,600. There are 210 players remaining and play will continue until 2 a.m.

The last two levels saw the eliminations of Eric Froelich, Michael Craig, Rafe Furst and Kathy Liebert.

Player Tags: Kathy Liebert,   Rafe Furst,   Eric Froehlich,   Michael Craig

Rafe Furst, Defending No More

Jun 03, '07

During the twenty minute overlay right before the dinner break at the start of Level 7, Shannon Elizabeth found herself on the giving end of a huge pot. A series of pot-limit raises and re-raises ultimately ended with her opponent all-in, and more than half of her stack in the pot. Shannon Elizabeth comes in for $1,800 and the big blind raises to $4,000. Elizabeth re-raises to $11,700 when the big blind moves all-in for another $12,900. Elizabeth is holding KK against her opponent’s AK, when the flop comes A75, with the Ace in the window. Elizabeth grunts, “Unreal…that sucks!!! I knew this was gonna happen…I can’t believe you called! Her opponent laughs as he rakes the pot when the 8 and the 2 hit the turn and the river.

            Her luck didn’t improve much after dinner either. No more than five minutes after the dinner break, Elizabeth once again found herself on the losing end of a big pot. Eugene Todd opens with a $2,100 pot-sized bet and Elizabeth asks him how much he has left. As he proceeds to count out his chips, the frustrated Elizabeth says, “Forget it, I’ll just call.” The flop comes 10103 and Eugene Todd moves all-in for his last $3,400 chips. Elizabeth mumbles, “I said I wanted to gamble”, as she makes the call. She flips over AK while Todd shows J9. Elizabeth was relieved to be ahead on the turn when the 2 hit, but that release of anxiety didn’t last long when Todd spiked the 9 on the river to win the pot. Eugene Todd hides his head in his shirt as the dealer ships him the pot and Shannon Elizabeth proceeds to count her remaining chip stack of slightly less than $3,000. Todd’s fifteen seconds of guilt subsided when he poked his head out of his shirt to tell Tony Ma, “Now that’s how you play, Tony.”

            Lady Luck was not a friend of Eugene Todd for much longer. Within a few hands of doubling through Elizabeth, Todd found himself involved in another large pot before the flop. Todd makes a pot-sized bet and his opponent re-raises another $6,500 and all-in. Todd quickly calls and flips over AKwhile his opponent shows 99. The flop comes 943, giving his opponent a set, and as if that weren’t bad enough, the 9c hits the turn giving his opponent quads and ruining any chance Todd had for going on a Level 7 run.

            Level 7 also played host to several notable eliminations including that of the defending champion, Rafe Furst. The player in Seat-3 makes it $2,100 to go when Furst re-raises another $4,000. Seat-3 makes the call and the flop comes 742. Furst checks to his opponent who bets $6,000; putting him all-in. Furst makes the call and shows 99 while his opponent shows JJ. The turn and the river bring the 5 and the 2 offering no help to our defending champion as he is sent to the rail and defending no more.

            Play resumed after the dinner break with 145 players spanning over sixteen tables with an average chip stack of $16,158. By the end of Level 7, we were down to 124 players. We have just entered Level 8 with blinds of $400-$800

 

 

Player Tags: Rafe Furst,   Eugene Todd,   Shannon Elizabeth

Furst Looking to Repeat

Jun 03, '07

Only 33 tables remain of the 780 players that started the day in the $1,500 pot-limit hold'em event. Defending event champion Rafe Furst is in good shape to go deep again after doubling up to roughly $15,000 in chips. With a board of J539, Furst moved all of his chips in on the turn and was called by an opponent after three minutes of deliberation.  Furst's QQ was a huge favorite over his opponent's 1010, and after the river improved neither player Furst scooped up the gigantic pot.  This puts him alongside John Robert Bellande and Marco Traniello as notable players in the top ten toward the end of level four.

Eric Froehlich, despite eliminating Max Pescatori last level, has been sent to the rail himself.  With only two $25 dollar chips , Froehlich looked down at the Q9 and called all in.  Unfortunately, among the numerous limpers and callers was a tricky Nam Le, who happened to be slowplaying the AA.  Nam Le raised on the flop to isolate Froelich, and took down the pot when Froehlich's hand did not improve.

Keep your browser locked to Cardplayer.com for hourly level updates and Pro Blogs.

Player Tags: Nam Le,   Marco Traniello,   Rafe Furst,   Eric Froehlich

Shuffle Up and Deal

Jun 03, '07

Action got underway on time today, with players slowly filing in to fill approximately ninety tables.  The defending bracelet winner Rafe Furst got off to a good start, doubling his stack in the first level.  Notable players came out in full force, including celebrity/poker powerplayers James Woods and Shannon Elizabeth.

There are a number stacked tables in today's field.  One table houses David "Devilfish" Ulliot, Chip Jett, Huck Seed and AJ Kelsall.  Burt Boutin was moved to a table where Erik Seidel and Amnon Filippi were waiting for him.    TJ Cloutier is sharing the felt with Eric Froelich and Nam Le, bringing together some of the toughest tournament players from two generations.  Cloutier was left with a short stack after betting the pot on the flop with bottom pair and a straight draw and being drawn out on by a player calling with the draw to the higher end.  A few hands later, Cloutier was all in for $275 and received calls from four players.  After a flop of 764, a player in middle position raised out the other players in the side pot and showed the 99.  Cloutier revealed his 77 for a flopped set, and after the turn and river bricked he quintupled up to roughly $1,500.

Make sure to check back for more hourly updates and the Pro Blogs of David Ulliot, Eric Lynch, Darrell Dicken, Rafe Furst and others at Cardplayer.com.

Player Tags: T.J. Cloutier,   Nam Le,   James Woods,   Rafe Furst,   Shannon Elizabeth

Pot Limit Hold'Em Set to Go

Jun 03, '07

The $1,500 pot limit hold'em event is set to get underway at noon here at the 2007 World Series of Poker.  With around a thousand entrants last year, it is likely that the number of entrants for this pot limit event should be similarly sized.  Entrants will be chasing the bracelet that Rafe Furst won last year.  With a less massive field than yesterday, one might actually be able to walk the hallways at the Rio without feeling like they are stuck in a mosh pit.   Keep you're browser locked on Carplayer.com for hourly level updates and the Pro Blogs of Amir Vahedi and Max Pescatori.

Player Tags: Amir Vahedi,   Max Pescatori,   Rafe Furst

No-limit Revives Action

Jun 01, '07

Like a bear waking from a winter-long hibernation, the remaining players awoke from their limit-induced slumbers and furious action ensued when the game switched to no-limit for the beginning of level nine. Within minutes Erick Lindgren, Chau Giang, Rafe Furst, Mickey Appleman and a number of other players were elimated from the tournament.  Todd Brunson went all in preflop and was called by an opponent, who showed  the 88. Brunson's JJ was in the lead, and he doubled up when the board improved neither player.

Among the list of notables eliminated in the no-limit portion of this level was Jennifer Harman. Joe Tehan, Jennifer Harman and Sirious Baghchehsaraie saw a flop of A66. Tehan bet out and Harman raised. Baghchehsaraie smooth called and Tehan folded. The turn was the 8 and Baghchehsaraie bet out $9,000. Harman came over the top for $23,500 and Baghchehsaraie made the call. Harman showed K6 and her opponent turned over 76. The river was the 2 and Harman was eliminated.

Phil Hellmuth made quite a stir toward the end of the no-limit portion of the level.  After losing the majority of his stack to a new player at the tablewith jacks aganist queens, Hellmuth began to vent his anger in trademark Hellmuth fashion.  Phil Gordon warned Hellmuth that he would call a floorman over if Hellmuth didn't stop berrating him.  His opponent responded that, "He's not berating me, he;'s beratin himself."  Within a few minutes, Hellmuth found himself all in after the flop with tens against an opponent who flopped three jacks, with a board of JJ8.  The turn and river did not improve Hellmuth and he was elimated, attracting the attention of the surrounding tables as he verbally expressed his frustration.

The limit portion elicited a similar response from the players as it had in previous levels.  Perry Friedman announced to his table that he was, "not playing any limit hands."   Other lingering sentiments include the player's disdain for the new cards used earlier in the day.  Mike Matusow continues to share his opinion about the cards, and express his desire to meet whoever conceived their design.

Player Tags: Erick Lindgren,   Mickey Appleman,   Todd Brunson,   Mike Matusow,   Phil Hellmuth,   Jennifer Harman,   Chau Giang,   Perry Friedman,   Rafe Furst,   Joe Tehan