Level 16 Hour 2 Update: Money Bubble Bursts
Jul 11, '09
Blinds: 2,500-5,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 571 out of 6,494
Chip Counts:
1. Bertrand Grospellier – 1,700,000
2. Benjamin Jensen – 1,400,000
3. Ludovic Lacay – 1,400,000
4. James Akenhead – 1,140,000
5. Theo Tran – 1,050,000
6. Billy Kopp – 1,040,000
7. Blair Hinkle – 1,030,000
8. Miika Puumalainen – 1,000,000
9. Matt Affleck – 960,000
10. Eli Adler – 895,000
Card Player Chip Counts:
Jeff Shulman – 270,000
Phil Hellmuth – 200,000
Average Chip Count: 335,318
Notable Eliminations:
Kristy Gazes
Big Hands:
Eastgate Takes One Off Hachem
Joe Hachem raised to 15,000 preflop and Peter Eastgate made the call from the big blind. The flop then fell A
58
and both players checked. The turn was the 3 and Hachem bet 18,000 after Eastgate checked. The call was made and the river was the 9. Both players checked one last time and Hachem tabled K8 for middle pair on the flop.
Eastgate then tabled Q
Q
for the best hand and took the pot.
Bobby Baldwin Still Alive
With a flop showing K76, Bobby Baldwin moved all in with A9 and was called by Elias Eldon who was holding QQ.
The turn was the 5 and the bubble was so close to bursting. But the river was the 3 and Baldwin doubled up, much to the chagrin of everyone else in the Amazon Room hoping to cash.
Lou Diamond Phillips Takes One Off Tran
J.C. Tran raised to 13,000 and Lou Diamond Phillips made the call from the big blind. The flop came 876 and Phillips led out for 20,000. Tran made the call and the turn was the 4. Phillips led out one more time, this time for 30,000. Tran then popped it to 80,000 and Phillips made the call.
The river was the Q and Phillips kept the foot to the gas pedal, firing 130,000. Tran mucked and Phillips tabled 55 for the straight and he was at 565,000. Tran was down to 150,000.
Kia Hamadani Is The Bubble Boy
Kia Hamadani was all in for his last 500 on the ante. Reed Hensel raised to 17,000 from the hijack and the blinds called. The flop came down Q6Q and Hensel bet 20,000. The blinds mucked and Hensel tabled 92. It was clearly a move to take the much bigger side pot, but he was also ahead of Hamadani who held 43. The turn was the 9, leaving Hamadani drawing dead. For good measure, the 9 came on the river and the field was officially in the money.
Kenny Tran Picks Off a Short Stack
Max Greenwood moved all in preflop for his last 86,500 chips and was called by Prahlad Friedman on the button. Action was to Kenny Tran in the big blind and Tran decided to move all in himself. Friedman decided to get out of the way and let Tran take on Greenwood himself.
Tran showed KK and Greenwood showed QJ. The board ran out A65K9 and eliminated Greenwood from the tournament, while Kenny Tran increased his stack to 800,000.
Kristy Gazes Eliminated
Kristy Gazes had been nursing a below average stack for a while and she finally moved it in preflop. Dag Palovic made the call and here were their cards.
Gazes: A2
Palovic: 1010
Gazes had only one overcard to Palovic’s pocket pair. The flop then came AJ10, giving Gazes top pair but making Palovic a set. Gazes took a few steps away from the table, anticipating her elimination. But the Q came on the turn and she still had outs. “One time dealer!” Gazes said asking for a king. But the river was the 3 and Gazes joined the flock of players busting out after the bursting of the bubble.
Left In The Deck:
The money bubble has officially burst with the elimination of Kia Hamadani. Everyone in the field is now guaranteed at least $21,365. Hamadani does get the nice consolation prize of being bought in to the 2010 main event and, of course, the fame of being the 2009 bubble boy.
Since 13 hands were played during that entire level, the tournament staff has decided to add three minutes per hands played to the clock. That means the players will have 39 minutes of added play before dinner arrives. Let the all in madness begin.
Dinner Pushed Back
The players have gone on a 20-minute break to color up the blue “500” chips. Most of the field thought their dinner break would be after level 16, but the tournament staff has verified that the field will play one more 120 minute level before they players take their 90 minute dinner break.
Player Tags: J.C. Tran, Bobby Baldwin, Kristy Gazes, Lou Diamond Phillips, Joe Hachem, Peter Eastgate
