Donnacha O'Dea Poker Tournament Updates

$10,000 Main Event - Day 1b - Hour Two

Jul 04, '08

Note: Players are on their first twenty-minute break of the day and will return at approx. 2:30 pm to begin Level 2 with increased blinds of 100-200.

Blinds: 50-100

Chip Counts:
John Robbins: 48,000
Stephen Ladowsky: 4,000
Giles Smadia: 47,000
Dustin Sitar: 39,900
Dustin Dorrance-Bowman: 39,000
Kristy Gazes: 39,000
Michael Pedley: 39,000
Michael Guzzardi: 37,000
Michael Watson: 37,000
Mike Stovall: 36,000

CP Chip Counts:

Steve Zolotow: 14,700
Lee Watkinson: 7,900

 

Eliminations: Ted Forrest, Andy Black, Daniel Negreanu

Big Hands:

Set Over set, Negreanu Leaves Early

Daniel Negreanu drew a seat at the ESPN secondary feature table today, but his stay would not even last one round after Negreanu made an early exit when his set of sixes walked into a better set of nines. There was a lot of dissapointment on the rail as many spectators had lined up to watch Negreanu play...there is always next year.

Mrs. Varkonyi Catches a Bluff

Olaf Thorson raised to 250 before the flop and next to act, Olga Varkonyi reraised to 750. Thorson made the call and said, "I don't know why you have to be so aggressive," giving the whole table a good laugh. The flop came 1097, and Varkonyi bet 1,500 after it was checked to her. Thorson made the call both players checked the turn (10). The river was the 9 and Thorson took a stab at the pot, firing 1,800 into the middle. Varkonyi called and Thorson said, "I play the board," showing 76. Varkonyi turned over AA and raked the pot. She started the hand with 21,000, chipping up to 28,000 by the end of the hand.

Kravchenko Chipping Up

On a flop of AA10, the player in seat 7 bet 300 and Alex Kravchenko made the call, as did seat 1. The turn was the 6, and both seats 1 and 7 checked to Kravchenko who bet 775. Seat 1 called and seat 7 folded. The river was the 9 and Kravchenko bet 1,100. Seat 1 tanked for a moment before mucking his cards. Kravcheno raked the pot, bringing his chip count 34,000 after the hand.

Don't Mess With A Mizrachi

The player on the button raised to 300 before the flop, and was called by both the blinds, including Robert Mizrachi in the big blind. Mizrachi led out on the flop of J74, betting 850 after the small blind checked. The button raised for an additional 1,500. Mizrachi thought only briefly before making the wager a total of 4,200. The button squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, rechecking his cards for some time before folding reluctantly. After the hand, Mizrachi is back up to 19,000 in chips.

Fischman Folds To Check Raise

Scott Fischman popped it up 300 before the flop from middle position, and was called only by the big blind, and they went heads up to the flop, which came out 742. The player in the blind checked over to Fischman, who made a continuation bet of 525, only to have his opponent raise to a total of 1,300. Fischman considered the situation only briefly before getting away from his hand, standing from the table to leave for the break a few minutes early.

European Action

On a board of K654 Swede William Thorsson called a bet of 1,200. The turn fell the 5 and Thorsson slowly shook his head as his opponent bet 2,000. “Aces” he said to his opponent – less a question and more a statement of fact.

“How did you know?,” was the reply. Thorsson counted his chips out twice and finally made the call but as he threw his chips in the middle he held his cards over the muck with his other hand. His opponent flashed the aces. “How did you know,” he asked again while raking in the chips.

Elsewhere Englishman Mickey Wernick snatched a nice pot from Greg Raymer and has around 25,000 in chips.

Hendon Mobster Ram Vaswani is the button to recent Irish Open winner Neil Channing’s big blind and both have just over their starting stacks.

EPT boss John Duthie has 22,900 in chips and relaxing with a massage, Barny Boatman was pushed off two pots in a row just before the end of level one but still has around his starting stack while former Swedish international soccer star Tomas Brolin is on a comfortable 37,000.

Patrik Antonius limped into the pot from under the gun. One player in middle position, the button, and both blinds also went to the flop. On the flop of J98, the blinds checked to Antonius, who fired a bet of 375. The middle position player folded action to the button, who then raised to a total of 1,000, pushing out the blinds. Antonius made the call, and fired out for another 1,600 on the turn, which brought the 10. The button called, and then called his bet of 3,200 on the river after the dealer put down the 3. Antonius showed down QQ for a turned straight, but had to chop the pot with his opponent, who held QJ. After the hand, Antonius had only a whisker more than his starting stack, sitting behind around 20,500.

Player Tags: Donnacha O'Dea,   Robert Mizrachi,   Chris Bjorin,   Scott Fischman,   Daniel Negreanu,   Ram Vaswani,   Barny Boatman,   John Duthie,   Greg Raymer,   Kevin O'Connell,   Neil Channing,   Olaf Thorson,   Markus Golser,   Alexander Kravchenko,   Thomas Fougeron,   William Thorson,   Patrik Antonius,   Conor Tate,   Sverre Sundbo,   Victoria Coren,   Michael Wernick,   Tomas Brolin,   Des Wilson

First Hour Gone

Jul 07, '07

Cards in the Air

The cards have been in the air for only one hour and already day 1B feels different than day 1A. Day 1A was filled with nervous anticipation and tons of hype. Today feels more like a poker tournament, a convention of gamblers if you will. The day started with World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack unveiling the 2007 Main Event Champion's bracelet. This year's bracelet is made of white gold with 120 diamonds and a 1.3 karat weight. Pollack handed the microphone to the Rio's own Penn and Teller who were given the honor of announcing "Shuffle up and deal!"

Stacked Field

Although many notable names played in yesterday's field, today may have it beat. Scott Fischman, Erik Seidel, Joe Sebok, Sam Farha, Evelyn Ng, David "The Dragon" Pham, Paul Wasicka, John Juanda, "Miami" John Cernuto, Roland De Wolfe and Jennifer Harmon are just some of the big names sharing the felt in today's heat of Main Event entrants.

Champions Present

On any day one of the Main Event it is easy to walk around the Amazon room and count anywhere from five to twenty bracelet winners littered amongst the field. Eric Seidel, Scott Clements, David Williams and Jeff Lisandro are a few of the notable bracelet winners in today's field but more noteworthy may be the number of Main Event bracelet winners that are all playing today. Tom McEvoy ('83), Berry Johnston ('86), Dan Harrington ('95), Scotty Nguyen ('98) and Joe Hachem ('04) have all elected to play on day 1B of this year's Main Event.

A Family Affair?

Poker skills may or may not be hereditary, the jury is still out on that one, but there is something to be said for families that play the game. Brothers Ross and Barny Boatman are both in the field today and sitting just a few tables apart are David Williams and his mother, Shirley. Barry Shulman, his wife Allyn Jaffrey Shulman and his son Jeff Shulman are all at different tables but playing on the same day as well, while father and son Donnacha O’Dea and Eoghan O’Dea from Ireland are also in the field.

Hollywood in the House

Tournament official Nolan Dolla announced over the loud speaker that TV personality Montel Williams was amongst the 1,300 or so that started the day. It is not uncommon on day one to spot a few celebrities either playing or watching. Director and writer Nick Cassavetes is playing today as well as Norm McDonald who is playing for PokerStars.

www.pokerstars.com

Euro news

The European contingent is out in force today. Some interesting tablemates include Neil Channing and Michael Keiner, Ross Boatman and Pat O’Callaghan, Dave Shallow and Alexander Kravchenko, Al Kelleher and Max Pescatori, Rob Taylor and John Juanda, Bruno Fitoussi and Dan Harrington, Kathy Liebert and George McKeever.

Early chip movements include popular Blonde Poker journalist and birthday girl Jen Mason down to $13,050 in chips and equally popular European Poker Tour honcho John Duthie up to $34,050 in chips.

Recent bracelet winner Alan Smurfit is also playing as are Carlo Citrone, Praz Banzi, Juha Helppi, Vicky Coren, Marc Goodwin, Bruno Fitoussi, Simon Trumper, Pascal Perrault, Martin Wendt, Noah Boeken and Martin Green.

Trumper trumps opponent

Simon Trumper, from English crew Dusk Til Dawn, pulled what he described as 'an outrageous bluff' and was inordinately happy with his early play.

'I haven't made day two for five years and that has pi*sed me right off,' he told CardPlayer.com. 'I'm in the small blind with 8-6 and with three limpers i call. The flop came J-4-7 with two spades so if i hit a five i'm ahead or a spade i reckon i can represent the flush.' Cutting a long story short the limpers were weeded out when a spade came on the turn and another on the river. Trumper made it $2,500 into a pot of $4,500 on the river and the early raise dwelled.

Picking up the story Trumper said,' Just then they announced former world champion Berry Johnson was playing today so i took my hands off my cards and clapped. When the other guys saw how relaxed and casual i was he immediately mucked,' beamed an upbeat Trumper.

Notable Chip Counts

Berry Johnston	37,000
Joe Sebok	34,000
Kirk Morrison	33,000
Tony G	29,000
Justin Bonomo	28,200
Sammy Farha	27,000
Evelyn Ng	27,000
Scotty Nguyen	25,800
J.J. Liu	25,000
Joe Hachem	24,000
Barry Shulman	23,500
Bob Bright	23,100
Erik Seidel	23,000
Paul Wasicka	22,700
Robert Mizrachi	22,000
Norm MacDonald	22,000
Isabelle Mercier	21,500
Kathy Liebert	21,000
Allyn Jaffrey Shulman	21,000
Scott Fischman	20,500
Tom McEvoy	20,000
Scott Clements	20,000
Sam Grizzle	20,000
Rett Butler	20,000
Jordan Morgan	20,000
Jeffrey Lisandro	20,000
Howard Lederer	20,000
Dan Harrington	20,000
Alexander Kravchenko	20,000
Sabyl Cohen	19,800
Jennifer Harman	19,650
Noah Boeken	19,000
Annie Duke	18,500
John Juanda	18,300
Kido Pham	17,500
'Miami John' Cernuto	17,000
David 'The Dragon' Pham	16,800
Barny Boatman	15,800
Roland De Wolfe	15,500
Hoyt Corkins	15,400
Juha Helppi	14,600
Mark Seif	14,500
Max Pescatori	14,000
Aaron Kanter	13,500
David Singer	13,000
Davidson Matthew	12,500
Dan Shak	11,000
David Williams	10,500
Bill Chen	10,000

Player Tags: Donnacha O'Dea,   John Cernuto,   Tom McEvoy,   Scotty Nguyen,   Allyn Jaffrey Shulman,   David Pham,   Erik Seidel,   Evelyn Ng,   Jeff Shulman,   John Juanda,   Scott Fischman,   Ross Boatman,   Dan Harrington,   Barry Shulman,   Jennifer Harman,   Jeffrey Lisandro,   Bruno Fitoussi,   Barny Boatman,   Berry Johnston,   John Duthie,   George McKeever,   David Williams,   Sam Farha,   Simon Trumper,   Paul Wasicka,   Scott Clements,   Pascal Perrault,   Joe Sebok,   Shirley Williams,   Carlo Citrone,   Roland de Wolfe,   Joe Hachem,   Jennifer Mason,   Nick Cassavetes,   Martin Wendt,   Victoria Coren,   Praz Bansi,   Norm MacDonald,   Montel Williams