In an unlikely turn of events, all of the eighty-one players that made the money late tonight, will in fact return to tomorrow at 2 p.m. for the re-start. Perry Friedman is near the top of the leader board breaking the $100,000 chip barrier followed by Phil Hellmuth ending the night just shy of six figures. Evelyn Ng almost didn’t make it past Day 1 when she got all of her money in the pot with A-K against her opponent’s A-8. Her opponent paired his 8 on the flop, but Ng went runner-runner for the King high flush bringing her chip to count to just over $50,000, and she will return for Day 2 with plenty of ammo.
Another record was broken as Phil Hellmuth made his 60th World Series of Poker cash in Event # 28.
Be sure to check back with CardPlayer.com tomorrow afternoon for more updates and your favorite Pro Blogs.
Mon Jun 18 00:29:00 PDT 2007
Lots of Action
Players are now on a fifteen minute break as Level 10 comes to an end. Ninety-six players remain with an average chip stack of $51,687.
More and more players are starting to drop as the blinds increase, while others are starting to make moves and secure their Day 2 return. Phil Hellmuth eliminated one of his table mates right before the break when he rivered the nut straight against his opponent’s set of nines. On a flop of Q 9 7, both the blinds check to Hellmuth who bets $3,500. The small blind drops out while the big blind just smooth calls. The turn brings the 5 and both players check around. The river brings the 6 and the big blind bets $5,000. Hellmuth raises to $12,000 and the big blind shoves all-in. Hellmuth quickly calls, declaring that he has the nuts as he turns over 10 8 for the straight. The big blind shows 9 9 for a set of nines, but it’s no good as he is eliminated and Hellmuth rakes yet another pot.
Steve Dannenmann doubles up with the nut flush when the player in seat 4 bets $15,000 into a board of 9 5 4 10 10 on the river. Dannenmann quickly moves all-in for another $10,400 and turns over A Q while his opponent mucks his cards. Dannenmann rakes a huge pot and brings his chip count to well over $50,000.
Players will be entering Level 11 when they return from break where the blinds will increase to $1,000-$2,000 with a $300 ante. Be sure to check back with CardPlayer.com for more updates and your favorite Pro Blogs.
Players are on a fifteen minute break at the end of Level 8 while the tournament staff colors off the $25 chips. Slightly more than 150 players remain and the tournament staff has decided to continue the rest of the night playing nine-handed.
Level 8 brought plenty of eliminations including that of Tony Cousineau when his pair of queens ran into a full house. Cousineau moves all-in with Q-Q and gets called by the player in seat 3. Seat-3 shows A-8 and the board comes 8-6-4-A-A, with two running aces to crack his queens and send him to the rail.
Phil Hellmuth almost joined him on the rail after making one of the toughest calls so far in this tournament. The player on the button raises to $4,000 before the flop and Hellmuth flat calls out of the big blind. The flop comes 8 8 7, and the button makes it $9,000 to go. Hellmuth goes into the tank for five minutes and comes up for air to ask his opponent, “You didn’t go crazy with Ace-King, did you?” His opponent says nothing and Hellmuth pushes all-in for another $4,000. He simultaneously turns to Perry Freidman and says, “This is why I’m the best player in the world.” The button calls and turns over A J and Hellmuth rejoices as he turns over 4 4. “Now that’s playing poker, Baby!”, screams Hellmuth. “You trust your instincts and you go with it!” The turn and river bring the 9 and the Q, no help to the button as Hellmuth doubles up and lives to tell another tale.
Play will resume in Level 9 where the blinds will increase to $600-$1,200 with a $100 ante. Make sure to keep your browsers locked on CardPlayer.com for more updates and your favorite Pro Blogs.
Phil Laak has joined Jeff Madsen and Ben Roberts at their table. Jamie Gold was a new addition at the table with Noah Boeken and Phil Gordon. Gold quickly increased his stack to more than $50,000, hitting a set and getting the maximum from a player who flopped top pair.
Phil Gordon Doubles Twice
The dangerously shortstacked Phil Gordon folded his big blind to Noah Boeken, and expressed his belief that Boeken was "always raising his blind." Boeken showed pocket tens in that hand. Later, Gordon was all-in with A-10 against 10 9, and his dominant hand held up. The next orbit, Boeken once again raised Gordon's blind, and the still short Gordon decided to push, thinking that Boeken was just leaning on him. He wasn't, however, and Boeken called with the A J, putting Gordon in bad shap with K 3. The board came down 10 5 3 K 6, giving Gordon two pair and again doubling him.
Green not so blue now Martin Green who finished 11th in the $2,500 no-limit hold'em tournament in the early hours of Saturday morning pushed his remaining $11,825 in chips into the pot from middle position and got called by the player immediately to his left.
A classic race ensued with Green holding AJ and his opponent JJ. The cards fell 682 and the jacks remained ahead. A turn of 6 gave Green further outs to a flush but the killer Q sealed his opponents fate and Green doubled up and is much more comfortable now.
Euro Chip Counts
Ian Woodley $16,800
Ben Roberts $12,000
Pascal Perrault $21,700
Noah Boeken $21,000
Gone are Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott, Dave Colclough, Paul Testud, and Al Kelleher
Around 250 players remain with only minutes until the 7:30 dinner break. Make sure to check back later for more hourly updates and Pro Blogs here at Cardplayer.com.
With Isabelle Mercier and others going out last level, only 360 of the 827 entrants remain in the $3,000 no-limit event. The money begins at 81st place, with the starting payout at $5,250.
Laak Of The Irish
Phil Laak, who once held only three chips in his hand, is now up to around $20,000 in chips. He must be having such a good time with tablemate Norm Macdonald that he just doesn't want to leave.
The Devilfish and The Poker Brat
Phil Hellmuth was facing a bet from Taylor "GreenPlastic" Caby on a rag flop. Hellmuth fired up his engines and began to talk. He said that he was going to lay down his hand because he knew of Caby, and his reputation. After folding his hand, Hellmuth was shown Caby's A-9 for ace high. "You're mine now," Hellmuth remarked. "Yum yum." David "The Devilfish" Ulliot shot back at Hellmuth, saying to him, "If you were chocolate, you would have eaten yourself by now, because you love youself so much." With tension like this building, the action at this table next round will be something to behold.
Euro Chip Counts
Paul Testud $11,000
Ian Woodley $22,500
Ben Roberts $15,500
Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott $6,500
Pascal Perrault $30,000
Martin Green $10,000
Noah Boeken $22,000
Dave Colclough $4,500
Vanessa Rousso, Jonathan Little, Josh Arieh, Clonie Gowen, and Freddy Deeb have all been eliminated this past hour. Noah Boeken, on the other hand, was able to build his stack with agressive play and now sits with $30,000. Mike Matusow, who earlier proclaimed that he was "not into" this tournament and not playing his best, has doubled up. With J 7 in the whole, Matusow ended up with a full house after catching running cards on a board of K 7 4 7 J.
European players still in contention include Paul Testud ($8,800), Al Kelleher ($5,500), Pascal Perrault ($22,500), Noah Boeken ($19,000), Sigi Stockinger ($9,300) and Dave Colclough ($8,700).
Marcel Luske busted out and jumped straight into the Razz tournament and Rolf Slotboom appears to have been eliminated.
Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott and Phil Hellmuth have been mixing it up verbally. One pot saw Devilfish raise just over $2,000 pre-flop while he was signing autographs for fans. Hellmuth leaned over and counted out Devilfish's remaining stack himself. 'Alright. He's not going to run me over anymore. I've had enough man, enough i tell you.' He pushed all in, covering Devilfish several times over.
Devilfish barely looked up and continued signing baseball caps. Two minutes later he got back to the game, toyed with his chips and folded A10 face up and Hellmuth scooped the pot with a large grin.
With the field narrowing and the action picking up, make sure to check back for more updates and Pro Blogs here at Cardplayer.com.
Sun Jun 17 15:55:00 PDT 2007
Hour Four Recap
Go-Ng On A Tear
Evelyn Ng is on a serious tear early in the $3,000 no-limit hold'em event, amassing more than $25,000 in the first few levels.
Eliminations
Kiril Gerasimov, William Chen, Jennifer Harman, Max Pescatori, Jeff Shulman and J.C. Tran have been eliminated.
Mercier Won't Say Mercy
Isabelle Mercier made a raise preflop with 9 9, and was reraised. Apparently she was facing a lot of reraises, as an opponent later commented, and she decided it was time to take a stand. Mericer pushed all-in and received a call from her opponent, who held A K. The flop was devastating for Mercier, bringing the A Q 4. The turn was no help, either, with the J bringing no hope. Mercier's miracle card came on the end, the 9, giving her a set and the pot. The surprised gasps at the table incited the curiousity of nearby tables, who thought something had happened in the U.S. Open Championships, which many are watching on the TV moniters throughout the room.
Euro update
Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott is at a table with Phil Hellmuth and has a tidy $20,500 in chips. Hellmuth seems as interested in the US Open golf and is up and down from his seat, discussing the shots with the other players. Devilfish looks like he couldn’t care less about the golf.
Dave Colclough has $9,000 in chips and our European Pro Blog of the day, Rolf Slotboom had around $2,700 and joked that he may not make it to the break to do the blog.
Ben Roberts has $4,600 and is doing neat chip tricks at his table.
Frenchman Pascal Perrault looks very comfortable on $27,000 and is getting a massage.
Ian Woodley has $17,000 in chips, Noah Boeken has $18,000, Marcel Luske has $3,500 and Al Kelleher has taken a hit from $11,000 down to $7,000.
Englishman Ben Stern is talking up a storm at his table. In one pot he seemed to talk himself into losing a chunk of his stack of $20,000 in chips. With several limpers at $200 and a flop of KQ7 he led out for 400 and got one caller. The turn of A saw him lead out for $1,000 and he was re-raised $2,000 and called.
The river came K and Stern repeatedly needled his opponent. ‘If you bet I wil call. I promise you. Any amount I will call.’ His opponent though for a while and bet $4,000 and Stern duly obliged. His opponent turned over a 10 high flush and Stern mucked. Another player was incredulous ‘He was telling you you were beaten,’ he said.
After taking out Doug Lee last level, Brandi Hawbaker was eliminated. Rolf Slotbloom has moved to the seat formally occupied by Humberto Brenes, who has busted. Mark Vos and Andrew Black have were also eliminated at that table, but Josh Arieh and Evelyn Ng remain. Darrell Dicken was eliminated when his pocket fives ran into pocket aces, and after the board bricked he was sent to the rail.
Event Info Released
Tournament officials released the event information during the past hour. The 827 entrants created a $2,282,520 prize pool, which will be split among 81 players, with $527,829 and the bracelet going to the first place finisher.
Better Late Than Never
Both Joe Hachem and Phil Hellmuth arrived in the third level. While this is Hellmuth's modus operandi, Hachem is usually more punctual. In addition to being late today, Hachem is showing up rather late in the series, with this being his first WSOP event this year.
Euro interest As well as Slotboom and Black other Euro entrants in today's game include Dav e 'Devilfish' Ulliott (seated at a table with Phil Helmuth), Dave Colclough who is at a table with Slotboom, Ben Roberts who is sitting next to Jeff Shulman, Frenchman Paul Testud and John Shipley.
See exiting the building shortly after Andy Black was Surindar Sunar.
Men "The Master" Nguyen, Justin Bonomo and Doug Lee have all been eliminated. Lee was short stacked and pushed all-in preflop, getting a call from Brandi Hawbaker. Lee's 4 4 were a slight favorite over Hawbaker's K Q, but after the board came K 10 3 2 6, Lee was sent to the rail. With his elimination, the tough table 13 got slighlty more managable, with only Ben Roberts, Jeff Shulman, Brandi Hawbaker, and Jeff Madsen to contend with.
Gold Standard
Jamie Gold took his seat late, only to find Jordan Morgan and Hasan Habib waiting for him.
Laak of Control
Phil Laak's table, which includes Norm MacDonald, is sure to be lively and fun. Laak will need to pick up some pots if he wants to continue in the revalry, however. He got short chipped after losing an interesting hand. After raising to $300, a player in early position called. The flop brought J 10 3, and Laak ventured the guess that his opponent held either A-Q or pocket sevens. Laak was so kind as to recommend his opponents course of action, saying,"A-Q you gotta call, sevens you have to push." His opponent checked, and Laak bet $425. After a call, the turn brought the 6. Laak continued to try to unravel his opponent, while the dealer smiled. "I've missed you," she said. "Everybody is too serious, then I get you, and I love it." Both players checked, and the river brought the J. After a check, Laak fired $1,050 and his opponent went into the tank for only a moment before calling with A Q. Laak revealed K-9, and his opponent took down the pot with ace-high. Apparently, Laaks own advice to call with A-Q worked too well.
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9
7
, both the blinds check to Hellmuth who bets $3,500. The small blind drops out while the big blind just smooth calls. The turn brings the 5
and both players check around. The river brings the 6
