Play has ended for the night in the today’s $3,000 Limit Hold’em event. One hundred and nineteen players remain with an average chip stack of $14,924. Play will resume tomorrow at 4 p.m. as a result of Event # 35 already being sold-out and the tournament staff needs the table room. While Level 7 brought many eliminations, it didn’t impact the talent pool as many of the pros still remain, far too many to list here. Tomorrow is sure to bring some big action as we started to see the Players Pavilion consolidate down to twelve tables before ending play for the night. As a result, several of these tables are stacked to the brim with Pros, and all of the wisdom, experience, and egos that come with that are sure to prove for an interesting Day 2. Be sure to check back withCardPlayer.com for more updates and your favorite Pro Blogs.
Thu Jun 21 01:30:00 -0700 2007
Check-Raise Galore
Players are about halfway through Level 9 where the blinds have increased to $400-$800. Only 195 players remain with an average chip stack of $9,107.
Never has there been so many check-raises in one isolated area over such a short period of time. J.C. Tran raises before the flop and David “The Dragon” Pham three-bets. Tran calls and the flop comes A Q 6. Tran checks to Pham who bets and Tran check-raises Pham who then proceeds to three-bet the flop. Tran says, “Ace-King no good, huh?” as he throws his hand into the muck. The Dragon shows A Q and rakes the pot.
A few tables over and Scott Fischman comes in for a raise when the player in seat 4 makes it three bets to go. Fischman flat calls and the flop comes A 10 3. Fischman checks to Seat-4 who bets and then Fischman check-raises into him. Seat-4 calls and the turn brings the 7. Fischman bets out and Seat-4 just calls. The river brings the J and both players check around. Fischman shows A K for top pair with top kicker and his opponent throws his hand away.
Now it’s Greg Mueller’s turn to keep his opponents guessing as he raises the pot pre-flop and gets two callers out of the blinds. The flop comes 5 3 2, and both players check to Mueller who fires out a bet. The small blind check-raises the flop, causing the big blind to fold, but Mueller won’t go that easy and calls the raise. The turn brings the 9 and Mueller just smooth calls the small blind’s bet. The river brings the J and the small blind checks to Mueller who fires out a nice value bet. The small blind mucks his hand and Mueller shows the A saying, “I had you on the turn.” The small blind says, ‘You had what?You just showed me the A.” Mueller was just as confused as the rest of us as he continued to adamantly claim that he had the heart flush and exposed the A, not the A. The jury is still out as to what exactly Mueller showed. Whether it was a bluff, a misread, or he showed the wrong card, no one is quite sure, but I suppose that’s the reason he wears a FullTilt patch on his shirt and I wear a purple press pass.
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Players are halfway through Level 6 as the action starts to pick up a little and more and more players are eliminated. Two hundred and thirty six players remain at the moment with an average stacks of $7,525.
Phil Hellmuth was responsible for a few of the most recent eliminations as he just busted two players in the same pot. The player in seat 2 makes a pre-flop raise and Hellmuth calls out of the small blind followed by the big blind who calls all-in. The flop comes 9 7 5, and Hellmuth bets out. The player in seat 2 raises and Hellmuth just calls. The turn brings the Q and Hellmuth asks his opponent has left. Seat-2 shows him $625 and Hellmuth puts him all-in ($600 on the turn and $25 in the dark for the river). The river brings the 7, and the decision is on Seat-2 for his last $25. Seat-2 actually goes into the tank for several minutes, and ultimately makes the call. Hellmuth shows 4 4 and both players muck their cards and hit the rail.
Chad Brown was getting close to the rail himself, but managed to nearly double up out of the short-stack on a miracle flop of 10 7 9. The player in seat 6 bets out and Brown raises it up. Seat-6 calls and the turn brings the 5. Seat-6 checks to Brown who makes the bet, and Seat-6 calls. The river brings the 10 and both players check around. Chad Brown who only had $200 behind his card turns over J 8 for the nut straight on the flop. Seat-6 throws his hand into the muck and Brown rakes a much needed pot.
As the blinds increase and the cost of poker starts to rise, we should begin to see the eliminations pile up very soon. Be sure to check back with CardPlayer.com for more updates and your favorite Pro Blogs.
Two hundred and seventy four players now remain in today’s $3,000 Limit hold’em event with an average chip stack of $6,481. Players have just gone on dinner break and will return in one hour and fifteen minutes for the start of Level 7 where the blinds will increase to $200-$400 with betting limits of $400-$800. The tournament staff will be busy coloring up the $25 chips while the players break for dinner.
In a three-handed pot, David Levi limps in from a late position followed by Annie Duke in the small blind and the player in the big blind. The flop comes K 10 6 and Annie Duke bets out. Everyone calls and the turn brings the 5. Duke checks to the big blind who bets; Levi calls and Duke folds. The river brings the 2, and the big blind bets to Levi who makes the call. The big blind turns over 7 6 for a seven-high flush while Levi shows 8 4 for the eight-high flush.
On a flop of Q J 10, Joe Cassidy checks to the player in seat 8 who bets and Cassidy calls. The 7 hits the turn and once gain, Seat-8 bets and Cassidy calls. The river brings the J and Cassidy calls him down. Seat-8 turns over J 10 for jacks full of tens and says, “Maybe I’m just lucky.” Cassidy mucks his hands and says, “Very good.” The very next hand and the self proclaimed maniac in seat 8 takes a nice pot off of Shawn Buchanan. Six players limp into the pot pre-flop and the flop comes A J 6. Everyone checks to Seat-8 who bets out and says, “Maniac bets!” Everyone folds except for Shawn Buchanan who makes the call. The turn brings the A and Buchan bets out, and this time and Seat-8 says, Maniac raises!” as he throws another bet into the pot. Buchanan calls and the Q hits the river. Buchanan checks to Seat-8 who bets and Buchanan calls. Seat-8 shows A Q and says, “Maniac very lucky!” as he rakes the pot and Buchanan throws his cards into the muck.
Some last minute seat shuffling has created some very stacked tables in the Players Pavilion as we break for dinner. Players will return from the dinner break at 10:30 p.m., so be sure to check back with CardPlayer.com for more updates and your favorite Pro Blogs.
The Pavillion has slowly been gaining some familiar faces. There are many late stragglers to this event of two different varieties.
Greg "FBT" Mueller is one school. Mueller purposefully showed up an hour late to tonight's tournament. When he arrived he was placed at a recently formed table with other late entrants. As he noticed their stacks were still very similar to his own in size he realized he had not missed much action. Lamenting the fact that his late arrival had not truly allowed him to miss that boring first level of limit, Mueller than left his seat to sweat a friend still alive in the Heads Up Tournament.
The other variety of late arrival is that of the recent morning tournament bust out. Minh Ly, Erik Seidel, and Noah Boeken fit that mold in this case. Boeken, who had a healthy stack in the Pot-Limit Omaha tournament that began today looked very bewildered at his table. When asked what happened he simply replied, "Two rivers and I'm in the Pavillion playing Limit, but I guess thats Omaha."
Bill Chen, who is the reigning champion of this event, has shown up to defend his title.
Event #34 has just gotten underway in every players favorite tent: the Poker Pavillion. As with all limit events, the action should begin slow, but with way these other events have gotten started, who knows.
Q
. Tran checks to Pham who bets and Tran check-raises Pham who then proceeds to three-bet the flop. Tran says, “Ace-King no good, huh?” as he throws his hand into the muck. The Dragon shows A
and rakes the pot.
. Fischman checks to Seat-4 who bets and then Fischman check-raises into him. Seat-4 calls and the turn brings the 7
