Play has officially ended for the night. The bubble was burst after only three hands in the hand-for-hand period. David Bach moved all in for his last $18,300, and he was called by the player in Seat 1 who had him exactly covered. Bach had two pair, Kings and twos, but Seat One turned over Kings and eights for a better two pair.
Carl Olson, Isabelle Mercier, Jeff Shulman, and Fred Goldberg were some of the pros to be eliminated in the last hour. Shulman lost a race to Jamie Gold with pocket Jacks to Gold's A-Q. Goldberg was the victim of a horrendous beat. Goldberg moved all in on a flop of 10 5 4, and his opponent went deep into the tank. Goldberg called the clock on him, and he called just as time was winding down. Goldberg showed K K and his opponent tabled Q 10. Goldberg's face dropped as the dealer dealt out the 10 on the turn. The 5 fell on the river and Goldberg was eliminated in 82nd place just out of the money.
Congratulations were announced for Phil Hellmuth for his 62nd career World Series cash, and Men Nguyen was also lauded for this 59th career cash. The tournament director's first announced that it was his 56th cash, and he was quick to correct him.
Defending champion Jeff Madsen is still alive in the tournament, but he is on the short stack, losing a pot to Justin Bonomo on the last hand of the evening. Dutch Boyd, who won a short-handed bracelet last year, is among the chip leaders with close to $300,000, having raked a huge pot in a boat-over-boat situation. Also still alive are Allen Cunningham, Joe Beevers, Ram Vaswani, Mark Vos, Scott Clements, and Tobey Maguire among others.
The players will return at 2pm tomorrow to play down to the final nine
Apparently Thomas Wahlroos felt Phil Hellmuth and Roland de Wolfe needed to be "knocked down" a peg or two.
De Wolfe amassed a huge chipstack when he picked off Sorel Mizzi. The two of them got their money in preflop, Mizzi however was way behind showing A Q to De Wolfe's A K. The board ran out 7 6 4 8 K, and Mizzi was eliminated.
Hellmuth had a monster of his own a few hands later. The player in seat 4 raised preflop to $4,200, Hellmuth re-raised to $21,200, Seat 4 moved all-in, and Hellmuth shouted, "Call!" Hellmuth immediately flipped over A A and Seat 4 looked sick as he flipped over 6 6. The board came out 10 8 5 4, and everyone tensed up, half hoping for a six or seven just to see what would happen. The river card was the 5, and Hellmuth received upwards of $70,000 from Seat 4.
Thomas Wahlroos then ambled through. Wahlroos was visibly intoxicated, and proceeded to walk up to De Wolfe's table and knock over all of his chips. He then did the same to Hellmuth. Hellmuth, of course, was very upset with this development, and is lobbying for Wahlroos to receive some sort of hour long penalty in his next tournament if he pulls the stunt again.
There are currently 96 players remaining; a mere 3 tables from the money. The players are now returning from a 15 minute break.
Hellmuth has been hearing it from the player to his left the moment since he sat down at his table. That player is none other than Dario Minieri the Italian wunderkind, who was the first to cash in his FPP's at Pokerstars to receive a Porsche Cayman S (You only need 3,000,000 point to get your own). Apparently Minieri has been trading barbs with Hellmuth as he has been building his tiered-chipstack. Hellmuth finally let his cards do the talking when he nailed Mineri with a value bet on a board of A 7 3 3 9. Hellmuth bet $15,000, and Minieri eventually made the call. Hellmuth showed the 7 7, and dragged the pot with his boat.
Men Nguyen also got back at Eugene Todd for cracking on his chipstack when he sat down, as Nguyen sent Todd packing himself.
Justin Bonomo and Jeff Madsen have been seated at the same table once again, and Madsen was able to exact some revenge. It was folded around to the two of them in the blinds, and Madsen made a small raise from the small blind and Bonomo called. The flop was 7 3 2, Madsen bet $5,000, Bonomo raised to $15,000, Madsen moved all in for $19,800 more and Bonomo called. Bonomo flipped the 7 5 first, but Madsen held A A and the advantage. The turn and river were the 8 and the K, and Madsen doubled up.
Other notable eliminations include Joe Hachem, Amir Vahedi, and Erick Lindgren.
There are currently 120 players left on 20 tables.
Michael Mizrachi and Chau Giang are few of the most recent notable eliminations. Giang made his exit from the colorful Table 46 courtesy of Sorel Mizzi. He was replaced at the table by Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf. Woolf wasted no time taking a $25,000 pot off of Mizzi with pocket Queens.
A few tables over Phil Hellmuth re-raised a short-stacked opponent all-in with pocket Queens of his own, and proceeded to talk his flustered opponent to let his hand go telling him that he might, "put a bad beat on (him)"
Jamie Gold is not happy with his new table draw, and his once healthy chip-stack has dwindled down to a below-average $40,000. CardPlayer's own Jeff Shulman took several of those chips, hitting a Queen high straight against Gold.
There are currently 128 players left on 23 tables. If the eliminations continue as they have been then the money bubble will be reached quickly. The top 78 finishers will be paid today.
There are currently 174 players left on 29 tables as players are being eliminated at a frightening pace.
Hellmuth Happy
Phil Hellmuth must have made a sacrifice to the poker gods durning dinner break. Only a few minutes into the current level, his table featuring Justin Bonomo, and defending champion Jeff Madsen was broken. Bonomo actually took down the last pot of the table with pocket Aces, squeezing another $9,000 out of Madsen at the river. Hellmuth was then moved to a table with mostly amateurs. They wasted no time doubling him up too. Most media were sent scuttling towards Hellmuth's table as he exclaimed "Yes!" doubling with 8 8 on a board of 7 7 7 5 4.
Fool's Gold
Maybe Jamie Gold felt a bit emboldened by dinner, but he shipped a nice portion of his chips being caught bluffing. Gold defended his blind from a standard raise, and check-raised the raiser on a flop of Q 10 5. On the 6 turn Gold fired $15,000, and his opponent raised to $40,000. Gold folded showing his 7 2.
Table 46 Having Fun
The players at Table 46 can't stop laughing. Mimi Tran playfully blamed her dealer when she was eliminated, saying he dealt her A-K twice in a row, but never improved it. Shortly after she busted, Men Nguyen was moved to there table, bringing four full racks of chips, including a full rack of $1,000 chips. Chau Giang and Eugene Todd started in on him immediately, asking if he was there to color up tthe table's green chips, because he couldn't have won them. Nguyen asked them not to make fun, "I earned these," he replied.
The $25 chips will be colored up after the end of this level
A new stacked table is taking shape. With Sorel Mizzi being moved to join Chau Giang, Mimi Tran and Eugene Todd at table 46, the other two players ther must surely feel as if they have offended the poker gods.
Black Busted
A player in the cutoff raised to $1,500 and Andrew Black called from the big blind. The flop brought the A 6 4 and Black checked. His opponent bet $2,000 and Black quickly reraised to $6,000 total. His opponent called and the turn brought the 7. Black once again bet very quickly, this time pushing an $11,000 into the pot. His opponent checked out the $8,000 Black had behind before deciding to call the $11,000. The river brought the 9 and Black pushed all-in. His opponent announced a call and revealed the A 9. Black flipped over his A Q in disgust, got up, wished the table luck and walked away.
Shulman Value Bets
With a board of A 10 3 8, Men Nguyen checked, another oppnent bet $500 and Jeff Shulman called. Nguyen raised to $2,000 and only Shulman called behind. The river brought the 4, Nguyen checked and Shulman bet $4,000. Nguyen called. Shulman quickly announced, "jacks," and rolled over the J J. Nguyen mucked just as quickly, and Shulman took down the pot.
Dinner
Players are set to go on dinner break from 7:30 until 9 p.m. Make sure to check back for after dinner updates here at Cardplayer.com.
Shannon Elizabeth, Gavin Griffin and Kenna James all busted this past level.
Kicker Trouble
Ted Forrest took a hit when he called an opponents all-in off a flop of 7 3 2 with Q 7. He was correct in thinking than his opponent didn't have a set, two-pair of a bigger pair. His opponent also held a pair of sevens, but unfortunately for Forrest his opponent 's A 7 had him notched.
Roller Coaster
On a flop of Q 10 8 Bill Edler was facing an all-in. After a moments deliberation Edler called with Q 8 and was indeed in the lead against his opponent's AQ. The turn flipped the situation when it brought the A, giving Edler's opponent a better two pair. The river brought the 8, filling up Edler's boat and eliminating his opponent.
Make sure to check back for more hourly updates here at Cardplayer.com.
Shorthanded play is faster and looser than full ring play. With less opponents, both the likelyhood of being up against a huge hand and the amount of hands seen per orbit decreases. Therefore, you need to make the most of marginal situations in order to thrive in this tournament. The result of this tournament wide gear-shift is an increased rate of elimination. Many notable pros and unknown hopefuls hit the rail this past level. Some of the big names that busted were:
Fredrik Halling, Joe Sebok, Sammy Farha, Johnny Chan, Chip Reese, Kevin "BelowAbove" Saul, Jennifer Harman, Jordan Morgan, Steve Deano and Annie Duke.
Sick Flop Brings Action For Defending Champ
Defending champion Jeff Madsen got all of his money in on a flop of A 8 J with the J 9 against the A J. Madsen had a pair and a flush draw, but since his opponent had a dominating two pair Madsen needed to hit his flush, running straight cards or running nines. The turn brought the 10, giving Madsen an open ended straight draw in addition to his flush draw. With his tournament on the line, Madsen caught the K on the river to complete his flush and double him up.
Players have gone on a 15 minute break and will return for level 5.
Tournament officials released the official tournament information this past hour. 728 players entered the event this year, building a prize pool of $3,421,600. Payouts will begin at 78th place, with those just making the money guaranteed $6,159 and the first place finisher taking down $904,670.
Antonius Busts
A player at Patrik Antonius' table raised to $500 preflop. Patrik went all-in from the button for a few thousand and his opponent quickly called and flipped up their A Q. Antonius held 10 8, and though he picked up the lead on a flop of K 10 9. The turn brought the 2, which improved neither player. The J on the river was a different story, however, completing the broadway staight for A-Q and sending Antonius to the rail.
Brrr... Cold Deck
With a board of 7 5 2 Q J.C. Tran lead out, only to have Joe Hachem push all-in. Tran quickly pushed his stack in as well. Hachem revealed A A and Tran's face revealed his disappointment before he rolled over his KK. The river brought a J and Tran was sent to the rail as Hachem collected his chips.
Even More Eliminations
A drastically short-stacked Minh Ly was sent to the rail by Nick Cassavetes, who somehow had him dominated with 92 to Ly's 6 2. Both players paired their two, but Cassavetes' nine played and Ly was eliminated. T.J. Cloutier was also eliminated when he ran into the pocket queens of an opponent. Scotty Nguyen also busted this past level.
With a board of J 10 4 6 Thor Hansen got all-in with 10-5 against his opponents K-Q. Hansen's pair was ahead of the straight draw and overcards, but unfortunately for him the river brought the Q and sent him to the rail just in time for the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. final table. Daniel Negreanu was also eliminated after flopping trip aces with a board of A A K. His opponent held 7 7, and held onto his hand long enough to catch a boat on the turn with the 7. The river didn't fill Negreanu's boat and he was sent to the rail. Phil Ivey and Eric Froehlich were also eliminated this past hour.
Tournament Info
Official numbers have not yet been released, but a tournament director reported that over 700 players entered todays event. Check back later for the official numbers and prize pool information.
Tough Tables
With a reasonably large buy-in and a structure that forces players to get in there and play more, the field was destined to sick. Here are some tough examples plucked from the many tables with multiple pros.
5
4
K
fell on the river and Goldberg was eliminated in 82nd place just out of the money.
