Play has ended for the night and according to the tournament board, only 218 players remain. Play was halted with thirty minutes left in Level 11, and will resume tomorrow at 2 p.m.
The action really started to pick up as soon as we hit the money and some of the remaining pros seemed to be capitalizing on all of the loose play. Michael Mizrachi limps in from the small blind and the player in seat no. 2 raises all-in ($5,300) out of the big blind. Mizrachi calls and turns over J 8 while his opponent turns over K J. The board comes A 7 6 8 6, giving Mizrachi a pair on the turn and sending one of his table mates home early.
If you think that was a bad beat then just wait until you hear this one. Francisco Lopez moves all-in with K-10 for his last $6,000 and gets a call from the player in seat no. 4 with 2-2. The flop comes A-K-K, giving Lopez trips kings, but the turn brings a deuce, now giving his opponent a full house. The river brings the case king and Lopez doubles up with quads.
Day 2 will begin tomorrow at 2 p.m., so be sure to check back with CardPlayer.com for more updates and your favorite Pro Blogs.
Ryan Fair was the unfortunate "bubble boy" in the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Event. Mark "The Engergizer" Teltscher raised to $4,800 from middle position during hand-for-hand play. Ryan Fair thought for a bit before calling in the big blind. The flop came down 9 9 4 and Fair checked. Teltscher sloppily bet out $7,000 and Fair went into the tank. By this time, all the action around the room had halted as this was the final table playing in the event before the next hand was dealt. Fair decided to push all in for $27,000 total, making it $20,000 for Teltscher to call. Now more and more players, including Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, crowded around the table as Teltscher had a tough decision to make. With the eyes of roughly three dozen short stacks watching him Teltscher made the call after five minutes of deliberation. Fair casually showed his 5 5, and the table assumed they were good, especially after how anguished Teltscher appeared when deciding. Even, Greg "FBT" Mueller, who was seated next to Teltscher, assumed he had A-K. But Teltscher showed 7 7, and was far in the lead. The turn and river came down 9 K, and Fair was eliminated. The announcement came over the system that the bubble had burst and the remaining 300 or so players burst into a mini-celebration, before being ushered back to their tables to keep playing on.
Players are now approaching the end of Level 9 and are about to embark on Level 10 where the blinds will increase to $800-$1600 with a $200 ante. There’s only 378 players remaining in today’s field and that means that we’re 54 players away from the money. As a result, play has tightened up tremendously for most of the field, and this is usually the spot where the real pros step up and start to build their stacks.
Greg Mueller makes it a point of letting the table know that he’s not playing to make the money and he can’t be pushed off of a hand. On a flop of K 8 7, the player in seat no. 4 moves all-in for $24,500 and Mueller goes into the tank. It takes him a while to go back over the action and try to put his opponent on a hand. He runs down the different possibilities in his head and ultimately makes the call. Seat no. 4 turns over 5 3 for the flush draw while Mueller shows 10 10. The turn and river bring the 3 and the Q no help to seat no.4 as he is eliminated and Mueller nearly doubles up. “Don’t try to bluff this kid, boys, cause I’m not trying to cash.”, says Mueller as he rakes a monster pot.
Michael Mizrachi was the next pro to take advantage of an anxious field with their immediate sights set only on cashing. The player in seat no.9 raises to $2,400 and Michael Mizrachi calls from the button. The flop comes A 9 7, and the player in seat no. 9 bets $1,200, Mizrachi raises to $4,200 and seat no. 9 calls. The turn brings the 9 and the player in seat no. 9 checks to Mizrachi who smells weakness and throws and $8,000 bet out there. Seat no.9 instantly folds and Mizrachi rakes the pot.
Chad Brown would be the next shark to smell blood and go in for the kill when he makes a $3,500 bet on a flop of Q J 8. The player seat no. 9 raises to $8,000 and Brown moves over the top and shoves all-in. Seat no. 9 only has about $8,000 left at this point and ends up folding his hand. When Brown shoved behind him, the first thing he did was throw a stare at Chad and then look at the tournament board to see how many players were left. It could have been a bad bluff gone wrong situation but the chances are that the player decided to get off of the hand in an effort to make the money.
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Level 8 has come to an end with only 630 players remaining; halfway to the money. Players have just entered Level 9 where the blinds have increased to $600-$1200 with a $100 ante.
Greg Mueller doubles up right before the level change after slow playing a pair of aces and getting paid off. On a flop of 5 2 2, Mueller bets $3,000 and the player in seat no.9 moves all-in. Mueller calls and shows A A while seat no.9 turns over J J. The turn and river bring the K and the 7. Mueller doubles up and cripples his opponent.
Eugene Todd rakes a nice pot and knocks out one of his opponents on a flop of A K 3. The player in seat no. 2 bets $3,000 and Eugene Todd raises to $10,000. Seat no. 2 moves all-in and Todd calls. Seat no. 2 shows K Q while Todd turns over A 5. The turn and river bring the 5 and the 5, giving Todd a full house and shipping him the pot. Todd takes down a nice pot and sends one of his table mates to the rail.
Michael Mizrachi wins a nice pot after the flop when the player in seat no.10 raises to $1,500 and gets three callers. The flop comes Q 6 2 and Mizrachi bets out $2,500 uncontested. Everyone folds to “The Grinder” who rakes a nice pot on the flop.
Be sure to check back with CardPlayer.com for more updates and your favorite Pro Blogs.
Players have just returned from dinner, so be sure to check back with CardPlayer.com for more updates and your favorite Pro Blogs.
Notable Chip Counts
Michael Mizrachi
39,000
Shannon Shorr
36,000
Chad Brown
32,000
Bill Chen
8,300
Chris Ferguson
4,600
Sat Jun 30 19:29:00 -0700 2007
Dinner Break
The players in today's $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em event are on the dinner break until 10 p.m. The top five chip leaders heading into the dinner break are Jorryt Van Hoof, Jonathan Little, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Michael Gracz and Shannon Shorr.
Kathy Liebert was eliminated before the dinner break when her A-7 ran into A-10.
Jason Newitt has moved up in the chip counts and now has almost $35,000. Newitt caught a two-outer and a four-outer to punish the players at his table and add to his chip stack. Newitt raised from the small blind and the player in seat ten called from the big blind. The flop came 5-3-3 and the player in seat ten bet out. Newitt pushed all in and the player in seat ten called. Newitt showed A 2 and the player in seat ten had him dominated with K-3. The turn was a brick and the river brought a four for Newitt and he doubled up.
Check back after the dinner break with CardPlayer.com to see who in this record sized field makes it to day two.
Event #49, $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em just keeps rolling along. There are still around 2,000 players with few notable pros remaining. Chad Brown and Mike Gracz are both in the top five in chips however and Brown has tightened up a bit after doubling up an opponent when his pocket kings ran into pocket aces.
Eric Freolich was eliminated in the last round, his A-Q didn't improve against another opponent's A-A. Men "The Master" Nguyen was also eliminated in the last round. Battling a shorter stack for most of the day, Nguyen was all in with K Q and his opponent showed Q Q. Nguyen couldn't catch a card and was sent to the rail.
The fourth level of play has just come to an end and the players are now on a much needed 15 minute break. Tournament officials had to clear out the area of spectators and media in order to make room for the mass exodus of poker players. There are still more than 2,000 players remaining.
Greg "FBT" Mueller continued to run hot throughout the last level and is now approximately second in chips with $20,000. Justin Bonomo has also built his stack up in the last level and now has $16,000 in chips.
John Gale was eliminated in the last round when his pocket fives ran into pocket nines and Jesse Jones and Joe Reitman were eliminated as well.
The numbers are in and event #49 is officially the third largest poker tournament in history. With 3,151 players this event is only behind the main events of 2005 and 2006 in terms of field size. The announcement over the loud speaker was met with cheers from the still massive field.
The prize pool for this event is $4,301,115 and the money will start when 324 players have been reached. The player in 324th place will recieve $2,667 and the first place finisher will take home $722,914 along with a World Series of Poker gold bracelet. The official payout structure for this event will be posted shortly.
Play has just entered level four and just now there appears to be some breathing room for this tournament. Enough tables have broken to begin the restarts of events #48 and #47. The Poker Pavilion is still full of players but tables are breaking at such a rapid pace that tournament officials have asked spectators to clear out of the Amazon room to make enough space for players to find their new tables.
Notable eliminations in the last round include Joe Sebok, Phil Gordon, David "The Dragon" Pham, Joe Awada, Eric "Rizen" Lynch and Gavin Smith. Greg "FBT" Mueller has managed to build his stack up to over $16,000. Eugene Todd also managed to build up his stack in the early levels and Todd now has around $14,000 in chips. The only problem is that Todd is fifth in chips in event #47 that just started it's day two at 3 p.m. Todd will try to do what so many players have failed at in the past, playing two tournaments at the same time.
Players are beginning to bust out at a regular pace, but with the massive amount of waiting players alternating in, the field size is still huge and intimidating. Tournament officials have estimated that there is a chance that all the alternates may be seated by the end of the third level. Pros are scattered amongst the Amazon room and some have been unfortunate enough to be seated away from most of the action. John Esposito, John Juanda, Davidson Matthew, Thomas Wahlroos and Nam Le are all seated outside of the Amazon room in the poker room on the main floor of the Rio.
David Mitchell-Lolis has experienced some misfortune in the first few levels and as a result is sitting with a short stack. With the board showing Q 5 4 the player in seat nine pushed all in for $2,200. Mitchell-Lolis took a few moments to think, debating calling a $2,200 bet into a very small pot. Mitchell-Lolis called and turned over 9 9. The player in seat nine had A 10. The turn crushed Mithcell-Lolis when it came the A. The river was the J and Mitchell-Lolis was left with less than $1,500 in chips.
With the large number of amateurs and inexperienced players, some more experienced players are starting to become frustrated. Joe Sebok called an $800 bet on the turn with the board showing K 7 7 6 and the river brought the 2. The action checked on the river and the player in seat one showed 10 10. Sebok folded and when he threw his cards into the middle, one of the cards flipped over, the A. The player in seat five instantly grabbed the ace and looked at Sebok's other card that was face down. Sebok kept his cool when the player looked at his cards who wasn't even in the hand, and just informed him that it was a penalty worthy offense.
Gavin Smith and an opponent saw a flop of 6 5 4. Smith's opponent bet out $300 and the short-stacked Smith raised all-in. His opponent quickly called and revealed the 7 5. Smith had the Q 9, which put him behind until the turn brought the 7. He made a flush, but his opponent had outs for a full house. The 2 on the river did not fill him up and Smith doubled up. Ed Moncada noted that, "Gavin always gets it."
8
while his opponent turns over K
J
6
