Hold'em Brings the Action

The seven card stud level was relatively slow, with chips mostly being passed from one player to another around the table.  The hold'em level changed all that.  Within minutes the 11th place finisher was eliminated.  David Duran raised the  blinds with K Q, Michael Craig reraised and Duran called all-in.  Craig revealed the 9 9 and after the board came down 7 4 2 4 5 Duran was sent to the rail in 11th ($7,507).  The remaining ten players were playing five handed at two tables. 

Cool YourJett-s

Chip Jett three bet it preflop and the player in the small blind called.  The flop brought the Q 10 6 and Jett bet.  After his opponent called the turn brought the 2.  Jett then checked, his opponent bet, and Jett raised.  His opponent reraised and Jett called.  The river brought the 3 and Jett check-called, only to see his opponent reveal the A A.  Jett flipped up his A Q with the frustration and his opponent raked the massive pot.

Juliano Maesano Takes 10th ($8,171)

All-in preflop with A J against K K, Maesano failed to improve and was eliminated in 10th.

Final Hand

Raymond Davis raised and short stacked Eric Tomberlin made it $24,000 from the big blind.  Davis called and the flop brought the J 9 6.  Tomberlin bet and Davis called. The turn brought the 4 and Tomberlin bet the last of his chips.  Davis called and said, "What do I have to beat?"  Tomberlin replied,"Ace high."  Davis quickly revealed his 10 9 and Tomberlin was in trouble with A 10.  The 8 on the river improved neither player and Tomberlin finished in 9th place ($8,171).

The final table is set, and with a great lineup including Chip Jett, Michael Craig and Raymond Davis, its sure to be one to watch.  Make sure to check in tomorrow for updates here at Cardplayer.com.

The remaining 11 players have just gone a short fifteen minute break and will return to Level 34 (Hold’em) with blinds of $8,000-$16,000 and a $2,000 ante. The brunt of this past hour’s eliminations came from the Omaha round, and play has been less than stagnant ever since. The average chip stack at the moment is $132,727, and with the blinds ever increasing at the rate in which they do, we can be sure to make the final table within the next hour or so. There really aren’t too many short stacks left in the field, except for Chip Jett but he gets a handicap because his experience should be able to carry him through the next few eliminations.

Here’s the latest round of eliminations…

12^th Douglas Carli ($7,5057)

13^th Wai Kei Liu ($6,842)

14^th Matt Matros ($6,842)

15^th Susan Genard ($6,178)

16^th Scott Clark ($6,178)

Make sure to check back with CardPlayer.com for more updates and your favorite Pro Blogs.  

The remaining 16 players have just finished up with Levels 29 and 30 (Stud Hi & Hold’em), and are about to enter Level 31 (Omaha eight-or-better). The average chip stack right now $91,250 and with the blinds increasing to $6,000-$12,000, we’re bound to see a plethora of eliminations in the next few rounds to come.

It’s a rolled-up rollercoaster in Level 29 (Stud Hi) for Susie Genard. Genard starts one hand off with rolled up nines against Eric Tomberlin’s 7 on 3^rd street. Tomblerin goes on to catch two running sevens on both fourth and fifth street  to make trip sevens, but failing to further improve gives Genard the win with trip nines. The very next hand and Genard looks down at rolled up jacks against John Myung’s 8 in the door. Myung starts the hand off with a split pair of eights and catches another 8 on fourth street and the case eight on fifth street to make quads and trump Genard’s trip jacks turned full house.

Pat Poels nearly doubled up in hold’em when a mis-raise worked out in his advantage. The player in seat no. 3 comes in for a raise and Pat Poels calls from the big blind. The flop comes K 9 7 and Poels checks to seat no. 3 who bets out. Poels raises and seat no. 3 calls. The turn brings the 10 and Poels leads out this time getting a call from his opponent in seat no. 3. The river brings the 5 and once again Poels bets and seat no. 3 makes the call. Poels turns over Q J for the nut straight and the player in seat no. 3 mucks his hand in awe. Seat no. 3 makes it apparent that he was not impressed with Poels’ gutshot raise on the flop and Poels defends himself by explaining that he mis-raised by mistake which was evident by his bet on the turn which was for twice the actual limit. All Poels can do at this point is to offer his opponent his condolences by saying, “Sorry…but not really.”      

John Myung was just recently eliminated by Michael Craig when Myung got the rest of his chips in the pot with Q-J against Craig’s A-Q. The board failed to improve Myung’s dominated queen and he hit the rail in 18^th place earning himself $5,514.

We’ve had plenty of eliminations in the last hour or so and here’s our most recent list…

17^th Place Daniel Lown ($5,514)

18^th John Myung ($5,514)

19^th Michael Klarman ($5,514)

20^th Gregory Koseback ($5,514)

21^st  Justin Thomas ($5,514)

22^nd Bonnie Leinhos ($5,514)

23^rd Daniel Fishell ($5,514)

Be sure to check back with CardPlayer.com for more updates and your favorite Pro Blogs.                                                      Notable Chip Counts

Eric Tomberlin	71,000
Chip Jett	130,000

Levels 27 and 28 have come and gone and the remaining 23 players have just entered Level 29; Stud Hi.

During the most recent Omaha portion of the S.H.O.E. event, Raymond Davis got involved in a big pot with Susie Genard who ended up catching the wheel on the river and scooping the pot. Everyone folds to Raymond Davis who raises on the button and Susie Genard makes the call out of the small blind, followed by a call from the player in the big blind. The flop comes A K 9 and everyone checks to Davis who bets. Gerard calls and the big blind folds. The turn brings the 5 and both players check around. The river brings the 2 and Genard bets out, getting a call from Davis. Genard turns over 4 3 Q Q for the wheel; she scoops the pot.

Surprisingly enough, it was the most recent Stud Hi/Lo portion of the event that was responsible for most of the eliminations during the last hour. Hooman Nikzad was eliminated in 26^th place ($4,849) when his pair of fours failed to improve against his opponent’s pair fives after being forced all-in from the big blind. David Allison would be eliminated in 25^th place ($4,849), followed by CardPlayer’s own Diego Cordovez in 24^th place ($4,849). Cordovez was eliminated by Raymond Davis when his two pair ran into Davis’ trip fives, failing to improve on the river.

Chip Jett was having a tough time raking a full pot in the Omaha eight-or-better round this past hour, having to settle with a small profit from a few split pots. One of those pots, Jett called a raise from the small blind and saw a flop of 10 8 5. Jett checked to seat no. 4 who bet out, Jett calls. The turn brings the Q and once again, Jett checks to seat no. 4 who bets out. This time Jett raises and seat no. 4 makes the call. It wasn’t enough to get him off of the hand but it did slow him down quite a bit. The river brings the 6 and Jett bets out, getting a call from his opponent. Jett shows A J 10 9 for the nut straight while seat no. 4 turns over A Q 7 3 for the A-7 low. Jett has to settle for another split pot, but even a nominal profit is better than any loss.

Stay tuned to 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 hourly updates of this event.

The remaining 32 players in the S.H.O.E. event have just gone on dinner break and will return at 10:30 p.m. to Level 27; Omaha with $1,500-$3,000 blinds and betting limits of $3,000-$6,000.

We lost quite a few players over the last few levels, and some of the most recent include Alexander Kravchenko in 43^rd place ($3,521), Brandon Leeds in 35^th place ($4,185), and Ali Eslami 34^th ($4,185).

Brandon Leeds was eliminated when his A J ran into an opponent’s 5 4 on a board of 10 9 4 9 6. Leeds got it all-in pre-flop with the best hand but couldn’t improve against his opponent’s pair on the flop.

Ali Eslami was eliminated when he was forced all-in from the small blind with 10 8 against Petros Theocharides and his Q 4. The board came A Q 10 2 5, not enough help for Eslami who hit the rail in 34^th place, right before the dinner break.  

Raymond Davis had been battling from the average stack over the last hour and managed to snap off a nice pot right before dinner. The player in seat no. 3 comes in for a raise and Raymond Davis re-raises him. Seat no. 3 makes it three bets to go and Davis makes the call. The flop comes 3 3 5, and seat no. 3 bets out and Davis calls. The turn brings the 8, and once again seat no. 3 bets and Davis calls. The river brings the A and an almost-all in Raymond Davis bets out and seat no. 3 makes a reluctant call. Davis turns over A Q and seat no. 3 mucks his hand. Davis catches the ace on the river to trump what he suspected was a pair of kings or queens in his opponent’s hand. Everyone at the table starts talking about how sick of the beat that was and Davis replies, “Call $4,000 to win $80,000, I make that call every time.”

Chip Jett was also catching some cards and stacking chips this level, finishing off the Stud round in high fashion. Jett completes the bet with the A and Petros Theocharides comes in for a raise with the A. Theocharides continues to take the betting lead down to fifth street with a board of A 3 10, while Jett continues to call with a board of A 6 J. Jett check-raises Theocharides on fifth street and peels off the 6 on sixth street. Jett continues to bet right down to the river with a board of A 6 J 6 while Theocharides calls him down with A 3 10 4. Jett shows A 6 10, and takes down the pot with aces up.

Players will return from dinner at 10:30 p.m., so be sure to check back with CardPlayer.com for more updates.    

One Away From Hand for Hand
We are just one player away from hand for hand.

Hand for Hand
There is visible excitement on players faces at they are just one player from the money. 

Banished
The media has been cast to the sidelines to help smooth out the hand for hand process.

Money!!
The S.H.O.E. players have made the money.  They let out the standard applause and there were many high fives as well. 

Large Rail
There is a lot of people railing this event.  Annie Duke stopped by to congratulate Erick Seidel, and Tony G. was seen browsing among the tables.

Chip Jett Scoops
Reese gets Alex Kravchenko to call a bet on the river of a 10854J board.  Reese shows down AJQ4 and takes the whole pot.  No word as of yet if Kravchenko (who is easily the most frightening player in the RIO) will arrange an "accident" for Reese. 

Ok, There Are Some More Names In The Field
Pat Poels has notified Card Player that he is still alive in the field. Poels has won two WSOP bracelet.  We would like to apologize to him, and thank his wife for checking (and freelance editing) the updates on Cardplayer.com.

Erik Seidel Eliminated
Seidel was eliminated shortly after reaching the money.

Largely Unnamed Field
A vast majority of the field is unknown players.  The chances of a stacked final table are pretty small at this point.  But remember just because the players aren't big names doesn't mean they can't play. 

Break
Players are on a 15 minute break.

Play Resumes
Play starts with the game Stud High, and the betting structure is $200 ante, $300 Bring in $1,000-$2,000 ante.

Approaching the Money
The tournament will pay out the top 70 spots, and we will go hand for hand at 72 players.

Gracz Eliminated
Michael Gracz has been eliminated during the seven card stud portion of the tournament. 

Down to 10
The field has been narrowed to 10 tables and we are rapidly approaching the money.

More Notables
Mike Gracz, Bradly Berman, Ali Eslami and Alex Kravchenko

Berman Busted
Limit Omaha.  Blinds are $400-$800, Ray Davis raises, Berman 3-bets, it is folded back to Davis and he caps, putting Berman all in.  Berman makes the call and shows down A752, while Davis tables AA9J.  The board comes 99710J, giving Davis the high and the pot.  There are currently 12 tables remaining.

Another Three Day Event
Another example of very poor planning by the WSOP this is a scheduled two day event that will surely go three days.  This has consistently happened this year, and maybe just maybe we can lean something from the pattern.