At the end of the previous level players went on a thirty minute break. Once they returned they were set to play one last hour before ending the night.
Minieri Breaks $2,000,000
Dario Minieri was the first player known to cross the $2,000,000 mark. He ended the day as the chip leader with $2,400,000.
Payout Jump
With the elimination of the 352nd place player a new payout level was reached. All remaining 351 players are guaranteed $39,445.
The Wrath Of Kahn
PokerStars Supernova Haved "RainKahn" Kahn was seated at the ESPN featured table with Daniel Alaei for the last hour and a half of the night. In that short span he was involved in a number of big pots, and sent a few opponents to the rail. The ruckus at the featured table was heard from across the room as Kahn got all-in with Q Q against his opponents pocket aces only to have the board bring the Q Q 8. The 5 on the turn meant his opponent was drawing dead, and Kahn doubled to roughly $940,000. He later eliminated another opponent with A J against two fours with a board of A 7 6 K Q. Kahn even won a decently sized pot against Daniel Alaei without showdown.
Tran Dodges Flush
Mimi Tran raised from middle position to $18,000, Nick Binger called from the cutoff, the player in seat No. 9 called from the button, and the player in seat No. 2 called from the big blind. The flop came 6 5 4, the player in the big blind checked, Tran bet $35,000, Binger called, the player on the button raised to $100,000, the big blind folded, Tran called after much deliberation, and Binger folded. The turn card was the 2, Tran checked and the player in seat No. 9 moved all in. Tran showed her pocket Jacks as she folded, and her opponent graciously showed her the A 10 as he folded.
The Waco Kidd Cometh
A player in seat four raises to $25,000 and is flat called by seat six. It is folded to Jared Hamby and he says, "One time dealer!", as he looks at his cards then he immediately moves all in for $98,000. Both players call and the flop comes AQ4. Seat four pushes all in with AQ, and seat six folds. Hamby rolls over AA, and takes down a massive pot. Noah Schwartz has taken credit for the success, because earlier Hamby has rubbed his Star of David for good luck.
The Camera's Aren't Just For You
Seated with Hamby was Tobey Maguire and Humberto Brenes. That obviously lead to a plethora of ESPN cameras at the table, but Brenes wasn't sure why. When Hamby told him that Maguire was a move star, He half jokingly whispered to Cardplayer.com, "That is why all the cameras are here, I though they were for me." Humberto immediately began to ham it up with Maguire and Jared Hamby said,"Your Poker Famous, Poker Famous is good, but he's actually famous."
Apparently The Force Was Not With Him
Leif Force was eliminated after getting all-in with J-J against A-A and failing to get any help from the board.
Tate Taps Cordovez
With just minutes of play left and on a board reading 41056K. Conor ‘Sealy’ Tate popped $30,000 into the pot of around $100,000. CardPlayer.com broadcaster Diego Cordovez thought long and head and eventually one player at the table called the clock on him. Tate showed J for a flush and Cordovez ruefully mucked.
End Of Day
337 players will return for day tomorrow at noon. Stay tuned to Cardplayer.com for all of your live updates through the conclusion of the event.
From late position a player raised to $15,000 and Gus Hansen reached into his stack and cut out a reraise to $50,000. His opponent called and the flop brought the K Q 2. The late position player checked and after a moments consideration Hansen bet $65,000 and his opponent raised $100,000 on top of that. Hansen double checked his cards and tossed them into the muck.
Hansen Hits Back
On a board reading 662 Gus Hansen raised to $22,000 and was called by the player in seat 8. The turn brought the 8 and Hansen led out for $44,000 and was called again. The river brought the 9 and Hansen popped $133,000 in chips. His opponent stared him down and muttered ‘I don’t believe you.’ He thought some more, grabbed his chips and plonked them down with a thud on the table, calling the raise.
Hansen showed 99 for a full house and his opponent mucked, shaking his head.
All’s Wells That Ends Wells
Englishman David Wells, seated at a table with Humberto Brenes and Tobey Maguire, put in a large bet on a board reading 3Q10K10. His opponent, seated directly to his left, thought patiently before calling. Wells showed AQ and his opponent mucked. Wells now has just under $400,000.
Sorel Is Good
Action is folded to the cutoff and he makes it $18,000 to go. Sorel Mizzi is in the big blind, and he reraises to $50,000. The cutoff thinks then reraises to $140,000. Mizzi sits silently as he thinks, then after several minutes he moves all in. The big blind mucks, and Mizzi tables KQ.
Brenes Plays to The Camera
The shark is out in full force tonight. Whether you think Humberto Brenes' famed antics are lighthearted fun or just plain bad etiquette, he has certainly made a name for himself with his all-in shark attack routines. His opponent folded the A Q after Brenes moved all-in with a board of 9 7 5. Brenes showed the K and mucked his hand.
Money Jump
With the number of players remaining down to 414, a new payout level has been reached. All remaining players are guaranteed $34,664. The next jump will take place with 351st place, at which point all remaining will be guaranteed $39,445.
Play Resumes
Play has resumed here at the RIO and we are seeing dozens of players knocked out at a rapid pace.
Gus Hansen vs Cliff "Johnny Bax" Jospehy In a recent hand Cliff Josephy known as the god father of online poker was crippled by Gus Hansen. Josephy raised pre flop from late position and was called by Hansen out of the small blind. The flop came out Q Q 6 and Hansen bet out. Josephy made the call and the turn came a 5. Again Hansen bet out and was called by Josephy. On the river a 6 fell and this time Hansen bet out $50,000 chips. Josephy made the call and Hansen tables Q 9 for queens full. Josephy mucks his hand but not before flashing a six for a worse full house. Josephy is down to about $40,000 and Hansen is building himself a nice stack.
Five Guys With A Million
Currently there are five players who have reached the one million chip mark.
Jeff Banghart
Kenny Tran
Dario Minieri
Big Name Players
Some notable players who still remain and reside at the top of the chip counts are:
Gus Hansen
Bill Eldler
Peter Feldman
Darell "Gigabet" Dicken
Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi
Chad Brown
J.C. Tran Eliminated
We did see the exit of J.C. Tran during the last hour. He was met with a round of applause when it was announced that the current player of the year had been eliminated.
No ‘Bad Beat’ for Channing
Another Englishman who was enjoying the ride was Neil ‘Bad Beat’ Channing. ‘I came back from dinner break and the very first hand I picked up Aces,’ he beamed. ‘I got a full double-through of about $180,000 plus the blinds and antes. The other guy had A-K. I won the next hand too and was up to about $410,000 but got a rush of blood to the head and am back to about $360,000 now. Back down to earth.’
Euro Snapshot
A relatively short stacked Donnacha O’Dea put his opponent to the test when he re-raised all-in pre-flop. It didn’t take the original raiser long to muck his hand and O’Dea raked in $28,000 in chips and now has $95,000.
Jac Arama has $231,000 in chips, Bruno Fitoussi has $80,500, Gus Hansen has $722,000, and Alex Kravchenko has $387,000.
John Duthie was busted by Hansen who hit a three-outer Ace to best Duthie’s Q-Q.
Dinner Time
Players are returning from a dinner break of 90 minutes. We are down to 590 players and the play should start to get fast and furious after dinner. After the slow nature of the money bubble bursting players will be looking to get back to business.
Spiderman and the Rock Star One of the great things about the WSOP and poker in general is its' ability to gather people from all walks of life on one table to play a card game. At this year's main event we are seeing this first hand. We have a super hero and a rock star playing at the same table. I am of course talking about Tobey Maquire and Sully Erna who have each cashed in this event and look to go deeper. Toby is sitting with over $150,000 in chips and Sully is holding almost $300,000 in his stack.
Pros Playing Good There have not been any notable pros eliminated recently so it looks like they are holding their own right now.
Million Chip Man
Robert Nehorayan has become the first player to reach the $1,000,000 chip mark. However, Jon Kalmer and Kenny Tran are both right on his heels with $910,000 and $875,000 chips respectively.
Syl Still Having Fun Popular Irishman Sylvester Geohegan has been enjoying the day much more than yesterday. ‘I’m just delighted to be here,’ he said as he returned from dinner break. ‘It’s my first time at the Series and to go deep in the Omaha world championship and be sitting on $300,000 in chips now is brilliant. Yesterday I had a very tough table and with the adrenaline and everything I couldn’t even eat. Today is much easier, I have a great table and am not afraid of anyone so hopefully I can make some more money tonight.’
Hansen Takes A Hit
Dane Gus Hansen was put to the test with an all-in bet of $110,000 from the cut-off on a board of 569. Before he did he asked the floor manager if he could talk about his hand to the player who had pushed. ' If you tell him what you have and act on it, well then you can't do that.' Gus continued to think and didn't speak about his hand but called the bet.
He showed J10 for a flush draw and his opponent showed KJfor King-high. A turn and river brought no spade and Gus lost the pot.
Bubble Bursts
As the player's got closer and closer to the money, the Amazon room became more and more electric. During the hand for hand portion of the tournament play was very slow as one could imagine. In between hands players were in a frenzy gathering around any table with a potential elimination hand. This activity started within five spots of the money. Each subsequent elimination brought cheers from the crowd of spectators and the remaining players.
When the magic moment finally came, John Sigan was eliminated in the following hand:
On a flop of 8 6 4, John Sigan moved all-in and his lone opponent Vandy Krouch amde the call. Sigan turned over Q Q and Krouch showed 6 5 for a pair and straight draw. The turn brought a 7 and the river came a 4 giving the pot to Krouch. The hand made Sigan the 2007 WSOP bubble boy and over 600 players $20,000 richer.
Play Resumes Players went on a 20 minute break before resuming play with 620 player remaining in the tournament.
Gavin Smith Eliminated Only a few hands after coming back from break, Gavin Smith was eliminated by Christian Togsverd. Smith moved all-in for his last $50,000 from the cut-off. Togsverd made the call from the button. Smith showed 7 7 but was in bad shape against the J J held by Togsverd. The board came T 8 8 Q 2 and Smith failed to improve.
Euro Snapshot
Julian Gardner sailed comfortably past the bubble. ‘I have $420,000 in chips,’ he said. ‘There is only really one short stack at the table and he has $100,000. I raised one pot with 5-2 and hit two pair on the flop,’ he grinned. He was, however, dismayed to hear his friend and former Main Event finalist Scott Gray hadn’t made the cut. Scott went out in an agonizing 627th place, six before the money.
Others who have made the cash are Thor Hansen, Jac Arama, Alex Kravchenko, Andreas Krause, Willie Tann, Bruno Fitoussi, Gus Hansen, Sam Ditson, David Wells, Lloyd Rees and Lewis Pilkington.
Following the extended break at the completion of the last level, hand for hand play began. Tournament directors are in a frenzy to try and organize this process and make sure that players busting out get paid the correct amount. Hand for hand play started with 641 players left and there are currently only 626 left. The slow pace of hand for hand dictated the entire first hour of this level with only 15 eliminations. Stay with CardPlayer.com find out who the unlucky bubble finishers is and all the intense action that is sure to follow the bubble burst.
Alex Melnikow
480,100
Sorel Mizzi
465,000
Nick Binger
400,000
Hasan Habib
343,000
Fabrice Soulier
325,700
Isaac Haxton
280,000
Chad Brown
270,000
Robert Mizrachi
179,000
Tobey Maguire
130,000
Todd Brunson
115,000
Jason Lester
107,000
Tony Hachem
95,000
Chip Jett
95,000
Humberto Brenes
77,000
Scotty Nguyen
68,000
Gavin Smith
65,000
Bruno Fitoussi
60,000
David Levi
56,200
J.C. Tran
50,000
Thu Jul 12 15:14:00 -0700 2007
Into the Money Bubble
The Money Bubble is about to Burst
The tournament field had quickly approached the magic number of 621 as the afternoon played out during day three. The players went to hand-for-hand play, but there was a break in the action to color up the black, $100 chips before they continued.
Players Club
A number of familiar faces remained in the hunt and in many cases they had a lot of chips to do some damage with. Kenny Tran, of H.O.R.S.E. final table fame this year, has over $1 million and is the far and away the chip leader. Gus Hansen, who resides at the ESPN featured table, is also in the top ten with $760,000. John Duthie is seated at that table with Hansen, while Gavin Smith, Hasan Habib, and David William’s mother are all seated at the on-deck circle.
Todd Brunson, Lee Watkinson, Mimi Tran, Daniel Alaei, Darrell Dicken, Humberto Brenes, Chris Viox, Bruno Fitoussi, Mihn Ly, Leif Force, Chip Jett, David Levi, J.C. Tran, Cliff Josephy, Jared Hamby, Chris Grigorian, Nicholas Binger, Peter Feldman, Jimmy Tran, Tom McCormick, Chad Brown, Amnon Filippi, Isaac Haxton, Brandon Adams, Robert Mizrachi, Kirk Morrison, Ted Forrest, Thor Hansen, Jason Lester, and Billy Baxter all remain in the hunt. Former world champions remain in the hunt as well: Scotty Nguyen, Carlos Mortensen, Robert Varkonyi, Huck Seed, and Berry Johnston are all still in the hunt, and none of them look to be in any danger of busting out today.
Dario Minieri Potter
Dario Minieri was rocking a maroon and gold scarf at the table, which made him look like the Italian Harry Potter. He must have conjured up some magic spell over his table as well because he was top ten in chips with over $600,000. He hid behind a Hogwarts-like castle of chips and used them aggressively against any opponent that dared to cross him.
Lee Watkinson Doubled Up
Lee Watkinson was all in with pocket three and his opponent had him covered with Q 2. The board was dealt K 63 9 K . Watkinson doubled up on the hand and survived.
Alaei Wins a Nice Pot
Daniel Alaei bet $10,000 from middle position and seat nine called from the cutoff preflop. Both players checked the flop of K 5 3 and the turn brought the 2. Alaei bet $16,500 and seat nine called. The river was the 4 and seat nine bet $20,000. Aleai made the call and flipped over K J. His opponent had shown down pocket tens and Alaei took down the pot to add to his robust stack.
Baxter Capitalizes on the Bubble
The bubble will cause many a player to do peculiar things, and in most cases this influence makes them tighten up to an almost debilitating state, squandering their long-term tournament chances. Other players capitalize. That’s exactly what Billy Baxter did when he fired out $8,000 preflop and received a call from the big blind. The left the big blind with $10,300, which is exactly the amount Baxter bet after the board came 10 7 6 7. The big blind went into the tank and repeatedly counted out his chips, he then craned his neck to look at the tournament information board. The money bubble would ultimately have more bearing on his decision than the $8,000 he had already committed to the pot, and he mucked his hand. Baxter showed A as he mucked his cards.
Play ended last night shortly after midnight with 797 players returning to begin day three. Play started today by completing the last 20 minutes of level 11 and continued right into level 12 with no break. The blinds are now $1,500-$3,000 with a $400 ante and are beginning to play a larger role in the tournament.
Currently, there are 716 players remaining, playing on only 80 tables. The average chip stack is $177,597 and there have already been many notable names eliminated. Gus Hansen is still the chip leader, as he was heading into the day. Hansen has been able to build his stack up to $670,000 in the early hours of day three despite being seated at the ESPN featured table with the likes of Carlos Mortensen and Gavin Smith.
Chris "Jesus" Ferguson is arguably one of the most recognized poker players on the planet and as a result has quite the following. Ferguson's recent elimination instigated a buzz amongst the remaining players and crowd. Sympathetic groans and disappointed comments were heard all around the Amazon room when tournament officials announced Ferguson's departure. Ferguson pushed all in from the small blind following a raise from the player in seat seven. Seat seven made the call and both players turned over their cards. ESPN cameras rushed the table to catch the action and Ferguson turned over A 5. The player in the seven seat showed Q Q and waited patiently for the flop. The board came 8 2 2 8 10 and Ferguson was sent to the rail out of the money. Players applauded as Ferguson left the tournament area and Ferguson's dream of repeating as champion will have to wait another year.
Isaac Haxton, known by many as the player who finished in second place at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and has a substantial amount of money tied up in Neteller, was able to double up to more than $160,000 in the first hour of day three. The player in seat two at Haxton's table pushed all in on the button and Haxton took only a moment before calling from the big blind. The player in seat two exposed 3 3 and Haxton showed A 8. The board came Q 8 4 6 K and Haxton took down the huge pot.
Tor Helness, hailing from Norway and qualifying on PokerStars, also took down a huge pot in the early hours and almost gave himself a heart attack in the process. Helness pushed all in with 9 9 and was called by the player in seat nine with A K. The tv cameras gathered, causing the dealer to pause for extended periods of time between dealing out the flop, turn and river. The flop came Q 3 2 and Helness could hardly stand the anticipation. The turn was the 6 and Helness only had to dodge one more card. The river brought the Q and Helness was able to finally double up to $135,000.
Card Player writer Craig Tapscott handled a request from a fan to meet Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi at table #6. Sorel was surprised to see the fan was Norm McDonald. Norm shared that he has watched Imper1um play online for quite some time.
"What's your screen name," asked Mizzi.
"I'm not telling YOU," said McDonald.
They both laughed. Norm stepped back and continued to watch the Internet phenom dominate his table. Tapscott will be interviewing Sorel Mizzi all day on the breaks in our Pro Blogs section.
The official third day of the 2007 World Series of Poker is set to begin today at 12 p.m. A starting field of 6,358 has been whittled down to just 797 players returning today to battle on to day four. Each player has now played two long and grueling days to make it this far and there is still a long way to go.
The chip leader heading into day three is Gus Hansen, with $622,3000. Bill Edler and Sorel Mizzi were also both in the top ten in chips with $486,700 and $457,100 respectively.
The starting field of 6,358 marks the second largest poker tournament in recorded history, behind only the Main Event of 2006. This year the first place finisher will take home $8,250,000 and the highly coveted Main Event Champion bracelet. The money bubble bursts when there are 621 players remaining, with the 621st finisher making $20,320.
It is worthy to note that there are six previous main event champions still in the field and battling for their second title. Berry Johnston ('86), Huck Seed ('96), Scotty Nguyen ('98), Chris "Jesus" Ferguson ('00), Carlos Mortensen ('01) and Robert Varkonyi ('02) are all coming back on day three.
Stay with CardPlayer.com to follow the action on day three and check out our Pro Blogs to hear directly from the superstars still in the field.
Q
against his opponents pocket aces only to have the board bring the Q
Q
8
