Day 29 of the World Series of Poker 2008 saw the final nine take to the felt for the $1,000 no-limit with rebuys, day 2 of the $5,000 no-limit hold’em six handed and $1,500 seven-card-stud high-low events, and the start of the $2,000 no-limit hold’em got underway. Running concurrently was the marathon $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E. which entered its third day.
The day’s big story was the heartbreaking second place finish for Dane Rene Mouritsen in the $1,000 no-limit hold’em event. Last year Mouritsen finished runner-up in two events and it wasn’t to be third time lucky as he failed to get over the finish time once again.
Mouritsen was joined at the table by fellow countryman Albert Iversen and Aliaksandr Dzianisau from Belarus.
The Danes got off to a lively start eliminating one player each. First out was Alex Bolotin who raised to 52,000 and Iversen reraised to 132,000. Bolotin called and the flop came A
106
. Both players checked to the turn which was the 7
. Bolotin moved all in for 112,000 and Iversen instantly called with the A10 for top two pair. Bolotin revealed his slowplayed AK and needed help on the river to survive. The river was the 9
and Bolotin was sent to the rail.
Soon after Max Greenwood raised to 50,000, Mouritsen reraised to 170,000 and Phung Ngo moved all in from the blinds for 250,000. Greenwood got out of the way and Mouritsen made the call. Ngo showed pocket eights and Mouritsen turned over AJ. The board ran out A10465 and Ngo was eliminated in eighth place.
Aliaksandr Dzianisau suffered an unfortunate fate when he got his chips all in and was insta-called. Mouritsen showed J7 and Dzianisau turned over QQ. Dzianisau took a bad beat, however, when the board came JJ4AA , sending him packing in sixth place.
Mouritsen continued to expand his chip lead with frightening aplomb. When he raised one pot 60,000 and Jesse Chinni reraised to 180,000, the Dane reraised to 360,000. Chinni moved all in for just over 1 million and Mouritsen instantly called, tabling pocket aces. Chinni was well behind with AK. The board came Q5446 and Chinni, the initial chip leader at this final table, was eliminated in fifth place as Mouritsen stacked his ever-growing chip stack.
His rip-roaring rampage through the final table continued when Scott Freeman got the last of his short stack all in with A7, but was dominated by Mouritsen’s AK. The board came 8621010 and Freeman was eliminated in fourth place.
Max Greenwood then doubled up against Mouritsen twice in the space of four hands and took the chip lead before Iversen was put all in by his fellow countryman on a flop of 852. Iversen called showing his flopped set with 55 but he had to fade a bunch of outs from Mouritsen’s A3 . The turn was the 10 and Iversen needed the board to pair to stay alive. The river was the Q and he was eliminated in third place.
Heads-up play saw Mouritsen with 370,000 in chips with his opponent Greenwood on 310,000 in chips. After taking over the chip lead, Max Greenwood and Rene Mourtisen saw a jack high flop. Mouritsen bet 175,000 and Greenwood check raised to 500,000. Mouritsen moved all in and Greenwood made the call. Mouritsen showed K-J, but he was dominated by Greenwood’s A-J. The turn and river failed to bring any miracle kings, and Greenwood took down the title.
Mouritsen finished runner-up for the third time in his career, earning $445,523 while Greenwood took home the first prize of $693,444.
The $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E. event played down from 67 players to 24 with the loss of some significant European presence.
Early in play during a round of stud Dutchman Marcel Luske busted Steve Sung who was desperately short-stacked. The news was bad for Sung when he got his chips into the middle was that Luske had (A )(Q )10JK3 for the broadway straight. Sung had a flush draw though – (9)(5)KQ62. Sung looked at his final card and then stood up and quickly left the table. After winning the pot Luske was up to 290,000.
Italian Dario Minieri got himself all-in on third street against Andy Bloch in razz. There would be no split pot this time for Minieri; it was either double up or go home. Unfortunately for the diminutive Italian, he would be sent packing. Despite starting with A-5-2, he could only make a 9-8 low. Bloch’s 5-3-2 turned into an 8-5 on seventh street and the pot was his. Bloch now has about 210,000.
Towards the end of play during a round of hold’em Russian Alexander Kostritsyn had his preflop raise called by Scotty Nguyen. Kostritsyn moved all in dark while a flop of 1083 was dealt. Their cards:
Kostritsyn: 22
Nguyen: A7
Turn and River: A5
Kostritsyn was eliminated in 27th place.
Patrick Bueno from France remains the sole European among the final 24 of the event and he will need to avoid the next
eight eliminations to make the cash.
Day 2 of the $5,000 no-limit hold’em six handed tournament started with 96 players and played down to the final nine.
Johannes Strassmann from the Netherlands was the bubble boy when his ace-king fell victim to the ace-jack of Jonathan Aguiar. Aguiar flopped a jack and turned another.
Safely in the money during level 14, several Europeans open up their game in the surge for the final table. Belgian bracelet winner Davidi Kitai was in the small blind and was facing a raise to 11,000 from the button. Kitai, one of the larger stacks at the table, reraised to 28,000, and the button folded to the move. Kitai showed AK.
Dane Jesper Petersen raised to 6,600 preflop and drew a call from the big blind. The flop came KQ10, Petersen bet 10,000 and his opponent quickly mucked.
Englishman Paul Foltyn set about amassing a considerable stack, and put it to use after a board came down KQQ84. After the river, Foltyn was first to act and made a pot-sized bet of 70,000. His fellow countryman Keith Hawkins and Russian Nikolay Evdakov were both forced to fold.
Soon after, having moved all in preflop several times, Evdakov shoved his stack of 91,000 in from under the gun once again.
Englishman Jason Gray looked down at his cards, and found enough to look up his aggressive opponent. Gray held AQ, and was pleased to discover that he was in good shape against Evdakov’s KJ. Evdakov failed to improve, the board running out 87355, and he shipped his not-especially-short stack across the felt to Gray before taking his leave of the tournament area.
Frenchman Bertrand Grospellier was forging his path forward, squeezing out just over a minimum raise in the small blind, betting 13,000 in one hand. Shannon Shorr made the call from the big blind. Grospellier fired out another 16,000 on the flop of J76, and Shorr bumped it to 56,000. Grospellier then made it 151,000, and Shorr moved all in for an additional 80,000. Grospellier called, and showed down KK, leaving Shorr’s KJ in a state of extreme peril. The turn and river brought K4, and Shorr was eliminated from the tournament.
Grospellier’s run came to a shuddering standstill when he ran into slow-played aces holding top pair and he hit the rail in 16th for a $31,781 payday.
Dane Jesper Petersen moved all in over the top of open raiser Joe Commisso. Commisso called quickly, showing K-K. Peterson held A10, and failed to improve as the board ran out QQ8J5, taking his leave in 13th place for $31,781.
Other Europeans who faded before the final table included Paul Foltyn in 15th ($31,781), German Eddy Scharf in 22nd ($26,106), and Swede Magnus Persson in 23rd ($26,106).
Belgian Davidi Kitai continues to fly the European flag with nine players remaining as does Sam Trickett from the UK.
In the $1,500 seven-card-stud high-low Anonymous was among the remaining 13 players from an initial 117 who started day 2. His fellow countryman Marco Traniello busted in 13th for $8,168. Dane Jonas Klausen will return tomorrow as chip leader to vie for the $183,368 first prize.
Day 1 of the $2,000 no-limit hold’em tournament got underway with 2,317 players and finished with 198, each of whom were guaranteed $3,975. End of day results and chip counts were unavailable at the time of writing but join CardPlayer.com tomorrow for an update of the business end of this tournament as well as day 4 of the $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E. event and the final tables of the $5,000 no-limit hold’em six handed and $1,500 seven-card-stud high-low events.
Tomorrow also sees the start of the $1,500 no-limit hold’em tournament which is sure to attract massive crowd.
