Michael Reed Blog

Fox looks forward travel around more to play live poker

While most of the poker world had their eyes on Day 7 of World Series of Poker the Bellagio Cup came to a conclusion with Elio Fox taking the title, an entry into the 2012 World Poker Tour Championship, and $644,192.

“I will feel a lot more comfortable playing live 10k’s”, said Fox about winning the Bellagio Cup. “I guess it makes me feel a lot more comfortable traveling and playing where ever I want”.

Of the 224 entrants only eight players survived to Day 4 with Hafiz Khan leading the way as the only player with more than 2 million while Ted Forrest started with the shortest stack. Just missing out on making Day 4 but reaching the final table was Brandon Cantu. Others making the cash but not the final day of play were David Williams (11th), Nicholas Schulman (13th), Bertrand Grospellier (24th), David Benyamine (25th) and Isaac Haxton (26th).

The first player to get eliminated for the day was Jim Hess, who is fresh off winning his first WSOP bracelet in the Seniors event. Hess opened from early position to 100,000 and was raised by Fox. When action folded back to Hess he moved all-in for approximately 500,000, Fox called and the two showed their cards. Hess’ JJ was in trouble against Fox’s AA. The board brought no assistance to Hess eliminating him in eighth place for $48,314 while Fox moved above 2 million in chip.

Shortly after Hess’s exit Brandon Meyers found himself all-in. This time the short stack prevailed as Meyers pocket kings held against the pocket sevens on Daniel Colman to just over 500,000. Meyers was not done doubling up through Colman. He managed to get all-in once again preflop, this time Meyer held 77 against Colmans’ AJ. Meyers won the race on a 652Q5 board and chipped up to about 900,000.

Colman, who started the day second in chips, was now one of the short stacks having Meyers double through him twice. Colman moved all-in after William Thorson moved all-in ahead of him. All of the other players folded and the players flipped over their cards. Thorson showed Q9 while Meyers showed JJ. The KQ4 flop left Colman needing to catch one of the remaining jacks on the turn or river. When a jack did not appear he was eliminated in seventh place.

With only six players remaining Bryn Kenney held the chip lead followed by Khan and Fox. The lead for Kenney was only short lived as he and Fox tangled in the biggest pot of the tournament that saw Kenney go from the top to the bottom and Fox soar into the chip lead becoming the first player above the 3 million mark.

After a raise and re-raise preflop Kenney and Fox were the only two players to see the 764 flop. Fox checked to Kenney who made it 145,000. Fox called and the players saw a J on the turn. Fox checked and once again Kenney fired away, this time for 290,000. Fox called and then checked to Kenney on the 6 river. Kenney did not slow down and announced he was all-in. After about five minutes of deliberation Fox called his remaining 970,000 and showed 97 for two pair, which was enough to beat Kenney’s 98.

“I had a very tough call against Bryn Kenney”, said Fox. “He had a bluff, but he could have easily had flipped over the nuts”.

Kenney attempted to make a comeback but eventually his shot came to an end after opening in early position and then getting raised by Khan, who was in the big blind. Kenney moved all-in and Khan called showing AA. Kenney showed JJ and when the A93 he was needing running cards to stave off elimination. When a jack did not come on the turn his was on his way to collect the $91,260 he earned for the sixth place finish.

After riding the short stack for the entire day Ted Forrest got into a raise battle with Khan that resulted in Khan moving all-in to put the decision on Forrest to call for his tourney life. Forrest thought for a few minutes before he called showing AQ. Khan showed JJ and the players were off to the races. The K63 flop delivered no assistance to Forrest, nor did the K turn or 9 river. Forrest earned $112,733 for his fifth place finish.

Meyers followed Forrest to the exit when he shoved from the small blind with KQ into Fox. Fox quickly called showing A8. An ace came on the flop giving Fox top pair. The turn did not bring any help to Meyers eliminating him in fourth place for $150,311.

When three-handed play began Fox held 80 percent of the chips in play with around 8 million while Khan and Thorson only had around 1 million each. Thorson tried to make a run at getting some chips away from Fox but eventually Fox wore him down. Thorson ended up all-in with a race situation with his AQ against Fox’s 33. Throson’s tournament was over when the J63 flop hit the felt as Fox flopped a set and Thorson was drawing dead.

Heads-up play involved lots of raise folding and only two boards were seen over twenty hands. The two hands that saw boards were the first and last hands. The first hand resulted in a chop pot while the second resulted in Fox winning the title when his A9 held against Khan’s JT. Khan takes home $429,460 while Fox gets the entry into the 2012 WPT Championship and $644,192.

Here are the payouts for the final nine:

1st: Elio Fox – $644,192
2nd: Hafiz Khan – $429,460
3rd: William Thorson – $238,350
4th: Brandon Meyers- $150,311
5th: Ted Forrest- $112,733
6th: Bryn Kenney – $91,260
7th: Daniel Colman – $69,787
8th: James Hess – $48,314
9th: Brandon Cantu – $34,357

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Anter needed only two events to win his first bracelet.

The final $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event at the 2011 World Series of Poker needed an extra day to crown Hasan Anter as it’s champion. Anter did it in fashion by getting a royal flush to defeat Nemer Haddad, capturing his first bracelet and $777,928.

“I didn’t expect to win”, said Anter. “I was just happy to make the money. It’s a big honor winning the bracelet.”

The first elimination came when James Boyle got all in with AK against Andy Philachack’s pocket sixes. Boyle was unable to catch sending him to the rail in ninth place. Ryan Goindoo became the next player to get eliminated when his pocket fours got counterfeited on a 77663 board to the AQ of John Horvatich.

Rayan Nathan followed Goindoo to the payout room when his A6 was unable to improve against the pocket kings of Anter. With the addition of Nathan’s chips Anter moved into the chip lead and one player closer to his first bracelet.

When Horvatich shoved all-in with pocket kings it appeared that he was going to get a much needed double up at the hands of Anter, who called with pocket eights. But that double up was not to be had as an eight appeared on the flop leaving Horvatich looking for a two outer to survive. The king did no come on the turn or river sending him to the payout room to collect the $137,025 sixth place money.

It only took one hand for the next player to get eliminated. On the 932 flop John Borzio put his remaining chips into the middle only to get called by both Philachack and Anter. Philachack checked before the 8 came on the turn which induced a bet from Anter. Anter’s bet was enough to scare Philachack away leaving Borzio needing to best Anter’s hand to stave off elimination. Borzio’s AK was no match for the J9 of Anter. When the J came on the river Borzio’s fate was sealed sending him home with $184,561 for his fifth place finish.

The final player to get eliminated before the completion of the scheduled 10 levels was Selim Oulmekki, another casualty of Anter. Oulmekki’s J8 could not improve against Anter’s QJ eliminating him in fourth place. Anter held over 75 percent of the chips in play after eliminating Oulmekki. By the time the hard stop rule was enacted he had just over 55 percent of the chips in play with Haddad and Philachack about even.

The fourth and final day of play kicked off with Anter taking a sizable pot off of Philachack leaving him as the short stack on the table. A few hands later Philachack took his final stand when he was dealt 33, shoving all-in over the button raise of Haddad. Haddad called with AT putting Philachack’s tournament life at stake with a classic race. The race was all but over when the T76 flop was dealt. The K turn brought Philachack a flush draw but when the K was flipped over for the river he was eliminated.

Just like when three-handed play began Anter held over 75 percent of the chips when heads-up play began between him and Haddad. Haddad started to chip away at Anter’s lead and eventually got a double-up when his pocket sixes held against the Anter’s A3 giving Haddad the chip lead. Anter did not give up though working his way back into the chip lead without having to show a single hand down.

“I was just continuing to play like I always do, and not break down”, said Anter. “I was all-in with bluffs a couple of times and was very lucky he didn’t call me.”

Anter did not let the lead slip out of his hand this time. After Haddad shoved all-in with A2 Anter called with A4. The KQT flop brought Anter one step closer to capturing his first bracelet in his second event ever played. The 4 turn delivered him a flush while the J river gave Anter an unneeded royal flush, $777,928, and the coveted bracelet.

Here is how the final nine finished with their payouts:

1st: Hasan Anter – $777,928
2nd: Nemer Haddad – $479,521
3rd: Andy Philachack – $345,698
4th: Selim Oulmekki – $251,267
5th: John Borzio – $184,561
6th: John Horvatich – $137,025
7th: Rayan Nathan – $102,803
8th: Ryan Goindoo – $77,914
9th: James Boyle – $59,705

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Shak is looking for redemption in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

While most of the attention at the 2011 World Series of Poker was on the $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship final table with Phil Hellmuth chasing his twelfth bracelet three other events were in action. The $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event is 1 eliminations from crowning the 54th champion of the series while the final two events are working their way though their Day 2s.

$50,000 Poker Players’ Championship

The final nine players returned to play to a champion on Wednesday in the $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship. Minh Ly returned with the chip lead while Scott Seiver had the shortest stack. Seiver managed to ride his short stack to a seventh place finish, outlasting WSOP Player of the Year front Ben Lamb who went out in eighth place.

With Lamb’s eighth place finish he extended his POY lead over Chris Moorman to 172.85 points. Hellmuth still has a chance to overtake Lamb before the main event starts by finishing at least second.

George Lind exited the tournament in sixth place, he was followed Matt Glantz leaving Hellmuth, Ly, Brian Rast and Owais Ahmed. The players are currently on break with Hellmuth in the lead.

Here are the chip counts:

1. Phil Hellmuth – 6,110,000
2. Minh Ly – 5,690,000
3. Brian Rast – 5,340,000
4. Owais Ahmed – 2,060,000

$1,500 No Limit Hold’em

After four levels of play in Day 2 only 170 of the days starting 463 remain. The players quickly moved into the money shortly after resuming play as they were only 121 eliminations from busting the bubble. The players are now focused on eliminating as many players as possible before completing the remaining scheduled six levels.

Andy Philachack leads the way into dinner with Bryn Kenney and overnight chip leader Benjamin Volpe closely trailing behind.

Play is scheduled to resume around 7:50 pm PST.

Here are a few of the notables chip counts:

1. Andy Philachack – 225,000
2. Bryn Kenney – 180,000
3. Andrew Lichtenberger – 168,000
4. Benjamin Volpe – 128,000
5. Gavin Smith – 105,000

$5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

Only 94 players survived the first four levels of Day 2 in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event. Phil Laak leads the way as the players are on a 60-minute dinner break with Daniel Shak nipping at his heels. Shak has had success in this tournament coming in a disappointing second last year.

“It was dissappointing, I had the chip lead heads-up and I feel like I out-played everyone last year”, said Shak in reference to his runner-up finish. “I think this is my best game. So you are always excited to play your best game.

The players are currently on their dinner break. Play is scheduled to resume around 8:20 pm.

Here are a few of the top notables chip counts:

1. Phil Laak  - 162,000
2. Daniel Shak – 142,500
3. Erik Seidel – 100,000
4. Dan Heimiller – 78,000
5. Sorel Mizzi – 75,000

$1,000 No Limit Hold’em

Much like Tuesday the eliminations in the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em happened at a fast pace. The returning nine worked down to the three in the first four levels of play on Wednesday. Sebastien Roy was the first elimination of the day followed by Joshua Evans, Douglas Mackinson, Harald Olsen, Ren Ho Zhang, Stanislav Alekhin and Warren Wooldridge in that order.

The players opted to take a short 20-minute break rather than the scheduled 60-minute dinner break and are currently in their 31st level of the tournament with Maxim Lykov holding a substantial chip lead over Dror Michaelo.

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Ly just wants to win his first bracelet

It was a long day at the 2011 World Series of Poker as the $50,000 Poker Players Championship struggled to get down to its official final table. While the Poker Players Championship went into overtime the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event got to its final table before completing its scheduled 10 levels.

The final two events before the main event starts kicked off on Tuesday with fields that exceeded 2010 numbers to complete the day’s action. Both tourneys are scheduled to crown their champion on Thursday, which will also be Day 1a of the main event.

$50,000 Poker Players Championship

The $50,000 Poker Players Championship carried on early into Wednesday morning after getting started at 3 pm on Tuesday. By the time they finished up with their seventh level of play nine players still remained. At that point the decision was made to stop play for the night to allow the players to get some rest before starting back up at 3pm PST on Wednesday.

It took a matter of a few minutes for the field to go from 18 to 16 putting them in the money. After Jon Turner elimination in 18th place the players were told they were in hand for hand play. Only one table was left to finish their hand before officially beginning hand for hand play. Robert Mizrachi, the shortest stack remaining in the field, was involved in that hand getting all in on fifth street. His hand was unable to improve enough sending him to the rail on the largest bubble of the series.

Sebastian Ruthenberg was the first player to get eliminated in the money, shortly followed by Barry Greenstein. Michael Binger, Josh Arieh and Yan Chen all made their exits next before things drastically slowed down. It was another 3.5 hours before Jeffrey Lisandro was eliminated in 11th place, he was followed by Valdimir Shehemlev a few hands later leaving the final 9.

Minh Ly holds the end of Day 4 chip lead, almost double of what second place Brian Rast ended the day with. They are both followed by Phil Hellmuth who is in search of his twelfth bracelet. Also at the final table is Ben Lamb who is looking to extend his lead over Hellmuth in the WSOP Player of the year race

“I don’t have a bracelet yet, after many years of playing poker”, said Ly. “So I work hard to try to win one”.

Here are the official chip counts for the final 8 by seat:

Seat 1: Brian Rast – 2,660,000
Seat 2: George Lind – 2,315,000
Seat 3: Phil Hellmuth – 2,245,000
Seat 4: Owais Ahmed – 1,402,000
Seat 5: Scott Seiver – 725,000
Seat 6: Minh Ly – 5,215,000
Seat 7: Ben Lamb – 1,180,000
Seat 8: Jason Lester – 920,000
Seat 9: Matt Glantz – 2,535,000

$5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

The final event to start before the main event drew 352 players, generating a first place prize of $397,073. Only 187 of them survived to the end of Day 1 with Gary Bolden holding the end of day chip lead. While Bolden was stacking chips Mike Sexton, Bertrand Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov and Jonathan Duhamel exited the tourney eliminating their shot at picking up their second bracelet.

Play resumes at 3 pm in the Amazon room where they will play ten levels, hopefully getting into the money before days end.

Here are a few of the top notables chip counts:

1. Gary Bolden – 98,300
2. Max Pescatori – 72,000
3. Joe Tehan – 69,500
4. Ali Eslami – 69,500
5. Allen Kessler – 58,500

$1,500 No Limit Hold’em

Only 463 players are still alive in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event that will reward its winner with the bracelet and $777,928. With 382 players making the money the bubble should bust quickly leaving them looking to eliminate as many players as possible before completing their scheduled 10 levels of play on Wednesday.

Benjamin Volpe leads the field into Day 2 with 156,200. He will be joined by Bryn Kenney, Justin Schwartz, Eddy Sabat and Andrew Lichtenberger. Sorel Mizzi became one of the last eliminations of the night joining Vanessa Selbst, Antonio Esfandari, Maria Ho and Faraz Jaka as Day 1 casualties.

The remaining players return at 2:30pm for 10 levels of action on Wednesday.

Here is the top ten:

1. Benjamin Volpe – 156,200
2. David Zemel – 127,700
3. David Eldridge – 118,000
4. Bryn Kenney  - 113,000
5. Tyler Patterson – 109,500
6. Brett Jungblut – 100,500
7. Dan Kelly – 99,300
8. Aleksandr Mozhnyakov – 94,800
9. Brandon Meyers – 93,200
10. Simon Lam – 90,100

$1,000 No Limit Hold’em

The $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event only needed seven levels to get to the official final table on Tuesday. Mario Doria was the last player to get eliminated before play concluded joining Dan Alspach, Michael Souza and Mark Epstein. Maxim Lykov leads the field with just under a 2-1 advantage over Dror Michaelo.

The final nine return on Wednesday at 2:30 pm to crown a champion who will win $648,880 and their first bracelet.

Here are the chip counts for the final 9 by seat:

Seat 1: Ren Ho Zhang – 785,000
Seat 2: Dror Michaels – 1,380,000
Seat 3: Maxim Lykov – 3,875,000
Seat 4: Sebastien Roy – 1,400,000
Seat 5: Stanislav Alekhim – 820,000
Seat 6: Joshua Evans – 1,670,000
Seat 7: Douglas Mackinnon – 1,160,000
Seat 8: Harald Olsen – 1,250,000
Seat 9: Warren Woolridge – 1,030,000

Video

Our video team caught up with Tournament Director Jack Effel to discuss how the 2011 WSOP is shaping up and the Main Event in our latest BLUFF Pro-spective.

Comment

Arieh is optimistic about his chances of winning but knows they are still a long way from the end.

The $50,000 Poker Players Championship once again highlighted play at the 2011 World Series of Poker on Monday as it moved another day closer to crowning a new champion. The only other tournament in action on Monday was Day 2 of the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event where they moved into the money early in the day and continued to send players to the rail at a fast pace before closing out their day.

$50,000 Poker Player’s Championship

Day 3 of the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship concluded with 29 players still alive with a chance at winning the $1,720,328 that the champion receives along with the coveted bracelet. Just over 60% of the field was eliminated through five levels of play on Tuesday leaving them 13 eliminations from getting into the money. A min-cash will earn the player $108,503.

Six players ended Day 3 with over 1,000,000 in chips. Scott Seiver, Phil Hellmuth, and Vladimir Shchemelev are above the 1.1 million mark while George Lind has just over 1.3 million. Brain Rast and Josh Arieh are the other two players who have over 1,000,0000 with Arieh holding the overnight chip lead with just over 1.8-million.

“I have about 10 percent of the chips in play but we still have a long way to go”, said Arieh. “We are only in Level 16 and I can see us not getting into the money until Level 22 or 23″.

The remaining 29 players return on Tuesday at 3 pm PST to play six levels or down to the final table, whichever happens first.

Here is the official end of Day 3 top 10:

1. Josh Arieh – 1,819,000
2. Brian Rast – 1,633,000
3. George Lind – 1,304,000
4. Vladimir Shchemelev – 1,181,000
5. Phil Hellmuth – 1,174,000
6. Scott Seiver – 1,137,000
7. Jon Turner – 948,000
8. Jason Lester – 948,000
9. Yan Chen – 887,000
10. Gus Hansen – 774,000

$1,000 No Limit Hold’em

Only 45 players survived Day 2 as 593 players had their dream of winning the gold bracelet and $648,880 dashed as they were eliminated on Monday. Anibol Andrew leads the way overnight with Stanislav Alekhin a close second. Vitaly Lunkin, Terrence Chan, Jeff Madsen and Paul Volpe were a few that made it into the money but did not survive until the end of the day.

Play resumes at 2:30 pm PT with the players playing ten levels or down to the final nine.

Here is the top 10:

1. Anibal Andres – 799,000
2. Stanislav Alekhin – 786,000
3. Terrance Eishens – 709,000
4. Christopher Chatman – 524,000
5. Matthew LaGarde – 517,000
6. Jeffrey Manza – 503,000
7. Nahabedian Raffi – 477,000
8. Jason Bigelow – 476,000
9. Mario Doria – 454,000
10. Aaron Overton – 453,000

Video

Scott Seiver sits down to discuss winning and running bad in the latest BLUFF cover story.

Comment

The chances to get a streak going in BLUFF’s Streak 2 Seven contest are becoming very limit with only five events left at the 2011 World Series of Poker.

PsychJJ still holds the top spot with his streak of four that he put together in the middle of the series. Since his active streak came to an end he has been working on building another streak but that has proven to be a difficult task. Hotsexybeast has the best chance to match and then surpass the streak of four by PsychJJ but he has been inactive since getting his third correct pick in a row in Event 5.

Only one player currently holds a streak of two, Dscoot has been one of the most active pickers of the competition having correctly picked two winners in a row two times during the series. He did not make a choice for the $1,000 Ladies Championship; his next chance at picking the winner will come in the final $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event of the series.

Quite a few players have an active streak of one but they better get on a hot streak if they want to slide into the top spot before the end of the series.

The race to the seat in the pokerAGA.com Mediterranean Millions is still within reach. It is never too late to start picking, so be sure to check out our official contest page daily to make your selections.

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Baker likes to abuse the money bubble, so no bubble save for her

The largest buy-in of the 2011 World Series of Poker was the highlight of the schedule Saturday as the $50,000 Player’s Championship brought most of the game’s biggest stars out. Also getting started Saturday was the last $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event of the summer. While those events began another event ended with a new champion crowned, two final tables started and the Ladies Championship moved into the money.

$1,000 No Limit Hold’em

The last $1,000 No Limit Hold’em of the summer kicked off with 1,932 players registering for Day 1A. Over 500 players survived the first six levels and are currently on dinner break. Amnon Filippi sits near or at the top of the leader board while Brandon Cantu is close behind. Darryll Fish, Tony Dunst, Matt Stout and Kenny Nguyen have so far survived the day while Svetlana Gromenkova, Dennis Phillips and Antonio Esfandiari all made early exits.

Here are a few of the dinner break chip counts:

1. Amnon Filippi – 22,000
2. Brandon Cantu – 21,000
3. Dan Heimiller – 10,400
4. Kenny Nguyen – 8,650
5. Darryll Fish – 6,100

$50,000 Poker Player’s Championship (8-Game)

The $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship got started a little after schedule to allow players that were delayed due to long lines in the safe deposit box and registration area to get in before the command for shuffle up and deal was given. The players will play five 100-minute levels before closing out the day.

So far Michael Mizrachi, Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman and Erick Lindgren have taken their seat. With registration staying open until 1:20 am PT, or the end of four levels, and 107 players already registered the possibility of surpassing last years number of 116 looks attainable.

$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship

Day 2 of the $1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship started on time with 136 ladies and one guy. They only needed to lose 19 players to get into the money, which they managed to do rather quickly.

When hand-for-hand began a player in the field asked if everyone wanted to put in $10 to give to the eventual bubble winner. At least one player expressed that she did not want to participate the discussion was stopped and play resumed as normal. The bubble eventually busted and a few ladies started going around collecting money from all the tables. With 117 players making the money they collected $877, $12 of which was a slot machine voucher from Bellagio, to give to the bubble lady Wendy Cordiner.

By the time the field broke for dinner only 51 remained with Amanda Baker at the top of the leader board along with Christy Cranford. Baker definitely is not a fan of collecting money for the bubble player.

“I’m not a fan of that. If a bunch of people are playing tight cause they want to make the money then that’s great for me”, said Baker. “So I’m certainly not going to contribute to that because I want them to play tight so I can steal the blinds and antes”.

Here are a few of the top stacks:

1. Amanda Baker – 138,000
2. Christy Cranford – 138,000
3. Yu Kurita – 125,000
4. Maureen Merdinger – 119,000
5. Carol Tomlinson – 117,000

$2,500 Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No Limit)

The $2,500 Mixed Hold’em event became the second event of the Series to make it to its official final table on Friday. The remaining nine players returned and shrunk down to five before leaving for their dinner break. Adam Sanders, Aaoik Arora, Noah Boeken and Nikolay Losev were the pre-dinner casualties. Brandon Meyers leads the field while Matt Hawrilenko is the short stack.

Here are the chip counts for the final five:

1. Brandon Meyers – 1,500,000
2. Brian Smith – 1,060,000
3. Matt Matros – 730,000
4. Jonathan Lane – 530,000
5. Matt Hawrilenko – 450,000

$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

Returning with it’s unofficial final table of ten players the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo made quick work getting down to the final three players before breaking for dinner. David Singontiko holds a 1,000,000 chip lead over Jeffrey Gibralter while Michael Yee sits on the short stack. David Sands narrowly missed making his second official final table of the Series when he was the first player to get eliminated. John Reiss, Robert Campbell and Cliff Kettinger followed him to the payout room before Thomas Scarber, Marco Oliveria and Igor Sharaskin were eliminated.

The final three players are currently on dinner and will return to play for the bracelet and $268,235.

Here are the final three chip counts:

1. David Singontiko – 2,435,000
2. Jeffrey Gibralter – 1,400,000
3. Michael Yee – 425,000

$5,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em

After getting stopped at four-handed due to the hard stop rule the players returned on Saturday to compete for the $825,604 first place money. Eric Froehlich and Adam Geyer were the first two players to get eliminated leaving Antonin Teisseire and Darryl Ronconi to battle it out. Teisseire eventually got the best of Ronconi to collect the fourth bracelet for France of the summer.

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Boekin comes into his final table second in chips

Tournaments seemed to be going at warp speed on Friday at the 2011 World Series of Poker. The two events that returned for Day 2 moved into the money and then quickly worked their way down to the final tables while the Ladies Championship crept ever so close to getting into the money before closing out its Day 1. The only event to make it to their final table did not experience the same speed though as their eliminations came slow resulting in another hard stop.

$2,500 Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No Limit)

Returning from dinner the remaining 48 players in the $2,500 Mixed Hold’em event put their sites on getting down to the final table. They managed to do just that before completing Day 2′s 10 levels eliminating Mike Matusow, Jimmy Fricke, Joseph Cheong and Max Pescatori on the way.

Brandon Meyers surged to the top of the leader board on the last few hands of the night when he eliminated the Dylan Drazen and Pieter De Kover in 10th and 11th respectively. Meyers goes into Day 3 with a 2:1 chip lead over Noah Boeken.

“It feels great. That is what we play for”, said Boekin. “That is what we loose for everyday. To finally make one after a while”.

The final table starts on Saturday at 3 pm PT.

Here are the official final table chip counts:

1. Brandon Meyers – 1,200,000
2. Noah Boeken – 599,000
3. Matt Matros – 535,000
4. Nikolay Losev – 509,000
5. Matt Hawrilenko – 422,000
6. Brian Smith – 396,000
7. Aalok Arora – 271,000
8. Jon Lane – 246,000
9. Adam Sanders – 179,000

$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

The $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event also pushed for their final table on Friday to close out Day 2. Unlike the Mixed Hold’em event they only managed to make it to their unofficial final table of 10. David Sands finished the night as the only player above the one million mark; his closest opponent has just over 500,000.

Paul Volpe, Steven Serok, Kathy Liebert and Erik Seidel were eliminated as the field shrunk to the final 10. Play resumes at 2:30 pm as the final 10 return to play for $268,235 and the bracelet.

Here are the official final ten chip counts:

1. David Sands – 1,130,000
2. Jeff Gibralter – 514,000
3. Igor Sharaskin – 487,000
4. David Singontiko – 420,000
5. Robert Campbell – 365,000
6. TJ Scarber – 359,000
7. Marco Oliveira – 335,000
8. Clifford Kettinger – 288,000
9. Michael Yee – 213,000
10. JR Reiss – 149,000

$1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship

The structure and starting stacks of the $1,000 No Limit events have delivered quick eliminations during Day 1 play so far in the series. The $1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship was no different as play ended with only 137 of the original 1,055 remaining (only 1 is not a female).

Karina Jett, Christina Lindley, Erica Schoenberg and Amanda Baker all trail Celine Bastian who carries the overnight chip lead. While those ladies all survived the first 10 levels Maria Mayrinck, Susie Isaacs, Liv Boeree and defending champion Vanessa Hellebuyck made Day 1 exits.

Here is the official end of Day 1 chip counts:

1. Celine Bastian – 79,000
2. Bing Du – 67,800
3. Carol Tomlinson – 63,800
4. Crystal Sloan-Wallace – 58,000
5. Pamela Roberts – 57,200
6. Xiu Deng – 54,900
7. Kirsten Schreiber – 54,100
8. Barabara Kearney – 53,400
9. Oluwashola Akindele – 52,200
10. Yu Kurita – 51,000

$5,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em

With 14 players returning from dinner the final table and possibly the bracelet was within reach. It took about two levels for the final table to finally get set with Mikhail Yakovlev sitting at the top of chip counts. Vanessa Peng sat in the middle of the pack. Her appearance on the final table marked the fourth time that a female made a final table of an open event at this years series. After a roller coaster ride she eventually went out in sixth place, one spot better than Yakolev.

Narendra Banwari became the last player to get eliminated, in fifth, before play was halted due to the hard stop. Adam Geyer ended the night with the chip lead followed closely by Antonin Teisseire.

The remaining four players return at 2:30 pm to battle for the bracelet and $825,604 that goes to the winner.

Here are the final four chip counts:

1. Adam Geyer – 3,730,000
2. Antonin Teisseire – 3,425,000
3. Darryl Ronconi – 3,000,000
4. Eric Froelich – 2,125,000

Video

Do you need to catch up with all the news and highlights from the WSOP? If so then check out our latest BLUFF Live! @ The 2011 WSOP, where you get a dose of the latest happenings along with some clips from interviews with Eddy Sabat, Chris Hall and Andy Frankenberger.

Comment

Froehlich hopes to better his 3rd place finish from earlier in the series

Thursday at the 2011 World Series of Poker closed out with a new champion getting crowned while another tournament ran into the hard stop rule. Elsewhere at the series a female finished the day with the chip lead of an open event.

$5,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em

After returning from dinner the player made quick work of getting into the money. By the time the last hand was dealt only 34 players remained. Vanessa Peng made a last minute jump to the top of the chip counts when she doubled up on the last hand of the night. She will lead Adam Geyer, Benjamin Volpe, David “Bakes” Baker and Eric Froehlich into Day 3.

“I had 60,000 on the bubble and then chipped up from there and got up to a Million”, said Froehlich. “I am pretty happy with my play. I think I had to run good to win the flips and big hands earlier in the day”.

Play resumes at 2:30 pm as the remaining 34 return to battle for the bracelet and $825,604.

Here is the Top ten

1. Vanessa Peng – 801,000
2. Andrew Savitz – 700,000
3. Narendra Banwari – 699,000
4. Dylan Wilkerson – 646,000
5. Darryl Ronconi – 563,000
6. James Routos – 530,000
7. Felipe Montenegro – 527,000
8. Adam Geyer – 522,000
9. Jeff Sarwer – 442,000
10. Ben Volpe – 431,000

$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

After 10 levels of split pot action only 134 players out of the original 946 still have their dream of winning a bracelet and the $268,235 first place prize money intact. William Speir leads the way into Day 2 with 115,300. While he climbed his way to the top of the leader board after dinner Tom Dwan, Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer and Humberto Brenes saw their chips go to other players as they were eliminated.

Kathy Leibert, David Sands, Erik Seidel and Paul Volpe are just a few that return for Day 2 at 2:30 pm PT on Friday.

Here are the official end of Day 1 top ten:

1. William Speir – 115,300
2. Steven Serok – 99,800
3. David Sands – 94,000
4. Fabrizio Gonzalez – 90,300
5. Tom Chambers – 82,800
6. Alexandre Gomes – 81,000
7. Robert Campbell – 74,100
8. Dau Ly – 70,800
9. Bryce Yockey – 70,300
10. Michael Greco – 68,900

$2,500 Mixed Hold’em

Nikolay Losev leads the 127 remaining players of the $2,500 Mixed Hold’em event into Day 2 with 114,100. He is the only player to pass the 100,000 chip mark on Day 1. A $1,319,500 prize pool was generated by the 580 entrants that showed up to play this event, with $303,501 of that going to the winner along with the coveted bracelet.

Gavin Smith, Shannon Shorr, Mike Sexton and David Williams all exited the tourney before the first eight levels were completed. While those players made early exits Joseph Cheong, Chris Moorman, Scott Montgomery and Max Pescatori all managed to survive and collect some chips along the way. The remaining players return at 3:00 pm on Friday for Day 2 action.

Here is the top ten:

1. Nikolay Losev – 114,100
2. Joseph Cheong – 93,800
3. Vincent Vanderfluit – 86,200
4. Dylan Drazen – 85,700
5. Sergey Rybachenko – 84,700
6. Chris Bell – 81,300
7. Daniel Weinman – 79,500
8. Adam Sanders – 78,300
9. Chris Moorman – 75,900
10. Kyle Loman – 71,800

$1,500 No Limit Hold’em

The final nine players returned from dinner to attempt to crown a champion before the running into the hard stop rule. It just was not meant to be as the eliminations came slow leaving four players to come back for an unscheduled Day 4. Athanasios Polychronopoulos leads the way with Yevgeniy Timoshenko following closely behind. The players return at 2:30 pm to compete for the $650,223 first place prize and the bracelet.

Here are the official chip counts for the remaining four:

1. Athanasios Polychronopoulos – 3,680,000
2. Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 3,460,000
3. Peter Ippolito – 2,835,000
4. Simon Charette – 2,215,000

$2,500 Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw

It almost took all 10 levels of allotted time for Lenny Martin to win his first bracelet in the $2,500 Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw event. He defeated Justin Bonomo to win the bracelet and $189,818.

Video

Matt Affleck joins out video crew to discuss disappointment of past years and how he deals with disappointment in poker on the latest BLUFF Pro-spective.

Comment

aymer enjoys playing the “other” games

Only five tournaments were in action on Wednesday at the 2011 World Series of Poker, with two of them nearing their final table before breaking for dinner. Two of the other three events returned for their Day 2 with one moving into the bubble, while the other still has a bit of work to get into the money.

$5,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em

The $5,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em event was the only new event to get underway on Wednesday.  Of the 817 entrants, only 505 survived to dinner break. Fabrice Soulier, Faraz Jaka, David Williams and Humberto Brenes made early exits before dinner while Tristan Clemencon, John Racener,  Men Nguyen, and Matt Jarvis are still alive.

Here are a few of the top stacks heading into dinner:

1. Tristan Clemencon – 79,000
2. John Racener – 48,200
3. Men Nguyen – 48,000
4. Matt Jarvis – 44,000
5. Andy Black – 36,800

$10,000 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em Championship

The final 22 returned for Day 3 to battle for the $1,158,481 first place prize and gold bracelet. Only 8 remained by the time they finished four levels. Over night chip leader Mike Sowers has slipped to bottom. While Sowers was dropping to the bottom Ben Tollerene and Joe Ebanks soared towards the top.

Here are the chip counts for the remaining 8 players

1. Joe Ebanks – 3,045,000
2. Ben Tollerene – 2,850,000
3. Tristan Wade – 1,730,000
4. Bertrand Grospellier – 1,550,000
5. Jeremy Menard – 1,460,000
6. Mike Sowers – 1,245,000
7. Chris Moorman – 1,215,000
8. Taylor Paur – 1,120,000

$2,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo/Omaha Hi-Lo

Michael Mizrachi started Day 3 of the $2,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo/Omaha Hi-Lo event with the chip lead, he continued to build on that chip lead as the field shrunk from 21 to the 10. He now holds close to a 700,000 chip lead over his nearest opponent, Thomas Whitehair.

While Mizrachi collected more chips, Barry Greenstein lost all his, eventually busting in 19th place. Thomas Keller, Chris Bell and Kyle Loman were also eliminated before the conclusion of four levels of play.

Here are chip counts from the remaining ten players:

1. Michael Mizrachi – 1,050,000
2. Thomas Whitehair – 375,000
3. Gerard Rechnitzer  - 360,000
4. Anthony Lellouche – 305,000
5. Scott Bohlman – 253,000
6. Gregory Jamison – 250,000
7. Abe Mosseri – 195,000
8. Matthew Ashton – 145,000
9. Scotty Nguyen – 145,000
10. Owais Ahmed – 100,000

$1,500 No Limit Hold’em

Needing to lose only 100 players to get into the money, the bubble burst shortly before the players went on their first break of the day in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event. By the time they made it to their dinner break another 132  players were eliminated leaving only 138 to return from dinner.

Lauren Kling, Dragan Galic, Kenny Nguyen and Howard “Tahoe” Andrew were just a few of the players that made it to the money but not to their dinner break. Andrew, who has played an event in each of the past 35 years leading back to 1976, earned his 22nd career cash in this event.

The players return from their dinner break around 7:50 pm. Here are some of the bigger stacks:

1. Marcos Palermo – 210,000
2. Chino Rheem – 150,000
3. Matt Stout – 130,000
4. Sorel Mizzi – 110,000
5. Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 105,000

$2,500 Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw

Day 2 of the $2,500 Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw event currently has 49 players remaining, leaving the field 19 eliminations away from getting into the money. Daniel Negreanu became one of the early casualties, getting eliminated within the first hour of play. Overnight chip leader Jimmy Fricke has had a roller coaster of a day, but still sits near the top. Jason Mercier and Justin Bonomo have each climbed to the top where they are the only two above 100,000 in chips. Mike Matusow, Greg Raymer and David Bach are also still alive.

“Because these fields are much smaller you have a better chance to win a bracelet”, said Raymer. “That is probably the reason we get so many players that don’t have much experience in these games. They have more of a chance at winning one of these events over a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event.”

Here are a few of the top stacks going to dinner:

1. Justin Bonomo – 108,500
2. Jason Mercier – 105,000
3. Jimmy Fricke – 88,000
4. Scott Seiver – 67,000
5. Tex Barch – 64,000

Comment

After 32 non-cashes Mizrachi finally got his first cash in Event 47

Another bracelet went around a first time winners wrist on Tuesday at the 2011 World Series of Poker. A pair of events also moved into the money and one day closer to crowning their champion before the day ended.

$10,000 Six-handed No Limit Hold’em Championship

Only 22 players survived to the end of Day 2 as the field moved past the money bubble after returning from dinner. Tom Marchese survived the money bubble but exited shortly after. Daniel Alaei, Sean Getzwiler, Jason Koon and Joe Cada later joined him in the pay out line.

Mike Sowers moves into Day 3 with the overnight chip lead with 1,468,000. Chris Moorman is a very close second trailing only by 10,000 chips. Rounding out the top three is Bertrand Grospellier with 1,409,000. Ben Lamb sits just outside of the top ten with 501,000 looking to follow up his bracelet winner performance in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha event with a second bracelet. He is also guaranteed to move above 500 points in the WSOP Player of the Year

Play resumes on Wednesday at 2:30 pm PST to play to a winner.

Here is the top ten

1. Mike Sowers – 1,468,000
2. Chris Moorman – 1,458,000
3. Bertrand Grospellier – 1,409,000
4. Taylor Paur – 1,005,000
5. Joe Eubanks – 893,000
6. Nick Grippo – 886,000
7. Greg Dyer – 709,000
8. William Thorson – 674,000
9. Christopher DeMaci – 639,000
10. David Benefield – 622,000

$2,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo/Omaha Hi-Lo

The 2,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo/Omaha Hi-Lo field shrunk down to 21 before completing their 10 levels putting them in the money. Jesse Hollander was the first to exit after the field made it to the money. He was followed by Allen Kessler, Alexander Kravenchko, Josh Arieh and Michael Binger. The final player to get eliminated before Day 2 concluded was Jerry Buss.

After having a rough start to the series this year Michael Mizrachi finally got his first cash since making the November 9 last year and will start Day 3 with the chip lead.

“This is actually my first cash out of 32 events”, said Mizrachi. “I said whenever I cash I am going to win it. I made the final table of this event three years ago, finishing eighth. I’m coming to redeem myself.”

The remaining players return on Wednesday at 3 pm to battle for the bracelet and $255,959 first place prize money.

Here is the top ten

1. Michael Mizrachi – 407,000
2. Abe Mosseri – 303,000
3. Gregory Jamison – 283,500
4. Owais Ahmed – 268,500
5. Benjamin Lukas – 248,500
6. Chris Bell – 211,500
7. Thomas Whitehair – 203,000
8. Matthew Ashton – 169,500
9. Anthony Lellouche – 151,500
10. Barry Greenstein – 149,000

$1,500 No Limit Hold’em

It took 10 hours of play to eliminate all but 370 of the 2,713 players that registered for the latest $1,500 No Limit Hold’em leaving them 100 eliminations from the money. Alex Bolotin ended the night with the chip lead with Sebastian Winkler and Jonathan Little following closely behind.

Adam Levy, Tom Dwan, Kathy Liebert and Phil Helmuth are just a few that are not returning for Day 2 on Wednesday at 2:30 pm.

Here is the end of Day 1 top ten

1. Alex Bolotin – 129,800
2. Sebastian Winkler – 123,800
3. Jonathan Little – 120,300
4. Adolfo Pereira De Souza – 120,300
5. Laurence Houghton – 91,200
6. Corey Burbick – 91,200
7. Michael Bisutti – 89,000
8. Eugene Castro – 88,300
9. Christopher Gonzales – 87,200
10. Christopher Valenzuela – 87,000

$2,500 Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw

Jimmy Fricke leads a field of 120 survivors into Day 2 of the $2,500 Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw event. His closest competitor is Eli Elezra who trails by 12,600. Galen Hall, who is still looking for his first cash of the series, will join them on Wednesday along with Greg Raymer, Christan Harder, Jason Mercier and Justin Bonomo.

Not joining them will be Tom Dwan, who busted three separate tournaments on Tuesday without scoring a single cash, Maria Ho, Phil Helmuth and Dutch Boyd. The remaining players return on Wednesday at 3pm for 10 more levels of Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw fun.

Here is the end of Day 1 top ten

1. Jimmy Fricke – 69,700
2. Eli Elezra – 57,100
3. Drew Boyett – 51,200
4. Arturo Diaz – 50,200
5. Mike Gorodinsky – 49,400
6. Tam Hang – 48,000
7. Justin Bonomo – 47,500
8. Adam Spiegelberg – 45,400
9. Siegfried Stockinger – 43,800
10. John Monnette – 40,100

$1,000 No Limit Hold’em

Unlike most of the final tables over the past few days the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em final table did not waste time crowning Ken Griffin as the latest bracelet winner. Griffin defeated Jean Luc Marais to win his first bracelet and $455,356.

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Lamb returns for Day 4 of the $10,000 Pot Limit Championship with the chip lead

It appeared that two more bracelets were going to be awarded after dinner to go along with the one that went to Matt Jarvis earlier in the day at the World Series of Poker on Sunday. But the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship fell short of playing to a winner leaving the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout the only other event to crown a champion.

While those two tournaments played out their final table the $2,500 RAZZ and $1,500 No Limit Hold’em events both got into the money. The only event to not award any money on Sunday was the  $1,000 No Limit Hold’em that just missed getting into the money before completing 10 levels.

$10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship

The $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship has been going at a slow pace since halfway through Day 2. That slow pace continued through out Day 3 as the players played to the final table. Matt Glantz, Justin Schwartz, Tristan Clemencon and Alex Kravenchenko were a few that survived dinner but were eliminated before reaching the final table.

Hans Winzeler was the first player to exit the final table stage followed by Josh Tieman, Cory Wood and Dario Alitoto before play was halted due to the hard stop rule with Ben Lamb holding the chip lead.

“I think it gives me a disadvantage”, said Lamb about the hard stop. “I am young and don’t get tired. I am used to playing long sessions, and I could tell everyone is getting tired. Truthfully I would rather it take another 10 hours and play it right now if that is what it takes.”

The remaining five players return on Monday at 3 pm PT to battle for the bracelet and $814,436.

Here are the chip counts

Seat 1: Sami Kelopuro – 2,800,000
Seat 2: Ben Lamb – 4,435,000
Seat 3: Chris King – 1,645,000
Seat 4: Jason Shipley – 2,705,000

$1,500 No Limit Hold’em

It did not take long for the field in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event to get into the money on Sunday, the quick bust outs continued after dinner as Maria Ho, Ryan D’Angelo, Todd Terry and Dwyte Pilgrim all exited after taking their dinner break. As those players were exiting the tournament Byron Kaverman soared to the lead and will carry a 523,000 chip lead with 1,345,000 into Day 3 along with 34 other player. Play resumes Monday at 2:30 pm.

Here are the top ten

1. Byron Kaverman – 1,345,000
2. Douglas Yamashiro – 722,000
3. Simon Watt – 648,000
4. Tripp Kirk – 617,000
5. Nachman Berlin – 610,000
6. Fatolla Shahen – 608,000
7. Scott Sitron – 530,000
8. Jason Newburger – 462,000
9. Clement Thumy – 451,000
10. Rodney Burt – 426,000

$2,500 RAZZ

After getting started a hour late the decision was made for only nine levels of play to be completed today to prevent Day 3 from having a delayed start. By the time the ninth level was completed 23 players remained with Tommy Chen sitting at the top of the leader board with 473,000. John Monnette is his closest competitor with 205,000.

Daniel Idema, Perry Friedman and Chris Viox were just a few that failed to survive it to the end of the night but survived to the money. The remaining players return on Monday at 3 pm to play 10 levels or crown a champion who will win $210,615.

Here are the top ten going into Day 3

1. Tommy Chen – 473,000
2. John Monnette – 205,000
3. George Lewis – 174,000
4. Mikail Tulchinskiy – 168,500
5. Matthew Smith – 168,000
6. Stephen Su – 167,500
7. Scott Bohlman – 166,000
8. Mikhail – Smirnov – 153,000
9. Jay Kwon – 148,500
10. Victor Ramdin – 144,500

$1,000 No Limit Hold’em

With ten minutes left in the day the dealers of the $1,000 No limit Hold’em event were informed to deal six more hands before ending play for the night. During those six hands the field crept closer and closer to the 297 number which would put them in the money. By the time all hands were complete on the remaining 34 tables only 304 players were left, leaving them seven players from making the money.

Leading the way into Day 2 is Jonathan Lane with 141,600. He will be joined by Antonio Esfandiari, Joe Tehan, Andrew Lichtenberger and Phil Hellmuth. Not joining them are Prahlad Friedman, Chris Moneymaker and Freddy Deeb who were just a few of the post-dinner casualties. The remaining 297 return on Monday at 2:30 pm to continue the quest for the $455,356 and the bracelet that will go to the eventual winner.

Here are the top ten chip counts

1. Jonathan Lane – 141,600
2. Jonathan Driscoll – 118,600
3. Eric Baudry – 112,000
4. Joonhee Yea – 109,300
5. Mark Herm – 107,500
6. Aday Geyer – 97,900
7. Kyle White – 97,400
8. Kunimaro Kojo – 93,100
9. Georgios Kapalas – 92,600
10. Jelger Wiegersma – 84,500

$1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout

Justin Pechie returned from dinner break as one of the short stacks. As players were eliminated Pechie managed to stay alive and add some chips to his stack. By the time heads-up play began he had a 1,900,000 chip lead over Dale Eberle. It did not take Pechie long to finish Eberle off to collect his first bracelet and $167,060.

Video

Need to catch up on last weeks BLUFF cover stories? Check out The Week That Was highlight video to see some clips from our interviews with Daniel Negreanu, Annette Obrestad, Eddy Sabat and Ebony Kenney.

Comment

Coming from a very religious background, with a mother that is Southern Baptist, Susie Isaacs moved from Nashville to Las Vegas in 1986 to become a professional poker player. For years her mom told her friends back in Tennessee that her daughter moved out west and was in high-risk investments because she did not approve of her daughters career choice. After introducing her to some of the players her mother learned that not all players are bad people and she became her biggest fan.

“She didn’t understand poker at all. All she knew was if I had cards and they pushed chips my way, it was good,” said Isaacs. “If they pushed them away from me, it was bad. She was there when I took third, then she was there when I took fourth the following year.”

Reaching the final table in back-to-back years without taking the bracelet home didn’t stop Isaacs. She returned in 1996 to compete in the Ladies Event once again. Making the final table for a third year in a row she finally closed the deal, winning her first bracelet.

“When I took fourth my mom gave me a little book. She signed it, I will be here next year to see you win, and that is what happened,” said Isaacs.

She was not done there though, in 1996 she successfully defended her title after making the final table for the fourth time in as many years. Although she did not reach the final table for a fifth time in a row the following year she did make a nice run in the Main Event, where she just missed making the final table busting in tenth place.

Isaacs can still be found playing in various events looking for her next WSOP memory, hopefully from winning an open event.

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Katchalov is the third player to reach a final table after winning a bracelet this year

Once again a final table was forced to stop during heads-up play due to the hard stop rule to close out another day at the 2011 World Series of Poker. Elsewhere, the $10,000 Pot Limit Championship also experienced a slow in eliminations as the money bubble approached while the $1,500 Limit Shootout needed just over seven levels to determine its final table.

$1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout

Day 2 of the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout started with 60 players spread out over 10 tables. The dinner break came without a single winner progressing to the final table.

However, it did not take long after dinner for Dale Eberle to finish his table off becoming the first player to earn his seat for the final table. He was later joined by Justin Pechie, Christoph Kwon, Stephen Bass, Jordan Rich and Eugene Katchalov. This is Katchalov’s second final table of the Series, having won the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud event in the first week.

“After winning my stud tournament, I felt I was on a dry run. I couldn’t make it deep in any tournaments. I felt like I wasted all my luck on stud”, said Katchalov. “I was hoping that wasn’t the case. I am more than happy to make another final table, it is super exciting.”

Following Katchalov to the final table were Mathieu Jacqmin, Don Denotaristefani and Adam Tyburski. The final match to reach a winner was between Ari Engel and Hal Lubarsky. Engel eventually eliminated Lubarsky collect the final seat for Sundays final table.

Here are the final ten by seat (each player will begin with 270,000):

Seat 1: Adam Tyburski
Seat 2: Domenic Denotaristefani
Seat 3: Stephen Bass
Seat 4: Justin Pechie
Seat 5: Jordan Rich
Seat 6: Mathieu Jacqmin
Seat 7: Christopher Kwon
Seat 8: Dale Eberle
Seat 9: Eugene Katchalov
Seat 10: Alan Engel

$5,000 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em

After three hours of heads-up play Matt Jarvis and Justin Flitz ran into the hard stop rule when they finished the tenth hour of play in the $5,000 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em. Jarvis holds a 3.6-1 chip lead going into the unscheduled Day 4 where they will return at 2:30 pm PT.

Here are the chip counts heading into Day 4:

1. Matt Jarvis – 8,645,000
2. Justin Flitz – 2,345,000

$10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship

Play took a drastic turn to the slow side as the money bubble approached. By the end of the night 38 players remained leaving them two eliminations from reaching the money. Ben Lamb holds the end of day chip lead with 809,000 followed by Sami Kelopuro who has 728,000. The shortest stack returning for Day 2 will be Humberto Brenes with 70,000.

Play resumes at 3 pm PT where the players are scheduled to play to a champion but chances are they will meet the hard stop before handing out the bracelet and $814,436 which goes to the winner.

Here are the end of Day 2 top ten:

1. Ben Lamb – 806,000
2. Sam Stein – 646,000
3. Sami Kelopuro – 728,000
4. Aaron Schaff – 561,000
5. Justin Schwartz – 539,000
6. Will Failla – 528,000
7. Tristan Clemencon – 433,000
8. Benjamin Kaupp – 417,000
9. Jared Bleznick – 415,000
10. Matt Glantz – 400,000

$1,500 No Limit Hold’em

It took ten levels of play to eliminate 2,458 players leaving 399 at the end of the day in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event that started Saturday. Age Spets finished the night with 119,900 which is good enough for the overnight chip lead. Following Spets is David Baker, Jonathan Aguiar, Joe Cada and Dwyte Pilgrim.

Andrew “Lucky Chewy” Lichtenberger became one of the last eliminations of the night joining Liv Boeree, Jean-Robert Bellande, Maria Mayrinck and Randall Flowers as post-dinner eliminations. The remaining players return at 2:30 pm PT for another ten levels.

Here are the official chip counts after Day 1:

1. Age Spets – 119,900
2. Nicholas Grippo – 110,900
3. Bret Hubry – 110,600
4. Greg Darby – 105,100
5. Rafal Michalowski – 94,500
6. Collin Moshman – 93,700
7. Fatolla Shahen – 88,600
8. Mark Ingram – 88,500
9. Kam Low – 88,100
10. David Baker – 86,100

$2,500 Seven Card Razz

The 363 players that entered the $2,500 Seven Card Razz tourney on Saturday generated a $825,825 prize pool. Only 166 survived eight levels to bag up their chips for the night. Frank Kassela, the 2010 champion of this event, is still alive looking to win his third bracelet. He joins Hoyt Corkins, Chad Brown, Jimmy Fricke, Erik Seidel and overnight chip leader George Lewis as a few of the notables that survived the night.

Chip counts for the top notables:

1. George Lewis – 44,300
2. Hoyt Corkins – 40,200
3. Chad Brown – 26,000
4. Frank Kassela – 23,000
5. Jimmy Fricke -22,000

Video:

Our video crew caught up with Daniel “jungleman12″ Cates to discuss his WSOP experience and the Main Event seat that he’s giving away.

Comment

Jaka is looking for his first bracelet in the $5,000 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em

Two bracelets have already beed awarded on Friday at the 2011 World Series of Poker with Fabrice Soulier and Mikhail Lakhitov each collecting their first. Two more events have a chance at crowning a champion before play ends for the day, while another shootout and the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha event gets underway..

$1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout

The final shootout of the Series kicked off today with 538 players coming together to generate a prize pool of $726,300. Heading into dinner break 54 tables remain in action with the majority at three-handed or less. Allen Kessler, Greg Mueller, Tom Dwan and Jacobo Fernandez were all pre-dinner casualties.

Sergey Rybachenko became the first player to advance to Round 2, he was later joined by Ari Engel and Noah Boeken. Barry Greenstein, JJ Liu, Gavin Smith, Matt Affleck and Marcel Luske are still alive looking to win their table and move into the next round.

At the completion of Leve 67 the players were given a choice of taking either a 15-minute or a 90-minute break. About half of the tables opted for the 15-minute break and are currently playing their seventh level of the day. The ones that choose to take a 90-minute break will return at 7:30 to play to a winner.

$10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship

The $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship kicked off today with 318 entered after two levels of play. Fresh off busting the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout, Tom Dwan continues to enter as many events as possible looking for his first bracelet. Joining Dwan in the field are Vanessa Selbst, Mike Matusow, Annette Obrestad, Christain Harder and Eric Baldwin.

$1,500 No Limit Hold’em

Only ten remain after four levels of play in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event leaving the unofficial final table left to come back and try to crown a champion before finishing the next six levels.

Melanie Weisner, Hoai Pham and Aneris Adomkevicius were a few of the players that made early exits. Perry Lin leads the way at dinner followed by Michael Blanovsky. The players return from dinner with six levels left in the night with hopes that they crown a champion without a need for a Day 4.

Here are the unofficial chip counts at dinner break

1. Perry Lin – 2,025,000
2. Michael Blanovsky – 1,705,000
3. Arkadiy Tsinis – 1,010,000
4. Pim de Goede – 859,000
5. Ryan Lapiante – 855,000
6. Paul Nash – 850,000
7. Randolph Lanosga – 720,000
8. Christopher Homan – 655,000
9. Daniel Aldridge – 535,000
10. David Rounick – 515,000

$2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha

The field shrunk down to the final table just before dinner break. David Baker, Scott Clements and Joe Hachem were a few of the eliminations as they worked their way to the final nine. Tyler Patterson leads the field into dinner with just over twice as many chips as his nearest competitor, Mitch Schock.

The players are currently on dinner and will return to play down to a winner who will take home $310,225 and the bracelet.

Here are the final nine chip counts

1. Tyler Patterson – 1,304,000
2. Mitch Schock – 648,000
3. Rodney Brown – 481,000
4. Jonas Mackoff – 468,000
5. Carter Gill – 464,000
6. Jan Collado – 434,000
7. James Vanneman – 409,000
8. David Lestock – 257,000
9. Rami Boukai – 135,000

$5,000 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em

The $5,000 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em rolled through the first four levels with 79 players left at dinner break. The field played two hands of hand-for-hand play before they left for their 60-minute dinner break so they will come back to continue towards busting the bubble.

Randy Dorfman holds the dinner break lead with 330,000 followed by Shaun Deeb and Day 1 chip leader Matt Jarvis. Also still remaining are Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and Faraz Jaka.

“I have had good control of all my tables”, said Jaka about his Day 2 play. “I just started out having to make some really tough laydowns and I was just trying to find out if my table was playing really aggressive or if I was just running into big hands. So a little unsure at the start, but now I feel a little more comfortable.”

Here are a few notables heading into dinner

1. Randy Dorfman – 330,000
2. Shaun Deeb – 290,000
3. Matt Jarvis – 250,000
4. Faraz Jaka – 185,000
5. Phil Helmuth – 155,000

$2,500 No Limit Hold’em

Returning for a fourth day, the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em event returned with five players. It took around two hours for Mikhail Lakhitov to collect all the chips on the way to his first bracelet and $749,610.

$10,000 HORSE Championship

Shawn Buchanan and Fabrice Soulier returned to finish their heads-up match in the $10,000 HORSE Championship after running into the hard-stop rule early Friday morning. Soulier started the day with just over six million while Buchanan had just under one million. That lead was too much for Buchanan to overcome as Soulier collected his first bracelet and $609,130.

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