WORLD SERIES OF POKER MAIN EVENT AND MORE UPDATE

07.16.10

78 LEFT.  Some updates... the mystery man Pejpatrick Eskander from Gulfport, MS is now listed as Patrick Eskander from Ladera Ranch, CA.  We might have lost a Gulf Coaster that never was.  Gabe Costner is up to 4.635 Million .  Bill Melvin of Alabama is just behind with 4.515 million.  John Dolan (pictured below) of Bonita Springs, FL sits on 3.47 million.  David Baker of Katy, TX is at 1.635 million.  Jared Ingles of Baton Rouge is at 1.37 million.  Gary Dishongh of Houston, TX is at 800k winning a late night pot. 

Reminder "Like" us on facebook and follow along as we track the chip counts throughout the night.  We've been staying up sweating the hands as several locals have a chance to go deep.

The chip leader is Theo Jorgensen of Denmark with 9.3 million.  In second is the Grinder Michael Mizrachi with 7.535 million.  Fellow Floridian John Racener who has made his name in Atlantic City circuit events is third with 7.2 million.  David Benyamine, Eric Baldwin, Scott Clements, and Jean Robert-Bellande are still lurking.

SEAT ASSIGNMETS FOR DAY 7.  Gabe Costner will be at Johnny Lodden, Matt Affleck, Alexander Kostrisyn and Hasan Habib's table.  John Dolan is at Peter Jetten and Adam Levy's table.  Bill Melvin will be at David Baker's table.  Jared Ingles will be at the Grinder's, Patrick Eskander's, and Mads Wissing's table.  With the elimination of Fokke Beukers ,Mads Wissing became the favorite name left in the tournament.  Nobody took Beukers late exit harder than GCPer Kai Landry who is disappointed America won't get to "Meet the Fokke Beukers." 

NEXT YEAR.  Jacob Tyler of Hoover, AL almost made it to day 7 but will have to settle for a 79k payday.  Todd Witteles aka DanDruff also went out in the wee hours.  Christian Harder, Theo Tran, Jesper Hougaard, JP Kelly, Phil Galfond and Robert Mizrachi went out late in the evening session too.

OTHER POKER NEWS:  Moritz Kranich bested Justin Smith (2nd) and Phil Ivey (3rd) at the Bellagio Cup IV WPT final table.  Also, Michael "Carwash" Scheneider went out fourth in the Venetian tournament last night.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

07.16.10

DINNER BREAK

GABE COSTNER AND JOHN DOLAN STILL ROCKIN  THE WSOP MAIN EVENT:

Gabe is rocking a solid a sweet 3.5 million in chips at the dinner break for 17th in chips...John Dolan is at a very respectful 1.1 million....LETS GO GUYS!!!!!!!......MAKE IT HAPPEN FOR THE GULF COAST!!!!!!!!

WORLD SERIES OF POKER MAIN EVENT UPDATE

07.15.10

50k!  Everybody left in the Main Event field is guaranteed at least 50k but with a first place prize of 8 million that probably seems like chump change to everybody with a chance.  Down to 205 runners they are getting ever closer to the November Nine.  With a familiar face at the top of the leader board the main event keeps chugging along in its typically brutal fashion.  

We've seen some pretty brutal beats along the way.  Shannon Shorr's cooler was up there.  He had 1010.  The board read K1033x.  Yep, his hand was only second best and that was his final play in the tournament.  Read about it in his blog here. 

Yesterday, Hoyt Corkins also had to bid adieu to the Rio.  Josh Mancuso went out in 270th.  Mark Buford of Gloster, LA out in 340th.  Allie Prescott 361st.  Congrats on great runs guys, we know you wish it could have lasted just a little bit longer.  Remember though lots of guys seem to put together decent Main Event runs in back to back years.

STILL IN IT TO WIN IT...  The Grinder has been climbing the chip counts and is up to 30th with 1.79 million.  Pejmanpatric Eskander of Gulfport, MS is 34th with 1.75 million.  Gary Dishongh of Houston, TX is 43rd with 1.588 million.  Jacob Tyler of Pelham, AL (see photo below) is 55th with 1.393 million.  Thomas Vinas (70th) of Houston is sitting on 1.193 million.  Karga Holt of Atlanta, GA has 1.07 million (79th).  

Jared Ingles is at an even 1 million (89th).  John Dolan is 95th in chips with 986k.    David Baker of Katy, TX has 951k and is 102nd.  Gabe Costner seeking to navigate his second massive field of the series to a final table is 120th with 815k.  Bill Melvin of Huntsville, AL has 592k in 151st.  Robert Mizrachi is a short stack at 224k and 201st.

YOU MAY OF HEARD OF...  Johnny Chan.  He's ninth in chips and probably will be the focus of much of ESPN's coverage up to this point.   First there was chatter about Rounders2 getting made and now Johnny "F'N" Chan is trying to become relevant again.  If he were to win it his sequel would be greater, but let's hope he doesn't drop it all into his energy drink All In (again).

The other name players have started to drop, but a few remain.  The Grinder is next closest in chips.  Johnny Lodden is still alive at 40th with 1.625k.  Christian Harder has 1.263 million and Adam Levy  has 1.147 million.  Phil Galfond is 85th in chips with 1.025 million.  Jean Robert-Bellande is just under a million with 946k and squarely in the middle of the remaining field in 103rd spot.  Todd Witteles is at 380k and David Benyamine 353k.  Charles Norris (not from Walker, TX) is kicking in the 157th spot.  Mads Wissing is also still alive while plenty of other players have Wads (of cash) Missing at the end of this series.

YOU PROBABLY HAVEN'T HEAR OF DUY LE...  He's 4th in chips.  He's not the Poker Monkey's best friend by a long shot.  Read the Monkey's blog to find out why.  Find it here.  

WORLD SERIES OF POKER MAIN EVENT UPDATE

07.14.10

POP!  They are in the money!  The money bubble burst at 747.  They've eliminated a few more players since then and have pared the field down to 574.  Right now everybody is guaranteed at least 24k.  Ray Santoli of Panama City, FL was one of the eliminations in the money yesterday and earned 21k.  Mark Wilds of Biloxi also added to his extensive WSOP cash resume with a 21k score.

CHIP COUNTS FOR GCPers STILL ALIVE: 

Jacob Tyler (46th, pictured, from Pelham, AL) 785k.

Gabe Costner (58th) 763k.

Jared Ingles (85th) 672k who likes to play online poker as BEARBUCK.

John Dolan (104th) 614k.

Hoyt Corkins 572k.

Allie Prescott 504k.

Shannon Shorr 482k.

Pejmanpatric Eskander (Gulfport, MS) 435k.

Bill Melvin 424k.

Jason Mercier 398k.

Dwyte Pilgrim 282k.

Joe Mancuso 263k.

Jacob Petersen 91k.

Theo McLean (Biloxi) 62k.

BIG NAMES STILL IN THE MIX:  Johnny Chan who had a bit part in a little seen movie a few years ago playing a poker player is right near the top of things with 1.159 million.  Phil Galfond has 1.392k and Matt Affleck (the cyborg child of Matt Damon and Ben Afflect... allegedly) has 1.395k.  The Poker Monkey's favorite player du jour Duy Le is 2nd in chips with 1.46 million.

 What does Johnny Lodden think?  766k is a nice stack.  Scotty Nguyen is on 632k.  Survivor Jean-Robert Bellande will try to not to piss off the Poker Gods too much and keep the 356k in front of him. 

Alex Jacob, who hasn't been heard from in a while, has 138k.  David Benyamine who rode out the money bubble with Gabe Costner has 329k.  The Grinder still with the opportunity to win the Player Championship and the Main Event (sandwiching this years World Series of Poker with prestigious wins) has 241k.  Evelyn Ng has 156k. 

FACEBOOK FOR MORE:  We'll be updating sporadically, but more frequently, on our facebook page and invite you to update the chip counts of any of your friends over there.  "Like" us by clicking one of those facebook boxes all over this page.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER MAIN EVENT UPDATE

07.13.10

COSTNER CHARGING.  It's starting to look like a bit like a field of dreams for Gabe Costner, one of our favorite young pros from the area, who is up to 26th in chips with 235k.  After some early results it appears Gabe is peaking at the right time.  Nice to have a few rooting interests in this.  Frank Kassela is at 40th in chips with 190k. 

THE CHAN MAN CAN.  Johnny Chan, back to back World Series of Poker champion, is back at it.  Sitting third in chips with 339k Chan trails only David Assouline (387k) and Carter Phillips (350k).  Michael Mizrachi continues his stellar World Series with 300k good for 12th.  Mizrachi still has a glimmer of hope (along with three other players) for the overall P.O.Y.  Frank Kasella still leads with the permutations detailed here.   Vanessa Selbst, Robert Mizrachi, Patrick Antonius and Archie Karas are also in the top 25.

MERCY PLEASE.  Jason Mercier has yet to extend his worldwide dominance on the World Series but he lurks with 134k.  Fellow Gulf Coaster, Kido Pham of Garland, TX is at 132k.  Hoyt Corkins is 89th in chips 120k and Matt Graham has 117k.  The top of this years leader board is loaded with big names, let's hope this continues through the end of the series.

SHORR THING.  Shannon Shorr is just behind Floridian Vanessa Ruosso each with slightly less than 100k.  Clint Shafer (pictured) has 98k.  Captain Tom Franklin has been having a rough go but is back up to his starting stack.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

07.10.10

THE MAIN EVENT CONTINUES AND OTHER ODDS AND ENDS...  We got to back-track a little bit.  The biggest recent story we never followed up on, but as most of you know, blogger Jonathan Little came up just short of his first bracelet finishing third in a limit hold'em event.  Check out his blog on the left side for some details about his world series this year.  Also, missed Phil Hellmuth's entrance as a MMA fighter.  Probably a lot of people who would love to get in the ring with Phil.  We'll try to play catch up as we keep you up to date on the Main Event but for now...

FOURTH IN CHIPS, FOR THE MOMENT, ON DAY 2A...  Andrew Liporace (pictured) of New Orleans.  Andrew is at 178k.  He's looking down at Lauren Kling and Johnny Chan.  Hoyt Corkins, as always, is hovering nearby with 135k.  Chris Moneymaker is at 96k.  Matt Graham (see Who's Who) is gaining on the top of the field up to 70k.  Allie Prescott and Darryll Fish (another Who's Who-er) are both at 37k.  Blogger Shannon Shorr has a little above his starting stack with 31k.  Soheil Shamseddin and Mike Beasley of Houton, TX and Hollywood, FL respectively, are holding on and still alive with less than starting chips.   Noah Schwartz is really low.

The Main Event is the second largest live tournament ever.  Surpassed only by the Jaime Gold record breaker.  This years field of 7319 players has been whittled down to two flights.  Day 1A and 1C congeal with 2412 players duking it out.  Not so good at the maths but that means Day 2B which marries Day 1B and Day 1D will have... the rest of the field.  The winner of the main event will make just under 9 million dollars.  However, 9th place, the last seat at the final table will not make 1 million dollars. 

They've changed the payouts a little bit and ignored two points of symmetry.  Winner of the November Nine winning nine million?  Every member of the November Nine a millionaire?  Seemed like those would be some easy to write tidbits for the mainstream media... alas... not to be.  The top 747 players get paid with a min cash just under double the buy-in.  You have to get to 72th to get to over 100k ($114,205 for 64th - 72nd).  13th - 15th all make a half million dollars.  5.5 million to second, 4 million to third, 3 million to 4th and 2 million to fifth.  Exact total for 1st:  $8,944,138.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

07.09.10

THE MAIN EVENT CONTINUES...  Day 1D is in the books and a number of locals kicked off their Main Events by amassing some decent chip stacks.  Harder to tell because 1D was the largest flight of the four and as a result some of the biggest stacks in the tournament emanate from yesterday.  Steve Billirakis set the pace with almost 200k.  He is not a Gulf Coaster.  Florida's Vanessa Ruosso, a quasi-Gulf Coaster young pro, checked in at 34th with 111k.    

Jason Mercier, the all world rising poker star, from Florida is behind another massive stack.  Mercier is just under 100k and feels like he is at home at his favorite online poker room doing the damage.  Frank Kasella, he of two bracelets this year, and a shot at the Player of the Year award has taken his run-good to the Main Event with 87k. 

Edward Ludwig of Metairie, LA whose biggest poker highlight was a 4k score at the Bayou Classic is sitting on 78k.  Deric Williams of Harvey, LA has 68k and so too does Josh "DahJinerat" Mancuso of Baton Rouge, LA.  Huey Hulin of St. Martinville, LA has 56k.  Also, BJ McBrayer finished Day 1C with 66k.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

07.08.10

THE MAIN EVENT COMMENCES...  The first three days of flights all feature a Gulf Coaster near the very top of the leader board.  Tyler Smith of Smithdale, MS (and more recently of Biloxi, MS) got us started with a run to the top on day 1A.  Tyler is sitting on 115k in chips good for 14th on the day.  Bradley Oubre of Luling, LA has 82k (62nd), Aaron Been of Tallahassee, FL is in 87th place with 77k. 

Day 1B featured Jacob Peterson of Praireville, LA with 143k in 7th spot.  Also lurking near the top of the massive field are Paul Smith of North Little Rock, AR with 93k in 64th, Jacob Tyler of Pelham, AL with 90k in 69th, Bill Melvin of Huntsville, AL with 87k in 81st and Robert Walker of Mobile, AL with 65k in 192nd.

Day 1C saw Jason Liporace of Loyola University (New Orleans) almost on top of the leaderboard finishing 3rd in chips with 155k (the most for any local after all three day ones).  Hoyt Corkins was just outside the top 10 with 129k (13th). 

After that not much to report from the Gulf Coast although Day 1C was a good day for beautiful poker players.  Lauren Kling (pictured), a rising online player transitioning to live poker, made it to 5th in chips with 149k.  Jennifer Leigh of Playboy pictorial fame and online success is also on the first page of chip leaders for the day at WSOP.com with 85k.   

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

07.02.10

***2ND UPDATE OF THE DAY AS GCP BLOGGER JONATHAN "FIERYJUSTICE" LITTLE AT FINAL TABLE OF THE LIMIT SHOOTOUT*** (LITTLE'S BLOG ON LEFT BELOW)

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

07.02.10

WHO'S THE BIG WINNER AT THE WSOP LAST WEEK YOU ASK?

Well it happens to be someone that has not won a bracelet...or has not cashed in on any of the sicko prop bets floating around this years WSOP. It has to do with the guy on the right "E-Dog"...and some simple investments. E-Dog's stable of players is as famous in the live circuit as Bax and Sheets are online. He has had some of the best results backing players which includes (Common Knowledge)...Josh Arieh at the Raymer Final Table...Gavin Smith winning the WPT...and now 2 players...2 horses...both win WSOP wrist wear....on consecutive nights...That has to be sweet... free poker money.

WHAT 2 HORSES YOU ASK?  I am sure everyone that is following the WSOP this year knows that Gavin "Ole G-Smith" Smith finally closed the deal and won his 1st bracelet...and the libations flowed...and they flowed...

The next night Chris Bell was the 2nd horse to come galloping thru to the finish line in Champion like grace for E-Dog. Chris is one of those country guys from North Carolina that is just one of those "Good Guys" you like to have around...and to top it off...Gavin and Chris are best friends

LOCAL ONLINE UPDATE:  Timmy "Thomkat17" Thompson from Houma snapped off the $11 NLE -$25k Guarantee on when he decided to play online poker last night for a cool $4250. He bested over 2000 runners and he is sating his recent break from the online felt has helped his game...Congrats Timmy!!!!!

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

06.24.10

LETS GO JOHN DOLAN.  In all the events of the WSOP and the World Cup games turns out we should have been paying closer attention to the 1k buy-in No Limit Hold'em poker tournament  (Event 36).  John Dolan of Bonita Springs, Florida has quietly made a final table.  Yet another one for the Gulf Coast. 

Dolan is guaranteed to add at least 35k to his over 139k in lifetime live tournament winnings.  This is his second cash of this World Series.  The final table starts soon with first place 481k.

Dolan is sitting 4th in chips with just under a million.  Canadian Sebastian Roy (that's Roi to you) is first in chips with nearly 1.9 million.  Fellow Canuck Scott Montgomery (that's Montgomery same as it is here) who got some TV time in a November Nine a couple of years ago is in 8th place with 600k.

It's still anybody's tournament, and Michael Michnik of Hollywood, FL hopes so as he comes in 9th with 300k.  Michael Trahan of Lafayette, LA finished in 25th good for just short of 14k.  This was Trahan's first WSOP cash.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

06.22.10

IVEY WINS BRACELET NUMBER 8.  Hopefully in twenty-some odd years we'll repeat that headline.  Shout out to the baby on the Poker is War blog. 

Not too much to say here.  Once again rumors of huge prop bets stagger the mind.  If he wins one more the rest of this world series or next year Howard Lederer owes him 5 million.  The Professor twittered "...Gulp."  Phil Hellmuth is only three bracelets ahead. 

Ivey won his in H.O.R.S.E.  We don't know if Phil Hellmuth has even ridden a horse, though he's certainly ridden a few donkeys (ba-dump-bump... and cue crickets chirping).  Still, the guy will need to win a bracelet in something other than No Limit Hold "Em to retain his crown unless he doesn't mind battling fields of thousands.

MATH BRATS TAKING OVER POKER.  That's news?  Maybe if it was 2004, or 1904, but in 2010?  Well it is since Time Magazine is covering it.  While we are taking Phil Hellmuth to task, so are they.  Read it here.  Also Time has some pretty good photos of old and new pros here.  Oh yeah, just so you know Phil Ivey beat a Math whiz (not quite a brat) William Chen for number 8.

SHANNON ELIZABETH IS THE RAKE.  Or she charges one.  Incidentally, she's refuted the charges that she charges a rake at a home game by using the alibi she was at the World Series.  Well, actually the charges weren't that she charged a rake but that she charged a huge rake.  She's turned her home into a no deposit casinos?  Gambling 911 ties up the twoplustwo story here.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

06.18.10

FISH FINISHES IN THE MONEY AGAIN.  After being one of the leading I.T.M. finishers last year Darryll Fish made a return to the cage this year cash for a little over 10k (40th place) in Event 26, 2.5k Six Handed No Limit Hold 'Em.    Friend and two bracelet winner Matt Graham also went deep (67th for 7k).  Nice to see the kids taking a break and playing the WSOP when they don't play online poker.

LUSK CAN'T STOP CASHING.  Brian Lusk also cashed in Event 26 (55th 7.2k).  Considering Brian has played only a few events he's been on fire... but still looking for his first final table.  Multiple cashes in your first WSOP is not a bad way to start.  Captain Tom Franklin also made the money in 114th (4.7k).  Again, the field was huge with 1245 players.

NOR CAN DAVID BAKER OF KATY TEXAS.  Baker has four cashes so far this year and a handful of DEEP runs.  In the last two weeks he's amassed over 250k in winnings, highlighted by a 3rd place finish and two 11ths.  His most recent 11th in the 10k Limit Hold 'Em World Championship (Event 29).  Baker's online resume also makes it clear he knows a thing or two about no deposit bonus.

JUSTIN SMITH OF FLORIDA CHIP LEADER.  Smith continues his stellar WSOP as the chip leader in the Pot Limit Hold 'Em/Pot Limit Omaha Event.  The $2,500 buy in field has been quartered so there is plenty of time for the Kissimmee resident to try and hold off the challengers.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

06.15.10

CLAUDIA CRAWFORD OUTLASTS SHAUN DEEB IN LADIES EVENT.  Crawford (pictured) and Louisiana resident Joanne Haas (Covington) both made the money in the annual Ladies Event.  Haas 23rd and Crawford 63rd.  Claudia's first WSOP cash and Joanne's second.  Way to go Ladies!

GCPers MISS FINAL TABLE.  In Event # 20 Pot Limit Omaha with a1.5K buy-in we had three rooting interests that just couldn't get over the hump.   For some of our best local (and formerly local but still local at hearts) the deep runs felt like a Sunday at their favorite online poker room.  Jared Ingles got bragging rights finishing 28th good for 6.6K.  Jonathan Little beat him to the exit by two spots finishing in 30th spot.  Brian Lusk went out 46th.  The field included 885 entries and once again featured local players overcoming a massive entry list to be in the thick of things at the end of it.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

06.12.10

LITTLE LEADS, LUSK LURKS AND INGLES IN IT.  GCP blogger Jonathan Little is the chip leader at the dinner break of the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event.  885 players started and only 47 remain.  Little's obviously applying some of Jonathan Little's secrets.  Hard not to root for one of the nicest guys in poker. 

Speaking of nice guys in poker, PokerImmersion owner, friend of GCP, and Louisiana born Brian Lusk (pictured on left), just took a big hit to his stack after being above average all day.   Jared Ingles, who finished 9th at the Bayou Classic, has amassed his second cash of the Series so far and has an average stack.  Ingles is from Baton Rouge and has 170k+ in tournament winnings.  Good luck boys!

CLOUTIER CLOSE TO BRACELET.  Lafayette native, Eric Cloutier, is now second in chips trailing only red hot David Baker in the 2-7 Draw Lowball World Championship (No Limit).   John Juanda and Erik Seidel are in the thick of things too. 

ELKY EKES INTO ELITE TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS.  Bertrand Grospellier won a sit 'n go of non-bracelet winners (which Tom Dwan declined to participate as he chased a bracelet) to get into the tournament of the best bracelet winners.  Other players included Gus Hansen, Live Boeree, Paul Wasicka, and Michael Mizrachi (won his bracelet this year).  While the sit 'n go featured poker strategy you want see from most of the winners of the voting competition that decides most of the Tournament of Champions, we have to wonder why non-champions should have a route in... especially when it's just nine none champions.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

06.10.10

KASSELLA KRUSHES KESSLER.  Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler couldn't overcome Memphis player, Frank Kassella in heads up play.  Both players were vying for their first bracelet win.  Kassella suffered heartbreak at the World Series five years ago when his aces would run into the pocket queens of Johnny Chan--which obviously improved.  Chan would shortly thereafter beat Phil Laak in heads up play for his 10th bracelet.

This years final table at the 10k Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or better was loaded.  Jennifer Harman, Steve Zolotow, John Juanda, early player of the year Vladimir Schmelev, and Dario Minieri.  Kassella bubbled the final table of Event 12 which is the only reason he bought into the event he won.  Sometimes it's good to bust. 

DAVID DIAZ FINISHES SIXTH.  Recently of Biloxi, MS Diaz ran AJ into 1010 of the $1500 No Limit Hold'em/Six Handed tournament.  When the tens became a set that was it for Lefty. 1663 players entered the event and Diaz beat all but five.  Truly one of the good guys in poker.  David pocketed 58k for sixth.  At this point Carter Phillips is the chip leader.

SHOUT OUT AGAIN TO ROSS LEITZ FOR KEEPING US IN THE LOOP ON FACEBOOK (friend us for updates).   Some of Ross's updates include letting us know Clint Schafer of Baton Rouge, LA finished 12th for 27k in the 1k No Limit Hold'em event 13.  3042 runners played in that massive field.  The Waco Kid Jared Hamby finished in 8th.  Also, congrats to TK Myles who finished in 142nd place in Event #11.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

06.08.10

115 HOURS FOR LAAK LONGER BET.  The new world's record for playing poker continuously is 115 hours.  Phil Laak promptly went to sleep and twelve hours later woke and contemplated returning to the poker room (per his twitter feed).

NO BRACELET FOR DWAN, YET.  Tom "Durrrr" Dwan made enough bracelet prop bets that should he win one it will be his biggest one-day haul ever.  What does he do?  He final tables and then gets to heads up on one of the 1k events.  Wonder how many buy-outs he gave out after his deep run.  Probably won a good chunk of change just by going so deep and scaring the hell out of Eli Elezra, Daniel Negreanu and others.  Though, the kid remains without wrist-bling after all was said and done. 

LOCALS CASHING.  Keith Charles Lehr, Jacob Naquin, Shannon Shorr have all cashed at least two times this world series.  Shorr, Jason Mercier, Florida online poker superstar, and Frank Kassela (Memphis, TN) are near the top ten in chips of the Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split 8 or Better World Championship.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

06.05.10

BE LEHR-Y.  Charles Lehr of Shreveport, LA is third in chips in Event 8, $1500 NL Hold 'Em.  The winner of the employee bracelet that kicked off the series, Andrew Cohen, is second in chips.  Lurking is Phil Hellmuth 5th in chips.  Lehr is sitting on 653k.  Hellmuth 556k.  David Aue of Houston, TX has 479k.  There were 2,341 entrants and only 25 players remain.   A number of Texans and Floridians (again) made the money, that can be seen here.

LAAK LONGER BET.  Phl "The Unabomber" Laak is at the Bellagio trying to break the world record for playing poker the most hours straight.  As he said on the ESPN podcast, 24 hours for a poker player feels like 4:30 for a desk jockey.  He's almost done day two (44 hours down, 36 to go), and his goal is slightly over 80 hours. 

Looks like he's playing 10-20 and stuck just under 8k.  The official Guinness record is 72 hours, the unofficial record is 78 and a half hours.  He started his first day down but climbed out of the hole. You can follow him on a live stream here.  Just watched him run AA into AA (split pot--no painful flush).  Follow him on twitter here.  And follow a blog not written by him, but about him, here.

LITTLE BIT CLOSER TO A BRACELET.  In the Pot Limit Hold'Em event number 9 ($1500 buy-in) GCP blogger Jonathan Little is 25th in chips.  There are two away from the money with 65 left out of 650.  Also, Hoyt Corkins cashed in Event 37 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit $2500 buy-in).  Hoyt finished 22nd out 291 good for 6k.

MIZRACHI NO LONGER MISERABLE.  Fresh off his win in the 50k event The Grinder is back at again.  He's first in chips after day one of the 10k Seven Card Stud Championship.  His brother is also in the top 20.  88 players remain from the 150 that decided to play.  Doyle Brunson is 5th in chips.  Mizrachi's heads up opponent in the 50k, Vladimir Schmelev is 2nd in chips so it's like Déjà Vu all over again.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

06.04.10

I GOT YOU GABE.  Unfortunately, three handed that's what Gabe's opponents were thinking three times.  After the dinner break, Gabe lost a costly coin-flip, ran a bluff that didn't work and then got coolered to be eliminated when his AQ smacked into AK,  He went from chip leader to third place in the span of 23 minutes.  Just a case of his luck finally running out.  Pokernews had just written something to the effect that Gabe had separated himself from the other players with his play.  

Great job Gabe.  279k may not have been the prize we were all rooting for you to get but it's great for four days worth of work.  Gabe also bested 4,342 other players to win the payday in the 1k event.  The jewelry will come.

A BOY NAMED SU.  Stephen Su of Houston Texas won 14k in Event 4.  Omaha Hi-Low Split -8 or Better by finishing 11th.  First place went to Michael Chow who won 237k in the 1500 buy-in tournament.  Matthew Waxman of Parkland, FL cashed for 4.2k in 53rd spot.  Jeff planck also of Houston, TX won 2.7k for 79th.

TUT, TUT FEELS LIKE RAIN.  David Tuthill of St. Petersburg, FL won 160k finishing 4th in Event 5, NL Texas Hold'em $1500 buy-in.  Joshua Gison of Fort Myeres, FL was 15th good for 23k.  Getty Mattingsley of San Antonio, TX 23rd for 15k. 

SHOOT-OUT SHOUT-OUT.  Florida and Texas are killing the World Series this year.  No surprise considering their population size but Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia still need to pick it up a bit.  Three Floridians Chad Brown, Aaron Been, and Justin Smith all min cashed in the shoot-out earning 16.6k.  David Estes of Texas also made the money in Event 6, 5k buy-in.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER UPDATE

06.03.10

LIFE IS A GRIND, TAXES ARE... THE RAKE?  Bad news for Michael Mizrachi, his huge tax bill just went up.  Good news for the Grinder it's because he took down the Players Championship and the 1.55 million that went with it.  We'll give ourselves a pat on the back. 

We didn't put a photo of the Grinder by himself up yesterday because we had a sneaky feeling we'd be putting one up of him or David Oppenheim today (tentative Oppenheim headline something to do with Nuclear victory or maybe "I am become death, destroyer of worlds" Confused?  Google Robert Oppenheim-er). 

We whiffed on Oppenheim (3rd 600k) with a Ruskie, trying to steal the glory kind of like Vitaly Lukin last year, but the Grinder wore him down to take the title.  Great job from a Florida kid.  Even if he was backed, he should be able to pay out his back taxes and get the IRS off his back now.   Hopefully, if he was backed, when he gets paid out he'll be sure to alert the authorities that the winnings are not all his (which is how he is rumored to have gotten behind in the first place).  John Juanda finished 4th for 436k and Robert Mizrachi 5th for 341k.

GABE COSTNER HAS SOME BALLS, SOME CHIPS AND A CHANCE AT A BRACELET!  We watched his stack yo-yo up and down last night because Gabe was willing to follow his gut, right or wrong for a ton of chips.  This tournament, he's been winning his flips and been more right than wrong.  Case in point, he put his opponent on AK and shoved after a pretty dry flop with a medium pocket pair (about 18 or so left at the time).  Guy had Aces and Gabe went from one of the chip leaders to rebuilding mode. 

He rebuilt.  Lost a big pot and then rebuilt again with the final hand of the night.  He finished the evening off when he raised with AK.  The old man at the table Irving Rice, father of a tablemate Richard Rice (maybe it's the year of the family considering the Mizrachis performance), shoved for most of Gabe's stack.  "Classic" race.  The Ace hit the turn and Gabe and the rest of the final nine come back today to vie for the bracelet. 

Gabe is third in chips behind Corey Brown, and Adam Daya.  By the way, while brothers have done it twice (Boatmen and Mizrachi clans) no father and son combo has every made a final table together.  Wonder if son Richard will be gunning for Gabe (as a father and son combo did in Monkey's latest blog entry)?  Anyway, forget all that let's go Gabe--GCP is behind you!  And yes, we did move that picture up from a recent post.

JACOB NAQUIN DISAPPEARS.  We have it he went out 77th.  His KK got snapped by A6.  Then his AK, unlike Gabe's, couldn't overcome the QQ of his opponent.  Sucks.  Another great run by the up and comer.  Should already be on our WHO'S WHO wall but we'll get him up soon enough--if we can find him.  The knockout was bad enough but then the WSOP website and Pokernews lost track of his participation.  The WSOP opting not to list finishers 77 and 76.  That wasn't their only error...  Glenn Mitchell from parts unknown finished in 43rd place and 49th place.  If they are going to make an error, we are sure Jacob would rather get paid twice than not listed at all.  Anyway, once again Jacob great job!