2008 World Series of Poker Circuit Event from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas - Day 1
Wednesday, 30th of April 2008 01:40 AM
The board shows just 54 players remaining. The survivors will return tomorrow at 12 p.m. PST, where they will play down to the final table.
Official chip counts:
| Max |
Reele |
Leonia, NJ |
263,200 |
| Giovanni |
Marcacci |
Brooksville, FL |
223,600 |
| Elie |
Said |
NA |
158,400 |
| Motoyuki |
Mabuchi |
Osaka, Japan |
157,800 |
| Doug |
Lee |
Calgary, AB |
123,000 |
| Nenad |
Medic |
Niagara Falls, ON |
122,200 |
| Mark |
Newhouse |
Chapel Hill, NC |
120,400 |
| Alan |
Engel |
Las Vegas, NV |
114,000 |
| Ralph |
Perry |
Las Vegas, NV |
105,800 |
| John |
Theisen |
Fort Wayne, IN |
103,700 |
| Michael |
Esposito |
Seaford, NY |
92,600 |
| Adam |
Geyer |
Austin, TX |
92,500 |
| Justin |
Bonomo |
Los Angeles, CA |
90,800 |
| Jason |
Risenberg |
Halbur, IA |
90,200 |
| Matt |
Giannetti |
Austin, TX |
82,600 |
| Brian |
Wolfe |
Raleigh, NC |
77,500 |
| Danny |
Wong |
Las Vegas, NV |
76,500 |
| Peter |
Feldman |
Las Vegas, NV |
74,700 |
| Thomas |
Hover |
Las Vegas, NV |
71,400 |
| Clint |
Roberts |
San Jose, CA |
66,700 |
| Steve |
Wong |
Netherlands |
64,000 |
| Sabyl Suzan |
Landrum |
Folsom, CA |
61,700 |
| Jimmy Ngoc |
Tran |
Las Vegas, NV |
59,700 |
| Tommy |
Vedes |
Queens, NY |
55,800 |
| Ben |
Fineman |
Las Vegas, NV |
55,000 |
| David |
Levi |
Las Vegas, NV |
54,700 |
| James George |
McBeth |
Sydney, Australia |
52,300 |
| Patrick |
Walsh |
St. Louis, MO |
51,400 |
| Derek |
Harrington |
Henderson, NV |
49,300 |
| Jon |
Eaton |
Las Vegas, NV |
46,800 |
| Tony |
Cousineau |
Daytona Beach, FL |
42,800 |
| Blair J. |
Hinkle |
Kansas City, MO |
42,600 |
| Scott |
Zakheim |
Davie, FL |
39,700 |
| J.C. |
Alvarado |
Las Vegas, NV |
38,400 |
| Bill |
Edler |
Las Vegas, NV |
37,000 |
| Larry |
Chinchic |
Las Vegas, NV |
35,600 |
| Than |
Nguyen |
CA |
34,400 |
| Doug |
MacKinnon |
NA |
32,400 |
| Kelly |
Samson |
Las Vegas, NV |
31,000 |
| Viver |
Rajkumar |
Las Vegas, NV |
29,800 |
| Allen |
Cunningham |
Las Vegas, NV |
29,500 |
| Vladimir |
Gorsky |
Dallas, TX |
29,400 |
| Bobby |
Law |
Las Vegas, NV |
28,900 |
| Seong |
Bag |
Las Vegas, NV |
28,300 |
| John |
Alm |
Hyattville, MD |
27,500 |
| Kelly |
Kim |
Whittier, CA |
27,400 |
| Lee |
Rubin |
Tucson, AZ |
27,200 |
| Theo |
Tran |
Las Vegas, NV |
21,000 |
| Frank |
Schinco |
Saginaw, MI |
20,800 |
| Scott |
Eskenazi |
Seattle, WA |
18,500 |
| Alan |
Smurfit |
Miami, FL |
17,000 |
| Alex |
Kravchenko |
Moscow, Russia |
16,400 |
| David |
Redlin |
Las Vegas, NV |
13,200 |
| Nikolay |
Evdakov |
Moscow, Russia |
12,100 |
Join us Wednesday at noon Vegas time for continued live coverage.
Wednesday, 30th of April 2008 01:31 AM
Time has expired on Day 1. Here's some of the action that helped trim the field to just six tables.
Eli Elezra looked at one card, the A , and decided it was enough to move his last 13K in. A player behind gives Eli protection, making it 30K with his Q-Q . Everyone would get out of the way and Eli would take a look at his second card. It was only the 6 and after the board bricked completely, Eli was gone.
On a neighboring table, Amir Vahedi took the seat of Chris Ferguson, who was knocked out by Allen Cunningham, and quickly was dismissed himself. Vahedi called an all in holding Q-J on a queen high board. "You got me," said his opponent. "I got overs. I'm looking to suck out." And suck out he did, after his A-K found the A on the river to bust Amir.
Sabyl Cohen was down to just a few hundred chips earlier in the day, but worked her way back up to 22K. She's now at 50K, after her Q Q was able to crack A A when a lady appeared in the window.
They are now conducting a redraw. After that has been completed, players will begin bagging and tagging.
Wednesday, 30th of April 2008 12:48 AM
Erick Lindgrean and EPT Copenhagen winner Tim Vance have each been eliminated.
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| Doug Lee | |
Wednesday, 30th of April 2008 12:30 AM
Doug Lee has taken the chip lead.
Lee was already neck and neck with Travis Pearson for the chip lead, as each have been hovering around 120K for a while. That all ended when Dario Minieri ran his top two pair into Doug Lee's bottom set on the A-J-9 flop. Dario looked to have about 75K in chips, which would put Lee right around 200K.
Wednesday, 30th of April 2008 12:16 AM
New blinds and antes: 600-1200 plus 200. Last level of the day. So far, 255 players have came and went. Let's see how close we get to the money bubble of 36.
Wednesday, 30th of April 2008 12:09 AM
Down to just 79. Level seven is in the books. The 79 survivors will take 15 minutes off before returning for the last level of the day.
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| Erick Lindgren - 'Beer me!' | |
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 11:47 PM
Erick Lindgren was all in for his last 9K and got some protection from Jeff Madsen, who put in the reraise. Just then, the cocktail girl came around to take orders.
"Can you hold on for like 10 seconds?" asked Lindgren.
When the cards were turned over, Lingrens kings were in good shape against Madsen's pocket jacks. The board missed both players and E-Dogg would double up.
Lindgren wasted no time calling out his drink order. "Corona!"
Shortly after, Madsen was looking at a A 6 4 flop. Madsen checked the action and his opponent made it 7500. Madsen acted as if he wanted to muck. After his opponent turned his attention away from the table, Madsen shoved in his last 21K.
"I only looked at one card," said his opponent.
"You only looked at one card? Do you know who I am?" Madsen said jokingly, pointing to his giant picture, framed on the Caesars tournament room wall.
After squeezing out the second card, his opponent would call with A 7, ahead of Madsen's A 5.
"You really only looked at one?" asked Madsen.
"Yup, the ace of clubs."
The turn and river bricked off a 9 and a deuce, meaning the 7 kicker was good and Madsen was done.
In other action, Burt Boutin was crippled and later busted after having his kings cracked by pocket jacks. Boutin even managed to flop a set, but couldn't avoid the four flush.
On another table, Chau Giang ran his nines into jacks in a battle of the blinds.
Also busted: Erik Seidel and Jordan Morgan.
With
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 11:08 PM
Ralph Perry is trying hard to increase his stack, which is already at 75K. He was ready to bust his opponent after looking down at K K. Perry would get it all in, later realizing he was drawing to a four flush, as his opponent turned over the other two kings. A couple hands later, Perry again had a shot to eliminate a shorter stack, this time with 9 9. His opponent would turn over 9 9 and after neither could pick up a flush, Perry would again drag just half a pot.
Players who were once here, but now busted: Erick Seidel, Thor Hansen, David Benyamine, Jordan Morgan and Sorel Mizzi.
We're down to 98 players with just 1 1/2 levels remaining in Day 1.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 10:44 PM
Official count is now 109 players. Play has resumed, with 100 antes and blinds of 400-800.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 10:22 PM
We are done with level six. Time to race off the green chips (worth 25). Break will begin after the color up. The board is showing 113 players still alive.
Some recent eliminations: Todd Brunson ran his kings into aces to go broke. John Racener and Mark Seif also hit the rail.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 09:38 PM
Apparently Chad Batista doesn't believe in the saying "chip and a chair." After his opponent turned over Q-J with a queen on the board, that was enough for Lil Hold'em to bounce, leaving 775 in chips at the table. They brought it to his attention, but he must have been over it. Batista grabbed his girlfriend and headed out of the poker room.
Phil Gordon won't be taking home the Circuit Championship ring, or the half million dollars. Gordon came over the top of Doug Lee, holding A J on a 5-8-9-3 board, with a couple overs and a club flush draw. Lee made the call with K-9 and after the river bricked, Gordon was gone.
John Racener was all in with Q Q after seeing the J 6 9 flop. He was called by an opponent who tabled Q J. The turn card was the 10, giving each player the queen high straight draw. Racener wouldn't end up dragging the pot, but the K on 5th street was good for the chop.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 09:07 PM
The cards are back in the air. Blinds are now 300-600 with 75 for an ante.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 08:51 PM
End of level five.
Before the break, Allen Cunningham found himself all in.
Down to just a few hundred in chips, Cunningham tossed them in on a 3 2 5 flop, holding 6 9. Cunningham was in rough shape, up against his opponent's K K. The K on the turn didn't do the five-time bracelet winner any favors, but the 4 on the river sure did. Cunningham would drag the pot after hitting the six-high straight in the gut.
Players will be back in 15 minutes for level six.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 08:29 PM
The big board shows just 173 remaining, meaning nearly half the field has already hit the road. Among those traveling are Layne Flack, who had his aces cracked by kings, and Steve Billirakis, who shipped the rest of his stack to David Benyamine.
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| Chip leader - Travis Pearson | |
Benyamine and Wong are each pushing 50K and were once near the chip lead. Now it looks to belong to Travis Pearson with over 100K. Pearson recently took down event #9 at the 2008 Wynn Classic.
Random chip counts:
Justin Bonomo - 43,000
Doug Lee - 35,000
Allen Cunningham - 7,250
Eli Elezra - 44,000
Michael Binger - 16,000
Mark Teltscher - 40,000
Todd Brunson - 33,000
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 08:02 PM
David Levy was all in for his last 5K against Dutch Boyd. Levy's A K never trailed Dutch's A Q on the way to a double up.
With 4 8 5 6 already on the felt, action is checked to JC Alvarado by the BB. Alvarado counts out 3850 and pushes it to the middle. He is met with a quick call. The 3 on the river was enough for JC to ship his last 5450 and again, he was called. Alvarado turned over A 7, for the 8-high straight. His opponent mucked his J J face up and was eliminated on the following hand. Alvarado is up near 35K.
Steve Wong was holding onto the chip lead, as of break time, with about 54K in chips. David Benyamine was able to chip away at that lead. 9 10 8 2 5 had already been dealt and Benyamine was all in for his last 13,175 from the BB and hoping to take the 20K+ pot away from the chip leader. Wong would tank, before folding and perhaps, surrendering the chip lead.
In other action, Justin Bonomo sent Erica Schoenberg and Mandy Baker to the rail, while Allen Kessler saw Eli Elezra's Q-6 take down his A-8 to send the Chainsaw packing.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 07:31 PM
Play has resumed. Level five: 200-400 blinds with a 50 ante.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 06:00 PM
With just a few minutes remaining in level four, players are readying themselves for the dinner break. The 200 or so survivors will get 90 minutes away from felt to fuel up for the long night ahead. Tournament directors have estimated that play will end around 1 a.m. See ya in an hour and a half.
A few names that busted during the last level: Anna Wroblewski, Shannon Shorr and Jonathan Little.
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| Dario - doubled up | |
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 05:27 PM
The scarfed one has doubled up.
Dario Minieri made it 600 to go preflop and saw three callers, including Daniel Alaei. The flop falls 4 3 Q and action checks around to Alaei, who makes it 1,200 from the button. After the BB got out of the way, Minieri would move all in for 10,900. The other player would fold, leaving the action to Alaei. After getting a count, Alaei would make the call with J J, only to find out he was trailing the Italian's K Q. After the turn and river fell 4 Q, Dario had doubled up to 25K.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 04:50 PM
Level four now, which means the antes are kicking in. 25 antes to go along with 100-200 blinds.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 04:33 PM
Level three is dunzo. Break time. Just 260 players still seated.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 04:21 PM
Some eliminations to report: Men "the Master" Nguyen ran into the aces of Mark Teltscher to hit the rail. Robert Mizrachi ran second pair into the aces of Sabl Cohen. Jared Hamby, Joe Tehan and Scotty Nguyen also had their WOSPC runs cut short in Day 1.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 04:04 PM
A few notable hands.
The Grinder is gone. Mizrachi check-raised Blair Hinkle for the rest of his chips, about 8K. Hinkle makes the call, tabling A A. Mizrachi held K 10, which hit top pair after the 10 4 6 flop. The 5 on the turn and Q on the river were no help to the Grinder, who's event ended in level three.
In other action, Vivek Rajkumar eliminated an opponent after his A 10 took down 6 6 in a race. Bertrand "ElKy" Grosspellier also busted his opponent, who ran his deuces right into the pocket tens of the PCA champ.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 03:20 PM
We're now in level three. Blinds are at 100-200. The board reads 289 players remaining.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 03:02 PM
Level two has wrapped. Players are on another 15 minute break.
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| Daniel Alaei | |
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 02:53 PM
Daniel Alaei watched as an opponent from the blinds came over the top of his raise, making it 1,500. Alaei would push in the rest of his stack, about 7,500 worth. The man in the blinds would come along for the ride, racing his A K against the Q Q of Alaei. The board fell 5 4 6 2 9 and Alaei had survived to double up.
Just five minutes remain in level two and we're already down to 300 players.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 02:30 PM
Official payouts:
1st -- $499,162
2nd -- $257,637
3rd -- $128,816
4th -- $112, 714
5th -- $96,612
6th --$80,510
7th -- $64,408
8th -- $48,306
9th -- $32,204
10th-12th -- $19,322
13th- 15th -- $16,102
16th-18th -- $12,082
19th-27th -- $9,661
28th-36th -- $6,441
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 02:13 PM
The board read 8 8 5 K 3 and there was a raise to Brandon Cantu.
"What do you have," asked Cantu.
"The winning hand," said his opponent.
"I played my hand so bad," added Cantu. "Will you show it?"
"Yeah, I'll show," said his opponent.
This triggered Cantu to shove in the rest of his stack. His opponent would quickly call. "I got quads," said Cantu's opponent, as he tabled 8 8. Cantu immediately headed towards the door.
Here's the rest of the stragglers: Dario Minieri, Chau Giang, Dutch Boyd, Doug "Rico" Carli, Davidson Matthews, Mark Newhouse, Anna Wroblewski, Erica Schoenberg, EPT Grand Final Champ Glen Chorny, Nenad Medic, David "the Dragon" Phan and Burt Boutin.
The numbers have been announced. A total of 334 players showed up, creating a prize pool of $1.61 million. First place is worth $499,162. This is just short of last year's numbers, where we saw 336 players show up.
Complete payouts will be available momentarily. We're already down to 310 players.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 01:48 PM
Break is over and another 75 minute level has begun. Blinds are now at 50-100.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 01:31 PM
And just like that, it's break time. Registration has closed. We'll have the total numbers when they are made available. Be back in 15.
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| Jared "TheWacoKidd" Hamby | |
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 12:58 PM
Registration is stil open, but I can still give you some of the late arrivals.
Chris Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen, David Benyamine, Peter Feldman, Michael Binger, Lee Watkinson, Mark Seif, Justin Bonomo, Miami John Cernuto, James Mackey, Theo Tran, Ryan Young, Tony Cousineau, David Singer, Arnold Spee, Jeff Madsen, Jared Hamby, Amir Vahedi and Todd Brunson each made a fashionably late entrance.
Allen Cunningham immediately began mixing it up with Mark Seif, who sits on his right. Cunningham was able to take a 5K pot away from Seif after showing K K on a 8-5-J-5-Q board.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 12:34 PM
The registration line is still packed, so the list is not complete, but here's who I saw on my first pass through the poker room.
In the tournament room: Ted Lawson, John Racener, Allen Kessler, David Williams, JC Alvarado, Kathy Liebert, Jordan Morgan, WSOPC Indiana Champ Wilbur Futhie, Alex Kravchenko, Chad Batista, Men Nguyen, and Mark Teltscher.
In the main poker room: Layne Flack, "ElKy" Grosspellier, Allen Cunningham, Doug Lee, Sorel Mizzi, Erick Lindgren, Jonathan Little, Shane Schleger, Sam Grizzle, Phil Gordon, Mike "the Grinder" Mizrachi, Antonio Esfandiari, Bill Edler and Erik Seidel.
There's a tough table in the main poker room, featuring Gavin Smith, Robert Mizrachi, Roy Winston, Sabel Cohen, EPT Copenhagen winner Tim Vance, Steve Billirakis and Daniel Alaei.
The room is still a little crazy, but we'll have more names as they appear.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 12:19 PM
Shuffle up and deal! A $5K buy-in for the event means players begin level one with a double stack, 10K in chips, and blinds of 25-50.
Tuesday, 29th of April 2008 12:08 PM
We are moments away from the start of play at the Caesars Palace poker room. The tournament room is at capacity and tables have spilled over into most of the cash game area. We'll be back after players have settled down and taken their seats.
Structure:
| LEVEL
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ANTE |
SMALL BLIND
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BIG BLIND
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1 |
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$25 |
$50 |
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2 |
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$50 |
$100 |
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3 |
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$100 |
$200 |
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4 |
$25 |
$100 |
$200 |
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5 |
$50 |
$200 |
$400 |
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6 |
$75 |
$300 |
$600 |
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BREAK |
Race off
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$25 Chips
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7 |
$100 |
$400 |
$800 |
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8 |
$200 |
$600 |
$1,200 |
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9 |
$200 |
$800 |
$1,600 |
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10 |
$300 |
$1,000 |
$2,000 |
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11 |
$400 |
$1,500 |
$3,000 |
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BREAK |
Race off |
$100 Chips
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12 |
$500 |
$2,000 |
$4,000 |
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13 |
$500 |
$3,000 |
$6,000 |
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BREAK |
Race off |
$500 Chips |
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14 |
$1,000 |
$4,000 |
$8,000 |
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15 |
$2,000 |
$6,000 |
$12,000 |
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16 |
$2,000 |
$8,000 |
$16,000 |
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17 |
$3,000 |
$10,000 |
$20,000 |
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18 |
$4,000 |
$15,000 |
$30,000 |
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BREAK |
Race off |
$1000 Chips |
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19 |
$5,000 |
$20,000 |
$40,000 |
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23 |
$5,000 |
$30,000 |
$60,000 |
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24 |
$10,000 |
$40,000 |
$80,000 |
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25 |
$20,000 |
$60,000 |
$120,000 |
Day 1 of the WSOP Caesars Circuit Event begins Tuesday at 12 p.m. PST. Join Poker Pages for live coverage from Las Vegas.
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