PokerPages.com Poker News - 2008 World Poker Tour Festa Al Lago

	First Name	Last Name	Chip Count	Table	Seat
1	Antonio	Esfandari	313,000	Table 53	Seat 1
2	Nicholas	Sliwinski	209,800	Table 61	Seat 8
3	Daniel	Schreiber	206,925	Table 54	Seat 8
4	Brian	Rast	206,225	Table 62	Seat 8
5	Jennifer	Tilly	195,050	Table 17	Seat 1
6	Jeremiah	Vinsant	184,575	Table 17	Seat 8
7	Andrew	Robl	173,450	Table 52	Seat 5
8	Nenad	Medic	167,250	Table 16	Seat 7
9	Ryan	Young	156,725	Table 48	Seat 2
10	Johannes	Van Til	151,000	Table 11	Seat 8
11	Toto	Leonidas	149,775	Table 19	Seat 2
12	Jason	Mercier	145,500	Table 53	Seat 7
13	Doug	Lee	144,500	Table 11	Seat 5
14	Joe	Sebok	142,050	Table 50	Seat 4
15	Matt	Giannetti	139,950	Table 64	Seat 1
16	Johnny	Chan	138,000	Table 51	Seat 3
17	Kasey	Nam	132,075	Table 64	Seat 5
18	Edward	Margolin	131,600	Table 47	Seat 8
19	Juan	Alvarado	129,700	Table 6	Seat 5
20	Michael	Glasser	127,475	Table 48	Seat 7
21	Brad	Booth	123,500	Table 61	Seat 7
22	Kagawa	Masaaki	123,150	Table 52	Seat 1
23	Taylor	McFarland	123,000	Table 47	Seat 2
24	Micah	Raskin	118,625	Table 2	Seat 8
25	Isaac	Baron	116,825	Table 59	Seat 3
26	Rock	Cloutier	116,175	Table 54	Seat 9
27	Chau	Giang	115,025	Table 57	Seat 5
28	Clemenceau	Calixto	111,675	Table 7	Seat 3
29	Jason	Dorfman	108,975	Table 62	Seat 3
30	Vivek	Rajkumar	108,550	Table 3	Seat 4
31	Suzan	Landrum	107,775	Table 19	Seat 6
32	Kevin	Albers	107,575	Table 52	Seat 4
33	Luke	Staudenmaier	105,825	Table 48	Seat 4
34	Allen	Cunningham	105,825	Table 64	Seat 7
35	Blake	Cahail	105,575	Table 49	Seat 2
36	Jeff	Bartlett	105,425	Table 62	Seat 6
37	Tim	West	105,275	Table 64	Seat 6
38	David	Chiu	103,300	Table 18	Seat 4
39	Scott	Matte	102,000	Table 55	Seat 2
40	Olav Prinz	Von Sachsen	101,700	Table 54	Seat 3
41	Liam	Hearns	100,950	Table 49	Seat 7
42	Bertrand	Grospellier	100,825	Table 6	Seat 1
43	Alex	Keating	99,975	Table 6	Seat 9
44	Daniel	Negreanu	99,325	Table 53	Seat 5
45	Wayne	Boich	98,350	Table 7	Seat 8
46	Michael	Demichele	97,775	Table 2	Seat 1
47	Erica	Schoenberg	97,750	Table 45	Seat 8
48	Chad	Layne	97,575	Table 46	Seat 5
49	Matthew	Stout	97,425	Table 52	Seat 3
50	Will	Failla	96,000	Table 16	Seat 2
51	Abraham	Mosseri	95,900	Table 49	Seat 9
52	Osmin	Dardon	94,500	Table 17	Seat 5
53	Doyle	Brunson	94,200	Table 18	Seat 7
54	Sean	Sheikram	93,750	Table 16	Seat 5
55	J.C.	Tran	91,550	Table 55	Seat 7
56	Isaac	Haxton	91,225	Table 59	Seat 1
57	Randall	Skaggs	91,075	Table 54	Seat 7
58	Jason	Lester	89,125	Table 19	Seat 4
59	Keith	Ferrera	89,075	Table 12	Seat 5
60	Matt	Hyman	89,000	Table 62	Seat 9
61	David	Kronick	88,675	Table 16	Seat 8
62	William	Mietz	87,000	Table 7	Seat 5
63	Jonathan	Tare	86,650	Table 18	Seat 3
64	Rafeal	Perry	86,525	Table 19	Seat 7
65	Russ	Boyd	86,125	Table 18	Seat 2
66	Jon	Friedberg	86,000	Table 16	Seat 1
67	Chris	Mccormack	85,000	Table 54	Seat 4
68	Jamie	Rosen	84,850	Table 6	Seat 8
69	Fred	Bonyadi	84,300	Table 61	Seat 6
70	Mike	Matusow	83,200	Table 2	Seat 9
71	Zach	Hyman	81,675	Table 64	Seat 4
72	Steven	Levy	81,375	Table 54	Seat 6
73	Iain	Somers	81,275	Table 64	Seat 8
74	William	Heimiller	79,925	Table 55	Seat 5
75	Shawn	Cunix	79,350	Table 45	Seat 3
76	Stan	Wasserkrug	79,125	Table 61	Seat 9
77	Vineet	Pahuja	79,075	Table 62	Seat 2
78	Patrick	Walsh	78,950	Table 53	Seat 3
79	Ryan	Fair	78,850	Table 53	Seat 9
80	Peter	Feldman	77,750	Table 49	Seat 1
81	Russell	Rosenblum	76,925	Table 50	Seat 6
82	John	Hennigan	76,825	Table 59	Seat 7
83	Alec	Torelli	76,450	Table 57	Seat 2
84	Vincent	Bartllo	76,175	Table 16	Seat 6
85	James	Sowers Jr	75,975	Table 6	Seat 7
86	Mike	Wattel	75,550	Table 7	Seat 4
87	Kenney	Tran	75,000	Table 45	Seat 7
88	Joe	Ebanks	72,425	Table 64	Seat 3
89	Gus	Hansen	71,400	Table 52	Seat 7
90	Eileen	Kelly	70,700	Table 60	Seat 5
91	Phil	Collins	70,700	Table 17	Seat 7
92	Erik	Cajelais	70,300	Table 60	Seat 8
93	Jonathan	Little	70,250	Table 59	Seat 4
94	Nam	Le	70,150	Table 50	Seat 1
95	Kevin	Boudreau	69,500	Table 51	Seat 9
96	Emeline	Boich	68,650	Table 56	Seat 1
97	Lee	Markholt	67,800	Table 47	Seat 1
98	Vinny	Vinh	67,775	Table 46	Seat 1
99	Marco	Traniello	67,725	Table 60	Seat 9
100	John	Juanda	66,925	Table 6	Seat 4
101	David	Hasson	66,000	Table 46	Seat 8
102	Peter	Neff	65,575	Table 12	Seat 2
103	Brian	Devonshisre	65,525	Table 48	Seat 5
104	Tuan	Le	65,000	Table 57	Seat 1
105	Olivier	Busquet	64,375	Table 2	Seat 2
106	Erick	Lindgren	64,225	Table 61	Seat 2
107	Scott	Clements	63,125	Table 62	Seat 1
108	Zachary	Clark	62,225	Table 3	Seat 2
109	Scotty	Nguyen	62,050	Table 56	Seat 5
110	James	Fricke	61,750	Table 12	Seat 7
111	Steve	Sung	61,350	Table 51	Seat 8
112	David	Baker	61,175	Table 64	Seat 9
113	Phongthep	Thiptinnakon	61,025	Table 49	Seat 6
114	John	Janason	60,825	Table 45	Seat 5
115	Sean	Dempsey	60,250	Table 19	Seat 8
116	Eric	Liu	60,000	Table 51	Seat 2
117	Justin	Bonomo	59,675	Table 12	Seat 3
118	Randy	Eklund	59,500	Table 3	Seat 7
119	Steven	Weinstein	59,350	Table 53	Seat 6
120	Kenny	Goldman	59,275	Table 45	Seat 9
121	Randy	Haddox	59,200	Table 50	Seat 8
122	Narendra	Banwari	58,475	Table 54	Seat 2
123	Thor	Hansen	58,225	Table 18	Seat 6
124	Steven	Brecher	57,925	Table 7	Seat 2
125	Felipe	Ramos	57,875	Table 53	Seat 4
126	Howard	Lederer	57,750	Table 18	Seat 5
127	Scott	Seiver	57,250	Table 50	Seat 3
128	Richard	Sciuto	55,575	Table 2	Seat 3
129	Hoyt	Corkins	55,400	Table 47	Seat 6
130	Ted	Lawson	55,000	Table 17	Seat 3
131	John	Cernuto	54,850	Table 7	Seat 1
132	John	Monette	54,800	Table 11	Seat 6
133	Matthew	Keikoan	54,275	Table 7	Seat 6
134	Beth	Shak	54,225	Table 46	Seat 4
135	Steve	Fiorentini	54,075	Table 11	Seat 9
136	Chris	Bjorin	53,975	Table 51	Seat 4
137	Isabel	Mercier	53,375	Table 17	Seat 6
138	Paul	Deng	53,000	Table 16	Seat 4
139	Michael	Peters	52,675	Table 56	Seat 4
140	Allie	Prescott	52,525	Table 3	Seat 1
141	Kathy	Leibert	52,000	Table 51	Seat 1
142	Gabriel	Thaler	51,975	Table 49	Seat 5
143	Adam	Junglen	51,925	Table 56	Seat 7
144	Evan	Mcniff	51,175	Table 60	Seat 6
145	Matt	Wolf	50,875	Table 47	Seat 3
146	Paul	Kroh	50,525	Table 2	Seat 6
147	Hevad	Khan	50,175	Table 19	Seat 3
148	Chris	Tsiprailidis	49,825	Table 7	Seat 7
149	John	Roveto	49,500	Table 48	Seat 1
150	Boris	Muchnik	48,975	Table 52	Seat 8
151	Eric	Hershler	48,275	Table 57	Seat 6
152	David	Pham	47,350	Table 49	Seat 3
153	Karga	Holt	46,625	Table 18	Seat 8
154	Stan	Jablonski	46,000	Table 12	Seat 4
155	Jonathan	Aguiar	45,500	Table 57	Seat 7
156	Devin	Porter	44,400	Table 49	Seat 8
157	Stella	Su	44,200	Table 54	Seat 1
158	Tu Van	Huynh	43,575	Table 11	Seat 7
159	Theo	Tran	43,025	Table 6	Seat 2
160	Thomas	Wolfinger	42,800	Table 63	Seat 9
161	Danny	Smith	42,575	Table 12	Seat 1
162	Matthew	Brady	41,600	Table 55	Seat 4
163	Scott	Mayfield	41,425	Table 59	Seat 5
164	Stephen	Ladowsky	41,125	Table 64	Seat 2
165	Markus	Gonsalves	41,125	Table 57	Seat 4
166	Victor	Shalom	40,650	Table 12	Seat 6
167	Joe	Cassidy	40,650	Table 2	Seat 4
168	Robert	Mclaughlin	40,050	Table 12	Seat 8
169	Anthony	Cousineau	40,000	Table 60	Seat 1
170	Joshua	Plummer	39,550	Table 61	Seat 4
171	Ron	Levi	39,525	Table 16	Seat 3
172	Thomas	Bentham	39,350	Table 62	Seat 4
173	Blair	Hinkle	39,000	Table 60	Seat 2
174	Daniel	Alaei	38,800	Table 50	Seat 5
175	Ryan	Aiken	38,800	Table 55	Seat 1
176	Erik	Seidel	38,550	Table 2	Seat 5
177	Robert	Mizrachi	38,450	Table 46	Seat 9
178	Jonathan	Tamayo	38,425	Table 56	Seat 6
179	Gary	Haglund	38,025	Table 59	Seat 9
180	Tom	West	37,300	Table 60	Seat 7
181	Will	Wilkinson	37,250	Table 51	Seat 5
182	Cliff	Josephy	36,975	Table 3	Seat 5
183	Rickey	Mc Colley	36,400	Table 19	Seat 5
184	Alan	Smurfit	36,375	Table 53	Seat 8
185	Tom	Nguyen	36,000	Table 45	Seat 1
186	Chad	Brown	35,875	Table 3	Seat 8
187	Daniel	Cordi	35,575	Table 63	Seat 5
188	Quinn	Do	35,125	Table 6	Seat 6
189	Philipe	Rouas	35,100	Table 55	Seat 9
190	David	Peters	35,025	Table 6	Seat 3
191	Phil	Ivy	34,850	Table 63	Seat 7
192	Jimmy Ngoc	Tran	34,500	Table 62	Seat 7
193	Roland	Dewolf	34,500	Table 18	Seat 1
194	Tom	Mc Cormick	34,275	Table 52	Seat 9
195	Barry	Greenstein	34,125	Table 45	Seat 6
196	Nathan	Doudney	34,000	Table 50	Seat 2
197	Shane	Schleger	33,150	Table 11	Seat 3
198	Jennifer	Harman	33,125	Table 57	Seat 8
199	Joe	Awada	32,750	Table 56	Seat 3
200	Tom	Dwan	32,625	Table 47	Seat 5
201	John	Myung	32,275	Table 2	Seat 7
202	Brian	Buckley	31,500	Table 46	Seat 6
203	Allen	Kessler	31,475	Table 60	Seat 3
204	Matt	Graham	31,225	Table 19	Seat 1
205	Michele	Mcleod	31,050	Table 63	Seat 8
206	Adam	Katz	30,700	Table 63	Seat 2
207	Mark	Newhouse	30,200	Table 46	Seat 2
208	Bob	Slezak	30,100	Table 17	Seat 2
209	Tony	Korfman	30,000	Table 45	Seat 2
210	Amit	Makhija	29,675	Table 3	Seat 3
211	Sandra	Naujoks	28,375	Table 50	Seat 7
212	Jonathan	Honig	27,350	Table 49	Seat 4
213	Alex	Jacob	27,275	Table 51	Seat 7
214	Jeff	Shulman	26,975	Table 50	Seat 9
215	Ryan	Hughes	26,625	Table 17	Seat 4
216	Greg	Mueller	26,575	Table 63	Seat 6
217	Hunter	Frey	26,200	Table 46	Seat 7
218	Alexandre	Luz	26,175	Table 55	Seat 3
219	Michael	Mcclain	25,725	Table 59	Seat 2
220	Robert	Tracey	25,375	Table 11	Seat 4
221	Michael	Watson	25,050	Table 57	Seat 9
222	Rodeen	Talibi	24,000	Table 56	Seat 8
223	Daniel	Woodward	23,675	Table 61	Seat 5
224	Adam	Levy	23,375	Table 3	Seat 9
225	Marc	Levy	23,150	Table 48	Seat 6
226	Michael	Kucinski	22,475	Table 48	Seat 9
227	Chris	Ferguson	22,400	Table 60	Seat 4
228	Kyle	Wilson	22,225	Table 59	Seat 8
229	Charles	Kelley	22,150	Table 3	Seat 6
230	Daniel	Donati	22,150	Table 7	Seat 9
231	Remy	Biechel	21,675	Table 48	Seat 3
232	Al	Adler	21,675	Table 53	Seat 2
233	Vanessa	Rousso	21,300	Table 56	Seat 9
234	Tony	Grappo	21,000	Table 63	Seat 4
235	Paul	Smith	20,875	Table 46	Seat 3
236	Alan	Jaffray	20,750	Table 52	Seat 6
237	Ben	Palmer	20,325	Table 59	Seat 6
238	Nicholas	Schulman	20,000	Table 61	Seat 3
239	Fred	Berger	19,600	Table 47	Seat 7
240	Kristy	Gazes	19,150	Table 57	Seat 3
241	Andre	Akkari	18,950	Table 11	Seat 1
242	Chris	Bell	18,600	Table 47	Seat 9
243	Jared	Hamby	18,275	Table 62	Seat 5
244	Corwin	Cole	17,525	Table 11	Seat 2
245	David	Benyamine	17,175	Table 63	Seat 3
246	Jolyne	Thompson	16,525	Table 48	Seat 8
247	Alex	Bolotin	15,575	Table 51	Seat 6
248	Steve	Sanzone	14,775	Table 54	Seat 5
249	Eugene	Todd	14,425	Table 47	Seat 4
250	Joanne	Liu	14,350	Table 55	Seat 6
251	Michael	Binger	12,500	Table 45	Seat 4
252	Roman	Yitzhaki	11,900	Table 63	Seat 1
253	Bill	Edler	11,125	Table 61	Seat 1
254	Thomas	Burgess	7,450	Table 56	Seat 2
255	Surinder	Sunar	6,900	Table 52	Seat 2
256	Layne	Flack	6,775	Table 55	Seat 8

Join us for Day 2 tomorrow at 12 p.m. PDT.

Tuesday, 21st of October 2008 10:45 PM

Just to hold you over, here are Day 1B's top ten stacks, courtesy of www.worldpokertour.com:

1. Daniel Schreiber - 206,925
2. Brian Rast - 206,225
3. Nenad Medic - 167,250
4. Ryan Young - 156,725
5. Toto Leonidas - 149,775
6. Doug Lee - 144,500
7. Matt Giannetti - 139,950
8. Kasey Nam - 132,075
9. Edward Margolin - 131,600
10. J.C. Alvarado - 129,700

The quartet I mentioned earlier sit right behind Daniel Schrieber. The chip leader, formerly of Ohio, now calls South Korea home (for professional Starcraft purposes, of course), but proved he was the real deal at the poker table by claiming the $5,000 Heads-up bracelet at the 2007 WSOP. He leads Brian Rast by just 700 chips, while everyone will enter Day 2 trailing Antonio Esfandiari, who was able to top the 300K mark in Day 1A.

We'll have a complete Day 2 list when it is made available.

Tuesday, 21st of October 2008 09:00 PM




	WSOP bracelet winner Ryan Young

The remaining six hands went down rather quietly and play has concluded in Day 1B. The remaining players are bagging their chips as I type and the official chip counts are being gathered.

Looking around the room, Ryan Young appears to be sitting behind one of the bigger stacks, estimated at 175K. He's got company near the top as Brian Rast, Nenad Medic and Toto Leonidas are hovering around the 150K mark.

The official chip counts will be posted here as soon as they are released by the Bellagio staff.

Day 2 begins Wednesday at 12 p.m. PDT. Join us at the crack of noon for more live coverage of the WPT Festa Al Lago from the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Tuesday, 21st of October 2008 08:45 PM

Level 5 is winding down, meaning Day 1B is in it's closing moments.




	Cajelais

EriK Cajelais made a big laydown late in the day. Whether it was good or bad remains to be seen.

Cajelais popped it to 1,700 in Jason Lester's BB. A player in LP would call, while Lester chose to reraise. Only Cajelais would pay the 6,500 necessary to see the Q-J-x flop. Lester would lead out with a bet of 13,000 and Cajelais decided not to muscle and quickly mucked pocket kings for the table to see.

"Wow!" is all Jason Lester could say, hinting that the big laydown might have been the right move.

Not far away, Toto Leonidas and Bill Edler were battling. There was already close to 9K in the pot and 4-9-2 on the board. Edler would call Toto's smallish bet of 3K to see a 6 fall on the turn. After a 9 fell on the river, Edler would call another small Toto bet, this time for 4,500. Edler showed 8-6, for a pair of sixes, topping the lowly pair of fours that Toto flashed the table. "I put you on ace-high," said Toto as he mucked his hand.

A short while later, Toto would pick up queens against Barry Greenstein. Greenstein's KJ would find top pair on the J-9-7 flop, but would get off easy as Toto wouldn't get anymore out of him on the remaining streets.

Philippe Rouas was quick to put his unknown opponent all in and at risk. Rouas held just K2, but was able to outflop his opponents AJ after the dealer fanned out the 10-Q-2 board. His opponent got up from his seat and was packing his stuff as another 10 fell on the turn, but sat back down after the river Q gave him B




	Toto

roadway and the pot.

Joe Cassidy was the 368th and last entry today, but somehow found himself at less than half a stack and all in. His AQ was in good shape to double through, seeing how he had his opponent's AJ dominated. Then a jack spiked on the flop, giving his opponent the lead and moving Cassidy one giant step closer to Bustville... that is until Cassidy found a Q on the river, giving him the pot and new life.

He would later be chosen to draw the remaining hands card. Six more hands and the day is done.

Tuesday, 21st of October 2008 07:00 PM

What does a fifth raise mean? For Matt Brady, it means get out of the way.




	Brady and Alvarado

Brady called a raise by the cutoff, JC Alvarado, to see a flop of 8

. Brady would check to JC, who made it 1,200 to go. Brady then completes his check-raise, making it 3,500 to go. Alvarado wasn't having it and repopped, this time to 8,400. Brady fired at it again, this time raising the price to 21,000. That proved to not be enough, as Alvarado finally pulled the trigger, moving all in. Brady tanked for several minutes, before deciding not to call the additional 20K.

The board is showing 285 players and since 52 hit the bricks yesterday, that means 31 players have been sent the rail today. Among those banished are Chino Rheem, Jeff Madsen, Brandon Cantu and John Phan.

Chino couldn't quite get it together and has instead migrated towards the craps tables. He doesn't seem too worried. Maybe because he's just two weeks away from taking his seat at the WSOP Main Event final table. Even though he would no doubt love to take down the Fest, he has bigger fish to fry.

Jeff Madsen was one of the late arrivals. Because of this, he sat at one of the more stacked tables around. This proved deadly, as Madsen held AK after an ace-high flop, but decided to give David Chiu a free card. After a queen came on the turn, Madsen would check raise for about 95% of his stack. Chiu would eventually put the former WSOP Player of the Year all in, then show him the bad news; that the free card improved Chiu's QQ to a set. No miracles for Madsen and he is gone.




	Gabe Thayer and Nenad Medic

Brandon Cantu showed up late to find himself at the table of death. Robert Mizrachi got out of the way of a Gabe Thayer all in on a 4-J-5-A board just moments earlier, giving Thayer a 30K+ pot. Bro-Grinder had check-called 6,500 from Thayer after the flop, then led out for 9,500 after the ace showed. Thayer wasted little time moving all in and forcing Robert to lay it down. Thayer would take those chips and punish Cantu with them, again moving all in after an ace turned. Cantu would eventually get out of Thayers way, only to give the rest of his chips to Vinny Pahuja a short while later.

Cantu saw his raised called by Pahuja, who sat on the button. Pahuja called a Cantu bet after an 8-7-x flop. After another 7 turned, Cantu would check-raise to 10K. Pahuja decided to repop, putting Cantu all in. The Bay 101 champ called to turn over big slick. Pahuja held 7-5 for trips. The river would bring a 5, improving the New York player to a boat and eliminating Cantu.

John Phan picked up two bracelets this year. He followed that up with two WTP final tables, the second one good for a win. He won't be adding to his WPT Player of the Year point totals this week, as the Razor busted and is nowhere to be found.

Players are now leaving on the day's last break. Play will resume shortly with level 5, the last level of the day. Blinds will be at 300-600, plus antes of 75.

Tuesday, 21st of October 2008 05:30 PM

Level 3 has wrapped and the surviving players have been sent on a break to eat, drink, smoke... whatever. Before the break, the payouts were announced. They are as follows:

Total Entries: 368
Total Prize Pool: $5,354,400 (Festa Al Lago record)

1st: $1,411,015
2nd: $943,215
3rd: $506,245
4th: $373,010
5th: $266,445
6th: $186,510
7th: $133,225
8th: $106,580
9th: $85,260
10th: $63,945
11th-15th: $53,290
16th-20th: $42,630
21st-30th: $31,975
31st-40th: $26,645
41st-50th: $21,315

The Bellagio likes to pay out 100 spots, but since the event didn't draw at least 400 entries, only the top 50 will avoid leaving the Bellagio empty handed.

Some Bellagio tournaments pay as many as 100 spots, but that is only if the total field crosses the 400-player mark.




	Billirakis and the Grinder

Poker Pages blogger Erica Schoenberg is doing her best to get a piece of that prize pool. She recently took a huge pot away from 2007 bracelet winner Steve Billirakis.

Erica popped it from the button, then called a reraise from Billirakis in the BB. Both players would check the 7

flop. After the 4

turned, Billirakis check-raised Erica, from 3,200 all the way to 9,800. Erica made the call to see the 7

on the river. Billirakis led out for 8K, only to have Schoenberg bump it up to 25K. A pained Billirakis would tank, peeking through his fingers at the "Poker Babe". Eventually, the player known online as "MrSmokey1" would make the call, only to see Erica turn over A

, having found a runner-runner flush. Erica has almost tripled her starting stack, sitting at 120K, while Billirakis is down to about 20K.

Erica sits behind one of the bigger chip stacks in play, but isn't the biggest. As of break, Ryan Young, David Chiu and Nenad Medic sit ahead of her.

Medic was able to get paid off on a rivered nut flush while holding A

to boost his stack nicely. He would then take the rest of Rhynie Campbell's chips. The WPT Turks and Caicos winner gave most of his stack to Medic in a classic race, his queens falling to Medic's big slick. Campbell would then run his A10 into Medic's AQ, ending his Festa Al Lago run.

Play will resume shortly with level 4. Blinds will be at 200-400 with an ante of 50.

Tuesday, 21st of October 2008 03:40 PM

Players are in the middle of break #2. When play resumes, registration will have closed and the tournament officials will begin tallying up the prize pool.

A few players have already assured themselves that they won't be taking home any part of the prize pool. Mark Seif, Patrick Antonius and David Williams each bit the dust before the break.




	Chino Rheem

Chino Rheem is still around, but his stack is a few chips lighter. Chino had to watch as Matt Giannetti made a hero call, holding J

on a 9-7-3-Q-Q board. The November Niner could only show 6-5 and a look of disbelief towards the tough call.

Tuesday, 21st of October 2008 03:00 PM

A few late entries have caused some table shake-ups. Miami John Cernuto took Michael Binger's spot at the table of death. Binger now has a new stacked table to deal with, one featuring Chad Brown, Tony Korfman, Jeff Madsen, Roland de Wolfe, David Chiu and Jared Hamby.

Tim West was originally sharing the table with his brother Tom. The brothers each appeared at a final table during this past WSOP and would no doubt like to find themselves at another one this week. Now they'll have to do it from different tables as Tim has been moved to David and Erica's table, while Tom is left to deal with his table's new additions, Alex Jacob and Nam Le.




	Vivek getting his read

According to BJ Nemeth of the WPT, 24 former WPT champs are in attendence today, topping the 22 that played in Day 1A. Vivek Rajkumar is one of the more recent winners, having picked up his win at the Borgata last month. Today Rajkumar is dealing with a table that includes Peter "Nordberg" Feldman, Dan Heimiller, Chad Batista and Steve Wong. Rajkumar is wisely picking on the unknowns.

After seeing a Q

flop, Rajkumar, sitting in the cutoff, would check-call a 1,500 bet from his opponent on the button to see the A

turn. It was another check-call from Rajkumar, this time for 2,500. After the 4

came on the river, it was another check, followed by a bigger bet this time, 4,500 chips. Rajkumar would tank, asking the dealer to lean back (Fat Joe-style) so he could see his opponent in the 1 seat from his spot in the 9 seat. After a few minutes, Rajkumar would call. His opponent turned over 6

for a pair of tens before Rajkumar showed K-Q, having flopped top pair. The queens were good and the WPT Borgata champ took down the 20K pot.




	Kelly Kim in the tank

On the next table over, "November Nine" member Kelly Kim isn't fairing as well. With 20K+ already in the pot and J-9-5-7-K on the board, it would cost Kim 12K to see his opponent's holdings. The Main Event final tabler would emerge from the tank with the call, only to see his opponent turn over Q-10, having rivered the nut straight. Kim is now under the 20K mark.

Looks like were at 208 entrants for today, giving us 361 overall and an estimated prize pool of $5.4 million. Registration is set to close in about 45 minutest. The official payouts will be posted here after they are made available.

On a table in the middle of the room, Marco Johnson opened up the action by making it 525 to go from under the gun. Right behind him with the call were Brian Rast and Barry Schulman (UTG+1 and UTG+2, respectively). After the 8

flop, Johnson led out with a bet of 1,025. Rast would call, only to have Schulman bump it to 4,025. Johnson got out of the way, but Rast made the call. The turn brought the 7

. Rast decided to lead out, putting in a big bet of 14K. Schulman didn't think long before moving it all in. Rast would call the additional 12,375.




	Marco Johnson and Brian Rast

Schulman turned over just A

, trailing the A

of Rast. After rast was able to dodge the river deuce, Schulman stormed off towards the door.

"Guess getting him off of 9's or 10's wasn't going to work," said Rast with a laugh. "He couldn't get away from deuces."

There is still about a half an hour left in level 2, with 100-200 blinds.

Tuesday, 21st of October 2008 01:45 PM

A rather uneventful level 1 has come to an end. There are 206 bones in the human body. There are also 206 Day 1B entrants, as of the first break. The 200 mark has been topped. How many more will show up before the end of level 2? We'll find out soon enough.

Players will be back in 15-minutes.

Tuesday, 21st of October 2008 01:00 PM

Looks like another packed field today. Superstars Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari, Gavin Smith, Eli Elezra, Jennifer Harman, Phil Laak, Scotty Nguyen and Phil Ivey played in Day 1A, due to the opening of "the Real Deal" stage show tonight. Still, names like Howard Lederer, Barry Greenstein, Erick Lindgren and Mike Matusow are bringing starpower the Day 1B felt.

As expected, their are some very tough table draws. Here are some of the most dangerous setups:




	David and Erica

Erica Schoenberg and fiance David Benyamine find themselves sitting side-by-side, sharing the felt with Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi, Tuan Le, Hevad Khan, David Williams and Steve Billirakis.

John "the Razor" Phan, who seems to be everybody's player of the year, will start the day battling the likes of Noah Schwartz, David "the Dragon" Pham and the trendy "November Nine" pick, Chino Rheem.

Joe Awada, Ryan Young, Tommy Le, Jared Hamby, Amir Vahedi and Men "the Master" Nguyen found themselves at the same table. They were all alternates. I guess that's what you get for showing up late, a tough draw.

All the tables in the room seem to be commenting on the table in the back right corner of the room. Here's how the impossible table is setup.




	Medic, Binger and Pahuja

Seat 1 -- Rhynie Campbell
Seat 2 -- Brandon Cantu
Seat 3 -- Gabe Thaler
Seat 4 -- Nenad Medic
Seat 5 -- Michael Binger
Seat 6 -- Vinny Pahuja
Seat 7 -- Nick Schulman
Seat 9 -- Robert Mizrachi

Also peppered amongst the field are past WPT champs Vivek Rajkumar, Amit Makhija and Scott Clements.

We're at 182 players and counting. We'll see if we can top 200 by the end of level 2.

Tuesday, 21st of October 2008 12:20 PM

Shuffle up and deal!

Play has begun. It looks like 172 players have signed up so far. That makes 325 total entries and counting. It may be a smallish field for the WPT, but the nearly $5 million prize pool should make for a lot of happy cashers. And seeing how the Festa Al Lago was a $10,000 buy-in event in the past, the prize pool is already the biggest in the tournaments history. All of this and registration is still open for a couple levels.

Tuesday, 21st of October 2008 11:50 AM

We are just minutes away from the start of play here at the Bellagio. Day 1A saw 153 players pony up the $15,000 buy-in. It's hard to tell what today's turnout will be like. Officials were predicting a larger 1B crowd then they saw in 1A, but there isn't a crowd of people waiting to spill into the Fontana Lounge as there was yesterday.

Level 1 means blinds of 50-100 and they will increase in 90-min levels. Each player will start the day triple-stacked. One would think that 45,000 chips would be hard to burn through, but more than 1/3 of the entrants did it yesterday.

We'll be back after the cards are in the air.

Day 1B of the 2008 WTP Festa Al Lago begins Tuesday at 12 p.m. PDT. To read the Day 1A live coverage blog, click here.

< Prev Blog		Next Blog >

All Poker and free play Poker content Copyright 1999-2007 Planet Ace Gibraltar Limited. All rights reserved.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, visit either: National Council on Problem Gambling or Gamblers Anonymous International Service

DISCLAIMER: The thoughts and opinions in this blog solely represent those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Poker Pages, its management, and/or staff.