2008 WPT Festa Al Lago Main Event, from the Bellagio in Las Vegas - Day 3 Coverage
Thursday, 23rd of October 2008 11:00 PM
Here are the end of day chip counts, as well as the payouts awarded today:
Seat
Name
Hometown
Chip Count
62-7
Ryan Fair
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
1,331,000
56-7
William Mietz
Littleton, CO
1,217,000
62-6
Bertrand Grospellier
London, England
1,151,000
54-6
Joe Sebok
San Francisco, CA
1,100,000
60-4
Nenad Medic
Niagra Falls, Canada
925,000
56-5
Oddie Dardon
West Covina, CA
703,000
60-7
Steve Fiorentini
Winchester, MA
686,000
54-8
Brad Booth
Vancouver, BC
616,000
62-2
Joe Ebanks
Stow, OH
595,000
60-2
Nam Le
Huntington Beach, CA
557,000
54-3
Scott Clements
Mt. Vernon, WA
552,000
56-9
Daniel Alaei
Las Vegas, NV
546,000
60-8
Olav Prinz Von Sachsen
Las Vegas, NV
507,000
54-4
Bryan Devonshire
Henderson, NV
485,000
60-6
Mike DeMichele
Poughkeepsie, NY
475,000
62-8
John Van Til
Groringen, Netherlands
468,000
56-2
Ki Nam
Surrey, Canada
416,000
54-5
Andrew Robl
East Lansing, MI
400,000
62-4
Mike Wattel
Phoenix, AZ
393,000
56-3
Dutch Boyd
Columbia, MO
366,000
62-3
Isaac Barron
Los Gatos, CA
325,000
56-4
Justin Bonomo
Las Vegas, NV
300,000
54-2
Adam Levy
Orlando, FL
298,000
54-9
Jamie Rosen
Boca Raton, FL
291,000
56-6
Sabyl Landrum
Folsom, CA
282,000
62-5
John Roveto
Atlanta, GA
263,000
54-7
Shawn Cunix
Columbus, OH
232,000
56-8
Abe Mosseri
New York, NY
208,000
60-5
Jimmy Tran
Las Vegas, NV
201,000
56-1
Emeline Boich
Las Vegas, NV
195,000
60-1
Chris Bjorin
London, England
179,000
60-3
Blake Cahail
Columbus, MO
173,000
62-1
Erica Schoenberg
Las Vegas, NV
140,000
54-1
J.J. Liu
Las Vegas, NV
21,000
Place
Name
Hometown
Prize Money
35
Matthew Stout
Galloway, NJ
26,645
36
Anthony Cousineau
Daytona Beach, FL
26,645
37
Masaaki kagawa
Tokyo, Japan
26,645
38
Jeremiah Vinsant
Murfreesboro, TN
26,645
39
Chad Layne
Las Vegas, NV
26,645
40
Richard Sciuto
Orange, CA
26,645
41
Danial Cordi
Whittier, CA
21,315
42
Robert McLaughlin
Washington, DC
21,315
43
Nicholas Sliwinski
Las Vegas, NV
21,315
44
Doyle Brunson
Las Vegas, NV
21,315
45
David Chiu
Las Vegas, NV
21,315
46
William Heimiller
Las Vegas, NV
21,315
47
Ken Goldman
Las Vegas, NV
21,315
48
Beth Shak
Bryn Mawr, PA
21,315
49
Bob Slezak
Omaha, NE
21,315
50tie
Jennifer Tilly
Hollywood, CA
7,105
50tie
Ted Lawson
Las Vegas, NV
7,105
50tie
Daniel Negreanu
Las Vegas, NV
7,105
Join us tomorrow at 12 p.m. PDT for live coverage of Day 4.
Thursday, 23rd of October 2008 09:35 PM
Play has concluded for the evening. Players will return tomorrow at noon for Day 4. Official chip counts will be posted shortly.
Tony Cousineau was the only other payout today. Cousineau ran a naked ace into pocket jacks and couldn't get there.
36th - Tony Cousineau - $26,645
Thursday, 23rd of October 2008 09:05 PM
Play has been stopped with the tourney clock reading 15:00. We're down to 36, which means another redraw. After the players make their way to their new seats, they will draw to see how many hands each table will play before the day is done. Tomorrow they will conduct yet another redraw, so in actuality, we could redraw, play a hand or two, only to redraw again. Either way, Day 3 is in its closing minutes.
Recent payouts:
Masaaki Kagawa - 37th
44th - Doyle Brunson - $21,135 43rd - Nicholas Sliwinski - $21,135 42nd - Robert McLaughlin - $21,135 41st - Daniel Cordi - $21,135 37th - Chad Layne - $26,645 38th - Jeremiah Vinsant - $26,645 39th - Masaaki Kagawa - $26,645 40th - Richard Sciuto - $26,645
Doyle got the rest of his stack in holding 9 8 after a 9-high flop. He was met by Bryan Devonshire, who tabled a couple of queens. The turn and river bricked, sending Brunson home for the night. Odds are he'll get the big game up and running tomorrow in Bobby's Room.
Sebok got his groove back
Nick Sliwinski watched Joe Sebok come over the top of his 25K with the rest of his stack. Sliwinski would have to move the rest of his stack in (~ 300K) to make the call, which he did with A J. Turns out the loose call was a good one... for a bit.
Sebok turned over KQ and would watch Sliwinski spike an ace on the flop. Sliwinski would then be sent to the rail after the dealer threw out running queens. Sebok's trips shot him up to about 850K.
What has been confirmed is a three-way tie for 50th-place. Jennifer Tilly, Daniel Negreanu and Ted Lawson will chop up the $21,135 three ways. I have a feeling Tilly might still have a bone to pick with the Bellagio tournament staff.
Ryan Fair and Will Mietz
Will Mietz lost the chip lead for a bit, only to regain it after picking up a sweet river.
After a Mietz check-raise on the flop and Michael DeMichele calling a big bet on the turn, there was over half a million in the pot and A-6-3-4-7 on the board. Mietz bet 400K of his 600K stack. DeMichele makes a crying call to see Mietz turn over 55, having rivered a seven-high straight. DeMichele mucked and is now near 300K, while Mietz, who was down near 700K just moments ago, is back around 1.5 million.
Chino Rheem did the honors of drawing the remaining hands cards. After the WSOP Main Event final tabler squeezed out an eight, one player from across the room yelled out "I hope you lose." Ocho more hands, por favor.
Thursday, 23rd of October 2008 07:45 PM
The double elimination is always a good answer to combatting the money bubble. A triple elim is even better. We're in the money, but due to a little controversy, nobody is quite sure who finished on the bubble.
There were 52 players remaining when Daniel Negreanu moved in his last 60K from UTG with KJ. He was followed by Ted Lawson. Lawson shipped the rest of his short stack in with A9. Of course, the BB looks down at QQ and makes the call. The Q-10-5-10-A board filled up the BB and in a shocking turn of events, Negreanu, who started the day with the chip lead, had failed to reach the money, as did Lawson.
A tournament director had spread the word that the players were in the money. The only problem is, other tables were still playing the last hand.
Will Mietz - visibly thrilled to be sitting behind 1.5 million
Jennifer Tilly had just dumped half of her 600K+ stack to Grospellier. After getting word that they had reached the money, she shipped the rest of her stack to chip leader Will Mietz. Tilly came up on the short end and headed to the payouts to collect her 50th place money. Only then is she aware of the bubble confusion. Negreanu, Lawson and Tilly had all busted on the same hand, but Tilly's elimination came minutes after the tournament directors prematurely declared the money bubble as busted.
The tournament staff appears to be straightening out the situation. It seems it would only be fair to grant Tilly 50th ($21,315), but all that does is cost Negreanu and Lawson a chop of that 50th-place prize money (about $7,000). We'll post an official ruling when one is reached.
But all the confusion didn't halt play. We're now down to 45 players, all of which are currently on break. They will return in 15 for another redraw.
Payouts ($21,135):
Beth Shak - sees she was done in by Elky's 73
50th - Jennifer Tilly (unofficially) 49th - Bob Slezak 48th - Beth Shak 47th - Ken Goldman 46th - William Heimiller 45th - David Chiu
The lovely Beth Shak was forced to exit after having her AQ dropped by Grospellier's suited four-gapper. Shak would call the preflop raise of Andrew Robl to 17,500. Both of the blinds would come along as well. After the A-7-3 flop, Shak shoved her last 100K in the middle and was met by Grospellier's call from the BB.
Shak turned over her top pair, queen kicker. Grospellier turned over 7 3 for bottom two. Grospellier would fill up as another 3 turned. Shak couldn't resuck on the river, but said happy just to have reached money as she headed towards the payouts.
David Chiu - 45th
David Chiu was bounced on the last hand before break. With J 8 7 on the board, Osmin Dardon would put a check-raise on Chiu, pumping it up from 50K to 105K. Chiu would call, leaving just 14,500 behind. Dardon would commit the rest of his stack blind, while Chiu chose to watch the 7 fall on the river. Chiu would then ship the rest of it to turn over 4 5, having turned the straight with a flush redraw. Dardon would turn over two red eights, having filled up on the river to eliminate last year's WPT World Champion.
Play will resume in a few minutes with level 15, 4,000-8,000 blinds and 1,000 antes. This should be the last level of the day.
Thursday, 23rd of October 2008 06:05 PM
The bubble is upon us. With 58 players remaining, then next eight will leave without as much as a parting gift.
There are a few new names atop the chip counts, while a couple of the big stacks have fallen back to earth.
Doyle doubles... and then some
The two biggest names in the room, Daniel Negreanu and Doyle Brunson, each found themselves in monster pots simultaneously, on other sides of the room. Sadly, both did not produce positive results.
In the front of the room, everybody seemed to be waking up with hands, including Dolly. Dutch Boyd opened the action with a raise to 18K. Alan Smurfit was next to act and shipped his last 60K, or so. Next to act was Ted Lawson, who asked for a count on Smurfit's stack. Lawson would think better of getting involved, saying later he layed down tens.
After Lawson was Doyle. The legend announced he was all in, pushing in the Smurfit call, along with 95,500 more. Dutch would make the call, hoping to knock out two with his AK. Smurfit rolled over JJ, but everyone was trailing Doyle, who slapped a couple cowboys on the felt.
Boyd and Smurfit get the bad news
No surprises on the board. Thanks to the timely KK pickup, Doyle is now up over 400K. Dutch is below 100K and Smurfit is history.
A couple hands later, Doyle tried to finish Dutch off with KJ, only to double up Boyd up with his own money when he couldn't top AK.
Across the room, Daniel Negreanu held big slick and loved the A-K-7 flop so much he moved the rest of his stack in. First, it was a 22K flop bet from Daniel, followed by a raise to 160K from Ryan Fair. Negreanu then came back over the top, announcing all in. Fair would call off his last 350K.
Ryan Fair
The cards were turned and Negreanu's top two had been outflopped by Fair's set of sevens. Negreanu would need to fill up on 4th or 5th street, but couldn't pull off the suckout. Negreanu is now at 100K, while Fair's stack of 800K+ is so big he has to color up a bit.
Fair is trailing both William Mietz and Nenad Medic in the chip counts, as the two are flirting with the 1 million chip mark. Right behind Fair is Jennifer Tilly.
Jennifer Tilly
Tilly saw her UTG raise repopped by all ins from Johnny Chan and Allie Prescott. She would make the call with AK to find herself racing with both Chan's 10's and Prescott's 9's. An ace in the window gave Tilly the lead. Bricks on the way out would chip her up to almost 700K. Chan and Prescott finish short of the money.
Ryan Young, Peter Neff and Will "the Thrill" Failla can add their names to the list of bubble casualties.
Bertrand Grospellier was able to take care of one. Not much work for "ElKy" to do, as an unknown player ran his short stack and pocket jacks into the WPT PCA champ's AA. Grospellier would add an ace on the turn to ice it and inch towards the 500,000 chip mark.
The field has reached 54. At the Bellagio, that means a redraw. When play resumes, they will continue to press on towards the cash.
Thursday, 23rd of October 2008 04:45 PM
A total of 73 players returned from the last break, meaning the money bubble (50 payouts) is within sight. Here's a reminder of what people keep donking out short of.
Payout structure:
Total Entries: 368 Total Prize Pool: $5,354,400 (Festa Al Lago record)
Joe Sebok looked poised to cash, but now has his work cut out for him after doubling up Andrew Robl.
Not long after giving taking a nice pot from Toto Leonidas with 88, and Robl dropping one to Toto flush vs flush, Sebok watched as Robl repopped his preflop raise from 12K to 28K. Sebok made the call and the dealer flopped 3 9 7 . That was worth a 20K check-call from Sebok. After the turn brought the Q , Sebok would again check, only to see Robl move his last 108K in.
After a dip in the tank, Sebok would call to table A K . The table was suprised to see Robl's J 9, thanks to a sneaky repop by the player known online as "good2cu". Sebok was hoping his nut flush draw or pair draw would connect, but they didn't. The 10 on the river prompted the dealer to slide the pot right past Sebok and into Robl's arms. After starting 7th in chips, Sebok is now under 200K.
Young puts the finishing touches on his all in move
Ryan Young spent the first couple days near the top of the chip counts, before taking a big hit as his set of ducks fell to a turned flush by Sebok. Young found himself under the 100K mark and shipping said stack after a 7 9 5 flop. He slid his stack to the middle and topped it off with his final, card protecting 1K chip. His opponent would tank, before laying it down.
"I bet I can name your exact hand," said the opponent. "Pocket eights, with the 8?"
"Good guess," said Young. "But no." The 2007 bracelet winner mucked his hand and pulled his stack back home.
Daniel Alaei was able to win a race. His prize... a double up.
It was Alaei's AQ up against 77. By the turn, Alaei had found Broadway on the J-10-J-K board. His opponent wasn't able to fill up on the river, allowing Alaei to battle another day with more than 100K.
Dutch Boyd continues to climb up the leader board and has nearly 500K after he found set-over-set to send another player packing.
As for the list of busted notables in unlucky level 13; Allen Cunningham, Jonathan "FatalError" Aguiar, Matt Hyman and Tim "tmay420" West each fell a couple dozen spots short of the money.
Thursday, 23rd of October 2008 03:35 PM
Level 12 is done and players are gone on another break. When play resumes, they'll have to deal with 2,000-4,000 blinds and 500 antes.
Jamie "TheChronic420" Rosen
Before the break, Alec Torelli, Theo Tran and Mike Matusow were eliminated.
Matusow was just telling anyone who would listen about how even though he had almost 300K, the Bellagio decks had been cold to him this week. "This tourney, pocket kings, zero times," said Matusow. "Queens, zero times. I had aces once today, but that's it."
Pocket nines must have looked like the nuts to the card-dead Matusow, who shipped his stack into the waiting arms of Jamie Rosen, who held AA, of course. This was just a short time after Rosen dismissed Torelli, flopping bottom set to his kings and queens.
Thursday, 23rd of October 2008 02:30 PM
Day 3 proved not to be JC Tran's day. After hits by Edler and Masaaki, table newcomer Michael DeMichele showed up to attack the new bracelet owner.
DeMichele
First it was DeMichele's queens putting the hurt on Tran. There was already 125K in the pot and 7-4-4-8-J on the board, when DeMichele put in a bet worth 70,000. Tran would make the call to see the $50K HORSE runner-up show his ladies, dropping Tran below the 100K mark.
On the next hand, Tran would commit the rest of his stack with the same hand that just got done hurting him, QQ. DeMichele would call the all in on the A-9-2-A-3 board to show KK. The cowboys were good enough to take the pot, sending Tran packing.
Then it was aces time again. Brad Booth put the brakes on Steve Brecher's Festa Al Lago run when his aces were able to hold up. "Yukon" is nearing the 400,000 in chips, gaining on fellow Canadian Daniel Negreanu.
Negreanu - back to where he started
Negreanu had fallen from his 400K starting stack. Thanks to a timely pair of rockets and some coy play, "Kid Poker" is almost back to where he started Day 3.
Negreanu would set up his play by flatting a Shawn Sheikhan raise, allowing Doug Lee to ship his last 40K from the blinds. Sheikhan was looking to isolate Lee and shoved his stack. It was about 130K to Negreanu, who happily made the call, turning over his AA. Any talk of a suckout by Lee's 55 or Shecky's 88 was drowned out by the A-3-3 flop, filling up Negreanu. No miracles here and Negreanu sends two more to the rail, while again flirting with 500K. John Roveto was moved into Shecky's seat and picked up AA right away to take down a big pot.
Joining Negreanu's victims on the rail are Peter "Nordberg" Feldman, Jon Friedberg, Barry Greenstein, Chau Giang and Isaac Haxton.
Alan Smurfit is one of the short-stacks, hoping to climb at least into the top 50 spots and grab a payday. His last all in move was met with a call by Joe Sebok and his 7 8 . Smurfit's pocket tens were in dominant position for a double through.
Smurfit - can't believe the board
The flop came A-K-Q, good enough for Sebok to begin counting out the Smurfit double. Sebok would be able to restack those chips after the turn 10 and river J earned him a chop at the expense of a disgusted Smurfit.
The board is showing 81 players remaining with Blake Cahail and DeMichele joining Negreanu near the top of the chip counts, at or around 500K.
Thursday, 23rd of October 2008 01:00 PM
It's time for Day 3 of the WPT Festa Al Lago championship from the Bellagio. The 104 returning players sat down to level 11, with 1,200-2,400 blands, plus 300 antes. Unlike yesterday, which seemed to drag in the early levels, there have been all in and calls all around the room.
The first to go was short-stack Tony Korfman. He was soon followed by Bill Edler.
Edler, who took down the WPT Gulf Coast Poker Championship last year, along with his first WSOP bracelet, showed up short on Day 2. He would grind it out to brind another short-stack (35K) into play today. After doubling through JC Tran, Edler would tangle with Kagawa Masaaki.
By the time the river was dealt, the board read K-3-2-5-5. Masaaki led out for 50K. Edler would tank, knowing a call meant he's committing the rest of his stack. Eventually, Edler would make the call. An excited Masaaki would quickly table KK, having filled up on the river.
"It's good," laughed Edler, as he through his hand in the muck. "Only pocket fours."
JC Tran
Staying with the same table, JC Tran would lay down to some Masaaki aggression, handing the Japanese pro another pot. Then, after seeing a 9 J 4 flop, JC saw his bet of 10K met with an all in by another opponent. JC would tank, then call the additional 59,800 with AJ (top-top).
His opponent showed A Q , looking for any spade for the nut flush, or a queen to spike. The turn bricked off, but the river didn't. The Q on the river paired JC's opponent, delivering another hit to the 2007 WPT World Poker Challenge winner. JC is down, but still heathy at about 200K.
Booth and Haxton
On the next table over, Brad Booth was all in after the river. Isaac Haxton was in the tank, staring down the scary K 9 K 10 J board.
"I fold, you show?" asked Haxton, before going back into the tank. After a few minutes, a somewhat disgusted Haxton throws his hand in the muck. "Show me two unders, playing the board," said Haxton. Booth showed 8-4 offsuit.
"That ought to loosen the table up," said booth, as he took down the 100K pot.
"I was so close to calling," said Haxton.
"You'll have plenty of chances today," said Booth.
JC Alvarado
JC Alvarado had already exited the tournament area, just moments removed from having his QQ cracked by 99, when a stack count by the dealer showed Alvarado still had a couple chips left over from his tangle with Osmin Dardon. He would get the rest of his stack in on the following hand, holding the A after a flop. He recieved action from Sabyl Landrum and her top pair (K9), but couldn't quite get there, forcing him to exit... again.
With the elimination of three-time bracelet winner Farzad Bonyadi, we're at 100 survivors exactly as the days opening level is coming to a close. Negreanu still sits behind the big stack, with 500K.
Day 3 of the 2008 WTP Festa Al Lago begins Thursday at 12 p.m. PDT.
Click here to read the Day 1A blog. Day 1B coverage can be found here. Wanna find out what happened Wednesday? The Day 2 is located here. Day 3 starting stacks can be found below.
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.
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