|
WPT World Championship - Day 3 |
| by 2009 World Poker Tour Coverage | |
| Tuesday, 21 April 2009 |
|
Live coverage of the $25,000 WPT World Championship from the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
Tuesday, 21st of April 2009 09:45 PM Here are the official chip counts from the Bellagio tournament staff. Day 4 begins Wednesday at noon PT. The money bubble is coming tomorrow, so things are just getting interesting.
Tuesday, 21st of April 2009 09:15 PM There were 79 players at the time Level 15 cranked up. With only 50 paychecks up for grabs, things are starting to get intersting.
After break, the two would go to another flop, but this time Martin de Knijff would join them. After the 9-9-5 flop, Batista got out of the way as de Knijff came over the top of him and Deeb made the call. De Knijff showed KK, but was in bad shape after Deeb turned over 55 for the boat. De Knijff wasn't able to find a king on the way out and the last WPT World Champ standing is a goner. Late in the level, Batista would spike an ace on the turn to eliminate JJ Liu and her pocket kings. After the hand Batista looked to have about 500K, or half of what Deeb is sitting behind. Other eliminations include Mimi Tran, Jean Noel Thorel and Jeff King. Mimi Tran raced her jacks against the AQ of Liv Boeree and came up short. Thorel, who began the day with the chip lead, bluffed the rest of his stack off to Eric Liu. King, the last remaining player from the Season VI World Championships final table, doubled up with pocket tens, only to come up short later in the level with pocket eights. Steve Sung continues to stumble. After streaking to the chip lead in the early levels of Day 3, Sung has dropped under 500K. The latest hit came when he played AK against Dutch Boyd's KK and didn't get there.
Ivey came bursting out of the gates in level 15 by taking down a big pot with quads. Ivey's 44 had found quads on the flop, but wasn't able to get any money past the turn. He checked after the river bricked but couldn't get anyone to bite. Ivey is now on the high side of 1 million chips. There are still four Season VII event winners in the field, Deeb being one of them. Grospellier, Vadim Trincher and Stever Brecher are the others.
The clock has run out on Day 3. It looks like 62 players are bagging chips, so we should tackle the money bubble first thing tomorrow. Steve Billirakis looks to be the unofficial chip leader with 1.7 million and change. The official chip counts will be posted here after they are made available by the Bellagio staff. The Day 4 cards will be in the air at noon PT tomorrow, Wednesday. Tuesday, 21st of April 2009 07:15 PM We're almost at the end of Day 3.
A while later, Hyman picked up aces again and had them paid off. This time it was then chip leader Steve Sung. Hyman opened with a raise to 13K, only to have Sung re-pop from the BB. Hyman then pumped it all the way up to 220K and Sung made the call. After the J-6-4 flop, Hyman got the rest of his chips in and Sung came along. When the cards were turned, Sung showed 10-10 and got the news of Hyman's rockets. The turn and river bricked, giving the 800K+ pot to Hyman, along with the chip lead.
Hamby helped lighten the load by taking care of McNiff. But Billirakis is still pushing the table around. In a recent hand, a series of prefop raises saw Billirakis and Slaughbaugh each pay 82K to see a Q-J-5 flop. They would both check it as a K turned, but after a 6 rivered, a 165K bet from Billirakis was enough to force Slaughbaugh into the tank. After the countdown expired, Slaughbaugh calls to see Billirakis' K-J for two pair.
Schleger lost the rest of his chips holding AA. Shaniac got it all in after the flop holding the overpair, but was unable to avoid the flush draw of Quinn Do. Chan got the rest of his chips in holding AK against an ace-high flop. Sadly, Chan would run into Michael Demichele's set of aces, sending the 10-time bracelet winner to the rail.
 K . After a Jennifer Harman opening raise to 16K, it was Blake Cahail re-raising to 45K and Keating making it 125K to roll. Harman wasn't interested, but cahail moved all in. Keating made the call, only to see Cahail had picked up A A. The table gasped simultaneaously as a king came in the window. But the flop also contained an ace. The turn and river didn't change anything. Keating was gone and Cahail started re-stacking the chips, since Keating playfully knocked them over after exchanging a handshake. Cahail is now around 1 million.Level 15 will be the last level of the day. Blinds will be 4,000-8,000 with 1,000 antes.
Tuesday, 21st of April 2009 05:15 PM Joe Sebok had a tough time today. Sebok wasn't getting much respect, and had to watch a handful of players call almost every raise. First it was Jesus Ferguson defending his big blind to a Sebok UTG raise. A check-raise by Jesus to 50K after a K-8-7 flop was enough to scare off Sebok. In a key hand, Sebok made it 12K to go from UTG and watched Bruno Fitoussi, Steve Sung and Russ Boatman call. The flop came K-8-2 and Sebok put in a check-raise from 25K to 65K. Fitoussi wasn't having it and moved all in for about 125K more. A visably frustrated Sebok gave it up to hang onto his last 80K or so. Not long after, Sebok would run AJ right into the waiting arms of Sung, the chip leader, who held AQ. Sebok couldn't overcome the domination and is gone midway through Day 3.
Earlier, it was Matusow in a battle of the blinds with Jeff King, who finished 6th here last year. After seeing a 10-Q-7 flop and a 3 turn, King led out with 23K from the small blind. Matusow went into the tank. At one point, Matusow grabbed the wrist of King to find a pulse. "Not moving very fast," said Matusow, before dumping his hand. A little while later, Matusow would pay off Martin de Knijff's two pair on a K-Q-4-6-10 board, allowing the former WPT World Champion to double through.
Liu sat in the big blind and after Boris called a raise from Annie to 11K, Liu would join them to the flop. A-K-J on the board and Liu checks to Annie, who stabs for 25K. Becker calls, as does Liu. The turn brings a 3 and this time it's checked around to Boris. The tennis legend turned PokerStars ambassador tried a 55K bet, but that didn't work. Liu came over the top with another 125K, forcing both players out of the pot. Eric Liu is now up to 300K. Down to 12 tables in the Fontana Lounge. It looks like Mark Seif and Steve Billirakis have joined Steve Sung in the 1 million + club. Billirakis has been moving up all day, while Seif can thank a couple huge pots. Not only did he take a few hundred thousand off of Nick Binger with a bluff, but he recently added another 400K+ when his sixes full got paid off by top pair. Jean Noel Thorel may be closer to 700K. Barney Boatman took a nice pot off of Thorel with an all in shove. Thorel started the preflop action with a big opening raise to 25K from early position. Boatman re-popped all the way to 80K from the BB and Thorel would call. The flop came Q-J-9 and Boatman immediately announced all in. Thorel would dump it and may slow down a bit after that one.
1 -- Mark Seif -- 1,100,000 2 -- Steve Billirakis -- 1,100,000 3 -- Steve Sung -- 1,100,000 4 -- Jean Noel Thorel -- 840,000 5 -- David Singer -- 820,000 6 -- Michael DeMichele -- 765,000 7 -- Jimmy Fricke -- 650,000 8 -- Bertrand Grospellier -- 570,000 9 -- Justin Young -- 560,000 10 -- Matthew Hyman -- 540,000 We're now under 100 players. Level 14 is up next, 3K-6K blinds and 500 antes. Tuesday, 21st of April 2009 03:30 PM There are about 125 players still remaining. They're all leaving on break #2 of the day. When they get back it's 2,000-4,000 blinds plus a 500 ante.
After the move, Ivey found himself to the left of Boris Becker and immediately facing a big bet on the river. There wasn't a lot in the pot, but with A-5-A-7-7 on the board, it would cost Ivey another 55K to see what the youngest Wimbledon champ ever was representing. A few minutes later, Ivey would make the call. Becker turned over A-6 for aces full. Ivey shook his head and tossed his holdings in the muck.
Next hand, Elky would get some back. His preflop raise to 7K would get one caller. After a 10-7-10 flop, his 11,100 bet would get another call. The two would slow down after the 6 turn and J river. Grospellier then knew his 9-9 was good and turned it over. His oppoenent mucked to give the Team PokerStars Pro the pot and the second spot in the chip counts.
Action folded to Nick Binger on the button, and he tosses 8K out of his monster stack. Mike Sexton dumped his small blind, but Mark Seif re-popped to 28K from the big blind. Binger would call to see a J-4-3 flop. Seif checked it to Nick, who fired out 28,800. Seif wasted little time putting in the raise to 70K. Again, Binger would call. After a Q fell on the turn, Seif again checked. This time, after Binger stabbed for 85K, Seif announced he was all in. Binger eventually gave it up. Seif couldn't wait to show his hand and turned over A-10 for nothing but a gut shot. "These guys are crazy!" said Lisa Parsons, who has each of these guys seated to her left. We've lost a few more players, including Beth Shak, Vivek Rajkumar, Allen Kessler and Daniel Negreanu. Vivek couldn't recover after having his QQ rivered by AK. Kesser got it in on the short end of a race and couldn't get there with AQ. Negreanu tried to battle. First, he doubled through David Benyamine when his pocket tens held up. A short while later, "Kid Poker" made a move with AK and ran right into the big blind, who woke up with pocket kings. The kings held and Negreanu is no more. Tuesday, 21st of April 2009 01:45 PM Level 11 is just about done. It looks like we have some new names near the top of the chip counts.
1 -- Steve Sung -- 1,160,000 2 -- Steve Billirakis -- 800,000 3 -- Jean Noel Thorel -- 720,000 4 -- Dan Heimiller -- 655,700 5 -- Elky Grospellier -- 650,000 6 -- Johnny Chan -- 610,000 7 -- Fred Berger -- 598,500 8 -- Justin Young -- 550,000 9 -- Jimmy Fricke -- 545,000 10 -- Jeff Madsen -- 540,000 Francois Safieddine had been playing tight. He showed Sammy Farha respect early, insta-mucking AQ from the big blind to a Farha 60K open-shove. A little while later, Safieddine would run into the Steve Sung steamroll. Sung had worked his way all the way up to almost 700K in chips before tangling with Safieddine. A series of raises resulted in Sung calling more than 300K with J-J. Safieddine was all in, but leading with K-K. But by the turn, the Frenchman's kings had been upset as Sung had found not one, but two jacks. Sung's quad jacks catapult him over the 1 million chip mark. Bertrand Grospellier is still hanging in the top five. The Festa Al Lago winner slipped up early and took a hit when he allowed his opponent to catch up to his queens on the river. But he would get a few of those chips right back after picking off Howard Lederer for his last 10K or so. Also going broke during the day's first level; Nick Schulman, Chau Giang and Brandon Cantu. Cantu was crippled after running a scrawny 4-3 into the pocket aes of Jason Lester. Cantu had an open-ender after the turn, but couldn't get there on the river.
After a K  4 7 flop, the 2007 Main Event winner would check-call 8,500 from the SB. Both players slowed down after the Q fell on the turn to see a free river. After the 2 came on 5th street, Yang led out for 20K and got looked up by Liu. Yang tabled K-10 for top pair and was quickly shipped the pot.Beth Shak had her tournament life on the line. Not only did she double up Adam "Roothlus" Levy in the first level, but in a confrontation with Annie Duke, Shak had moved her last 55K in in by the river. After a 4-6-Q flop, it was Shak leading out for 15K and Duke calling. After the turn fell 3, Duke would call 20K from Shak. The river brought a 4 and Shak announced she was all in. It didn't take long for Duke to let go of her hand. Shak should be close to 150K now.
In a recent battle with a player in the BB, ivey saw his preflop raise to 6K called. After the action flop of KhQhJc Ivey led out for 8K and picked up another call. After a 3c came on the turn, Ivey made it 21K to go. The BB dipped into the tank for a few minutes before letting it go. Ivey let off a smirk as he took in the pot. Players are returning from their first break to 1,500-3,000 blinds and 400 antes. Tuesday, 21st of April 2009 12:05 PM It's noon. Day 3 is scheduled to begin, but I've come to the conclusion that they just say noon to get the cards in the air by 12:30. Once play does fire up, they'll begin the first of five levels for the day. Level 11 brings 1,200-2,400 blinds and 300 antes. We have to get all the way down to 50 from 162 to reach the money bubble. That may seem like a stretch, but seeing how we lost more than 130 players in Day 2, it's not out of reach.
Day 3 of the WPT Season II World Championship begins Tuesday at noon PT. Click here to find out what went down on Day 2. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| < Prev Blog | Next Blog > |
|---|
