Live Coverage of the $5,000 Championship Event
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 10:25 PM
It's over.
With 9 10 K on the board, Mizrachi got the rest of his chips in after the flop and Bonomo came along. Mizrachi turned over J 9 for bottom pair and a gutshot. Bonomo showed K Q for top pair and a gutshot of his own. In the end, after an A and 3 fell, each had made a diamond flush. Bonomo's Q-high flush was better.
Michael Mizrachi is the runner-up, worth $143,512.
Justin Bonomo is the 2009 WSOP Caesars Las Vegas Circuit event and will take home the championship ring, a Main Event seat and $237,692.
Day 3 started at noon with 16 players. In just over an hour and a half, they were ten-handed. Less than four hours later, they were heads-up. It would take another four and a half hours to crown a winner after one of the better back and forth confrontations the WSOPC has ever seen. Congrats to all the players. Thanks for getting you updates on Poker Pages.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 09:35 PM
Bonomo has regained the lead. Mizrachi had made the all in move after a Bonomo preflop raise. Bonomo dipped into the tank to hammer out a decision.
"I don't know what to do," said Bonomo, as he changed positions in his chair to help him think better.
Eventually, Bonomo would call off his last 1.37 million with A 8. Mizrachi tabled A 6 and was trailing. The board would come A-10-5-2-3 and the kickers actually played.
"That was the worst turn card for me," said Grinder as he counted the 1.37 mil to ship across the table.
Bonomo now has around 3 million to Mizrachi's 1.7 million.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 09:15 PM
Cooler!
Mizrachi opens for 100K and Bonomo makes it 320K to go. Mizrachi moves all in for 1.94 million and Bonomo calls.
Bonomo turns over Q Q. Grinder shows K K. The board comes J 9 J 3 5 and Grinder's cowboys are good for the double up to almost 3.7 million. Bonomo is back under the 1 million mark.
Not to worry. Bonomo immediately doubled when his A K held up against Grinder's K-J by picking up the nut heart flush.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 08:55 PM
Players have returned from a short break. New level; 20K-40K blinds and 4K antes. Bonomo has 3 million to Grinder's 1.6 million and change.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 08:30 PM
Bonomo was slowly chipping away at the Grinder's lead. He got all the way up to 1.477 million... then he moved all in. Grinder would make the call.
The hands were shown and it was a race; Grinder's 9-9 against the A K of Bonomo. After fighting through a crowd of fans, I was able to see Bonomo make a flush on the 5 J 10 4 4 board to regain the chip lead.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 08:00 PM
The tables have turned. After reaching as low as the 600's, Grinder now has Bonomo around 1 million chips.
Grinder slowly built his stack up to over 1.2 million, then topped the two million mark after having his king-high straight paid off for 500K on the river with K-Q-9-10-5 on the board.
Shortly after, with a ton of 10K chips in the pot and K-Q-9-9-7 on the board, Mizrachi moves all in for another 1.2 million and is called. Mizrachi say's "full house," as he turned over 9-7. A shocked Bonomo had to count out the double and see that he was around 900K.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 07:45 PM
The Grinder took a couple big hits and is now on the ropes.
In the first pot, by the turn there was 9 2 J 10 on the board and it would cost 240K for Grinder to go to the river. He decides to raise it up to 480K and Bonomo calls. The river bricks off the 2 and both players check. Bonomo shows J-8 for top pair, which is good enough to take it down.
Not long after, Bonomo would call 75K preflop to see the dealer fan out 8 4 9. Both checked to see the 2 turn. It was now 120K to Bonomo, who made the call. 4 on the river and this time Bonomo makes it 335K to showdown. Mizrachi would make the call to see Bonomo turn over Q 4 for trip fours. Mizrachi mucked and is now down under 700K to Bonomo's almost 4 million.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 07:10 PM
With 10 5 2 8 on the board, Bonomo calls a bet of 260K from the Grinder. 3 on the river and Grinder leads out for 800K, about the size of the pot. Bonomo then moves all in, forcing Grinder into the tank. After about five minutes, he would let it go, leaving himself about 1 million to play with.
It was supposed to be break time, but the two have decided to play though in hopes of ending this thing soon. New blinds; 15K-30K and 3K antes.
In the first hand of the new level, Grinder shipped the rest of his stack with A-2 and is called by Bonomo and his 5-5. A crowd gathered and the cameras came out, but the board fell K-4-A-A-8 and the Grinder doubled. Game on.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 06:30 PM
Heads-up play has been uneventful, so far. Most of the time has been spent trading small pots and the stacks have remained relatively even.
A few hands back, Mizrachi was able to take down a 700K pot after his 10 8 connected on a four-flush and Bonomo paid to see it. In the last hand, Bonomo was able to take almost a million off Grinder.
With Q 5 K 4 4 on the board, Bonomo was facing a 200K bet from Mizrachi. Bonomo brought out three stacks of orange and made it 600K to go. Mizrachi didn't waste much time making the call. Much to the dismay of the Mizrachi faithful, Bonomo turned ove A 4 for trip fours. Grinder flashed his bros his hand and tossed it in the muck.
Bonomo looks to be up 2.7 million to 1.8 million at the moment.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 05:50 PM
Heads-up play is underway.
Bonomo holds onto 2.5 million chips to Grinder's 2.02 million. The two spent most of the break trying to hammer out a chop. It appears they got the numbers to work, and will now play it out for a few extra thousand, the ring and the Main Event seat.
Blinds are at 10K-20K plus 2K antes. First and second are worth $237,692 and $143,512 respectively.
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| Matt Graham - 5th | |
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 05:30 PM
Would you believe me if I told you we're heads-up?
First, bracelet winner Matt Graham went broke. Graham to break with about 500K, or a little more than half of what the Grinder had. Now, Graham is left nothing after he ran his A-9 into the A-K of Mizrachi.
Matt Graham is out in 5th, good for $56,059.
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| Jeremiah DeGreef - 4th | |
A couple hands later, Jeremiah DeGreef was tangling with Mizrachi.
A series of raises saw DeGreef ship his last 600,000 with K-J offsuit. He was looked up by the Grinder who held A-Q. The board came all unders and A-Q high was enough for another Grinder K.O. Just like that, we're three-handed.
Jeremiah DeGreef finished in 4th-place, earning $71,756.
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| Men Nguyen - 3rd | |
On the very first hand of three-handed play, Men "the Master" came over the top of a Bonomo raise, triggering the youngster to move in. The Master called to show A 6, in bad shape against the A-Q of bonomo. No suckouts here and the table is now set for a Grinder/Bonomo heads-up match.
Men "the Master" Nguyen is done in 3rd, earning $91,937.
Mazrachi and Bonomo are taking a short break. We'll be back shortly.
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| Dwyte Pilgrim - 6th | |
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 05:00 PM
Dwyte Pilgrim's impressive run is over.
Pilgrim was down to his last 200K or so and shipped after picking up big slick. He got action from Bonomo, the big stack, who held J-J. The board would bring no help to Pilgrim. Bonomo is up to 2.2 million.
Dwyte Pilgrim is gone in 6th, good for a $44,848 payday.
This marks the end of an impressive run for Pilgrim. This is his 12th cash of the 08-09 WSOPC season. That includes a win at an Atlantic City prelim and another win at the Rincon Championship.
Break time. We'll be back in about 10 mins.
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| Matt Graham | |
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 04:35 PM
Matt Graham just doubled through Mike Mizrachi. Mizrachi came over the top of a 50K preflop raise with the rest of his chips. Graham beat him into the middle with his last 330K and A-K. Grinder showed K Q. The dealer ran out 9-8-5-A-2 and Graham turns a pair of aces to ice the hand.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 04:20 PM
Lost another one... but Dwyte Pilgrim made sure it wasn't him.
In a battle with Bonomo, Pilgrim saw his opening raise to 50K bumped to 135K by Bonomo in the cutoff. Pilgrim shipped it for 250K total and Bonomo called with A-J. Pilgrim showed two red fives and after a bunch of rags landed on the board, his pair held up.
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| Jack Schanbacher - 7th | |
Bonomo would make up for the hit on the very next hand.
Folds around to Schanbacher in the cutoff and he makes it 42K. Bonomo is next to act and puts in another re-raise, this time to 110K. Schanbacher gave it some thought, then shipped his whole stack, worth almost 600K. Bonomo snap called him with pocket kings. Schanbacher turned over 7-7. The 9-3-5-3-5 board was no help to Schanbacher and Bonomo has the overwhelming chip lead with about 1.6 million.
Jack Schanbacher is out in 7th, worth $35,878.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 03:50 PM
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| Evgeny Serebryakov | |
Sometimes the squeeze play doesn't work.
Matt Graham opened the action with a raise to 42K from MP and Bonomo was right behind him with the call in the cutoff. The button and SB got out of the way, but Serebryakov moved in from the BB, making it 286K more. Graham mucked.
"I was hoping you would call, so I didn't have to," said Bonomo.
Bonomo eventually made the call with K Q. Jaws dropped after the Russian showed just 3-2. The board came 8-10-7-4-10 and king-high was good.
Evgeny Serebryakov is out in 9th, worth $24,666.
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| Tony Antonious - 8th | |
Right on Serebryakov's heels was Tony Antonious.
Antonious had more than 300K and committed it all preflop with A-K. Antonious would get action from Jack Schanbacher and his pocket jacks. Nothing happening on the board meant Schanbacher's jacks were still good. Antonious' WSOPC title hopes were not.
In 8th-place is Nashaat "Tony" Antonious, taking home $29,151.
The table is taking a quick break and now that we're down to seven-handed, each player has a little bit more room to stretch out. Still an hour left in the 8K-16K level.
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| The Master doubles | |
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 03:20 PM
All you can eat.
Men "the Master" raises it up to 32K and gets calls from DeGreef on the button and Antonious in the SB. Q-6-2 on the flop and DeGreef calls another 80K from the Master. Antonious gets out of the way. After an ace turns, Men counts out his remaining stack (96K) before deciding to check. DeGreef makes the move and the Master lets out an ""All you can eat, baby!" and calls off the rest of his chips.
DeGreef turns over K-Q for just a pair of ladies. The Master shows A-A for the set of aces. The river bricked and Men is closing in on 300K.
Break time. In 15 mins, players will return 8,000-16,000 blinds and 2,000 antes.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 03:00 PM
Mizrachi and Pilgrim just got done trading punches. And after cutting the WSOPC Rincon champ's stack in half, the Grinder doubled him right back up.
In the first hand, Grinder and Pilgrim both called 32K from Bonomo to see 9 10 10 flop. Grinder made it 30k from the button and Pilgrim isolated with a re-raise to 90K. Grinder called. The 9 turn went check-check, but Pilgrim would fire 110K after a deuce bricked on the river. Grinder called to show 8 9 for eights full. Pilgrim mucked and was left with about 145,000.
Shortly after, with 7-6-3 on the board, Pilgrim ships and is called by Grinder. Pilgrim tables 6-2 for a mid-pair, ahead of the 4-4 of Mizrachi. By the turn, Pilgrim was looking to dodge additional straight and four-flush outs, but Grinder came up short and Pilgrim is back around 360K.
Just moments ago, Bonomo got some slow roll karma.
Men "the Master" was all in for about 100K. Bonomo, already in for 32K, dipped into the tank and Matt Graham got up to take a break. After a few minutes in the tank, Bonomo made the call and turned over A-A. The Master showed K-Q, but would get some help as he made kings and queens on the turn. Bonomo was priced in with about any two, and later admitted he wanted Graham to get back from the bathroom so he wouldn't miss a hand. The Master now has a little breathing room.
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| Justin Bonomo | |
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 02:30 PM
Going around the table, here are some unofficial chip counts:
- Mizrachi -- 809,000
- Serebryakov -- 590,000
- Pilgrim -- 460,000
- DeGreef -- 360,000
- Antonious -- 700,000
- Graham -- 420,000
- Schanbacher -- 490,000
- Bonomo -- 500,000
- Nguyen -- 155,000
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| Bert Fujisaki - 10th | |
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 02:00 PM
Bert Fujisaki was down to his last 90K. With less than 10BB's, Bert looked down at A-10 and decided to shove. It looked like the right play, until Jack Schanbacher woke up with A A behind him. The board couldn't provide Bert with a suckout and his championship.
Bert Fujisaki finished in 10th-place, good for $20,181.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 01:50 PM
Blinds are up. Players are now facing 6,000-12,000 blinds and 1,000 antes. One difference, the final table will have 90 minute levels, instead of the 75 they've been playing until now.
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| Dwyte Pilgrim | |
In the last hand of level 15, Dwyte Pilgrim nearly doubled through Tony Antonious.
From the button, Pilgrim called 35K to see a Q-6-6 flop. Both players checked and the dealer turned a jack. Antonious check-called 40K to see an 8 fall on the river. Antonious then led out for 40K and Pilgrim moved all in for 127K. Antonious would muck. Pilgrim showed A-Q and Antonious tried to say he had Q-J. Nobody was buying it, since he would have been priced in to call. Antonious then fessed up to having A-K.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 01:40 PM
The final table is set.
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| Robert Cheung - 11th | |
Not the most exciting of hands, but Robert Cheung, down to his last 120K, shipped it with A-8. Tony Antonious woke up with pocket jacks and made the call. The dealer would fan out 7-7-7-3-6 and Cheung was pairless. Antonious' jacks were good for the pot.
Robert Cheung finshes in 11th, earning $20,181.
Players have combined to one ten-handed table and Caesars is running through some player intros. Evgeny Serebryakov takes the chip lead into the final table, with about 900K. Justin Bonomo is around 750K and sits in second place.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 01:20 PM
How does 11-handed sound? Not long after Bonomo dispatched Woodley, "Zeejustin" took down a couple more.
Jeff Sluzinski was Bonomo's next victim. Sluzinski got the rest of his stack in preflop with A-8. He got action from Bonomo, who tabled A-6. By the turn, the board was showing 2-3-4-5 and Bonomo had made a straight to end Sluzinski's run.
Jeff Sluzinski is eliminated in 14th-place, earning $17,939.
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| Adel and DeGreef go at it | |
Next on the list was Matt Brady. Brady ended up shipping it with 7-7, right into the waiting arms of Bonomo, who held 10-10. The tens held and Brady hopped right behind Sluzinski in the payouts line.
Matt Brady finished 13th, good for $17,939 at payouts.
Manny Adel took a hit after doubling up Fujisaki. He'd take another hit after doubling up Jeremiah DeGreef, his Q-J coming up short against 9-9. The next time the button came around, Adel was running his K-Q into the A-10 of the BB DeGreef and not getting there.
Manny Adel will get $20,181 for finishing in 12th-place.
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 12:50 PM
Lost another one.
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| Bonomo does the math on Woodley | |
Action folded to Justin Bonomo in the cutoff and he opened to 22K. Ian Woodley was next to act and he bumped it to 125K, leaving himself only about 50K behind. Bonomo got an official count and ran the numbers in his head. Soon after, he was moving all in and Woodley called off the rest.
Bonomo tabled K 10 and was happy to see he was racing with the two red fives of Woodley. The board would fall 7-J-10-7-J and Bonomo flopped a pair of tens to take the pot and bounce Woodley.
Ian Woodley is done in 15th, good for $17,939.
At the same table, Bert Fujisaki was able to double up his extremely short stack. All in for his last 48K, it was Fujisaki's K K against the A-J of Manny Adel. Fujisaki's cowboys would hold up, but even after the double up, he's still short.
Adel is a little short with about 140K, but has some breathing room since he doubled up through Bonomo a few hands prior after getting paid off with top pair.
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| Matthew LaGarde - 16th | |
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 12:30 PM
Man down!
As soon as the cards got in the air, Matt LaGarde got the rest of his stack in the middle. LaGarde was facing a Michael Mizrachi preflop raise and looked down at A-Q on the button. He decided to move in and Grinder would call the additional 73K.
The cards were turned up and LaGarde's A-Q was up against the K-10 of Mizrachi. Mizrachi would pair his king on the flop to take the lead. After fading any aces on the way out, Grinder had KO'd one already.
Matthew LaGarde is our 16th-place finisher, earning $15,697.
Not long after, Evgeny Serebryakov would take a big pot off the Grinder. After building the pot up nicely, the Russian was able to show a set of threes on the river to take it down. Grinder would then say Serebryakov "should have doubled up. I had aces."
Wednesday, 29th of April 2009 12:15 PM
We are just moments away from the start of Day 3. The 16 survivors are unbagging their chips and trying to figure out where the button ended last night. They'll start the day in level 15; 4,000-8,000 blinds and 1,000 antes.
I'm guessing they'll decide to play it all the way down to a winner today and do away with Day 4, but it doesn't sound like Caesars has decided on anything as of yet.
Day 3 begins Wednesday at noon PT. Click here to read the Day 2 blog.
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| Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi | |
1 - Michael Mizrachi - 646,000
2 - Dwyte Pilgrim - 524,000
3 - Matt Graham - 515,000
4 - Evgeny Serebryakov - 508,000
5 - Justin Bonomo - 394,000
6 - Nashaat Antonious - 362,000
7 - Matt Brady - 292,000
8 - Jack Schanbacher - 289,000
9 - Robert Cheung - 270,000
10 - Jeremiah DeGreef - 193,000
11 - Manuel Adel - 156,000
12 - Men "the Master" Nguyen - 154,000
13 - Jeff Sluzinski - 126,000
14 - Ian Woodley - 119,000
15 - Matthew LaGarde - 110,000
16 - Bert Fujisaki - 88,000
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