blonde poker forum

Good afternoon all - we're back at the Rio, ready to follow the action as the $50k HORSE event moves into Player Elimination Mode.

We'll be taking a sneaky peek at the $2,500 NL Short-handed too, since a few blondeites and Brits are rumoured to be playing...but mainly watching as the players in the Biggest Tourney Around head for the money.

Stay tuned for a start in less than half an hour...

Here's the giant banner fluttering proudly outside the Convention Centre (which is only a fraction of the behemoth which is the Rio)

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Great updating yesterday, enjoyed it until about half 3 in the morning then my body shut down.  Keep up and the good work, I have a feeling your going to have a long day.

Andrew

 :hello: Jen

Where is your glamourous assistant Snoopy?

Are you referring to Abel Xavier ?   ::)

He's bought this deck of cards, right, and is getting them signed by the great and the good of the poker world.  Suck-up.

I thought it was Guile from Street Fighter? Or Stamper from Tomorrow Never Dies? I get so easily confused, you'll be unsurprised to hear.

When you have an event named after you, the omens must be good, right? ::)

Hi Jen

Great news that Blonde has landed in Vegas! Looking forward to the updates  8)

Nick is playing in the short-handed tourney so any updates much appreciated

Anna x

Has anyone been knocked out yet?

Half the field ::)

Edit: Around 10 players have been eliminated, I think ::)

 :hello:

SONIC BOOM!

:hello:

ok i'll check back on sunday to see how things are progressing

Take a butchers at our hotel, pretty smart, huh?

And how about the weather? Can't sunbathe in Brum.

I was a mere adonis at the start of this trip, but, by the end, I'll be a bronzed adonis.

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Where are you staying? Or do I have to defeat you in a best two-from-three fight situation to get that information?

1 Joe Cassidy 168,700
2 Patrik Antonius 136,200
3 Tom Franklin 125,000
4 Allen Cunningham 122,400
5 Matthew Glantz 119,300
6 Andy Bloch 113,200
7 Minh Ly 110,900
8 Kassem "Freddy" Deeb 110,600
9 Chad Brown 110,100
10 Ram Vaswani 107,400
11 Annand "Victor" Ramdin 106,900
12 Walter Browne 103,700
13 Allen Kessler 102,800
14 Roy Thung 100,000
15 Cuong Do 97,900
16 James Van Alstyne 97,800
17 David Chiu 97,400
18 Jim Bechtel 96,000
19 Ralph Porter 94,800
20 Thor Hansen 93,900
21 Roger McDow 91,000
22 Ted Forrest 86,600
23 Mike Matusow 86,200
24 Greg Mascio 86,100
25 David 'Chip' Reese 84,100
26 Illya Trincher 82,100
27 Annie Duke 81,800
28 Mike Kim 81,200
29 Tuan Le 81,000
30 Jennifer Harman 79,800
31 Michael McKenna 78,900
32 Mickey Appleman 74,600
33 Jan Sorensen 73,800
34 Brett Jungblut 72,900
35 Christopher Smith 70,800
36 Neal Frietz 70,600
37 John Juanda 70,500
38 Todd Brunson 70,000
39 David Oppenheim 68,900
40 Sherkhan Farnood 68,500
41 Matt Hawrilenko 68,400
42 David Williams 65,800
43 Phil Ivey 65,000
44 Max Pescatori 64,800
45 Chris Ferguson 64,100
46 Tom Weideman 63,100
47 Ray Dehkharghani 62,800
48 Gavin Smith 62,100
49 Erick Lindgren 62,000
50 Erik Seidel 61,500
51 Tad Jurgens 60,300
52 T.J. Cloutier 60,200
53 Abe Mosseri 59,500
54 Alfredo "Toto" Leonidas 58,900
55 Gabe Kaplan 58,700
56 Mike Sexton 57,500
57 Phil Hellmuth Jr. 57,100
58 Mark Gregorich 55,900
59 David Rheem 55,200
60 Doyle Brunson 54,000
61 Greg Raymer 53,300
62 David Grey 53,100
63 David Benyamine 53,000
64 Steve Zolotow 52,500
65 Rafael Perry 52,100
66 Juan Carlos Mortensen 51,000
67 Ted Lawson 50,000
68 Blair Rodman 49,800
69 Michael Mizrachi 49,400
70 Kristy Gazes 49,200
71 Ralph Rudd 48,800
72 Ali Eslami 46,600
73 Tom Hufnagle 45,200
74 David Singer 45,000
75 Dewey Tomko 43,800
76 Frank Kassela 43,300
77 Mike Wattel 43,000
78 Johnny Chan 42,900
79 Rocco Bucci 42,600
80 Yehia "Joe" Awada 42,300
81 Robert Williamson III 41,900
82 John Hennigan 41,200
83 Tony Cousineau 39,000
83 Jason Gray 39,000
85 John Hanson 38,500
86 Avi Freedman 38,200
87 Josh Arieh 37,500
87 Howard Lederer 37,500
89 Jeffrey Lisandro 36,500
90 David Levi 35,900
91 Rafi Amit 34,900
92 Mark Tenner 34,700
93 William "Bill" Edler 34,300
94 Aaron Katz 34,000
95 Gus Hansen 32,500
96 Mike Caro 30,700
97 Shahram "Sean" Sheikhan 30,300
98 David Sklansky 30,200
99 Huck Seed 29,800
100 Jeff King 29,500
101 Chau Giang 29,400
102 Tim Burt 28,800
103 Sam Farha 27,700
104 Matt Keikoan 27,400
105 Eli Elezra 26,700
105 Russ 'Dutch' Boyd 26,700
105 Daniel Shak 26,700
108 Richard Chase 26,300
109 Rob Hollink 26,100
110 Daniel Negreanu 25,100
111 Brett Richey 24,900
112 Barry Greenstein 23,600
113 Paul Phillips 23,200
114 John D'Agostino 22,900
115 David "Devil Fish" Ulliott 22,000
116 Chris Reslock 20,100
117 Tony Bloom 19,200
118 Dan Harmetz 16,700
119 Scotty Nguyen 16,000
119 Nick Schulman 16,000
121 Jeff Freedman 15,400
122 Cyndy Violette 13,700
123 David Wong 13,200
124 Brian Haveson 9,500
125 Lyle Berman 8,000
126 "Miami" John Cernuto 5,700
126 Rodeen Talebi 5,700
128 Chip Jett 4,900

The CanCun Resort

Hi Jen and Snoops!

Great updates last night. Looking forward to more of the same. If you see Mickey there in the next day or so, say hi from me.

Just while we're accumulating player descriptions and whatnot, give this mini quiz a bash and name these Hotel room items.

I bet you can't correctly name all four.



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Nice work folks. 

Ram Vaswani looks in good shape in 10th. Hope he does well

snoppy, are they all sex toys !!

Last one's a hairdryer, right? You make sure you steal me some of those little shampoos now...

Players who are sharing the same table:

Joe Cassidy, David Chui, Carlos Mortensen, Dutch Boyd, and Tony Bloom
Patrik Antoniu, Brett Jungblut, David Williams, & Sam Farha
Allen Cunningham, Joe Awada, Chip Reese, James Van Alstyne, Ted Forrest, & John D'Agostino
Andy Bloch, Ram Vaswani, Victor Ramdin, Phil Ivey, Gabe Kaplan, & Rob Hollink
Minh Ly, John Juanda, & Kristy Gazes
Freddy Deeb, Erick Lindgren, & David Benyamine
Chad Brown, Jim Betchel, Gavin Smith, Annie Duke & Miami John
Thor Hansen & Michael Mizrachi
Mike Matusow & Erik Seidel
Jennifer Harman, Chris Ferguson, Shahram Shiekhan & Gus Hansen
Todd Brunson, Toto Leonadis & Cyndy Violette
TJ Cloutier, Howard Lederer & Brian Haveson
Mike Sexton & David Sklansky
chip Jett, Daniel Negreanu, Greg Raymer & Josh Arieh

Crikey, a few toughies in there.

Which of those would you fear the most?

They are salt and pepper holders

no

well, I suppose they could be if you were creative

nope

try again

nice work Columbo

(d) = hairdryer

I would fear this table   Allen Cunningham, Joe Awada, Chip Reese, James Van Alstyne, Ted Forrest, & John D'Agostino

Clever me! Steal it for me as a prize...

I can just picture you and me perched at the end of that table, Sark. Do you reckon they'd fear us?

only if you can guess the other three

now drown those criminalistic urges!

lol  they may fear you mate.  But when they looked at me they would say  " who is the fish that talks p.sh all the time?"   :D

Is (b) a toaster???

                                      PRESS PROBLEM - PERSEVERING BUT PERSPIRING

The magic number of 15 tables has been reached after which there's no press access among the tables.  Except Card Player.  And ESPN.  I have had the honour of my first ejection (more will undoubtedly follow) but I would like to state that the detail may be sporadic and the pictures include the back of people's heads for a while now.  This doesn't mean you can keep the blonde updaters down - we're positively fearless and quite small.

However, this is going to prove both annoying and problematic, and I request that you bear with us as we take a bit longer to push to the front of the Spectators to get our info out to you.

correctemondo - 2 left

And another thing

(Last rant for this hour, I promise) - The reason given why I couldn't lurk just behind the rail on the empty side was that this was "ESPN's territory" and I couldn't lurk just in front of it because, "every Red Badge will want access and it will get too crowded."  Although this is undoubtedly true for the Main Event, there are about 5 press people here who aren't Card Player and therefore in there already.  Honestly.  No common sense.   ;tk;

Looks like we're on Razz.

John Juanda and Cong Do split a pot.

Juanda = 2-J-A-8

Do = A-2-T-5

Board = 6-4-8-K-6

a = bin and c is some sort of gas hob?

It's good, but it's not right.

(http://www.entertainers.co.uk/images/comedians/roy-walker/royalker.jpg)

c is a bottle opener

clooooooooooooooooooooose, but wrong!

(http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a173/buntoucher/roy_walker__old.jpg)

One of em is a ceiling fan :D

ok then back of a mirror

Razz doesn't have a board, it must be Omaha.

Mike Sexton -- 44,200
Daniel Shak -- 34,300
Chris Reslock -- 54,000

I know that he's not playing this event, but has anyone seen Peter Costa ?

I've not seen his name mentioned in any updates so far in the series.

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees, that's right!

(http://www.thesleepcentre.co.uk/images/WalkerRoy1P.jpg)

a = ?
b = toaster
c = ceiling fan
d = hair dryer

one more, and it's not a mirror

Good point, there was definitely a board, so Juanda will have taken the high with a pair of eights, and then split the low with A-2-4-6-8. That sound right?

a is taps... or as they quaintly say in the usa, faucets?

Thats correct :)up

 no

 JUANDA WOULD HAVE TAKEN THE HIGH WITH 8 8 6 6 A

 DO WOULD HAVE TOOK THE LOW WITH A 2 4 5 6

 THATS THE SPLIT

My turn to rant now...

Being forced to stand behind the rail wouldn't be too bad if we could actually... stand behind the rail. In fact, we're standing behind three rows of people. We can push our way to the front if we are cheeky, but then have to relenquish the spot to post the update. Complete pain in the buttooooooooooooooocks.

Just to give you an idea, here's a few shots of where in the room the HORSE is taking place. The only section where viewers can watch is on the right hand side, which is overflowing at the moment.



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But Juanda has the A-2 too, so they'd both split the low. Juanda will win 3/4 of this pot.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!

(http://www.midland-entertainment.com/acts/after_dinner_roy_walker.jpg)

Crikey, who's a clever girl. (It's actually one tap, should I still accept your answer?)  8)


a = taps
b = toaster
c = ceiling fan
d = hair dryer

You can only use 2 hole cards in omaha...so do uses A2 for the low, as does juanda...so its a split for the low....do cant use his 5...

NEWS FROM THE $2,500

Seeing as we're still at liberty to walk amongst the six-handed tables playing the parallel $2,500 event today, I thought I'd post some snaps of some players you may recognise.  How about Ian Woodley?  Being afloat among a sea of Americans it's nice to see some faces you get on the UK circuit too.  Ian said "just don't get a shot of my chips..." so you have a fair idea of how he's doing.

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Phew, managed to find a gap - the advantages of being wafer thin.

All from the same table:

Joe Cassidy (chip leader) -- around the 200k mark
Howard Lederer -- 57,000
Josh Arieh -- 42,000
Mateyboy -- 76,300

Please do Mr Adonis :)

And for those of you who don't know Mateyboy, here is a piccy I took earlier.

(http://www.acclaimimages.net/_gallery/_SM/0015-0402-1209-5543_SM.jpg)

has Billy stole your seat then ?

$2,500

And how about Ross Boatman, not posing at all, also Joe Beevers and non-mobster Keith the Camel Hawkins...

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Phil Ivey -- 127k
Ram Vaswani -- 48k
Gabe Kaplan -- 69k
Doyle Brunson -- 108k

Also on this table are Andrew Bloch and Annand Ramdin (backs to me - so no chippy counts). Now how about that for a tricky one. Fancy that, Sark?

They still on omaha h/l?

$2,500

John Kabbaj is OUT.

He flopped two pair with 6-7, but the Turn 8 and River 8 counterfeited the Londoner's two pair, therby losing out to Mateyboy's pocket queens.

John Shipley and Brian Wilson were also eliminated. Whilst Shipley ran top two A-K into a flopped set of fours, The Rookie's flopped flush was outdrawn by four to the flush.

They've just moved into a short break.

As a reuslt, Jen has rushed into the cardroom to try and garner a few chippy counts whilst the crowd have momentarily dispersed.

Not just a face that girl.

Whilst I join Jen in the hunt for extra info, have a gander at this lot.

Another four household (well, hotel room hold) objects for you to decipher. Can you work out what they are? Don't let Heid show you how it's done... again.



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a) toilet roll?

toilet roll and soap dish- u been spending too long in the bathroom with your camera snoops

4th one is that little ledge they put in the shower for your imperial leather

2nd one looks like abedside lamp, with a handle on it to move it without burning yourself.


i think I spend too much time in hotels.

Play has resumed.

38 minutes left on the clock.

Average stack = 69,417

13 tables

103 players

I'm awarding vitory to Laz for precision.

Did you notice Jen's strings of hair?

Women!  ;scarymoment;

gosh

top man

yep - 2nd one is well, close to a toilet roll. It's a polyroll (which I believe non-Midlanders call kitchen towell) holder.

Just one more to get...

Today I found a clump of what was quite recognisably Jen's hair clogging up the kitchen sink... Don't tell her I said that though

she malts like the cat

Not sure it's at will though

*******************BREAK*******************

While the HORSE players are out of the room, there's a bit of relief from the crowds, and I managed to count some chips from the rail - only the tables right next to it, mind.  But counts they are, and here they are:

Table 136

1 Daniel Shak 73,000
2 Paul Phillips 42,000
3 Jason Gray  10,400
4 David Sklansky 17,300
5 Allen Kessler 105,000
6 Mike Wattel 20,600
7 Chris Reslock 68,000
8 Mike Sexton  54,000

Table 125

1 Todd Brunson 77,000
2 David Singer 60,000
3
4 Captain Tom Franklin  135,000
5 Jan Sorensen 110,000
6 Toto Leonidas 65,000
7   ?  11,000
8 Dewey Tomko 50,000

Table 121

1 Joe Cassidy 182,400
2 Carlos Mortensen 28,000
3 David Chiu  46,400
4  ?  23,500
5 Dutch Boyd  84,000
6 Tony Bloom (?) 57,300
7 Christopher Smith  62,800
8 David Wong  78,000

Table 117

1 Phil Ivey 120,000
2 Ram Vaswani 46,000
3  ? Rob Hollink >? 63,000
4 Juan Le 43,000
5 Victor Ramdin 150,000
6 Andy Bloch 102,000
7 Gabe Kaplan 95,000
8 Doyle Brunson 98,000

The question marks represent the fact that we're not sure who's there - as the only time we can get counts is when the players are out of the room...

thing that always pees me off about those little ledges, is they are never tall enough to take any brand of shampoo or shower gel bottle... why is that ?


3rd one is annoying me now. I can confirm that my hotel room here in Budapest has nothing which even resembles that.

$2,500

From the other side of the room, a grinning Neil Channing, who made sure I got grin and logo in shot.

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Is dan negreanu still in?

Are we talking malt whiskey or malted milk?

Tomko, Chiu, Brunson, & Rodman have all moved onto the same table.

He started the day low, so not sure...will check in a sec.  He looked like one way or another he was having a frustrating day yesterday, eventually shocking the life out of Snoopy by lashing out - "I never thought he was capable of that...."

would you say this event has been a "success" ?

From the tables I can see:

Captain Tom -- 134k
Dewey Tomko -- 52k
Jo Cassidy -- 200k
Todd Brunson -- 110k
Josh Arieh -- 77k
Juan Carlos Mortensen -- 41k

I guess it depends how soused you are...

what's your definition of 'a success'?

to be honest I dont know. All the usual stuff I guess - well subscribed, drama, excitement, public interest, etc.


Or has it been like flogging a dead "horse" ahem, so to speak...

Sexton has joined the table of Ramdin, Vaswani, Bloch, Brunson (snr), Ivey & Kaplan.

Otherwise known as the Table of Dooooooooooooooooooooooooooom

quick clue

it's on the kitchen table and doesn't really look like what it's supposed to look like

What is it supposed to look like?

a fake bowl of fruit

DOH!

i was thinking old fruit......but then I saw Tikay's picture, and that put me right off

 ;goodvevil; ;tk;

The legendary Johnny Chan, running okay and keeping a low profile. Obviously playing the ol' waiting game.



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Rumour has it that one of our few Brits, Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott has bitten the dust.

Righteo, I'm off to re-enter the battlefield, see what giblets of information I can pluck out.

Meanwhile, here are some action shots of Jen and I jumping onto a bouncy bed.

Feel free to post your own... if you dare!



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To confirm, the Devilfish is indeed OUT.

We've spotted another Englander, from London in fact.

Does anyone recognise the name Jason Gray?

96 player remaining
12 tables
Average Stack = 74,479
Currently playing Stud

Reminds me of my old uni bed.

My room was up the top of the stairs and the bed was just inside the door.

Me being me meant that the floor was covered in crap and so my standard way of entering the room was to run up the stairs and dive on the bed.

By the end of the year i was attempting to sleep on a rather lumpy mess of a bed!

Phil Ivey -- 87k
Allan Kessler -- 111k
Ram Vaswani -- 43k

Doyle Brunson has dropped down to just 34k

$2,500

Isabelle Mercier (whom I half expected to have been playing the HORSE) taking instead an early(ish) chip lead in the Short-handed Hold'em.  I like her hair.

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Did u manage to track negreanu down or is he gone?

The Poker Brat - still giving it the full Poker Bratiness, although the Right Said Fred fellow on his er... right, is giving him a run for his money in the talking stakes.



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Jen's just gone to track him down after finishing off her gigantic hotdog.

Crikey, as the blinds increase, things will really start to pick up.

Anyone staying up for the show?

And who do u predict will run well. Come on chaps (and chapettes), select 3 players. Plenty to choose from today.

Ivey, Cassidy and Bennyamine.

I can't see any sign of your pink-hat-sporting friend, and seeing as his chips only went in the downwards direction pretty much from the start, I think that he just continued like that today.

My picks before bed
 Bloch, Sorensen Boyd

Talking of Talkers, Mike Matusow must be doing well as he's singing, and the lyrics were, if I'm not mistaken, "It's Soooo much fun, when you win every pot."  If there was a tune in there, I didn't recognise it.

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Shahram 'The Sheik' Sheikhan is down to his final 2 thousand chips.

"Give me all the money, God Dammit, one time!"
"2k boys, 2k!"

The stir lured the likes of Tran and Williams to the table.

Brit Jason Gray is OUT.

David Sklansky is down to 6,200.

Neighbours:

Ivey -- 114,000
Vaswani -- 47,400

Kaplan shares a 90k pot with Mateyboy.

A few extra goodies though courtesy of Ramdin's involvement.

Wire reports, Negreanu busted out during the last Stud phase.

It also reports Doyle on 114k at last reckoning... having scooped Victor Ramdin in a Stud/8 pot.

How about all-pot-winning Matusow, Annie Duke and Ram.

Vaswani, Ramdin, Forrest

Thanks for the updates Jen and Snoopy

Keep up the good work ... any news on how Ram is doing?

ta

Ram has been hovering around the 45k mark for quite a while now.

he's on a tough table with Doyle, Ivey, Gabe Kaplan, Bloch, and Victor Ramdin.

A rather cheerful Minh Ly gestures an answer for that question that is constantly on people's lips, "Just how many Main Events wins will the career of snoopy bring?"



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My picks are

Williams, Ivey and Matusow

Solid 3.

Wasnt to be for Negreanu by the sounds of it...hope he doesnt stay annoyed for long...he wont be the same without his chirpy demeaner.

So, after biding my time at the rail, I got to the front in time to see an all-in on Todd Brunson's table, with three other players in the (stud) pot.
A ruling had to be shouted for when the dealer dealt the last card to the first player face up instead of down - it was Todd in fact whose hand was now:
Kd 6d 6c 2d  //misdealt 4d
The ruling was that the last cards were to be dealt face-up to all players, and as it happens, the all-in guy won the main pot, with the small side pot eluding Todd too.  When Son of Doyle saw the river of the all-in guy he made the universal sign of the "oh, great" realising he'd lost, and spent the next ten minutes doing the angriest snappiest chip tricks I've seen in a long time.

They're just took a 5 minute breather whilst they eliminated the 100s (I think).

As players raced off to the loo and back, I tried grabbing a few chip-counts from them.

Whilst Chad Brown blanked me, most were pretty accommodating.

Max Prescatori -- 50k (lost a couple of big pots)
Kristie Gazes -- 32k
Patrik Antonius -- 224k
Erik Seidel -- 73k
Dewey Tomko -- 90k (up and down 'yoyo' style)

Just before they raced off for the 100s, the dude on the mic announced that both Juanda and Hellmuth were all-in. He then said that Hellmuth had made "Aces full" but then didn't say anything else.

Both players have returned to their seats, so I guess Juanda won the low as the last round was Stud Eight or Better.

Mike Matusow was complaining that he didn't win a a single hand in the whole of the last level.

$2,500

Neil 'Bad Beat' Channing is down to his last 5k

Also caught sight of blondeite 'Rivercard'.

Someone in the press room just asked Jen if she was 'tikay's offspring.

Negreanu struggling for the whole comp, I don't think he ever rose above his 50k starting stack.

He appeared to be immensly frustrated throughout too.

I hope she said Grand daughter LOL

If I win the lottery on saturday, I will see you there on Monday :)

'The Mouth' - firmly shut, guess he must be feeling under the weather.

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Level 21 -- Hold 'Em

Blinds = $1,500/$3,000

Down to 10 tables

They were initially intending to whittle them down to the final nine

could be a struggle...

Is it limit?

Eeeeeek

The only tables we can see properly are gradually evaporating. Only 1 left.

hopefully, the lack of tables near the rail will result in the crowd dispersing.

Kinda annoys me that we can't get in and around the tables, especially when I see the likes of Noah Boeken and David William's mum roaming around aimlessly.

Sexton -- 79k
Ivey -- 93k
Kesseler -- 42k
Doyle B -- 95k
Todd B -- 39k
Gavin Smith -- 85k
Chris Ferguson -- 70k

Patrik Antonius -- 290k
David Benyamine -- 190k
Phil Hellmuth -- 14k
Freddie Deeb -- 175k
Ted Forrest -- 160k

Howard Lederer and Todd Brunson has just joined the table next to rail, which means the Table of Doom has become even Doooooooooooomier with:

Lederer
Brunson Senior
Brunson junior
Ivey
Vaswani
Ramdin
Kaplan

As Hellmuth informs the table that he is going to win the comp, Juanda cowers away from the flying pig.

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What a table!

Do u know if its NLHE or Limit HE?

Haha optimistic phil! 14K and gonna win it...good luck to him.

All the games in H.O.R.S.E are Limit.

$2,500

Right - mini-update from the Short Handed Hold'em, which has lost so many players, by HORSE standards in the last hour or so.  In fact it's a bit of a shock to have seen the tables drop so quickly when we're used to one elimination, on average, every hour. 

Some counts from that tourney (which has 22 tables remaining)

Richard Ashby     13,900
Juha Helppi         15,050
Simon Trumper    6,900
Tony (charming relative of Joe) Hachem)  5,900  (just knocked to 3k with an A2 outdraw against his AJ)
Harry Demetriou   29,000
Phil Gordon          6,200
Joe Beevers         13,000

Pictured are Simon and neighbour Tony - Simon says he's been 'struggling' but has raised his 1,900 to nearly 7k and feels much better after his last tournament's last-hand-before-dinner bust.

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Except the final though? All NLHE...what a treat that will be....


But yer, sounds like ur in for a long night...

Thanks for all the updating guys! cant stress that enough! keeping us lot in the know.
good luck staying awake and alert later! get the coffee down u... :D

All the coffee in the world in this giant urn thing in the middle of the room.  But I have to say that the biggest sugar rush I've been on this month has to have come from Fruit Punch flavour Snapple, which lists "high fructose corn syrup" as its second ingredient!

whats the set up like outside the main room jen ? is it much the same as last year ??

Funny reports apparently abound about Joe Beevers, according to the man himself, who would like to stress that any rumours of his $2,500 exit have been elsewhere greatly exaggerated - nor was he a participant in the Omaha Hi-Lo a few days ago (being still in the UK).  He just wanted to keep the record of the (few) British players straight...

They've just completed a 10 min break in which I managed to obtain a few chippy counts:

Mike Sexton -- 85k
Gus Hanson -- 30k
Jon Hennighan -- 60k
Blair Rodman -- 133k
Phil Hellmuth -- 1.5k
Jennifer Harman -- 115k
Annie Duke -- 88k

Greg Raymer is OUT.

Eliminated by Jo Cassidy.

The game was Limit Hold 'Em and Greg held Q-Q to Cassidy's Q-8.

The board was J-9-rag

Raymer bet every street, eventually hitting the curb when the 10 River gave the youngster a four-outer straight.

Yep - there's the Poker Lifestyle Area (as yet not thoroughly explored), a whole bunch of stands and little side rooms like the Full Tilt Lounge, Bodog Suite etc., someone selling delicious popcorn, an outdoor food tent and smoking area (the whole Centre has gone non-smoking for the WSOP), book and T-shirt signings, lectures by pros, oh, and hundreds of scantily-clad ladies with different slogans on their pants/chests and glossy brochures on their arms.  But I didn't think you'd want pictures of that non-directly card-related stuff....

Of course not ..... HOW SOON CAN YOU GET THEM UP !!!!

I'm going to go out on a limb here.

Both Gus Hanson and Phil Hellmuth are wlaking away from the table with their heads bowed, a slightly disappointed look on their face.

My guess would be that they are both OUT.

$2,500

Some photos whence I can still take them - Europeans!  A minority by a long way at the moment.  Andreas Hagen in visor, and smiley Jan Heitmann.  Haven't seen either of them in my last chip gather, so I reckon they've been eliminated already.

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And just as I return to the room, I experience a bit of deja vu, except this time, the two exits are in the form of Michael 'The Grinder' Mizrachi and 2004 Main Event runner-up David Williams

Theres one of my picks gone...

There will be a 1.5hr dinner break in around an hour and a half - then play is scheduled to continue right the way through to the final 9 (although 16 are paid - prizes coming shortly).  Honestly don't know what kind of time frame this gives the rest of the night, but it's going to be somewhere in the region of LONG.

Johnny Chan is also OUT and has briskly leapt onto a cash game.

And Chan has been joined on that high rollers' cash table by The Shiek, who has also bitten the dust.

Starting to drop like flies now.

The 'Table of Doom' looks like it'll be slightlier less doomier with no players on it. It's due to break up pretty soon.

Pics from behind the rail - setting the scene of the remaining tables in the HORSE:

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And although this might look like more of the same, it's actually a picture of Max Pescatori's back.  He's OUT, by the way, if removal of headband and sunglasses and walking away can be seen to signify anything.

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And this a pre-elimination Max Prescatori. Just spoke to him briefly. Din't get a hand and was wary about probing for the gorey details, but he did say that he'd been "short-chipped all day before doing the lot in the Hold 'Em round."

Cripes, he's even taken his bandana off!

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Just bumped into Henning Granstad and Thomas Middelthon who informed me that their country man, Thor Hanson, was on 100k.

Cong Do, who I believe could well be Asian, is now second in chips.

From a distance, and thanks to a gap created by a player rising from his seat momentarily, I was able to do a quick count of Eric Seidels stack.

He's on around 125k.

With my, er, basic camera, this is the Maximum Zoom I can use where you can still just about tell that you're looking at Erik Seidel's head, and Phil Ivey's blue-hatted back.

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But these guys are surely recognisable - the extraordinary lineup of Andy Bloch, Patrik Antonius, and Doyle Brunson.  Combined age over 130.

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'name' players still remaining:

Lederer
Sexton
Harman
Cloutier
Arieh
Reese
Vaswani
D Brunson
T Brunson
Antonius
Bloch
Greenstein
Duke
Tomko
Ivey
Seidel

The long haired, ballroom dancing, banana/carrot/cucumber slicing (well, I guess he's unique at least) Chris 'Jesus' Freguson has just been eliminated.

And as soon as he stepped over the rope, he was bombarded by people wanting autographs. His face like a smacked ass didn't appear too pleased, but he reluctantly put pen to shirt. Good to see the players taking time out for their fans, even after losing $50,000.

ps. Chris' girlfirend (if that is who she was) is an absolute hottie, although she does appear to be a year or two (or 20!) younger than he.

A small, but compact herd of poker fans have surrounded one of the tables.

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The reason?

A certain Mr P Hellmuth and J Chan (and some other unrecognisable lass) are playing Chinese Poker. It's the new trend!





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And we're down one more British player, which brings us down to the felt, UK-wise...

Ram is OUT, with just 7 tables left, and 10 minutes before the dinner break.

Here's our railbird view of one of the remaining tables. The eagle-eyed of you may recognise David Benyamine, Freddie Deeb, and Erick Lindgren.

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And to the right of them is possibly a new contender for the 'Table of Dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom'

Gavin Smith, Mike Sexton, Jennifer Harman, Howard Lederer, and TJ Cloutier.

Now, I did know the guy with the headband, but I can't for the life of me remember his name.

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Patrik Antonius and Andy Bloch, looking like the two Leaders with their 300k-odd each, have become neighbours!  With the smaller stacks dropping pretty quickly, it looks like they'll be worrying the rest of their table.  But only for six minutes - - DINNER BREAK - -

$2,500

Looks like I just dealt Simon Trumper the kiss of death.

I trundle over to grab his chip count, which, incidentally was 6k ("The most I've had all day"), when, suddenly, he moves all-in with A-Q suited, only to find Harry Demetriou making a rather brisk call with Pocket Rockets.

Eek

Three twos on board, there was hope for a split pot on the river, but the poker gods propped the wound one final time by sending out a Queen.

$2,500

A few chippy counts:

Tony G -- 15k
Harry Demetriou -- 34k
Juha Helppi -- 9.5k
William Chen -- 40k
Joe Beevers -- 12k

---------------------------------- DIN DINS ------------------------------------

Back in 90 mins, we're off for a Mexican.

We're back, and so are the players.

Game on!

But first - a hallway spot - John Kabbaj and what looks to be the back of Sealey... we're slowly finding more faces we know better than these American icons.

A case in point - running enthusiastically back from our Mexican dinner, we found Barney Boatman and Mad Marty, with a side order of Jesse and Mrs. May.  There'll be quite a few Brits playing the $2,000 NL tomorrow, methinks.

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It appears as though Jennifer Harman danced her last dance just after the tea-time return. No sign of the high-roller.

David Benyamine is OUT. Couldn't see any details as it was across the other side.

Prize Pool = $6,721,000
46 players left - 6 tables
Average Stack = $155,434

How about this for a stonkingly arkward table?

Tran, Lederer, Antonius, Brunson Senior, Bloch, Williamson, Snoopy

Also:

Deeb, Seidel, Duke, Smith
Ly, Ramdin, Arieh, Do
Forrest, Reese, Cunningham
Cloutier, Greenstein, Tomko

Pay Out:

1st  $1,784,640
2nd  $1,029,600
3rd  $617,760
4th  $549,120
5th  $480,480
6th  $411,840
7th  $343,200
8th  $274,560
9th  $205,920
10th  $205,920
11th  $205,920
12th  $205,920
13th  $137,280
14th  $137,280
15th  $137,280
16th  $137,280

what times it over there atm?

And how many players are left?

LeKnave

Doyle Brunson is now up with the chip leaders after taking a big chunk out of Andrew Bloch's stack.

 aaaaaaaaaaaaachhhoooooooooooo

 sorry thats not to be sneezed at.  ;tk;

A rare and beautiful thing occurred - I got right up to where I could see a hand being played out - and it was one in this Stud 8/b round.

The ante is now 1,000, with a 1,500 bring-in and 4,000 completion (the limit being 4k/8k) - so not small potatoes now; it's understandable why they're down to six tables fairly rapidly. 

Anyhow, TJ Cloutier, who has probably 170,000 (although his double cokes in front of his chips make it devilishly hard to tell) was showing 5h 9h against his opponent's 2c Js when I turned up.  It was the latter who was doing the betting, with TJ calling, until they looked like this:

TJ:  5h 9h 3h Qh
Matey:  2c Js Ks Aspades   There was a river bet from TJ, and a rather wistful look at the hand and muck movement as Mr. Cloutier showed the winning down cards of 6s 8d and another low card (blocked by said coca-cola tower).

It is 23:40 over in LV, hot and dry outside, cold and dry inside.  We've got 48 players remaining here, a quick drop in the latter levels.

just caught up,great updates under the circumstances.
is annie duke still in?

The $50,000 HORSE tournament, 2006, will NOT be won by a woman.  Annie Duke is OUT.  Down to five tables, and a new table of doom approaches - Doyle Brunson, Tuan Le, Andy Bloch, Patrik Antonius, Lederer, Gavin Smith, Robert Williamson III.  There you have it. 

Many thanks to blondeite/intrepid reporter Nick Wright who's been watching these last few tables and updating harder than we are!  Here he is:

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$2,500

9 tables left in the $2,500 6-handed Freezeout.

Amongst that rabble is:

Phil Gordon
William Chen
Harry Demetriou
Alexander Strandli
Joe Beevers

After a bit of a flurry of exits, play has slowed down somewhat and we seem to have returned to the snail's pace of earlier that was threatening us with a very late finish indeed.

37 players remaining

Blinds = 3k/6k

Still pretty slow going

Players still remaining include:

TJ Cloutier
Dewey Tomko
An Tran
Robert Williamson III
Howard Lederer
Patrick Antonius
Andrew Bloch
Doyle Brunson
Minh Ly
Ted Forrest
Chip Reese
Erick Lindgren
Phil Ivey
Freddie Deeb

A couple of late-nite counts for you:

Minh Ly      235,000
Howard Lederer   10,000  - emergency light blinking
Phil Ivey      240,000
Erik Seidel    140,000
Barry Greenstein  110,000
TJ Cloutier      170,000
Freddy Deeb    175,000
Patrick Antonius  360k+

These are conservative guesstimates from a respectful distance from the players... but the idea I got was that Ted Forrest, Doyle Brunson and Patrik Antonius are still in front of the pack.  Any stack under 50k is now in serious trouble.

Shortstack Howard Lederer is now officially OUT.

While we wait for more outs, as it were, here's Nick Gibson who stopped by the press room (somehow bypassing security) for a flying visit before going to play cash.  Apparently his heart wasn't in the $2,500 today.  He knew because when he busted, he just kind of shrugged in an "Oh well" sort of way.  I don't feel too sorry for him, though, seeing as his week's gone with a bang so far...

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Just spoke briefly with Neil 'Bad Beat' Channing who picked out Robert Williamson, A Levi, Ted Forest, and Andy Bloch as good all-round players still left in, suggesting that perhaps the likes of Lingren, Tran, and Cunningham were best suited to Hold E'm comps and lacking the Stud, Razz, and Omaha skills of some of the other stars.

He also helped me out in identifying a player that I couldn't quite put a name to. That man was Mickey Applemans, a highly successful player who tends to wear a headband. Almost looks like he's come straight off the tennis court, should ring a bell with some of you who watch the WSOP TV shows.

DAMMIT!

Almost to back this up, we've lost Eric Lindgren just now, and those who are good Seven-card-ers will surely be benefiting most right now from the escalation of the blinds.  It's going to get to the point where each hand is potentially involving to the person who has to bring it in, or once raising finds that 10% of their stack is suddenly in the middle.  Going to go watch alongside the Snoopy.

$2,500

Just spoke to Joe Beevers, who seems pretty pleased with his performance and appears confident for tomorrow.

40 left, with the average around 45k. Joe is on 50k after a couple of interesting hands.

On an agressive table in which the predominant move is the all-in reraise to an initial preflop raise, Joe finds A-Q and makes a raise. Mateyboy reraises and Joe moves all-in. Mateyboy calls and shows pocket tens.

Board is an exciting one!

A-J-6-T-K

Phew, Joe survives and doubles up.

Then, with the blinds at 600/1200 with a 200 ante, Jo limps with pocket sixes (realising that a raise could induce an all-in reraise from a hand like A-T, A-J, etc). The big blind checks.

Flop = A-6-T

Joe prays for a Mateyboy Ace rag hand.

Turn = rag

Joe bets 5k, Mateyboy calls.

River = J

Joe bets again, this time 10k, and Mateyboy calls... again.

Joe wins with a set versus Mateyboy's top pair. Ace-x


So, Joe's above average and in with a great shout of scooping a big prize. He seems happy with his game and is comfortable with his table. He's been dealt no Aces, Kings, Queens, or Jacks, but is still running strong.

Good luck to Joe, nice to see a Brit reaching the nitty gritty.

I forgot to look yesterday.  Can you tell me if TJ Cloutier is in this comp?    Page 64 is missing from my book that I bought last week "Championship Hold-Em ".  Perhaps he has seen it laying around and is worried about its owner not getting the benefit of his wisdom written on that page.  If he  looks stressed, this will most definitely be the reason.  Tell him it is ok, I got a photocopy from a friend. 

lol - Sark, you should be a writer for some kind of TV sitcom!

 :D   I have enough trouble playing poker,  I will leave the writing to the experts  lol

Cloutier is still in.

I was in the loo earlier as he was on the phone to someone. He seemed pretty excited about the comp, telling the guy on the other end the potential rewards of winning this comp. Not just the 2 mil first prize, but the self promotion, easy access into other comps, etc

Some good news now.

They've just created a rail at the back, which means I can get round to Greenstein's table and obtain some chip counts, piccies, etc

The breaking news though has to be that I was able to spot a hand.

Tomko = ? ? Kd 3s Aspades 3d

Antonius = ? ? 7h Qh 4c 4d

The game is Stud.

Tomko sticks in a bet, Antonius reluctantly folds, but shows a Queen in the process.

It's been 12 hours and there are still 29 players left. Harrah's are still adamant on reaching a final table today, but, as Joe Beevers quite rightly pointed out, that could mean a 20 hour session for the likes of Captain Tom, Doyle Brunson, and Dewey Tomko. No one has ever questioned their mental ability, but can they compete stamina wise? I guess we'll soon find out.

Speaking of Captain Tom, here he is sat next to Tomko and Antonius.

He seems like a pleasant enough character, so I guess I can grace him with a surname... Captain Tom Franklin.



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And here are two of the remaining three tables, fully equipped with a whirlwind waitress.

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Good morning Jen and Abel, just caught up with the last eight pages of updates while drinking my morning coffee.

Great read as usual. Rumour has it that they may play until 9.30am your time today. Blimey  ;sleep;

Joe Cassidy -- 202k
Levi -- 620k
Patrik Antonius -- 610k
Ly -- 85k
Bloch -- 135k
Greenstein -- 283k
Cloutier -- 262k

LOL, yep, a 20 hour session was predicted right from the off by many. It's pretty tough going getting a field of 130 down to 9 in one day, especially when it's Limit.

Captain Tom Franklin is OUT.

Antonius put him down to the felt and Andrew Bloch laid on the finishing touches.

Seidel is one of the lower stacks with just 74k. I hope he hangs in there though, he genuinely seems like a nice chap.



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This is David Levi, who, as you can tell from his three towers, is your current chip leader.

They're not easy to count as he hasn't piled them up as neatly as Antonius, but I think he has him pipped with just over 600k.

Wouldn't mind cashing that in.

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 :respect: you two for these updates - amazing stamina for 2 so skinny  :D

 rotflmfao at Snoop's hairdo though, a real  :blonde:

Just caught up!

:hello:  Jen and 'Adonis'


I've never been interested much in Vegas and the WSOP but after reading
this update it sounds really exciting and I want to be there.

Trace xx

Snoopy's been filling you in while I have been mesmerised by this $25 ante $50 blind cash game, patronised currently by Andy Black and Joe Hachem... extraordinary game.  Let's just see you don't often see 23 taking down multiple thousands on a kind of weird bluff-turned-good.  Oh, and Ben Roberts has just joined the party.

I am going to award my Climber of The Day prize to..............Barry Greenstein

Starting the day way down near the bottom of the list with $23,600, he's somehow gotten over 400k and into the top ten in the last HORSE... I paid attention to his chip stack until this point, and to be honest it didn't look fantastic halfway through today, but he's firmly in control of a nice big stack now, which is after all what counts.

With the exception of Doyle, I'm not particularly awe-struck when it comes to the 'name' players. However, admittedly, taking a whizz with Ted Forrest, TJ Cloutier, Doyle Brunson, Robert Williamson, and Barry Greenstein was slighty surreal.

Does your press pass or your hair-do get you into the VIP's loo ?

Caught the end of an Eight or Better Stud hand.

On their backs.

Mateyboy = 3d 7h 7c Ahrt 4h Jh 6s

Cong Do = Ad 5h 3h 7h 8d 9d Td

Gavin Smith = Qd Qh 8h 5d Kd 4c 6c

Smith takes the high with a pair of queens, whilst the low goes to Cong Do with A-3-5-7-8

nope, the poker celebs have to share with us commoners

Guess this a real case of old versus new. Both at the top of the game, but at different times.

Bit like me sitting next to Arnold Schwarznegger I suppose. Whilst his guns dominated the eighties and early nineties, it's now time for a new set of 20 inch pythons to take over.


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23 players left

Barry Greenstein -- 320k
Chip Reese -- 680k
Rafael Perry -- 330k
Thung -- 102k
Gavin Smith -- 485k
Dewey Tomko -- 247k
Patrik Antonius -- 660k
Andrew Bloch -- 205k
Allen Cunningham -- 135k
Jim Betchel -- 690k
Erik Seidel -- 125k

The charismatic Gavin Smith.

According to my analysis, he is the only remaining player wearing sandals.

Fascinating!



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There is still a whole lot going on here, despite the fact it's edging towards 4am (midday UK time, crikey) - the cash games especially are going strong.  Phil Hellmuth doesn't look like wild horses will drag him from the Chinese poker game... :)

More like these tiddlers

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Oy, it's quality not quantity!!!

I have both though...

The three remaining tables...

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Ermmm unless there is something I am missing here - Jen how the hell do you know?

I thought they were refering to biceps...  :dontask:

know what?

Here's a recently snapped TJ Cloutier enjoying a midnight snack (OK, 4am snack).  Apparently his advice to Nick was, "Don't get the cheeseburgers that are ready-made and sitting there, get one freshly made."  Awesome advice from a living legend.

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Brilliant reporting. How much are the blinds now?

Mike

Blinds are now a great big 5,000/10,000

Thanks for your support!  It's great that people are watching this early in the day (especial congratulations if you're at work ;)     )

 (especial congratulations if you're at work      )

Hmm My boss told you say that didn´t he?

Mike

Here's Barry Greenstein in Profile, looking a little tired, but they all kind of do at this point.  The severely dressed arm to his right belongs to the floor man who was called in to settle a dispute about table balancing (a pretty important subject at this stage of the tournament).  Apparently the rules for moving people, as announced earlier, were that the big blind moves in the flop games (Hold'em and Omaha) to the worst position, while in Stud games the player who is in the same seat as the space to which they are moving has to make the journey.

I don't know whether this floor-call was due to a discrepancy in the ruling this time round, but there were some fairly heated words, as much as could be expected at this time of day.

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19 players left

He're a few chippy counts:

Rafael Perry -- 426k
Jim Betchel -- 835k
Barry Greenstein -- 268k
Gavin Smith -- 612k
Dewey Tomko -- 215k
David Levi -- 370k
Chip Reese -- 647k
Patrik Antonius -- 403k
Andrew Bloch -- 505k

Gavin Smith -- "Rounder is good"

TJ Cloutier -- "I'm not convinced, they stole too much from my book and never paid me"

Gavin Smith -- "But who wrote your books TJ, because I've read them and played poker with you and the two are not even remotely close."

The original Cat in the Hat, Doyle Brunson (top) recognisable from any angle, while Andy Bloch (bottom) has the headwear with a slightly different attitude (is it really made out of snakeskin camouflage stuff??)

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Hi guys, great job with the reports - Is Ivey still in? V jealous, only 1 more week before I join you lot out there though :)

Dewey Tomko re-raises TJ Cloutier preflop in the Hold'em round from the button...prompting an "all right" from TJ, and a think on the flop, pondering aloud, "what does Dewey Tomko have?"  He gives it up in the end, but it makes you wonder how many times these guys have played each other over the years, and whether their cards matter when they know their opponents so well. 

I've also noticed another detail (it's that time again, where the tangential is suddenly fascinating) - players in this event almost never show their cards unless they have to.  In a lot of events I've watched (including some fairly hefty buy-in ones, although nothing like this, of course) there's the occasional flash of the top pair, or the show of the bluff, but we don't get to see what doesn't get paid for. 

Yes - you might just catch a glimpse of his baby-blue baseball hat in the bottom left of this rather blurry table shot...

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You'd voluntarily show your hand in order to set up a particular play in the future, or create a particular image. These plays only work against the weaker players - against this field you'd just be giving free information without getting any benefit.

Great Reporting - does anybody look like they might actually fall asleep at the table? 

 ;sleep;

Phil Ivey -- 290k
Robert Williamson III -- 295k
David Singer -- 690k

There's been some talk recently about when to finish. Some want to play it through, others want to stop. I guess when it's the debut of an event of this staure and uniqueness, it's kinda tricky to guestimate the time of completion.

Just witnessed an interesting Omaha Hi-Lo hand.

Board = 2h 5s 6c 4h 2d

Greenstein = Ahrt 6d 2c Qh

Perry = Ad 3d Jh 9c

Greenstein bet every street, and preflop. Perry flatcalled each time, including a 20k bet on the river.

Greenstein takes the high with a boat and Perry the low with A-3, but he was clearly disappointed as he turned the wheel and had Greenstein in a spot of bother.

It's a fairly significant "bubble" for this event:

16th receives $137K, 17th receives SFA  :dontask:

*****************************BREAK****************************

Red Bull for me, methinks.

Break, should be bed no?

Is it about 5am?  What time does the final table return? (when they there)

Good work guys :)

We were talking about this earlier and I asked Jen whether or not, assuming that she'd qualified online for shrapnel, she'd try and hang in around the bubble and settle for the 130k (or whatever it was) or continue to play agressive poker and play for a big money finish.

What would you lot do?

At the break:

1   Jim Bechtel   990,000
2   David Singer   743,000
3   Gavin Smith   650,000
4   Patrik Antonius   620,000
5   Chip Reese   468,000
6   T.J. Cloutier   435,000
7   Barry Greenstein   415,000
8   David Levi   407,000
9   Doyle Brunson   390,000
10   Robert Williamson III   375,000
11     Andy Bloch   360,000
12   Joe Cassidy   268,000
13   Cong Do   245,000
14     Phil Ivey   210,000
15   Dewey Tomko   190,000
16   Rafael Perry   180,000
17   Matt Hawrilenko   141,000
18   Allen Cunningham   90,000


Two from the bubble.

I genuinely think TJ Cloutier has a great shot at this.
He has a WSOP bracelet in Omaha eight or better, Omaha and Pot Limit Omaha, he genuinely is one of the better players in all those variants and is solid at limit holdem and stud ( unsure on stud eight or better ).

A lot of the players entering this event while they are great at LHE and NLHE are marginal in some of the other games - Gavin Smith is a giant fish at stud8 ( listen to the latest circuit show where he believes an open ended low+straight+flush draw on 6th is ahead of a high pair. ( In omaha sure, not in stud8 though ).

I think it'd depend on my situation.

In the likely event that I was perilously short stacked I'd just wait for a decent hand to go all-in and try to limp in after a double up. But if I had any sort of strength I'd be aiming for the big finish.

Onto Razz now and the shortest stack, Allen Cunningham, doubles up courtesy of Cong Do.

Cunningham moves in 15k preflop, Do raises to 30k, Cunningham calls.

All the chips went in by the second exposed card.

(couldn't quite see all seven cards, but it was clear that Do had made a low by the penultimate card.

Cunningham = 6c 8c Qs 7c 2c 4d

Do = Ad 3c Kd Jh 5d 7s

Cunningham is now up to 120k.

Toilet report from last loo run:

Urinals: Cassidy, Cunningham, and Greenstein (discussing size of their stacks - honest!)

Pots: Reese and Ivey

On their way in: Bloch, Smith, and Levi

Nobody at the sinks.

Now I have to say that this is a part of the game that I am very very unlikely to experience.  I wonder whether people hassle them for autographs and stuff in there, or if that's considered rude...  So many questions arise when you've been up this long.

Ah, but these are still limit games (until the final 9) so if you're considering the all-in you've got to be pretty perilously short i.e. it has to have become irrelevant what comes on the flop, you're just committing and that's that.  It's more of a pertinent question if you've got the average chips - do you sit on them or go for it?  (It looks like you side with the "go for it" camp)

Dewey Tomko wins about a 50k pot from Joe Cassidy, who folds on fifth street in the Razz with a bit of an annoyed flourish - at exactly the same time as Phil Ivey takes down a bigger pot on the other side of the room.  The players no longer have the option they may once have had to just fold through their weaker variants - the $15,000/$30,000 limit on the stud rounds sees to that.

Razz still

Allen Cunningham must be a Trekkie because I've never seen anyone clingon like him before.

In true Mickey Wernick style, he's allowed himself to near the felt without doing anything drastic. He was down to jus t1.3k in fact before he pushed in.

Action came in the form of Rafael Perry.

Perry = 9s 2s 8h 9s 4h 8s 8c

Cunningham = 3d 2d 5d 7d Ts 5s 3h

The bracelet winner survives.

Is it true that the final table will be hold em only for tv purposes? Heard this last night on PNL

if so, how lousy...surely the players must be mad!

p.s great stamina guys, you have my admiration!

Yes, that is true.

Guess they just want 9 high profile names playing the Cadillac of poker on the box.

I agree, very poor.

That's pretty much what I meant - if you're low enough in chips to have to go all in or pass, then I'd try and double up with any decent hand because you probably wouldn't have enough chips to limp in to the money anyway.

If you're not that short stacked, I'd go for it. At least until I got to the super short stacked situation anyway. Either way I suspect I'd manage to find some way of going out on the bubble.

I like the consecutive headlines on CardPlayer

     Cunningham Doubles

     Cunningham Doubles Again

     Allen Cunningham Busts in 17th

Excellent comic timing from Mr Cunningham   :D

Yep, that's pretty much what happened. It was just that he let himself get so low that when he did actually double up, he was still low. He dropped to 13k before the second double-up. I'm no expert, that seemed way too low.

And we have the 18th finisher - Allen Cunningham who'd dwindled past the danger point and was all-in, with a stud hand of K 3 2 3 10 8 (which actually wouldn't have turned into a good hand in any of the Seven-carders) and he quietly stood up, saying, "Well, I guess that's the end of me..."  A very restrained exit, when Andy Bloch had just said a few minutes earlier in astonishment, "There are actually people here who aren't even getting paid!  Well, maybe they all have a piece of someone..."

In any case it's probably a very tired Allen Cunningham who relinquished the last of his chips with no obvious hard feelings.

Forgot to mention that Allen's final opponent was Cong Do.

So, 17 players left, which means...

STOP!

(http://www.wet-online.com/img/040406b/hammer.jpg)

BUBBLE TIME!!!

re: the bubble - it's less than 2 * the buyin, so surely not that big?

As I said earlier, mixed games with a NLHE final have been around a while and people seemed to like them then.

Andy Bloch eliminates  Matt Hawrilenko with a pair of deuces.

Ouch!

And the unlucky bubble was.....Matt Hawrilenko - Snoops was closer to the action than I was, and may fill you in on Andy Bloch's removal of the 17th place finisher.

And they're carrying on.... 16, in the money, and counting...

Your final 16:

Rafael Perry -- 160k
Patrik Antonius -- 630k
Andrew Bloch -- 420k
Barry Greenstein -- 250k
Robert Williamson III -- 195k
Phil Ivey -- 305k
David Singer -- 710k
TJ Cloutier -- 485k
Doyle Brunson -- 715k
Chip Reese -- 750k
Dewey Tomko -- 255k
Congo Do -- 105k
Jo Cassidy -- 320k
Jim Betchel -- 1mil 10k
Gavin Smith -- 525k

Interesting to see that probably the four biggest names in "the Big Game" - Doyle, Barry, Phil & Chip all made the money. - I guess they may have played these games before.

And then there were 15.

The shortest stack and wonderfully named, Congo Do, just had to Do the Congo out of here after he was eliminated by David Singer.

Surely some of you must be wondering if anyone's suggested calling it a day (or a day and a half) now, and coming back with two tables "tomorrow" - well, there was a strong advocate for that in TJ Cloutier, but Gavin Smith rather loudly said, "No!" and that was that - although I have a feeling the rest of them may have gone with it.

As a kind of parallel anecdote, a lady watching the final two offered to get Doyle Brunson a drink - "Would you like some decaf coffee?" to which he replied, "Decaf?"

Congo Do (top) and David Singer (bottom)



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And our final two tables:




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You know, my eyes have gone so blurry that if they started playing Irish, Pineapple, Chinese, Paduki, and Brag I don't think I'd notice - even if they announced it as IPCPB

they have been playing for almost 17hrs now !  What time do they restart final ?  If they carry one like this it might just be an hours break :o

Stud High

Andy Bloch loses a 200k pot Tomko.

Winning hand was 6c Jh 6h 6s Js 4h for a full house, sixes over jacks.

They originally pencilled in 6-8pm

It's okay for us young guns here to moan, but what about Doyle?! Incredible stamina.

Rafael Perry has dribbled down to the felt and looks set to be our 15th place finisher.

*_* You say that and then he triples up lol.

Are there still a lot of railbirds or have the crowds mostly gone to bed now ?

Most have gone to bed now, there's barely a chash table on the go either. Phil Hellmuth's still playing Chinese Poker though. Although, only a couple of railbirds now.

How are you two managing?

I've only been sat at my desk since 8:20am and I'm flagging now,
I just want to go home and sleep...


 :respect: ;applause; :respect: ;applause; :respect:

I must tell you about the loos:

Firstly, after watching Doyle Brunson on the box around 4 or 5 years ago, I never thought that one day I'd be walking in on him taking a jimmy riddle at the urinal.

Secondly, I am completely bamboozled by the bogs. There seems to be no lever for the flush. At first, I thought that it might be one of those fancy 'Broadway-like' ones where you just hover your hand over a sensor, but that didn't seem to work.

Then, when I left for the door, it flushed. I thought that it must realise when you're exiting and act accordingly. So, to test this, I walked back towards the loo and exited again, but there was no flush. Surely you don't need to soil the loo to make the flush work in this manner? How would that work?

Can anyone shed some light on the matter?

Oh yeah, and finally, the soap smells of marzipan, which is odd.

Blurry eyed, physically and mentally exhausted, and very close to passing out, but apart from that... tickety boo.

does it taste like marzipan ?

Aye Aye Captain.  Where's the roast?  I saw at least four Doyles a minute ago.  Happy Birthday.

hold on, I'll just go check

I hate the bogs when I go to the states. There are gaps in the doorways so you can basically see in and a massive gap underneath aswell, not very private!

Sorry about the recent lack of photos, guys and gals, but they would pretty much be of the same thing - both tables from the vantage point of the rail.  Although it must be said that the stickler-like efficiency of the Green Passed Press has relaxed now that there are only about three spectators and all the bloggers together are flagging like me after running up a flight of stairs.

lol out-foxed by a loo :D

Gavin Smith, meanwhile, is repeatedly telling everyone that he's the only one who's been steadily drinking Bacardi through the day, and offering to buy drinks for his fellow players.  In case they don't get the message, he occasionally adds a little phrase like, "I'm three sheets to the wind!"  But louder than the rest at the moment or not, it looks like even Mr. Smith is flagging.

There was a brief harangue of the T.D. on the late shift - something along the lines of, "The biggest event ever, and you're going to make us play for 24 hours straight, so we fit ESPN's filming schedule??"

If that is the only real reason they're still going, then I am as incredulous as they are.

Another break,

Three players with less than three big bets.

David Levi   102,000
Barry Greenstein   60,000
Rafael Perry   55,000

Well ok, David Levi has three and an ickle bit, but the antes are 4000 so who cares.

Let's have a photo, then - here's the outside bit (where you can smoke) with the proud vista of the great Rio soaring upwards...oh, and it's properly Day again here.  Man do I feel weird - and to echo Snoopy - How impressive is Doyle Brunson?

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If they really wanted to stop they would all just get up and go! And tell ESPN that they wont be showing thier cards.

Stud Eight or Better

2 big pots:

(1) Ivey wins a pot after his 60k final bet is called by Singer.

These were the cards I could see:

Ivey = Ad 4d 8h 8c Kd Qd ?

Singer = ? ? 6d 5d 5c Jc ?

Ivey must have made his flush and Singer missed his low draw as all the chips went Ivey's way.

Whilst Singer was pondering the final call, Ivey was truly statuesque, didn't move an inch.

(2) Big pot for Doyle

Brunson = Ad 8d 4s 3s

Williamson = 3c Ahrt Jh Kd

Doyle bets 120k, Williamson folds.

Are the blinds 10/20k after this break btw? Thats really going to juice the action.

In answer to snoopy's loo question:

I know that urinals in pubs etc over here are linked to the wash hand basins. So when you open the taps to wash your hands the urinal will flush. Don't know if that is the set up there.

Hold 'Em

decent sized pot

Board = 7-Q-J-J-Q

Tomko bets the river, Cloutier calls with J-5 and wins.

"So, you didn't think I liked that river then," chirps Cloutier.

Cloutier leaps up to 350k

Table 2:

Williamson -- 405k
Bloch -- 470k
Brunson -- 760k
Perry -- 80k
Cloutier -- 350k
Smith -- 280k
Tomko -- 390k
Levi -- 120k

Snoopy, could you confirm the blinds are 10/20k with 20/40k bets?

Must be fun playing for nearly $2mill with the chipleader of the last 15 on 26 big bets.

Table 1:

Antonius -- 450k
Ivey -- 800k
Greenstein -- 105k
Cassidy -- 275k
Betchel -- 1.1 mil
Reese -- 780k
Singer -- 630k

2 tables

14 players

Av stack - 510,74

blinds = 10k/20k

Shortstack Barry Greenstein ran out of room to manoeuvre and within three preflop raises (back on the hold'em) he was all-in with Th Js against 7s 7d.
Flop:  Ad Ts Qd
Turn:  2h
River:  9h

And Barry's head is above water with around 150k.  Still short, however.

Just to keep you entertained during this slow period of play, here are a couple of early morning shots of Jen and I hammocking.


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Any results on the soap tasting yet?

 8)

That hair is still a shocker Snoopy, even though it's been in loads of pics. you keeping it that bad way for BB3?

Yes, I think it may actually be marzipan I was using rather than soap

Cassidy and Greenstein have been eliminated in quick succession.

Ivey took out Cassidy and is now on 530k.

Singer took out Greenstein and is now on 700k.

keep up the good work chaps.
At least you are in vegas at the wsop instead of england at some boring job.

Just 2 more to go guys. Bet you are looking forward to your bed by now. Good work the pair of you.

they're dropping like flies now

about time too!

Gavin Smith the latest casualty

down to ten, one more left

where am i?

what day is it?

what's a bed?

where did those goblins come from?

The prize structure:

1st  $1,784,640
2nd  $1,029,600
3rd  $617,760
4th  $549,120
5th  $480,480
6th  $411,840
7th  $343,200
8th  $274,560
9th  $205,920
10th  $205,920
11th  $205,920
12th  $205,920
13th  $137,280
14th  $137,280
15th  $137,280
16th  $137,280

And with enormous blinds and the game being now Omaha 8/b, Patrik Antonius found himself desperately short, and moved in once, finding a river which brought him a low to chop the pot, and then again.  This second time was more dramatic - he raised on the button, and it was really a 'pass or put him all-in' moment.  All-in it was, as it happens on a flop of 2h 5d 2d.  There really was no option, as he'd left himself less than a big blind (such things happen in Limit).

Turn:  5c
River:  Td  at which point Patrick said simply, "Amazing river."  And it was: it fit his Tc Th perfectly and he doubles up.  Much to our equal delight and chagrin.  OK, unequal.

Omaha Hi-Lo

Big hand involving Betchel and Singer.

finished up as:

Betchel = 6d 8s 3h 4d

Singer = 7d 9c Aspades 3c

Board = 7h 9d 3d Ks 2s

Bechtel wins the low with 4-6 and Singer takes the high with 9-7 (two pair)

Just to say, I've spent the last hour catching up with this thread, it's an awesome read - the best update thread yet, I think.

 :)up

After a brief attempt by Doyle Brunson to make the final ten-handed is met with opposition from Phil Ivey and Chip Reese (at which Doyle laughingly said, "Tremble tremble, fear fear fear..." it looks like it's been resolved at last.)

Williamson is our TV Bubbler - and we're down to the final Nine!

And here is your bubble boy:



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Bah, Williamson, (along with Ivey) are two of my picks for the WSOP dream team. I didn't want to say anything.... grrrrr

SO - 9pm Vegas time will be your thrilling (No Limit) finale - stick a whole pile of forks in me - I'm done.

Over and out.

nighty night  ;sleep;

 ;applause; :respect: ;applause;

Its almost eight handed, Patrick Antonius is down to 13,000 chips, just more than one small blind.

Excellent updates guys, just a shame you'l be robbed of your vantage points at the final tomorrow with all the cardplayer 'part timers' (who didnt stay til the end) being able to walk through to their coveted spots  :tikay:

i carnt belive how brunson has the stamina to last this long man this guy is older than my grandad

ne way i hope he wins it as he is a true legend

blonde have been doing Live Updates for 18 months now, & despite the access problems, & mega-long day, this is the best one yet, thanks to The Intrepid Two.

I can't speak highly enough of those two, & I feel real bad that I'm not there helping out.

Thanks for the live updates folks, good work.  We appreciate it  :)up