blonde poker forum

And day two commences here at the Rio in just a few moments (probably).  Bear with us - we'll get you up to date as soon as we are...

1 Tom Franklin  237,800
2 Michael Banducci  194,900
3 Jeff Madsen  160,300
4 Erick Lindgren  157,300
5 "Mad" Marty Wilson  153,200
6 Frederick Halling  131,300
7 Yehia "Joe" Awada  122,000
8 David Pham  120,400
9 Paul Wasicka  120,000
10 Jonathan Gaskell  102,900
11 Omar Khayat  92,900
12 Peter Fischer  88,000
13 Don Todd  79,300
14 Kenna James  60,900
15 Keith Tilston  59,700
16 Cliff Cantor  57,600
17 Gregg Merkow  55,200
18 Robert Ford  54,300
19 Phillipe Boucher  44,300
20 Vanessa Rousso  41,700
21 Ted Lawson  38,000
22 John Juanda  37,400
23 Brian Willis  35,200
24 Robert Williamson III  32,000
25 Mats Gavatin  29,400
26 Jenny Kang  29,300
27 Mark Petersen  26,600
28 Marco Traniello  24,400
29 Joe Beevers  23,900
30 Paul Foltyon  22,900

Joe Beevers doubles up in the Short-Handed on the first hand!

His short stack (23,600) saw a double fold in front of it and moved into the middle - the button and small blind passed but the big blind instacalled with Aspades 9s.  Joe held Ac Qd - and it held.  So a proper shot at the final for the Hendon Mobster after he took his early shot and it paid off.

And after doubling up so quickly, Joe is back in the thick of the action with J-J v J-T.

Joe raised, and bracelet winner Ted Lawson moved over the top. Joe called, but the 7-8-8-rag-9 board made a 15k dent in his stack.

More action from Joe table...

And just look at the hands that were out there!

Dustin Woolfe moves all-in under the gun with Qs 8s

Jonathon Gaskell flat calls from Seat 2 with Ac Ks

Joe Beevers folds Ahrt Kd

Gregg Markow folds Aspades Qh

Ted Lawson folds  Ad Th

Blimey!

Board was slightly less fun-filled

9h Jc 6h 6d 7c

Ace high wins

Even more from Table Beevers!

Ted Lawson is OUT.

Lawson = 9d Td

Gregg Markow = Aspades Qh

Board = 3h 5s 4d Aspades Kd

They broke the first table of the day, and it was Joe Beevers'... immediately, it seemed he was walking from his new seat to the lady who assigns the cash.  So it must be reported that Joe is OUT in 30th place.  Ariston trying to get you the details.

Vannessa Rousso has been been a busy girl.

After the dismay of seeing her Aces cracked by Q-9 last night (a pot that would have shot her into 3rd place), she's moving chips again today.

Mateyboy bets on a flop of 5-4-T with 6-8 (Gutshot draw), Rousso calls with A-K

Turn = A

MB bets again, Rousso calls all-in, and her Top Pair holds up.

She's now up to 105k

A few approximate chip counts:

John Juanda -- 130k
Erick Lindgren -- 70k
Joe Awada -- 90k
Vanessa Rousso -- 100k
Kenna James -- 50k

5 tables of 25 players remaining

Including:

Vanessa Rousso
Joe Awada
Captain Tom Franklin
Pab
John Juanda
Erick Lindgren
Robert Williamson III
Kenna James

Found a gap.

Pab's on 32k

We're down to 23

Christopher Loveland and Don Todd the two casualties.

As a result, we're down to 4 tables.

In consecutive seats:

Captain Tom Franklin, Robert Williamson III, Pab, Vannessa Rousso

Pab is already guaranteed $15,489

Mad Marty's on around 130k

Paul Foltyn -- 55k

Just saw a pot move away from Lingren. I could see had tens, not too sure about the other guy. Judging by the King high board, it was either a King or an underpair.

Kenna James is OUT.

Managed to sneak in to catch this hand.

A-K v A-T all-in preflop

Board was a killer

T-9-9-K-T

That's gotta hurt!

Kenna gone

Info courtesy of Vanessa Rousso's agent (I think - not sure)

She's up to 125k after finally finding some luck.

A-A v 8-8

Vanessa spiked an Ace.

Pab has eliminated Robert Williamson III

A-2 versus 9-8 on an Ace high board

19 left

18th - $15,489

Down to three tables.

Pab is now sitting in Seat 9 with John Juanda the other side of the dealer.

Seated opposite are Vanessa Rousso and Mad Marty Wilson.

Table Pab:

Seat 1: John Juanda -- 70k
Seat 3: Mad Marty -- 85k
Seat 4: Vanessa Rousso -- 100k
Seat 6: Pab -- 80k

Greg Merkow is OUT

Eliminated by Cliff Cantor.

On the same table Joe Awada has 105k and captain Tom Franklin in flying high with 310k (!!)

Erick Lindgren -- 175k
Jonathon Gaskell -- 95k
Pab -- 55k

Table Pab...

Seat 1: John Juanda
Seat 2: Peter Fischer
Seat 3: Marty Wilson
Seat 4: Vanessa Rousso
Seat 5: Paul Wasicka
Seat 6: Paul Foltyon

Table Awada...

Seat 1: Cliff Cantor
Seat 3: Tony Woods
Seat 4: Captain Tom Franklin
Seat 5: Jenny Kang
Seat 6: Yehia "Joe" Awada

Table Lindgren...

Seat 1: Erick Lindgren
Seat 2: Michael Banducci
Seat 3: Philippe Boucher
Seat 4: Fredrik Halling
Seat 5: Jeff Madsen
Seat 6: Jonathan Gaskell

Seat 1: Erick Lindgren -- 175k
Seat 2: Michael Banducci -- a monster stack, must be 400k+
Seat 3: Philippe Boucher -- 100k
Seat 4: Fredrik Halling -- 180k
Seat 5: Jeff Madsen -- 175k
Seat 6: Jonathan Gaskell -- 95k

John Juanda is OUT.

K-K v J-9

Paul Wasika makes a straight flush on 8h 4s 3d 7h Th board

Last 16, next out receives $22,638

Pab is one of the shortstacks

Shortstacked table...

Seat 1: John Juanda -- OUT
Seat 2: Peter Fischer -- 100k
Seat 3: Marty Wilson -- 70k
Seat 4: Vanessa Rousso -- 125k
Seat 5: Paul Wasicka -- 145k
Seat 6: Paul Foltyon -- 50k

Michael Banducci raises, Philippe Bouche reraises, Banducci calls. Flop = J-7-3. Bouche raises 30k, Banducci moves all-in, Bouch folds.

17 players remaining

Average stack 149,117... on a break for another ten minutes. 

Vanessa Rousso doubles up courtesy of Peter Fischer.

Rousso raises preflop, Fischer sticks in another 20k, and, after a a couple of sips of her drink and the brief straining of the ol' brain cells, Rousso makes the call.

Flop = J-9-T

Fischer briskly announces "all-in" and even briskier, Rousso makes the call.

Rousso confidently flips over her A-J, leaving Fischer to meekly expose his A-Q.

Turn = 4

River = 6

So Peter Fischer is the 16th place finisher, winning $22,638.

Wigan's Jonathon Gaskell has surpassed the 200k mark after taking a pot off Paul Wisicka.

$2,500 PL

Just 4 left

Joe Hachem and John Gale still in

Pab -- 48k
Mad Marty -- 63k

Jonathan Gaskell has now moved to Pab's table, meaning the set-up is now:

Seat 1: Jonathon Gaskell
Seat 3: Marty Wilson
Seat 4: Vanessa Rousso
Seat 5: Paul Wisicka
Seat 6: Paul Foltyon

Marty Wilson is OUT

Having said that, on Vanessa's left, Paul Wasicka just took a chunk of chips from her (c.50k pot) with Q9.  I think the flop was Ks 9h Kd (although the face cards look the same from where I'm sitting - contact lenses left in their bottle today) with the Qs on the turn.  Vanessa bet that card, and got called, with what looked like a double check on the 6d river.  She mucked when she saw Paul's hand, anyway, so we may never know.

Seat 1: Jonathon Gaskell -- 202k
Seat 4: Vanessa Rousso -- 190k
Seat 5: Paul Wisicka -- 200k
Seat 6: Paul Foltyon -- 47k

Not sure if Snoops got this list out yet, so here's that Payout for you:

1  $643,381
2  $357,435
3  $214,461
4  $150,123
5  $119,145
6   $83,402
7   $69,104
8   $61,955
9   $54,807
10  $47,658
11  $42,892
12  $38,126
13  $33,361
14  $29,786
15  $26,212

That's your lot.  Pab says now that the blinds are heading upwards (to 3k/6k ante 500) he's "going in at the next available opportunity...."

And Snoopy brings extraordinary news from Pab's Autoallin - - he finds Ac Ad straight away!  Gets a call from Paul Wasicka with Aspades x (couldn't see kicker) which must have hit a draw because when the whole 4 K K 10 9 board was out, Pab looked relieved as he raked in the double through!

Interesting hand spectated by Snoopy:

Gaskell, Rousso and Pab see a Ac 3s Kc flop.  Gaskell checks, Rousso bets 10k, Pab raises to 25k and she alone calls.
Turn:  4c  Rousso moves all in, and pab folds...

Paul 'Pab' Foltyn dropped down to 55k, but is now back up to 75k after surviving a couple of preflop all-ins.

Vanessa Rousso -- 280k

Apparantly had two pair to Paul Folytn's Ace in her last reported hand.

Big hand kicks off on Table Lindgren, involving said sky-blue hat wearer and fellow top ten in chips-er Fredrik Halling.  It was preflop madness, with Erick Lindgren raising about 45k, and finding a re-raise from Holling (BEL...on the back of his shirt in the picture- anyone know what this word is?) of three huge towers of chips.  Got to be at least 90k on top.  When it comes back to Lindgren he's confused (reckoning this sets him all in) and eventually says, "Call."
He shows Aspades Ts
Fredrik Holling has Ad Kh

They're on their backs and the whole board is dealt out, bringing a lone ten which prompts a wave of muttered "suck out!"s from the crowd.

But the most interesting thing about this hand was that most people, including Lindgren, seemed to underestimate his stack - the call of Holling's re-raise didn't in fact put Erick all in, but they turned over the hands and dealt the lot out anyway.  It just so happened that the ten-spiking removed the need for serious floor decisions, but there was still a bit of controversy...

Pab -- 85k
Gaskell -- 260k

Joe Awada just doubled up

I could see that Tom Franklin had A-9 on an Ace high board, but I couldn't get anywhere near Joe card's.

I'm sure I heard someone mention A-7 off, which would suggest he made 2 pair somewhere along the line.

Joe Awada OUT in 14th place, winning $29,786

He was now the short stack, by quite a long way - and although I was watching that table originally because I think he doubled a micro-stack into a short one off an annoyed-looking Cliff Cantor, he moved in again right away, this time with KQ.  I think it was Captain Tom Franklin (in the hat) who took the shot to get rid of him with J7, and a seven took the feared Mr. Awada (bottom left)  out of the tournament.

A resilient Paul Foltyn climbs to 100k.

Paul raises 20k from the button, Gaskell calls from the small blind.

Flop = 2-9-4

Paul bets and wins

And somehow we missed the exit of 13th place finisher Philippe Boucher (Canadian, I am told) who takes home $33,361 (or whatever you get after tax if you're Canadian...).

Brief pause as they resit themselves, and there was muttering about a colour-up too.

Two Table Redraw as follows:

Table PAB

Captain Tom Franklin
Vanessa Rousso
Paul Foltyn
Fredrik Halling
Erick Lindgren
Jenny Kang

Table Gaskell

Michael Banducci
Jonathon Gaskell
Paul Wasicka
Jeff Madsen
Cliff Cantor
Tony Woods

Paul Foltyn -- 70k
Gaskell -- 450k
Rousso -- 270k
Franklin -- 320
Lindgren -- 130k

Seat 1: Michael Banducci -- 170k
Seat 2: Jonathan Gaskell -- 420k
Seat 3: Paul Wasicka -- OUT
Seat 4: Jeff Madsen -- 440k
Seat 5: Cliff Cantor -- 75k
Seat 6: Tony Woods -- 185k

Cliff Cantor doubles up, saved by the river... he put his last 60-80k with Ac Kh and ended up racing 7h 7s.  When the Kd popped out on the river, Cliff, who'd been standing up, came and knuckle-high-fived his railer (you know what I mean) and was told "That was f - in' Scaaary..."

Jeff Madsen -- 400k

go pab go pab go pab

************************************DINNER BREAK********************************

The last few pots didn't get near showdown (it's all a little tense here and the spectators, ourselves included, have now been roped off even further back) - but I did see Mr. Gaskell take down two in a row, one raising in first position, and the other raising off two limpers from the big blind.

A little break for pab et al. and I am taking Snoopy to a buffet, if we can find one less than an hour and a half away...

1st -- $643,381

2nd -- $357,435

3rd -- $214,461

4th -- $150,123

5th -- $119,145

6th -- $83,402

7th -- $69,104

8th -- $61,955

9th -- $54,807

10th -- $47,658

11th -- $42,892

Jonathan Gaskell -- 539,000

Jeff Madsen -- 426,000

Tom Franklin -- 394,000

Erick Lindgren -- 348,000

Vanessa Rousso -- 235,000

Tony Woods -- 155,000

Cliff Cantor -- 154,000

Paul Foltyon -- 146,000

Michael Banducci -- 89,000

Jenny Kang -- 64,000

John Gale has won the $2,500 Pot Limit Hold 'Em Event.

And it's a good thing we returned from our dinner break with 25 seconds to spare, for almost right away Michael Banducci pushed in his very short stack on the small blind (45k?) and Jonathon Gaskell went for it, calling with Kc 6c.  It was just as well, as Michael had Th 9d.
Flop:  7s 8h 3s  (so could have been a lot worse for the all-in guy)
Turn:  7c
River:  Qc   and we are down to one table of 5 and one of 4. 

Action-tastic post-dinner play (it's like they've all tanked up on coffee during the hour and a half break):  Perma smallish-stack Cliff Cantor doubles up again: 
It was all in on the turn against Jeff Madsen, with the board reading:  4c 4h 9h Qh - it looked like the biggest bet had gone in here, presumably push from Cliff, with a call.
Cliff showed:  3h 5h
Jeff showed:  Kc Ks
River:  6h

And he's over 200k now.

And Erick Lindgren gets out of jail again:

He's all in with 33 against Vanessa Rousso's A3 - but on a flop of 2 5 4!  Having flopped the straight and got all the money in the middle, she could only sit and watch as the turn was a Queen and the river an Ace!  "Unbelievable" she was heard to exclaim.  In this instance, fair enough.

And now Tony Woods (Climber of the Day who started on $19,600) doubles through off Cliff Cantor - It all got in preflop and...
Cliff showed:  Ks Js
Tony showed:  Ad Qd
Flop:  9c 5c Kc
Turn: Ahrt
River:  Aspades

And finishing 9th winning $54,807 is Jenny Kang

This unfortunately happened mid-run-to-press-room, and to be honest I didn't get to see her play much today as she was always in one of those awkward seats with her back to the rail.

Good to see two lady players make it to the last two tables.  8)

Captain Tom Franklin, chip leader at the start of the day, is on the button when Pab is on the big blind.  There's inevitably a raise, and the last time Pab called it made it to showdown, at which Franklin took a 60k pot.  Most recently, however, when Tom raised, small blind Vanessa Rousso and big blind Pab called. 
Flop: 2d 5d 5s   (I think - it was all raggy with what looked like a paired rag). 
In any case, when Vanessa checked, Pab bet a confident 40k or so and took it down after a bit of deliberation from the button raiser.


N.B.  Pab bet with a handful of orangey-pink chips, which I didn't notice he had before... at least 90k in those, plus 120 in yellow 1,000s - he's easily around 220,000!  Highest chip point so far...

Youngster Jeff Madsen (who was pointed out to me by The Rookie as a wild but talented young player) just doubled up Cliff Cantor.  It seems like every few minutes, someone does...
Anyway, it was 9c 9d against Cliff's Js Jd
Flop:  8 J A
Turn:  Q   ("Ten coming?" muses Brian...)
River:  J   Definitively not, then.

Current chip counts with 7 left:

Erick Lindgren -- 470k
Cliff Canter -- 460k
Captain Tom Franklin -- 420k
Paul Foltyn -- 300k
Jonathon Gaskell -- 290k
Jeff Madsen -- 180k
Tony Woods -- 120k

Vanessa Rousso is eliminated in 8th place, winning $61,955

After getting beaten up by Erick Lindgren (who escaped that flopped straight of hers earlier by the skin of his teeth) during this level she called off a stack of chips on a dangerous board (three paints, a 7 and an Ace) and that left her probably a little off centre, and definitely shorter stacked than she'd been for ages.  Eventually with what looked like less than 100k, she moved in with Qc 8c, and found, that's right, Erick again with Ac Ts

Flop:  Aspades Th Ad
Turn and river irrelevant small cards

And she'll have to settle with a near-TV-bubble yet again.

And Cliff Cantor is the 7th place finisher, winning $69,104

And it was a sick one:

All in preflop, Cliffs Ahrt vs Jonathan Gaskell's Ac Ks

Long story short - - - - - four clubs and Cliff is four-flushed off the TV final six.

BUT - it will include pab!  Congratulations to him!!!

We are scheduled a lie-in tomorrow, but will probably not be able to keep away from this final.  In any case it will be getting full coverage by the whole TV kit, and Cardplayer etc etc. should there be a few tumbleweeds across blonde.

It's great so many of you stayed up to watch this exciting Day Two - made it fun for us as well.  But I'm toast - goodnight.