blonde poker forum

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Overnight chip counts:

Fran Cipriano -- 123,200
Ken Jacobs -- 119,106
Paul McCaffrey -- 110,650
John Kincaid -- 107,500
Joe Fuhriman -- 98,250
George Lopez -- 98,125
Mike Erstling -- 94,075
Sean Le -- 94,050
Paul Kitsos -- 92,850
WeiKai Chang -- 92,575
Paramjit Gill -- 85,650
Mark Vos -- 85,375
Jeffrey Lisandro -- 85,025
Matthew Maroon -- 83,150
Eric Buchman -- 82,450
Justin Diamond -- 81,850
Nathan Wilt -- 80,225
Phil Cordano -- 80,125
Aaron Clark -- 78,925
Erik Friberg -- 77,675

Others:

Julian Gardner -- 60,325
Layne Flack -- 56,300
Mike Tindall -- 44,475
Rob Sherwood -- 43,625
Tony Bloom -- 38,175
Thomas Wahlroos -- 37,800
David Clayton -- 37,050
Jim Betchel -- 36,700
Andreas Hagen -- 35,100
John Armstrong -- 31,700
Hoyt Corkins -- 29,725
Barry Greenstein -- 28,450
Allen Kessler -- 26,950
Steve Davis -- 23,100
David Sklansky -- 29,500
Jeremy Bates -- 15,400
Mickey Wernick -- 14,750
John Duthie -- 14,675
Scotty Nguyen -- 14,350
Kristy Gazes -- 13,575

Other names...

Ron Rose
Mel Judah
Cameron Angus
Dewey Tomko
AndrewT
David Williams
Iwan Jones
Cupcake
Evelyn Ng
Greek Jack
Paul Jackson

Cupcake is down to 5k after running Pocket Kings into a set of Threes

Even more names...

Simon Zach
Bill Gazes
Barry Shculman
Ron Jeremy
Johnny Lodden
Edgar Skjervold
Chris Ferguson
Luke Smith
Todd Brunson
Stephen Hendry

Morning!  Another day, another 2,138 players.  Probably.  (That's how many played Day 1a)

But today is heavier on the blondeites, with Marc Goodwin and Dave from the Poker House giving it a go... So after my extra half hour of getting ready time (OK, lying in bed staring at the alarm on my phone) thanks to Snoops I am refreshed and ready to go gather evidence from the early stages of play.

Already heard a story, courtesy of blondeite SuffolkPunch:  He saw Phil Ivey getting into a 4xraise preflop war in the first level (go on, guess Ivey's hand) - and on a Queen-high flop, the Mateyboy still didn't feel like letting his pocket Tens go... the standard of play here is variable, to say the least.

Also spotted:

Doyle Brunson
Mike Caro
Darren Grosvenor
David Williams' mum
Paul Sandells
M3Boy
Mark Hawkins
Ken Power
Martin Green

Evelyn Ng -- 5,900
Ron Rose -- 6,050
Mel Judah -- 8,250
Peter Smythe -- 10,750
Paul Jackson -- 9,100
Paul Darden -- 7,650
Howard Lederer -- 6,650
Dewey Tomko -- 8,225
David Williams -- 6,650
Ken Powell -- 10,250
Con Cronin -- 3,900
Iwan Jones -- 10,300

Phil Hellmuth has just rolled in, fashionably late as usual, and is now playing on the feature table.

OK - first story courtesy of Hugh Kirton, who can only be described as a genial but sick poker junky.  I congratulated him on his unusual headwear, and dress in general.  "Yes," he replied, "I was going for the look of a gay, weak-tight player."  He's clearly thought it all through. 

"And then I went all-in first hand."

Apparently he'd arrived late, having played cash all night (eminently believable) and got to his seat as the first card was being dealt.  So, his Td Jd wasn't dead, and he called an under the gun 150, along with a mid-positioner.  Flop:  Qc 9d 4d.  Not bad.
UTG then makes it 300, called in the middle, and Hugh makes it 850.  Call from Matey 1, but Mid-Matey makes it 3,000.  So Mr. Kirton goes all-in, and is called by Mid-Matey with his set of Fours.
Kc on the river, and it's 20k off the bat.  God help his table.

Bill Gazes -- 8,600
Marc Goodwin -- 11,800
Johnny Lodden -- 4,150
Willie Tann -- 25,000

I saw a lot of inside-out shirts yesterday, but until there's danger of their .coms getting on TV, there are just too many players to police.  If you look at the PartyPoker logo on the tables, it's .net, and so are the web addresses on all the big banners and booths and stuff around the Arena.  If you make it on the Feature table etc. then it's black tape over your .com...

Dave Ulliott -- 10,625
Mickey Appleman -- 10,400
AndrewT -- 10,975
Doyle Brunson -- 12,200

Board = 5h 8c Jh Th 4d

Doyle bets 20k, MB calls, Doyle shows 7d 9h

Phil Hellmuth is low after running J-J into Q-Q and K-K and A-A

... on the first two hands he played!

Gavin Smith -- 4,650
Dave Singer -- 10,350
Shannon Elizabeth -- 7,625
Chris Ferguson -- 12,800
Phil Ivey -- 17,300

Chip Count Time -

Dave Colclough     10,100
Hugh Kirton          20,000
BullitPete Haslam   13,800
Luke Smith           13,400
Pascal Perrault       12,600   
Iwan Jones           9,525
Simon Hennessey   9,000   
Howard Lederer     10,700
Paul Jackson          8,975     (illustrating this chip count, for bonus excitement on Interactive thread)
Nick Whiten           6,750     (was down to just 3k a little while ago, but just doubled through with KK)

Steve Zass (sp?) -- 16,300
Annie Duke -- 8,625
PokerGirl -- 8,725
Jim Kerrigan -- 13,350
Simon Zach -- 7,300
Iwan Jones -- 7,900
Martin Green -- 14,200
Ken Powell -- 14,000
Cupcake -- 3,950

Early Exit of the Day -

Sadly it is of my friend Cameron Angus, whom I was about to stroll past and take a picture and count from, but was informed by Simon Hennessey that he'd exited, and suffered while doing so.

Not a fast'n'loose type player, I couldn't imagine him not getting his whole stack in a big favourite, and sure enough, he held 7c 7d on an Aspades 7h 3c board.
His opponent:  Ad Kd
Turn:  Kc
River: Kh

Bad news for Willie Tann - after a promising start he is back down to his starting stack after a nasty set versus set confrontation.

... especially cruel seeing as though MB limped with pocket Aces. Willie flopped a set of deuces.

Peter Smythe -- 6,075

Evelyn Ng -- 7,050
Steve Sass -- 15,300
Doyle Brunson -- 8,625
Paul Jackson -- 7,000
Jeff 'Jaffacake' Kimber -- 11,500
Akshay 'ActionAxe' Kumar -- 22,000
Peter Smythe -- 6,050
Iwan Jones -- 7,900

How about a Scandie chipcount?

Johan Storakers -- 3.5k
Kjetil Tellef (who has just won a A-K v QQ situation. K on flop and river) -- 3k
Edgar Skjervold (whose alias is Ragde - can anyone work out how he came up with that?)
Torstein Iversen (one of the biggest names in Norway) -- 4.2k
Gunn Tove Tvist (definitely one of the biggest names - 13 letters!) -- 17k
Mats Iremark (Deaville EPT winner) -- 8.2k
Anders Berg (one of the Norsemen) -- 4.2k
Philip Hilm (final tabled in Copenhagen EPT) -- 4k
Chris Bjorin (has already cashed a number of times at this year's WSOP) -- 11.5k
Johnny Lodden (lost the biggest ever online pot) -- 4.5k
Alex Stevik (of Barcelona EPT fame) -- 7.5k

John 'Cupcake' McGraine (sp?) is OUT.

Down to around four, he had a feeling he was beat, but couldn't bring himself to lay down K-Q on a Q-Q-5 board.

Mateyboy turned over 5-5

I have some counts too!

Padraig Parkinson (Pictured)   9,300
Womble                             9,300
Rob Hollink                         12,000
Willie Tann                          5,800
Anders Berg                        6,200

Paul Darden is OUT.

Crippled by a K-K v A-K confrontation and never recovered.

Tiffany Williamson is OUT

Copenhagen EPT runner-up Edgar Skjervold is OUT.

Aces versus Queens

When I asked him if he had the Aces, he replied "Of course"

Then I heard that someone else had folded A-Q!

Picture-heavy pages from the Interactive Thread...

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=13047.msg271574#msg271574
http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=13047.msg271591#msg271591

Just uneartherd yet another blondeite, this time hidden away on Table 74.

George 'WellChief' McDonald is currently on 8,750 and seems pretty confident.

He's had Aces and Kings, but only managed to take the blinds.

So he's found big hands, but no big action.

Also on his table is Dave Singer, who faired well in the H.O.R.S.E earlier on in the Series.

I just found a bit of paper with this slightly unusual hand on it from earlier - we haven't had a lot of coverage of our French pals, so here's a small knock to Pascal Perrault with a fairly interesting hand involving quads.  Oh dear, sounds like I just ruined the ending...

Flop: Ad Qd Ac.  Matey bets out 250.  Pascal calls.
Turn: Kh  Check-check
River:  Ahrt  Matey bets 575, and gets a quick flat call.  The Aspades gets flashed in a hurry to take the pot, but the 2c kicker explains the earlier reticence...

Phil Hellmuth is OUT

A-Q versus 7-7

all-in preflop

No help

Steve Sass -- 14,000
PokerGirl -- 5,500
Ken Powell -- 13,500
Paul McKinney -- 9,700
Phil Ivey -- 2,500
WellChief -- 6,100
Dave Singer -- 7,450
John Juanda -- 8,100
John Exley -- 9,700
Bullit Pete -- 18,225
Chris Ferguson -- 18,400
Dave Colclough -- 2,425
Phil Hilm -- 8,425

Dewey Tomko -- 3,250
Peter Smythe -- 6,300
Paul Jackson -- 3,100
Evelyn Ng -- 5,300
Howard Lederer -- 12,900
Nick Whiten -- 8,700
Kevin Daly -- 5,475
Marc Goodwin -- OUT
Kenneth Strandli -- 5,000
Tony Broomham -- 14,000

David Ulliott checks from the big blind with one under the gun limper.

Flop = 2c Kc 4s

Devilfish bets out 400

Mateyboy folds

Devilfish shows Aspades 6c and is now 13,200

Paul Jackson is OUT

Some Pre-dinner break Counts:

Paul Garnham     16,000
Richard Herbert   15,200
Iwan Jones        11,500
Simon Hennessey  14,000   ("I'm steadily accumulating chips - isn't that what you're meant to do?")
Howard Lederer   12,000
Paul Jackson      OUT  (Like Snoopy said; I had his count at 1,500, but my connection's gone snaily)
Vanessa Rousso   11,000
Evelyn Ng           8,250
Devilfish Ulliott     14,200
Mel Judah           8,250

Peter Smythe is OUT -

I saw the cards on their backs, with his Js Jc up against the Ac Ahrt.
The flop brought a Jack, but an Ace along with it (Qd Ad Jh to be exact) and although there were straight tie outs, sort of, he was up and off.

The same match-up (AA vs. JJ) just doubled up Vanessa Rousso from around 5k to 11.  She too got an Ace on board for good measure.

Iwan Jones informs me that he suffered the biggest loss having called preflop with Ahrt 2h.  The flop hit - A 2 4 - and he found an opponent with A10 happy to bet all the way.  After Paul had invested something like 6k into this pot, the Four on the river counterfeited his hand and that was the beginning of the end...

Ron Jeremy is OUT

Markus Gonsalves -- 8,275
Steve Sass -- 11,900
Mike Caro -- 22,125
Martin Green -- 5,750
Kenneth Strandli -- 16,525
Jeff Burke -- 47,000
Poker Girl -- 350
Phil Ivey -- 35,200
Hennessy -- 13,200
Alexander Strandli -- 9,200
Mickey Appleman -- 13,975
John Exley -- 9,000
Stephen McLean -- 15,000
John Juanda -- 11,500
Dave Colclough -- 5,100
Jaffacake -- 3,725
Andy Massey -- 4,800
Vanessa Rousso -- 10,450
Andrew Tracey -- 12,150
Doyle Brunson -- 3,900
Dave Ulliott -- 12,400
Pascal Perrault -- 4,625
Nick Whiten -- 12,000
Tony Broonham -- 19,400
Howard Lederer -- 20,200
Greek Jack -- 10,350
Kevin Daly -- 10,200

-------------------------- Dinner Break ----------------------------

90 mins

Yep they're back and there's still a loooong way to go.  In fact, the phrase 'half way through the day' keeps buzzing round my brain.

Ah well, lets go see what we can see in the main room, but first, Womble update from Ariston, in case Snoops hasn't reported it - he's "done his chips with JJ, JJ, QQ and KK - losing with them all right before the break."  All that and he was about to nip off early, then saw his 'nice' set of hands.

I heard that Akshay has one of the leading stacks at present - c.60k, after a very good start, and then a big confrontation when he had around 30k, with another deep stack.  Unfortunately, he had KK and the other guy AA.  But the King on the flop propelled him to right up among the dinner break leaders.

Doyle Brunson has doubled up.

All-in on a board of 8-9-9-K

Doyle = 9-7, MB = A-K - both players checked the flop

Evelyn Ng is OUT

Over here we have blinds of 200/400 ante 25.  Again it looks like half the giant room has been cleared, but there must be still two-thirds of it full...so 1500 players?  Something like that.  I'll go check in a second.

But first:

Padraig Parkinson    18,250
Womble                 2,300
Michael Greco         9,600
Jeff Williams           45,000
Patrik Antonius        6,300
John Juanda           24,000
Willie Tann             11,300
Kevin Daly              13,700
Howard Lederer      13,500
Aage Spets            21,200

This last guy is on Padraig's table, and I caught him asking - "Who are you?  I recognise you..." To which Padraig replied, perhaps expectedly, "Nope, my first time." Aage also just came fourth in the $1,500 NLHE here this week, and his clear good humour is apparently permanent, and not just to do with that nice result.

It rather looks as though recent exiters include Dave Colclough - Michael Greco is now sat where he was. 

1640 players left according to the board.

M3boy -- 12,800
Bill Gazes -- 8,150
Padraig Parkinson -- 17,750
Kevin Daly -- 16,350
Phil Hilm -- 12,425
Tony Broonham -- 20,400
Mad Turk -- 8,275
Nick Whiten -- 13.050
Devilfish -- 15,450
Doyle Brunson -- 7,500
Simon Hennessy -- 20,025
David Chui -- 41,600
Steve Cass -- 10,650
Mike Caro -- 15,775
Iwan Jones -- 16,900
Mickey Appleman -- 16,700
Ashtay 'ActionAxe' -- 64,100
Chris Ferguson -- 19,400
Vanessa Rousso -- 13,450
Willie Tann -- 4,825
Annie Duke -- 9,850

Doyle Brunson is OUT to a standing ovation.

Jeff Madsen -- 18,750
George McDonald -- 8,500

blondeite George 'WellChief' McDonald is on 8,500

Other blondietes still in (that spring to mind) are:

AndrewT
ActionAxe
Kevin Daly
Womble
Willie Tann
M3boy
Exoricism
nickw
Iwan Jones

I can't seem to see Andy Massey any more.

Mad Turk is down to just 1.5k after the following turn of events:

MB raised to 800 from the cut-off and Mad Turk flat called from the button.

Flop = 3c Ac Ad

Both players check

Turn = 7s

MB bets 2k, Mad Turk calls

River = 9d

MB bets 2k again, and Mad Turk calls... again.

"If you have the Ace, you win," comments Turk.

MB flips over his hand - no Ace!

Mad Turk claps his hands, shouts "Yes!" and flips over his 7c 8c

Unfortunately, he failed to realise that even though MB didn't have the Ace, he still had the Turk beat with his Tc 9h.

Nice value bet.

blondeite Akshay 'ActionAxe' Kumar is the current chip leader with just over 70k.

Jeff Burke has had a remarkable run up to his current 44,000 or so - the last big chunk came from eliminating Gavin Smith, no less.  Jeff called Gavin's raise, and they saw a Qd Qc Kc flop.  Gavin bet out, Jeff moved in (for what must have been a sizeable overbet) and Gaving called with Qs 8s. 
Jeff showed 9c 3c !   The flush came, and Gavin went.

Womble is OUT - his last <2k went in with Aspades 9c, and he found a call and a re-raise all-in (I think this is how it went).  In any case, one potential opponent open folded Kc Kd - correctly, as Womble had to crack Ac Ahrt!  It was not to be and he's off hanging out with Ian and Ariston.

Kevin Daly -- 13,000
Greek Jack -- 31,150
Eric Froehlich -- 31,900
John Exley -- 8,700
Akshay Kumar -- 76,500
Iwan Jones -- 9,125
Michael Greco -- 29,000
Ken Powell -- 26,200
David Williams -- 31,600
Willie Tann -- 6,600

Ian Bradley also let me in on how Marc Goodwin exited the comp -

The big chunk was taken off him when he flopped a set of Eights on an Aspades 8s Xs board.  The guy bet, and Marc called.
The turn was a blank, and when Matey bet again, Marc set him in.  There was what one might reasonably call an unnecessary dwell as Matey thought and then said, "I don't want to call - the board might pair," before flipping over the nuts (top flush). 

Then the last of it went in when Marc had Ac Kd, and hit an A 7 3 board.  Two other players had seen the flop, and when Marc pushed for 4k the first one dwelled for a while and then called.  A glimmer of hope shone, until he turned over 77 for the flopped set - the dwell had just been trying to get value out of the third Mateyboy!  Ouch.

John Juanda -- 20,600
Jeff Burke -- 47,000
Paul McKinney -- 7,450
Phil Ivey -- 48,000
Annie Duke -- 14,150
Andrew Tracey -- 37,000
Mad Turk -- 4,650

Chris Ferguson raises to 1k from the cut-off, the button and big blind both flat call.

Flop = Td 5d 5c

big blind checks, Ferguson bets 2k, button folds, and big blind reraises to 4k.

Jesus folds, leaving himself on 17,850

Patrik Antonius bets 7k into a several k pot (a bet which leaves very little behind)

His oppoent dwells for an age before folding to a 2d Qs 4s flop.

As a result, Antonius is now on 18,500

Mad Turk is OUT

He reraised all-in from the small blind for about 4.5k after the button had raised preflop.

Turk called the clock on his opponent and even started singing that timeless tune 'It's Now Or Never'

Eventually, MB opted for the call and flipped over Kh Qh

Mad Turk announced he had an Ace and showed Aspades 7d

"Put an Ace down. Put and Ace down," demanded Turk.

Flop = 4s 2d 7c

Turn = Js

River = Qc

drowned at the River

Joe Sebok is OUT

Jeff Madsen moves all-in for around 12k on a board of 2s 3d Kc 5h 7h. With over 10k in the pot, MB folds after a lenghty dwell.

The two time bracelet winner is now up to just under 25k

Well, it looks as though Willie Tann may have bitten the dust.

His seat has been filled by another Mateyboy and the table seems less boyant as a result.

Meanwhile, former tablemates David Williams and Ken 'KP Nuts' Powell are still pluggin away, the latter holding something around the 30-35k region.

Iwan Jones is OUT

The Welshman flopped two pair, but his opponent had a better two pair.

Dust firmly bitten

Gwion Jones, a Blue Square player who qualified for $3 is up to 15,000 after being as low as 3,000 not too long ago.

In his first WSOP appearance, he managed to find a seat opposite the legendary Doyle Brunson (even took a few chips off the ol' fella)

Not bad considering there are over 8,000 players participating.

Akshay Kumar threw a 20k bet on the river of a board rag-7-7-rag-K

MB folds, but Kumar (your current chip leader) is up to over 80k.

Just crossed paths with Lawrence Gosney in the corridor.

I didn't realise he played today, but that was probably due to him (1) being an alternate and (2) only playing 5 hands, all of which he lost.

His final swan song was a 7-7 versus Q-Q confrontation which didn't bring him that much required set.

Anyhow, he's still in fine spirits and bracing himself for a tourney at the Bellagio.

This is only Lawrence's second appearance in the Main Event, but he's yet to win a single hand.

Maybe next year he'll rake in that elusive first pot...

Play has resumed with blinds of 200 and 400 with a 50 ante

This will be the final Level of the Day, meaning that there are only 2 hours left

Talked to Simon Hennessey in the break - he's up to 35,000.  "More 'slow and steady'?" I inquired.  No, came the answer.  He'd "played KK very well" to lose the minimum against an opponent who'd flopped a set, but then became so tilty that he "played K 10 really badly" to win a bigger pot.

Apparently he flopped top pair on a 10-high board, and called 2k on the flop, and 6k on the turn (when a flush draw materialised), leaving himself 15k.  His opponent thought forever on the Qh river, and then checked, in Simon's words, "because he figured me for a good player after that Kings hand."  Simon checked behind, and ended up winning with his Tens, but according to him the right move would have been "push on the turn to not look like a donkey."

Recently eliminated is Gwion Jones - who'd brought his stack up over 22k, but lost it all on one big hand with raising and re-raising craziness holding 9c 9d on a Q 2 2 board.  His opponent wasn't going for the Deuce representation, and at this late stage he's gone.

Late night chip builder Michael Greco is up to 50k - and with the leaders not breaking 100k yet he's looking safe.
Bluesquare qualifier John Exley is the last one still in - and looks to make Day Two along with Greco.

Norseman Anders Berg doubles up his RHS neighbour, with Ahrt Qc against Aspades Kc (probably just what he didn't want to see the shorter stack turn over).
Board:  2h 9c Jd 3d Kd  and at the 11th hour (well, 12th actually) he drops to 13,200.

Other counts from the last 3-miler (less, actually, now there are only 930 players remaining):

Padraig Parkinson     28,000
Ingemar Backman     5,300
Chris Ferguson         18,300
Paul Garnham          18,000
Phil Ivey                 15,000 
Kevin Daly               38,525
Simon Hennessey     39,000

No obvious sign of*   Michael Greco, Vanessa Rousso, Davood Mermand, Mel Judah, Dave Ulliott, David Singer, Howard Lederer, Evelyn Ng.










*Could easily have escaped my blurry eyes, however.  Listed players, if you're secret blondeites, and still in, please refrain from wrathfulness.