WSOP $5,000 Short-handed NLHE: Final Table

[NoflopsHomer]

Poehler raises and Friberg calls with but check-folds the to a Poehler bet.

More criticism from Caby and Townsend for the flat call with the threes.

[Wardonkey]

Happy Birthday Chris!

[Wardonkey]

Get a beer on me!

[Wardonkey]

and one on Tikay...

[NoflopsHomer]

Thanks mate, I will be having a few at the end of this day, better finish this action first though.

First, in a three way pot Alex raises with , Erik calls and Greg calls with .

Flop:



Check, check, check.

Turn:



Erik now moves in for a big overbet, Alex calls and Greg folds.

River:



Erik doubles through.

[Djinn]

Little break so I went to have a look at today's oversellout $1,500 NLHE.  3,150 players, or something, including a big chunk of alternates.  They are spread all over the place, as we expect the Main Event to be - including in the poker room down the hall (i.e. about half a mile away).  One of the Tournament Areas is in this tent outside (last year the Poker Kitchen was in said tent).  Pictured below is what it looks like in there, complete with what looks like an inflatable air conditioning system (which isn't all that efficient, to be honest).  I would definitely feel like I'd gotten a short straw if my starting table were out there.

I found a few familiar faces out there, among them:
Jan Heitmann
Karl Mahrenholz
Johan Storakers

[NoflopsHomer]

Greg with and Alex with see a flop.

Flop:



Greg check/calls Alex's bet

Turn:



Now Greg moves in, which puzzles the commentators who think that he'd get more value by check/raising all-in. Alex though makes the call, and Greg flips his cards. He has , not ! A Tikayesque misread by those in charge of the feed.

River:



Greg Poehler is OUT in 4th place $232,669

[NoflopsHomer]

A Tikayesque misread by those in charge of the feed.

Or in Flushy-speak.

LOL Misfeedments.

[NoflopsHomer]

Erik Friberg is playing badly in my opinion, and also Peter Hedlund's, who was briefly watching the feed with us.

He just flat-called a Bill Edler raise with and then check/folded on the flop.

Peter tells us that Erik is usually a completely fearless aggressive player and can't understand some of these flat-calls with pairs.

[Djinn]

It's Bill Edler who's taking down a lot of pots by being the aggressor, whether that be preflop, or on the flop.  Erik Friberg has noticed this, in my opinion, re-raising all in preflop with over the top of Edler (who passed his bag of spanners).  But still, he's getting away with picking up multiple smaller pots, like these two:

Bill Edler sees a flop with the half-Wilson (small blind), with big blind Alex Bolotin holding the .  They both check the , which gets the commentary going on how betting out second pair should have been the move here.  The turn is the , Bill checks, Alex bets 150k, and Bill check-raises him to 500k.  A shorter dwell than I anticipated, and Alex Bolotin gives up a hand he was well in front in.  As for Bill, well, why take the easy option of betting when you're ahead on the flop when everyone's playing pretty tight, when you can wait until you drop behind on the turn and make a nice risky check-raise?  Hmmm.
________________________________

Then it's Bill Edler vs. Erik Friberg, both with total garbage seeing a flop of .  Mere minutes after the previously mentioned hand, Bill check-raises once again, and takes it down.

[Wardonkey]

I really like Elders play.

He doesn't over commit, he's picking up a lot of small pots and he doesn't call off chips.

Erik didn't look comfortable before but I think he's got his head on now.

The other chap is gonna need cards...

[NoflopsHomer]

Erik is just doing it wrong. He limps on the button with , Alex makes up with , and Bill smells weakness, raises with and they both pass.

Then next time it's Erik's button he limps again with , Alex calls with and Bill raises them off the pot with and they pass again.

Bill should win this, Alex is playing too tight, and Erik is limping too much.

[Wardonkey]

Erik's gonna choose the wrong moment to re-raise...

[NoflopsHomer]

Erik Friberg is OUT in 3rd place winning $345,582

He was all in against Alex Bolotin

Erik:



Alex:



Board:



Heads Up action starts shortly.

[Djinn]

I've wandered off on a $1,500 NL tangent...

Found Nick Wright in the break, pictured drinking the fluorescent yellow caffeine-heavy wonder which is Mountain Dew (why is it so hard to get in the UK?).  He lasted, "About three hours," apparently still feeling the after-effects of Thursday night, during which he consumed several cocktails called Witch Doctors in the Rio's rooftop club the Voodoo Lounge.  The $26 monster apparently contains five types of rum and comes with multiple straws, but Nick saw no need for those seeing as it was just about possible to drink the things from their bowl-like containers.  The rest remains unclear, but his WSOP debut was apparently a bit short.  He felt that it all started with a bad beat, of sorts, when the older gentleman seated two to his left was told right at the beginning of the tournament that he'd taken the wrong seat, and was actually on a different table.  This guy was immediately replaced by someone wearing a Danish sponsor's logo, being photographed by the press, so Nick's dreams of being the button aggressor were, he said, instantly crushed.

The guy pictured below is Richard Buchan, who qualified for this event the same way Nick did - via a pub poker league in Bath.  There were three seats, and 150 players, and the two of them got there... Rich Bucks (hope I got his nickname right - it's not a bad one) has never played a tournament over £50, and never plays online... He's in comfortably-over-average shape with 19k at the break.