WSOP One Stop Shop

[smashedagain]

We've reached the requisite ten-level mark, and the chips have been bagged up for one more overnight soak.

Once again, we're going to spare a lot of words here; our ears are ringing from the commotion we've just witnessed over the last four hours or so.

From our starting field of 1,734, just five players remain in the hunt for the bracelet. One of them, Thomas Middleton, was the one responsible for most of the noise tonight as his cheering section of countrymen were well lubricated with alcohol and very much a part of the battle being played out before them. Beers were imbibed from shoes -- yep, true story -- spilled onto the floor, and poured two-by-two down the throats of all in attendance as the dull roar rose to a deafening thunder of chanting by night's end.

And there's reason to cheer. Middleton is atop the pack heading into the final day, but the bracelet can not be won by his fans on the rail tomorrow. He'll have to deal with another Thomas on his left, Thomas Miller who held the chip lead for most of the day until a slide late in the evening. Also still in the hunt for his first bracelet is former APPT champion Eddy Sabat, and the two wild cards, Mikhail Lakhitov of Russia and Hassan Babajane from Boston.

The five of them will be back inside the Amazon Room Friday afternoon at 3:00 to finish this thing out. Here's how they'll stack up when play recommences:
Player   Chips
Thomas Middleton   4,030,000
Mikhail Lakhitov   2,705,000
Hassan Babajane   2,365,000
Eddy Sabat   2,030,000
Thomas Miller   1,885,000

That's all we have for tonight, and our eardrums need some time to recover.


Read more: http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2011-world-series-of-poker/event-36-no-limit-hold-em/

6th of 6 to 1st of 5th if what i read is correct. this guy is the real deal. 2 braclets for brits in in quick time coming up please

[TightEnd]

Event #36: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em
Day 4 completed
Mikhail Lakhitov Claims the Gold Bracelet

Day 4 began with uncertain expectations, returning five players with big blinds and bigger stacks, no one was sure how it would turn out. After only one and half levels it was Mikhail Lakhitov that would be the last man standing with a new piece of jewelry.

At the start of play the five players were very conservative, mostly taking turns stealing the blinds and antes. But it would be Eddy Sabat that was the first to go. Sabat was crippled against Thomas Miller when his {A-Diamonds} {7-Clubs} failed to outrun {J-Hearts} {10-Spades}. He was left with less than one big blind and was knocked out the next hand by Thomas Middleton.

Miller was the next to go when his {A-Diamonds} {J-Clubs} couldn't run down Mikhail Lakhitov's pocket queens. Three handed play didn't last long after Middleton lost most of his chips to Hassan Babajane. Then Babajane lost them to Lakhitov, giving the Russian a mighty chip lead.

Middleton was out in third place when his pocket tens were bested by Lakhitov's {A-Spades} {K-Diamonds}. Middleton's rail was much more subdued than last night, most of them looking worse for the wear.

Heads up play only lasted a few hands with Lakhitov having a 9,000,000 chip lead. Lakhitov moved all in preflop and Babajane called. The board ran dry for both players and Lakhitov's king high was good enough. Day 4 was clearly Lakhitov's day, virtually never dipping below the stack he came in with, and scoring all but one knockout.


1     Mikhail Lakhitov          749,610
2    Hassan Babajane       463,480
3    Thomas Middleton       305,015
4    Thomas Miller       219,885
5    Eddy Sabat       160,949
6    Matthew Berkey       119,528
7    James St. Hilaire       90,021
8    Conrad Monica       68,719
9    Kent Padgett       53,137

[TightEnd]

Event #37: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship
Day 4 completed
Congratulations to Fabrice Soulier, Winner of Event #37: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship ($609,130)!

Finally, Fabrice Soulier has captured World Series of Poker gold! He did so by defeating a field of 239 other players in Event #37: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship. For winning the event, Soulier earned over $600,000 and his first-ever WSOP gold bracelet.

When the final table began, all eyes in the poker world weren't on Soulier. He, along with the other final-table competitors, took a back seat to Tom Dwan as the world watched to see if the young poker phenom could finally win a gold bracelet. Although Dwan held the a big stack during a good amount at the final table, he went out in fifth place and would have to wait to try again.

Maybe not having the limelight on him helped Soulier buckle down and focus. While everyone was watching Dwan, Soulier quietly did his part and gathered chips. After Dwan went out, Soulier hung towards the top of the pack. He eventually found himself very short, but then battled to heads-up play against Shawn Buchanan. Soulier was down in chips to start the match, but he quickly made up the deficit and took the lead. Once he got the lead, Soulier never gave it up. He had Buchanan on his heels a few times, but couldn't hit the winning basket before the shot clock expired on the day.

Coming back for Day 4 (the extra day), Buchanan had just under four big bets. From there it was over in just a few hands. On the final hand, Soulier rivered two pair in come-from-behind fashion and took the title.

[TightEnd]

2011 World Series of Poker
Event #38: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em


Currently Heads up

Top Chip Counts
1    Arkadiy Tsinis    5,500,000
2    Michael Blanovsky    4,400,000


1               540,136
2          336,253
3    Randolph Lanosga       233,732
4    Pim de Goede       168,334
5    Paul Nash       123,028
6    Perry Lin       91,010
7    David Rounick       68,209
8    Ryan Laplante       51,771
9    Christopher Homan       39,756
10    Daniel Aldridge       31,219
11    Jacob Toole       31,219
12    Robert Cheung       31,219
13    Matthew Lupton       24,679
14    Melanie Weisner       24,679
15    Jonathan Spinks       24,679

[TightEnd]

2011 World Series of Poker
Event #39: $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em/Omaha


Currently heads up

Top Chip Counts
1    Rodney Brown    2,410,000
2    Mitch Schock    2,090,000


1               310,225
2          191,618
3    Jan Collado       135,921
4    Carter Gill       97,773
5    Tyler Patterson       71,317
6    James Vanneman       52,747
7    David Lestock       39,539
8    Jonas Mackoff       30,040
9    Rami Boukai       23,119
10    Cameron New       18,018
11    Shawn Hattem       18,018
12    Joseph Hachem       18,018
13    David Baker       14,324
14    Scott Clements       14,324
15    Roger Hairabedian       14,324
16    Wilfried Harig       11,387
17    Carsten Joh       11,387
18    Nathan Wade       11,387

[TightEnd]

2011 World Series of Poker
Event #40: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed

30 of 732 left

Top Chip Counts
1    Justin Filtz    1,205,000
2    Kevin Iacofano    820,000
3    Matt Jarvis    750,000
4    Massimiliano Martinez    731,000
5    Tore Lukashavgen    660,000
6    Daniel Hirleman    615,000
7    Brendon Rubie    600,000
8    Jude Ainsworth    451,000
9    Daniel Negreanu    348,000
10    Haralabos Voulgaris    340,000

[TightEnd]

Event #41: $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout
Day 1 completed
60 Left After Day 1 Of Event #41: $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout


We started Day 1 of Event #41 with 538 players and now we are down to 60. All of the remaining players are guaranteed $4,118, but all have their eyes on the first-prize $167,060 and of course, the shiny gold bracelet.

Tomorrow, there will be 10 six-handed tables that play down to our final table of 10. We started with an extremely stacked field including, Tom Dwan, Eric Baldwin, J.C. Tran, David Benyamine, Todd Brunson, Greg Mueller, Jean-Robert Bellande, Chau Giang, Sorel Mizzi, Jason Mercier, Jason Somerville, Lex Veldhuis, Humberto Brenes, Jonathan Little, and Barry Greenstein, all of whom did not make it.

Of those who won their tables and are still in contention for the bracelet and first prize money are Noah Boeken, Hoyt Corkins, Ari Engel, Jacobo Fernandez, and Sergey Rybachenko. Also included are Team PokerStars Pros Eugene Katchalov (Ukraine) and Victor Ramdin (USA) who both came back from 20-1 chip defects in heads-up play to take down their tables and make it to Day 2.

Top Chip Counts
1    Randy Lew    41,500
2    Hoyt Corkins    41,500
3    Victor Ramdin    41,500
4    Eugene Katchalov    41,500
5    Bryan Huang    41,500
6    Ari Engel    41,500
7    Sergey Rybachenko    41,500
8    Brock Parker    41,500
9    Noah Boeken    41,500
10    Ricky Fohrenbach    41,500

[TightEnd]

2011 World Series of Poker
Event #42: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship


235 of 361 left

Top Chip Counts
1    Tom Dwan    195,000
2    John Hennigan    172,000
3    Max Pescatori    166,500
4    Greg Fund    140,000
5    Vanessa Selbst    135,000
6    Peter Jetten    132,000
7    Sam Stein    130,000
8    Tom Marchese    130,000
9    Andrew Brown    130,000
10    Matt Glantz    125,000

[TightEnd]

2011 World Series of Poker
Event #38: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

Congratulations to Arkadiy Tsinis, Winner of Event #38: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em ($540,136)!

Another donkament has been done and dusted for the 2011 World Series of Poker with Event #38: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em being taken down by Arkadiy Tsinis.

Beginning several days ago with 2,192 entrants, the field was stacked with online grinders, seasoned pros and total amateurs all looking to take a piece of the $2,959,200 prizepool home. Nearly ninety-percent of the field was culled throughout day one as only 298 players managed to bag and tag and survive for a day two berth.

A bust-out here and there saw the money reached fairly quickly before a steady flow of eliminations throughout the day would leave just twenty-three players eyeing WSOP glory following Luke Staudenmaier (178th), Steve Brecher (174th), Bryan Devonshire (155th), Kai Paulson (108th), Matthias De Meulder (105th), Bernard Lee (78th), Sam Trickett (57th), Sebastian Ruthenberg (40th) and Tad Jurgens (32nd) all falling short of the (expected) final day.

The headline story was that notable female professional player Melanie Weisner was still in contention and looking not only to become another female to make a WSOP final table this series, but also prove victorious. Unfortunately for Weisner, her run would end in 14th place as the final table of nine was reached at the mid-point of the day.

Play would start slowly, but following a double elimination and then a quick exit by David Rounick in seventh, we were down to six before Perry Lin and Paul Nash fell next. With three levels remaining in the night, Randolph Lanosga would fall in third as Arkadiy Tsinis held a three-to-two heads-up chip advantage over Michael Blanovsky.

Tsinis would extend his lead to be nearly an eight-to-one favorite before Blanovsky doubled through and then closed the gap to virtually even. Tsinis would then push back out to the biggest lead of the battle before play was called for the night with Tsinis (7,110,000) holding the lead against Blanovsky (2,765,000). Returning today, Blanovsky found a double and then eventually took the lead before Tsinis would snatch it back with a double holding {7-Clubs}{7-Spades} before eventually turning the nut-straight in an all-in preflop clash to send Blanovsky to the rail.
Place   Player   Country   Prize
1st   Arkadiy Tsinis   USA   $540,136
2nd   Michael Blanovsky   USA   $336,253
3rd   Randolph Lanosga   USA   $233,732
4th   Pim de Goede   France   $168,334
5th   Paul Nash   England   $123,028
6th   Perry Lin   USA   $91,010
7th   David Rounick   USA   $68,209
8th   Ryan Laplante   USA   $51,771
9th   Christopher Homan   USA   $39,756

For Tsinis, this marks his eleventh WSOP cash and first major victory of his poker career. However it is his old-school gamer career that now will have to do some catching up as this chess pro and top twenty world backgammon player has a gold bracelet to add to his trophy cabinet as well as $540,136 in prizemoney.

[TightEnd]

2011 World Series of Poker
Event #39: $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em/Omaha

Congratulations to Mitch Schock, Event #39 Champion!

Dating back to 2008, the $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em/Omaha event has been one of the most popular tournaments at the World Series of Poker; in fact, it is one of the few tournaments that has continued to grow each and every year. This year, the tournament drew 606 players, which was a 21% increase (124 players) over last year’s field. While 605 players fell by the wayside, Mitch Schock emerged as the last man standing to claim the $310,225 first-place prize and his first WSOP gold bracelet.

At the start of Day 3, all eyes were on 2005 Main Event Champion Joe Hachem as he went for his second bracelet. Unfortunately for the Aussie, he was unable to gain momentum and was busted shy of the final table in 12th place. Here is a look at those who hit the rail leading up to the final table.
Early Day 3 Eliminations

Place   Player   Payout
22   Jens Hansen   $9,223
21   Claudio Rinaldi   $9,223
20   Kyle Zartman   $9,223
19   Eugene Du Plessis   $9,223
18   Nathan Wade   $11,387
17   Carsten Joh   $11,387
16   Wilfried Harig   $11,387
15   Roger Hairabedian   $14,324
14   Scott Clements   $12,324
13   David Baker   $14,324
12   Joe Hachem   $18,018
11   Shawn Hattem   $18,018
10   Cameron New   $18,018

The headliner at the final table was none other than Rami Boukai, who happened to win this very event back in 2009 by defeating a field of 453 players to claim the $244,862 first-place prize. However, Boukai faced an uphill battle as he began the final table on the extreme short stack.
Final Table

Seat   Player   
1   Tyler Patterson   1,304,000
2   David Lestock   257,000
3   Carter Gill   464,000
4   James Vanneman   409,000
5   Mitch Schock   648,000
6   Jonas Mackoff   468,000
7   Rodney Brown   481,000
8   Jan Collado   434,000
9   Rami Boukai   135,000

Unfortunately there would be no title in store for Boukai as he was unable to mount a comeback from the short stack and was eliminated a PLO round by Tyler Patterson in ninth place ($23,119). Boukai was followed out the door a short time later by Jonas Mackoff, who was dispatched during a PLO round by Carter Gill in eighth place ($30,040). It took awhile for the next eliminations to occur, but it came when Gill busted both David Lestlock (7th- $39,539) and James Vanneman (6th- $52747) in the same hand of PLO, which thrust Gill into the chip lead.

It was about this time that a huge hand developed between Patterson and Schock. It began when Patterson raised to 50,000 on the button and Schock defended in the big blind. The flop was {K-Spades}{2-Clubs}{6-Hearts} and Schock check-called a bet of 55,000 from Patterson to see the {10-Spades} turn.

Schock checked a second time and Patterson fired out 125,000 only to see himself getting check-raised to 450,000. Patterson thought for a minute or two and moved all in, Schock nodded and called.

Patterson: {A-Spades}{K-Hearts}
Schock: {10-Clubs}{6-Clubs}

The {8-Hearts} blanked on the river and the more than two-million chip pot was sent to Schock, who became the chip leader. Patterson was sent home in fifth place for $71,317.

A back-and-forth battle commenced between the final four players that eventually saw Gill hit the rail in fourth place ($97,7773). Not long after, Jan Collado joined him after he got all in preflop and his {7-Diamonds}{6-Diamonds} failed to get their against Rodney Brown’s {A-Hearts}{9-Spades} as the board ran out {10-Hearts}{9-Hearts}{3-Diamonds}{6-Spades}{3-Hearts}. His elimination left Schock (3,245,000) headed into heads-up play against Brown (1,300,000) with a 2.5-1 chip lead.

Heads up play was long and tedious. Brown managed to chip up a bit by taking down the occasional pot, but it wasn’t until he made a great call that he was able to take the chip lead. In that hand, the board read {6-Diamonds}{K-Diamonds}{4-Hearts}{9-Clubs}{Q-Diamonds} and a lot of action had taken place. With over a million in the pot, Schock bet pot on the river, which was enough to put Brown all in. After a few minutes, Brown made the call and showed {4-Diamonds}{4-Clubs}{A-Clubs}{10-Hearts} for bottom set. Schock just shook his head as he flipped over {J-Clubs}{5-Hearts}{3-Diamonds}{2-Clubs} for a missed wrap.

Not to be denied, Schock battled back in the three-and-a-half hour battle. He eventually reclaimed the chip leader and dispatched Brown in the early hours of Saturday morning. Today’s performance marked Schock’s fifth cash and third final table of the 2011 WSOP. His victory will no doubt go a long way in putting him in contention for the Player-of-the-Year Award (he was 72nd on the list headed into this event)!
Final Table Payouts

Place   Player   Payout
1   Mitch Schock   $310,225
2   Rodney Brown   $191,618
3   Jan Collado   $135,921
4   Carter Gill   $97,773
5   Tyler Patterson   $71,317
6   James Vanneman   $52,747
7   David Lestock   $39,539
8   Jonas Mackoff   $30,040
9   Rami Boukai   $23,119

[TightEnd]

2011 World Series of Poker
Event #40: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed


Top Chip Counts
1    Justin Filtz    6,700,000
2    Matt Jarvis    4,250,000


1               808,538
2          499,855
3    Wesley Pantling       317,136
4    Robert Merulla       208,281
5    Tore Lukashaugen       141,125
6    Matthew Vengrin       98,567
7    Dan O'Brien       70,872
8    Mauro Stivoli       70,872
9    Daniel Hirleman       52,431
10    Massimiliano Martinez       52,431
11    Kevin Iacofano       39,874
12    Hafiz Khan       39,874
13    Brendon Rubie       31,315
14    Russell Carson       31,315
15    Jonathan Duhamel    PokerStars Team Pro (Canada)    31,315
16    Grayson Ramage       31,315
17    Shane Schleger       31,315
18    Jude Ainsworth    PokerStars Team Pro (UK & Ireland)    31,315
19    Martins Adeniya       24,942
20    Daniel Negreanu    PokerStars Team Pro (Canada)    24,942

[TightEnd]

Event #41: $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout
Day 2 completed
Day 2 Ends with Katchalov's Quest for Second Bracelet

Day 2 of the $1,500 Limit Shootout event closed out with ten winners advancing to the final table for Day 3. Sixty players took their seat across ten six-handed tables and it took eight levels for all the tables to finish.

Advancing to Day 3 are recent bracelet winner Eugene Katchalov, Dom Denotaristefani, Mathieu Jacqmin, Jordan Rich, Stephen Bass, Christoph Kwon, Justin Pechie, Dale Eberle, Adam Tyburski and Ari Engel.

Katchalov will be going for his second bracelet of the series. He would be the first this year to walk away with two. Based on experience and equal starting stacks Katchalov looks to be the odds on favorite to take down the table.

Those that played today and didn’t move on were Noah Boeken, Brock Parker, Noah Boeken, Hoyt Corkins, Victor Ramdin, Al “Sugarbear” Barbieri, Randy Lew, Bryan Huang, Jameson Painter and Todd Witteles.

Hal Lubarsky come close to becoming the first visually impaired player to make a WSOP final table. He fell just short after getting heads up with Engel, but could not press through Engel’s chip advantage.

The final table of ten players will get underway at 2:30 p.m.

Top Chip Counts
1    Eugene Katchalov    270,000
2    Adam Tyburski    270,000
3    Justin Pechie    270,000
4    Jordan Rich    270,000
5    Stephen Bass    270,000
6    Dale Eberle    270,000
7    Mathieu Jacqmin    270,000
8    Christoph Kwon    270,000
9    Ari Engel    270,000
10    Dom Denotaristefani    270,000

[TightEnd]

2011 World Series of Poker
Event #42: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship


40 of 361 left

Top Chip Counts
1    Sami Kelopuro    725,000
2    Aaron Schaff    650,000
3    Ben Lamb    587,000
4    Justin Schwartz    450,000
5    Tristan Clemencon    400,000
6    Felipe Ramos    392,000
7    Will Failla    390,000
8    Jared Bleznick    390,000
9    Benjamin Kaupp    390,000
10    Matt Glantz    340,000


Surindar Sunar          255,000 
John Shipley       240,000    
John Kabbaj              125,000

all in as they near the cash

[TightEnd]

2011 World Series of Poker
Event #43: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

Day 1 in the Bag; Age Spets Crushing

Another action-packed day in the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino for the 2011 World Series of Poker has come to a close with Event #43: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em and the remaining players bagging and tagging for the night.

Not only was today one of the final $1,500 events for the series, but with the starting day also falling on a Saturday, many were expecting a huge starting field. Both the Amazon and Pavilion rooms, along with the hallways that filtered people throughout the building, were jam-packed with people as eventually 2,857 players took to the felt spread across multiple sections in opposing rooms.

From previous bracelet holders, online phenoms and complete amateurs, nearly every man and their dog took their seat to battle through ten levels of poker. Those players would form a prizepool of $3,856,950 with the top 297 players all receiving some extra padding in their wallets or purses, but everyone would have their sights set on the $675,117 first prize, coveted gold bracelet and title of champion.

Many players fell to the rail as everyone jostled for a place high on the chip leaderboard, but as the Pavilion room slowly clears out, it is Norway's Age Spets leading the charge with an amassed 119,900 in chips. With an Aussie Millions title and three WSOP cashes to his name, Spets will be one to chase down tomorrow, and those in contention include Nicholas Grippo (110,900) and Greg Darby (105,100).

Females Maria Ho (39,600), Kathy Liebert (30,300) and Erica Schoenberg (20,800), along with bracelet winners Joe Cada, Gavin Griffin, David Baker, Thomas Keller and James Mackey all are still within a shot as roughly 400 players return tomorrow to battle it out on day two.

[TightEnd]

2011 World Series of Poker
Event #44: $2,500 Seven Card Razz


176 of 363 left

Top Chip Counts
1    Jimmy Fricke    39,400
2    Christopher George    36,000
3    Tim Fiorvanti    29,500
4    John Monnette    28,000
5    Chad Brown    26,000
6    Frank Kassela    23,000
7    Shawn Buchanan    23,000
8    Victor Ramdin    21,000
9    Hoyt Corkins    21,000
10    Greg Dyer    20,200