WSOP 2012 News and Information Thread

[TightEnd]

Event #3 – $3k Heads Up NLHE / PLO – Force is with Leif

The man with probably the best name at this year's WSOP has got himself a bracelet. Leif Force won the final three matches of the $3k Heads Up NLHE / PLO mixed event to clinch his first bracelet.

The American beat Andy Frankenberger in the quarter final and Aussie Julian Powell in the semi before beating Jason Koon in a rapid-fire finale. The biggest names to have made the last eight, Annette Obrestad and David Benefield, both bowed out at the quarter final stage. Force pocketed $207,708 for his efforts.

Event #4 – Zeidman beats Bjorin to Seven Card Stud bracelet

We'll have to wait a little longer to report the first UK bracelet success at this year's WSOP as London-based Swede Chris Bjorin came up just short in the Seven Card Stud Hi Lo 8 or better. The two-time bracelet winner worked his way through a stacked returning field of 23 that included such luminaries as Michael Mizrachi and Mike Sexton but couldn't quite seal the deal against Cory Zeidman. Almost $125k should provide some consolation though.


The final table payouts were as follows:

1 Cory Zeidman $201,559
2 Chris Bjorin $124,838
3 Brandon Shack-Harris $84,415
4 Yarron Bendor $58,518
5 Michael Mizrachi $41,447
6 Xuan Liu $29,985
7 Todd Brunson $22,142
8 Bonnie Rossi $16,684
9 Marsha Waggoner $12,822


Event #5 - $1.5k Pot Limit Hold'em – Can Negreanu make it bracelet number five?

Daniel Negreanu has been one of the nearly men of the WSOP in recent years with a number of strong finishes but no wins. Kid Poker is well placed to make it WSOP bracelet number five though, returning to the final table of the $1.5k Pot Limit Hold'em event sixth in the chip counts with 212,000.

Leading the way is Bryan Pelegrino on 790,000 followed by  Jonathan Aguiar on 552,000. Other notables at the final table include Tommy Vedes on 247,000 and Southport's John Eames who returns to his second WSOP final table in eighth with 181,000.

[TightEnd]

Breaking News

James Dempsey ‏@FoieGrasAddict

Absolutely hammered and playing the $1500 O8. Retweet this if you love alcohol, O8 or @johneamespoker

[MereNovice]

Breaking News

James Dempsey ‏@FoieGrasAddict

Absolutely hammered and playing the $1500 O8. Retweet this if you love alcohol, O8 or @johneamespoker

I've hit the trifecta.

[KarmaDope]

John Eames finals Event 5

1    Bryan Pellegrino       760,000
2    Tommy Vedes       325,000
3    Brant Hale       315,000
4    Daniel Negreanu       300,000
5    Nick Jivkov       294,000
6    Jonathan Aguiar       260,000
7    Mike Allis       235,000
8    Keanu Tabali       180,000
9    James Mackey       160,000
10    John Eames       100,000


http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2012-world-series-of-poker/event-5-pot-limit-hold-em/


Jack Ellwood out 13th A-Q v J-10 on A-10-10 the J-10 improving to a full house

I may have just seen a post on FB asking Brits at the Rio to attend the final table and wondering if they would be removing their shoes....

[TightEnd]

Event 5: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em

Congratulations to Nick Jivkov, Winner of Event #5: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em ($189,818)!

Event #5: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em is in the books after nine hopefuls played down to a winner Friday night. It looked to be a relatively short day 3, that is, until heads up began. After two grueling levels of back-and-forth action, it was Nick Jivkov who would take home the coveted WSOP gold bracelet.

Day 1 began with a healthy field of 639 players. We had no shortage of poker pros in attendance, to be sure. Among those who showed up for day 1 included Daniel Negreanu, Jonathan Little, Barry Greenstein, Shaun Deeb, Gavin Smith, Antonio Esfandiari, John Juanda, Nam Le and none other than Phil Ivey – who made his return to this year’s WSOP after being absent for all of 2011’s WSOP.

Of those players, only Negreanu, Le, Juanda and Esfandiari would survive into day 2. Esfandiari, who is commonly referred to as “The Magician,” came in as chip leader and looked to make a deep run. Eliminations ran rampant and of the 71 players who started day 2, only 22 remained within the first six levels of play.

All eyes were on Negreanu going into day 3, who would come into the final table 6th in chips. Joining him were notable pros Tommy Vedes, Jonathan Aguiar and day 2 chip leader Bryan Pellegrino.

When the final table began, seven of the nine remaining players had under 20 big blinds, which made early all-ins inevitable. Even chip-leader Bryan Pellegrino, who began the day with 790,000, could be considered relatively short-stacked with 50 big blinds.

Next to go was John Eames, who found himself all-in preflop with {A-Diamonds}{6-Spades} against the {A-Spades}{A-Hearts} of Nick Jivkov. It was a grim situation for Eames, who was nearly a 19-1 underdog going to the flop. No miracle occurred for Eames and he was eliminated in 8th place.

Congratulations to Nick Jivkov, who will take home his first WSOP bracelet and a cool $189,818 for his efforts.
Event #5 Final Table Payouts

Place   Player   Prize

1st   Nick Jivkov           $189,818
2nd   Bryan Pellegrino   $117,199
3rd   Jonathan Aguiar   $76,189
4th   Tommy Vedes   $55,960
5th   Daniel Negreanu   $41,683
6th   Mike Allis           $31,452
7th   Brant Hale           $24,007
8th   John Eames   $18,529
9th   Keanu Tabali   $14,449


http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2012-world-series-of-poker/event-5-pot-limit-hold-em/

[TightEnd]

Event 6: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mixed-Max

Day 2 completed

Event 6: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mixed-Max

Day 2 of the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mixed-Max has come to the end here in the Amazon room with 31 players all gearing up for the chance to compete for a WSOP bracelet tomorrow in a heads-up tournament.

The day started with 112 players playing six-handed and play was scheduled to last until 32 remained. Interestingly enough we lost two players on the last hand of the night, and chip leader Warwick Mirzikinian will receive a bye in the round of 32 as a result. The bracket is seeded by having the largest stack face off against the smallest stack, the second largest stack against the second shortest stack, and so on. Here is how the final 31 will face off.

Round of 32 Heads-Up Matches

1. Warwick Mirzikinian (467,500) vs. 32. bye (only 31 players remain)
16. Michael Ferrell (184,000) vs. 17. Ryan Odonnell (153,500)

8. Sergey Tikhonov (294,000) vs. 25. Matthew Deluca (90,500)
12. Brian Rast (230,500) vs. 21. Toby Lewis (108,500)

4. John Hennigan (362,500) vs. 29. Anthony Gargano (49,000)
13. Adam Geyer (202,500) vs. 20. Markus Gonsalves (118,000)

5. Aubin Cazals (340,000) vs. 28. Eric Froehlich (64,000)
9. Marvin Rettenmaier (266,000) vs. 24. Igor Yaroshevskyy (92,000)

2. Fabrizio Baldassari (461,000) vs. 31. Tom McCormick (19,000)
15. Daniel Buzgon (196,000) vs. 18. Dimitar Danchev (152,000)

7. Joseph Cheong (307,500) vs. 26. Nabih Zaczac (78,000)
11. Randy Haddox (244,500) vs. 22. Konstantin Puchkov (105,500)

3. Aaron Jones (409,000) vs. 30. Victor Ramdin (47,500)
14. Hugo Lemaire (201,000) vs. 19. Robert Tepper (135,500)

6. Ryan Leng (335,000) vs. 27. Joe Tehan (67,000)
10. Nicolas Levi (253,400) vs. 23. Brock Parker (100,000)

With the elimination of 81 players today it was only natural that few familiar faces wouldn't be making day 3. Chad Brown, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Collins, Eli Elezra and Eugene Katchalov all made impressive showings before being eliminated early on in the day.

Joe Tehan again controlled the chip lead for most of the day, but as the night wore on his chip stack started to dwindle before ending the night with 67,000. Former November Niner Joseph Cheong went on a rush late in the evening to end the day with 307,500 and looks to face off against Nabih Zaczac who holds 78,000.

With the exit of Ronald Lee, all remaining players made the money. Once the money bubble was burst players started dropping fairly quickly. Unfortunately, WIll Failla knows the feeling all too well as two back-to-back hands sent him packing..

We return tomorrow at 1:00pm and will play down to the final eight players.

 http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2012-world-series-of-poker/event-6-no-limit-hold-em-mixed-max/

[TightEnd]

Event 7: $1,500 Seven Card Stud

15 of 367 left

Top Chip Counts
1    David Williams       286,000
2    Barry Greenstein    172,000
3    Lee Goldman       156,000
4    Stephen Su       155,000
5    Steve Billirakis       135,000
6    Fabrice Soulier       130,000
7    Huu Vinh               123,000
8    Andy Bloch       106,000
9    Mike Baxter       97,000
10    Caroline Hermesh    94,000


 http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2012-world-series-of-poker/event-7-seven-card-stud/

[TightEnd]

2012 World Series of Poker

Event 8: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better

378 of 967 currently remain

Top Chip Counts
1    Matthew Croker       50,000
2    Raymond Davis       42,000
3    Men Nguyen       36,000
4    Amnon Filippi       28,500
5    Dan Shak               28,400
6    Ryan Lenaghan       28,000
7    Daniel Negreanu    27,000
8    Jeff Madsen       26,800
9    David Chiu       24,000
10    Thayer Rasmussen    23,000

James Dempsey and Richard Ashby

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2012-world-series-of-poker/event-8-omaha-hi-low-split-8-or-better/

[TightEnd]

So far

Table of British Bracelets, Finals, Cashes:

#2  JP Kelly: Final  
       Sadan Turker, Paul Foltyn: cash
#3  David Nicholson, Ben Vinson, Sebastian Saffari: cash
#4  Zimnan Ziyard: cash
#5  John Eames: Final
      Jack Ellwood,Scott O'reilly, Toby Lewis: cash
#6  Toby Lewis, Martins Adeniya: Cash
#7  -
#8 -

[TightEnd]

Event 6: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mixed-Max

Joseph Cheong in search of bracelet #1

It took an exhausting five-hour heads-up match for the final four to be set, but with the elimination of Marvin Rettenmaier in fifth place, only four players remain in the quest for a WSOP bracelet in Event 6, the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mixed-Max.

Day 3 began with 31 players looking to navigate their respective ways through the bracket. For Warwick Mirzikinian, his path to the the final four was a bit easier than the rest. As the #1 seed to begin the day, Mirzikinian earned a first-round bye and after defeating Ryan O'Donnell and Rettenmaier, his final four ticket was punched. He will face Aubin Cazals, the #5 seed to start the day. Eric Froehlich, Toby Lewis, and Adam Geyer are in his rear-view mirror as he prepares for a date with Mirzikinian.

2010 November Niner Joseph Cheong (the #7 seed) is in search of his first bracelet and after defeating Nabih Zaczac, Brock Parker, and Fabrizio Baldassari, Cheong is in position to capture it. He'll square off against Hugo Lemaire (the #14 seed). The path for Lemaire included wins against Robert Tepper, Aaron Jones, and Randy Haddox.

Here are the matchups with their chip counts for Sunday's Day 4:

Warwick Mirzikinian (1,547,500) vs. Aubin Cazals (1,475,000)

Joseph Cheong (1,567,000) vs. Hugo Lemaire (1,545,000)

There will be plenty of room for them to play as the blinds and antes will be at 2,500/5,000/500


Toby Lewis finished 13th for over $24,000

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2012-world-series-of-poker/event-6-no-limit-hold-em-mixed-max/#post-203921

[TightEnd]

Congratulations to Andy Bloch, Winner of Event 7: $1,500 Seven Card Stud ($126,363)

Andy Bloch is the bracelet winner of Event 7

He finally did it! Andy Bloch has been playing at the World Series of Poker for more than a quarter of a century, and after reaching nine WSOP final tables and finishing runner-up twice, he is finally the owner of a shiny gold bracelet.

The day began with David Williams in the lead and three players with less than six big bets. Joseph Ranciato, Scott Abrams and Caroline Hermesh exited quickly, while Huu Vinh — who started the day with just two big bets — battled back into contention. Vinh won a very large pot during the first level of play where he got four streets of value off of two players, which allowed him to sit back and climb the money ladder.

Bloch entered heads-up play with nearly a four-to-one chip lead and eventually extended it to ten-to-one. On the final hand, Bloch had buried queens and made queens and tens on fifth street. Greenstein had made an eight-high straight, though, and was in prime position to double up. The {a-Clubs} on sixth and the {k-Spades} on seventh gave Bloch Broadway, however, and he was finally a champion.

After winning, he said to himself, “Now nobody is going to talk about me."

Final Table Payouts
1   Andy Bloch   $126,363
2   Barry Greenstein   $78,038
3   Stephen Su   $50,332
4   David Williams   $36,470
5   Huu Vinh   $26,813
6   Lee Goldman   $20,001
7   Caroline Hermesh   $15,135
8   Scott Abrams   $11,618
9   Joseph Ranciato   $9,046

The next time you’re making a list of great players who have yet to win a bracelet, make sure you omit Mr. Andy Bloch. It took him more than 26 years, but today’s win was better late than never.


http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2012-world-series-of-poker/event-7-seven-card-stud/

[TightEnd]

Event 8: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better
Day 2 completed
Schwecke Leads With 20 Left, Allen Bari Close Behind in Second

The massive $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better tournament saw 220 players return for the second day of play. The goal was to play down to a final table but there are still 20 players remaining as we head into the final day. There are plenty of big names remaining amongst which Allen Bari, Dutch Boyd and Gavin Griffin stand out. Bari and Griffin are chasing their second WSOP gold while Boyd is already looking to add a third one to his collection.

We started off the day over 100 spots from the money, but it didn't take us long to get close. Daniel Negreanu was doing very well from the start while Jason Mercier busted out within half an hour.

1    Tyler Schwecke       452,000
2    Allen Bari       417,000
3    Gavin Griffin       346,000
4    Michael Kleist       290,000
5    Wes Self       269,000
6    John Racener       264,000
7    Brian Lives       262,000
8    Ryan Turner       257,000
9    Ashly Butler       255,000
10    Bryan Jolly       245,000


Scott O'Reilly finished 73rd, his second cash of the series so far, David Nicholson 81st

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2012-world-series-of-poker/event-8-omaha-hi-low-split-8-or-better/

[TightEnd]

Event 9: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry
Day 1a completed

Giorgio Medici, the chip leader

After a long day at the felt, the end of the first day one flight of Event 9: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry has come to an end!

It all started with a field of 1,696 players spread across three rooms in the Rio. The goal was to play down to 15% of the field and by the end of the night that’s exactly how many remained as 254 players will return for Day 2 action on Monday.

All in all it took just under 10 levels to finish the day and that sets precedent for tomorrow’s Day 1 flight as those who busted today and a new batch of players will take to the felt in just under 12 hours’ time.

One of the players who didn’t last long today was Phil Ivey as he busted during the first level of play. Joining Ivey on the rail in the early stages included Erik Cajelais, Jennifer Leigh, Jason Somerville, Vanessa Selbst, Betrand Grospellier and Martin Staszko.

Some of the other players who started the day, but will have to try their luck during tomorrow’s day one flight include Bryan Devonshire, Vitaly Lunkin, Kathy Leibert, Justin Bonomo and Dan Smith.

Another player who was looking like he would be finishing the day strong was Jason Mercier, but that didn’t end up being the case. Mercier was extremely active throughout the afternoon and managed to be sitting on a well above average stack late into the night. However, it would all be over in just a few hands as Mercier effectively saw his 50,000-chip stack plummet to zero in just a few hands.

Managing to do far better than the above players include Brian Rast, Ari Engel, Terrence Chan and 2010 WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel as they will all return on Day 2 with a fighting chance at making a run at a WSOP bracelet. Also surviving the day was PokerNews Hostess, Kristy Arnett.

The biggest stack at the end of the night was Giorgio Medici as he managed to accumulate an impressive 106,500 in chips. Medici has only one previous WSOP cash on his record and will be looking to improve with a big finish here in Event 9.

Top Chip Counts

1    Giorgio Medici       106,500
2    David Miscikowski    105,100
3    Josh Mancuso       81,800
4    Brian Rast       70,000
5    Ari Engel               69,000
6    Jonathan Duhamel    65,700
7    Robert Lipkin       64,000
8    Kevin MacPhee       64,000
9    Terrence Chan       58,000
10    David Benyamine    51,600


 http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2012-world-series-of-poker/event-9-no-limit-hold-em-re-entry/

[TightEnd]

So far

Table of British Bracelets, Finals, Cashes:

#2  JP Kelly: Final  
       Sadan Turker, Paul Foltyn: cash
#3  David Nicholson, Ben Vinson, Sebastian Saffari: cash
#4  Zimnan Ziyard: cash
#5  John Eames: Final
      Jack Ellwood,Scott O'reilly, Toby Lewis: cash
#6  Toby Lewis, Martins Adeniya, Matt Frankland: Cash
#7  -
#8 - Scott O'Reilly, David Nicholson : cash
#9

[TightEnd]

The new final table rule at the WSOP caused a row at the final table of event 5

This year, players who make a final table are required to verbally announce every single action and bet.  Probably this is to help stream viewers and commentators, a case of the tail wagging the dog


Jon Aguiar, who made the final of Event #5, tweeted the following:

"The WSOP final table rule requiring players to announce every single action and bet is possibly the worst rule in poker history."

The WSOP Tournament Director, Jack Effel, tweeted a reply

"Appreciate your support in helping grow the great game of poker!"

Isaac Haxton  tweeted "He's right, the rule is AWFUL."

 Shawn Daniels tweeted Aguiar:

"Why are you the only one who cries all day every day about everything? Adapt and stop sounding like a complete b**ch."

Shawn's comment was then RE-TWEETED by the official WSOP Twitter account!

This caused a hail of comments against this retweet.