WSOP 2019 Updates

[Tal]

Thanks, folks. Was great fun.

[4KSuited]

I was just thinking that the only thing TonyT hadn't mentioned was having a shit, but then he mentions he had a wank.

On this basis, I guess he must be constipated.

Not got quite the same flow or colour of other diary posts, but at least each one doesn't finish with a Gif.

I see how Vegas makes its money now.

Constipation sorted; lobster tails did the trick ;0)

[Marky147]

I was just thinking that the only thing TonyT hadn't mentioned was having a shit, but then he mentions he had a wank.

On this basis, I guess he must be constipated.

Not got quite the same flow or colour of other diary posts, but at least each one doesn't finish with a Gif.

I see how Vegas makes its money now.

Constipation sorted; lobster tails did the trick ;0)

[typhoon13]

Lurv your updates Tony, real classy

Keep em coming daily please

ps At Rio I always leave for rest rooms 3 to 5 minutes before break and leg it down to casino...no queues then

[tikay]

Sam Razavi opens to 130k. I shove 640k with AK.

Sam calls with aces, which seems reasonable.

I offered him a chop before the flop, telling him it was his final chance. He declined and luckily got away with the win.

80th place. Won't lie: pretty chuffed. I should be gutted at getting past over 3,000 people and being 79 away from $400,000. But, no, I know I've played fine, ridden my luck and have everything I could fairly have asked for when I sat down yesterday to play.

We'll get 'em next time.

Fabulous stuff Tal, made up for you. And if you had to donate to anyone, I'm glad it was Sam. (He eventually busted 25th). 

What are you playing next?

[tonytats]

Lurv your updates Tony, real classy

Keep em coming daily please

ps At Rio I always leave for rest rooms 3 to 5 minutes before break and leg it down to casino...no queues then

That’s alright for you skinny fit people
Us old fat knackers don’t like to walk that far 😂😂

We both woke up this morning- so that’s a bonus!
Looked at each other n admitted the encore is not as nice as the nugget so after some phone calls we are moving !

[Tal]

Sam Razavi opens to 130k. I shove 640k with AK.

Sam calls with aces, which seems reasonable.

I offered him a chop before the flop, telling him it was his final chance. He declined and luckily got away with the win.

80th place. Won't lie: pretty chuffed. I should be gutted at getting past over 3,000 people and being 79 away from $400,000. But, no, I know I've played fine, ridden my luck and have everything I could fairly have asked for when I sat down yesterday to play.

We'll get 'em next time.

Fabulous stuff Tal, made up for you. And if you had to donate to anyone, I'm glad it was Sam. (He eventually busted 25th). 

What are you playing next?

Yes, Sam def came across as a decent egg.

No plans for a biggun today. Might play the O8 comp at Orleans later, or could just be a steak dinner. Decisions...

[tikay]

Sam Razavi opens to 130k. I shove 640k with AK.

Sam calls with aces, which seems reasonable.

I offered him a chop before the flop, telling him it was his final chance. He declined and luckily got away with the win.

80th place. Won't lie: pretty chuffed. I should be gutted at getting past over 3,000 people and being 79 away from $400,000. But, no, I know I've played fine, ridden my luck and have everything I could fairly have asked for when I sat down yesterday to play.

We'll get 'em next time.

Fabulous stuff Tal, made up for you. And if you had to donate to anyone, I'm glad it was Sam. (He eventually busted 25th). 

What are you playing next?

Yes, Sam def came across as a decent egg.

No plans for a biggun today. Might play the O8 comp at Orleans later, or could just be a steak dinner. Decisions...

I'll be playing that, along with a few friends who have won the Sky Poker package, who I promised I'd take to an O8 affair whilst in Vegas.

6pm start, reg opens at 5, but seats will be capped & it WILL sell out, so arrive early if you plan to play it. (You'll need a "Ruby" Players Card too).

PS - Jen is staying at Orleans, so you never know.

[TightEnd]

Is it expected that next year's series will be in the new Caesars conference facility currently being built?

[tikay]

Is it expected that next year's series will be in the new Caesars conference facility currently being built?

Very good question Tighty.

I know a few Caesars/WSOP senior Suits quite well - Seth, Ty etc - & my questions to them in the last few days have been deflected & dodged. 

That had been the rumour for some time, & it recently gained strength. Certainly, The Rio building seems to be existing on a "care & maintenance" basis only, with no new spend in evidence, & the place is creaking, with elevators, escalators & all sorts out of commission.

But a few days ago, this news emerged;


https://www.investors.com/news/caesars-entertainment-stock-soars-merger-rival-eldorado-resorts/


So that may - or may not - change everything.

Caesars "as is" needs cash, so finding a buyer for the Rio solved a lot of problems.

Whether that remains the case if a buyer comes along I've no idea.

What normally happens in these spots, as you well know, & I know from recent events Next Door, is that all current plans are paused whilst they sort themselves out & re-assess everything.  

We shall see.

[tikay]

oioi, Pete Linton news incoming.....

[tikay]

Event 19 - $1500 Millionaire Maker, Day 3 of 5, 8809 entries


Just 34 players survive, and they are led by Josh Reichard, a very familiar face on the WSOP circuit, but hasn't shone so much at the WSOP proper. He leapt up the standings on the last level as he busted three players in quick succession.

Andrew Hinrichsen and Cory Albertson are second and third.

As you would expect given the attrition rate, most of the bigger name players departed the scene, but Keith Lehr is having an excellent week and has a playable stack, while Calvin Anderson is now down to less than 10 BB.

Last GB player standing was Klas Lafberg, knocked out in 47th for $25K.



Event 20 - $1500 Seven Card Stud, Day 4 of 4, 285 entries


The three short stacks were dispatched pretty quickly, and then Valentin Vornicu followed them, leaving the expected heads-up between the two big stacks of Anthony Zinno and Eli Elezra.

In the end it was Elezra who got the job done for his 4th bracelet, the third in a stud game, and his second in this exact event.

The 58-year old former Israeli army commando took his career WSOP earnings to over $2m with this win which added almost $94K to his balance.


Event 21 - $10K No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw, Day 3 of 4, 91 entries


Easy to write up this one - it was a day off. The 7 players will resume on Tuesday night to play for the title and the bracelet.


Event 22 - $1000 Double Stack NLH, Day 2 of 2, 3253 entries


This one didn't finish on time, 11 players will come back for an unscheduled Day 3 with Jorden Fox the top dog (Well at least a Fox is a canid so it's close enough). If only 39th placed finisher Tomer Wolf had also made Day 3!

Fox has 26m chips ahead of Jeffrey Smith's nearly 22m and Scott Vener's 17.6m

Two Europeans (but no Brits) are still involved, Christopher Andler (Sweden) & Simon Legat (France)

Eliminations thick and fast saw the UK contingent disappear at regular intervals throughout the day, Sam Razavi being the last to fall in 25th spot for $14149, but an honourable mention to Audley Harrison who must have exceeded even his most optimistic expectations when lasting until 32nd for $11397. Other GB players who made the top 100 were David Winter, Yiannis Liperis and Simon Williams.

Event 23 - $1500 Eight Game Mix, Day 2 of 3, 612 entries

I'm going to start with the player in 4th place overnight as that player is Philip Long. The Londoner won this event last year and is still in with a chance of a very rare repeat performance.

First though he has to get through the rest of the 28 strong Day 3 field, led by Alexander Livingston (had a deep run to 13th in the 2013 ME)

Several other bracelet holders are also through including Chris Vitch who lies 2nd overnight, Chris Klodnicki, Chris Bjorin, Vladimir Shchemelev and winner of Event 14 a few days ago, Muril Souza.

There's also a second string to the GB bow, so to speak as Toby Lewis is also through, albeit with a smallish stack.


Event 25 - $600 PLO Deepstack, Day 1 of 2, 2577 entries


Yes it's a Deepstack but with a very fast structure as the plan remains to go from 2577 to 1 in just two days. We'll see if they manage that, with 215 players having made Day 2.

10 of those 215 are British, with 6 inside the top 100 and 2 in the top 15 - Peter Linton (4th) and Usman Siddique (13th)

The top 3 are Corey Wright, Robert Valden and Ryan Bambrick with three former November Niners (Cliff Josephy, JC Tran and William Tonking) in the field and Layne Flack, Guiseppe Panataleo, Brandon Shack-Harris and Upeshka De Silva a few more names spotted when perusing the chip listings.

The other GB players who bagged and tagged are Jaspreet Panchhi, Chris Moorman, Barny Boatman, Paresh Doshi, Jerome Bradpiece, Mohammed Ladak, Thomas Cazayous and Andrew Teng.


Event 26 - $2520 NLH Marathon, Day 1 of 6, 941 entries so far


After an event that has a breakneck pace, there's the opposite, a 6-day grind but still almost exactly half of the field bowed out on Day 1 and we have 467 through, but still oodles of late reg to boost that field.

Of the 467 it is Peter Hong who has the Day 1 chip lead, marginally ahead of Christopher Godfrey and Scott Menard. Godfrey is from Fremont, California. I wonder if that is where Vegas' Fremont Street downtown got it's name?

It's too early to concentrate too much on who's still left in, but I'm going to do it anyway as we've got three well known GB players (Sam Grafton, Niall Farrell and Patrick Leonard) through together with 2006 ME winner Jamie Gold, Marvin Rettenmaier, Matt Stout, Adrian Mateos, Taylor Paur, Neil Blumenfield and the very short-stacked Kristin Bicknell.


Event 27 - $1500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or better, Day 1 of 4, 460 entries


Eli Elezra won't be adding another stud bracelet to his collection, he jumped into this after winning the bracelet earlier in the day but wasn't able to make Day 2.

195 did though, and there is an Alpha Male at the top in the shape of Dave Alfa. Second place belongs to Andrew Kelsall, and in third place is Barbara Enright, still the only female player to make the WSOP ME FT, 24 years on.

Another veteran name can be found in 10th spot, Norman Chad, best known for being the WSOP TV coverage co-commentator, but he is a pretty well regarded Stud player in his own right.

Players from Reading and Manchester lie 7th and 8th, but thats Reading, Pennsylvania and Manchester, New Hampshire and you also have to pass players from American versions of Portland, Birmingham and Mansfield before reaching the first British representative, Paul Sokoloff in 85th. Also through from these shores are Ben Dobson, Adam Owen and Mel Judah along with Andy Bloch, Allen Cunningham, Daniel Negreanu, Steve Zolotow, John Racener etc.


To start today

Event 28 - $1000 NLH, 3 Day Event

Event 29 - $10K HORSE, 4 Day Event

[Tal]

Sam Razavi opens to 130k. I shove 640k with AK.

Sam calls with aces, which seems reasonable.

I offered him a chop before the flop, telling him it was his final chance. He declined and luckily got away with the win.

80th place. Won't lie: pretty chuffed. I should be gutted at getting past over 3,000 people and being 79 away from $400,000. But, no, I know I've played fine, ridden my luck and have everything I could fairly have asked for when I sat down yesterday to play.

We'll get 'em next time.

Fabulous stuff Tal, made up for you. And if you had to donate to anyone, I'm glad it was Sam. (He eventually busted 25th). 

What are you playing next?

Yes, Sam def came across as a decent egg.

No plans for a biggun today. Might play the O8 comp at Orleans later, or could just be a steak dinner. Decisions...

I'll be playing that, along with a few friends who have won the Sky Poker package, who I promised I'd take to an O8 affair whilst in Vegas.

6pm start, reg opens at 5, but seats will be capped & it WILL sell out, so arrive early if you plan to play it. (You'll need a "Ruby" Players Card too).

PS - Jen is staying at Orleans, so you never know.

Early show is

4/7 Steak
6/4 Orleans
Anything else a push



Thanks for the heads up, though.

[tikay]

Event 19 - $1500 Millionaire Maker, Day 4 of 5, 8809 entries


We're well into the FT at the end of Day 4, with just 6 players remaining and I don't think any of them have won a bracleet before.

Japanese player Kazuki Ikeuchi is the chip leader, followed by four Americans (Cory Albertson, Lokesh Garg, Joshua Thibodaux and Josh Gorsush) with Lithuania's Vincas Tamasauskas bringing up the rear. The top 2 have about 55BB each, but the other 4 all have re-shoving stacks so action could start quite soon.

The winner will take $1.345m while everyone left will get at least $266K, with some serious laddering to be done (next pay jump is $94K).


Event 21 - $10K No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw, Day 4 of 4, 91 entries


There's a story here. For 13 years, the record gap between bracelets was the late David "Chip" Reese won the 2006 $50K HORSE event, 24 years after winning a Stud braclet back in 1982.

That 50K HORSE of course now is the "Poker Player's Championship" and the trophy bears Reese's name. In 4th place on that 2006 FT was Jim Bechtel, the 1993 ME winner (2nd was Andy Bloch and 3rd Phil Ivey so you can see the quality of the field).

On Tuesday, Bechtel, now 69, took Reese's record after winning the $10K 2-7 Draw, beating Vince Musso heads-up with Darren Elias departing in third.

Bechtel won a round million for his 1993 ME win, but will get just over a quarter of that for this win.


Event 22 - $1000 Double Stack NLH, Day 3 of 2, 3253 entries

The Fox finished the job off, as Jorden Fox saw off all those who where hunting him up and claimed his maiden bracelet. His rail included his father, brother and a cousin, but not his partner, as she is eight months pregnant and had to be satisfied with watching the coup de grace via smartphone.

Jayachandra Gangaiah was the runner-up and Jeffrey Smith finished third.


Event 23 - $1500 Eight Game Mix, Day 3 of 3, 612 entries

It wasn't to be a repeat for Philip Long, as despite having a big stack most of the day, suffered a run of bad hands on the FT and went out in 4th spot.

When Chris Klodnicki went out very late on Day 3, we were left with a a heads-up match between Rami Boukai and John Evans and they'll need to come back for an unscheduled 4th day to decide the winner.

Saudi-born Boukai won a bracelet back in 2009, while Evans has the one WSOP cash to his name. Boukai holds a 3:1 advantage, but with relatively few chips in play compared to the blinds/big bets, this one may not last much longer.

Allen Kessler's bid for a first bracelet after over 70 WSOP cashes ended in 5th while Toby Lewis went out in 18th.


Event 25 - $600 PLO Deepstack, Day 2 of 2, 2577 entries

I sort of predicted yesterday that this wouldn't finish within the 2 days and I was right, as 12 players remained alive at the end of the day's play.

No British challengers unfortunately, as Day 1 chip leader Corey Wright became Day 2 chip leader Corey Wright.

Austrian Florian Fuchs is second and in third place is the only former bracelet winner left, "Captain" Tom Franklin. Franklin has two cashes already this Series, but his big day was 20 years ago (so not quite as long ago as Jim Bechtel) when he won a $2500 Limit Omaha event (he also made the FT ME in both 1995 and 2000)


Event 26 - $2520 NLH Marathon, Day 2 of 6, 1083 entries

The Marathon field has been thinned down to 188 players after two days.

The Day 1 leader is David Coleman. No not that David Coleman, he died in 2013 but a poker player from New Jersey.

There's a meaty European presence in the top end of the leader board, Morten Mortensen from Denmark is second, and players from Greece, Bulgaria and Austria are all inside the top 10.

The British presence is a little more under-stated, Paul Hizer in 54th and Steven Warburton in 106th are the highest ahead of Joel Isla the only other survivor.

Not many "big names" (I don't suppose they want to tie up 6 days) but there are some November Niners there in Joseph Cheong, Cliff Josephy, Burno Politano, Amir Lehavot and Neil Blumenfield while lurking in 157th spot is Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier.


Event 27 - $1500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or better, Day 1 of 4, 460 entries

The Day 2 chip leader is "The Grinder", Michael Mizrachi aiming to win his 4th WSOP bracelet and break a tie with brother Robert.

A late run, doubling his stack in the final level brought him to the chip lead, where he is followed by Robert Gray and Jason Day.

It's another disappointing tournament for the Brits, but then we didn't have too many in there to start with, as the only cash went to Paul Sokoloff (49th spot for $2475).

Among the 22 players making Day 3 is Event 13 winner Yuhal Bronshtein and a couple of female players, Anna Wroblewski and Patricia Yannuzzzi.


Event 28 - $1000 NLH, Day 1 of 3, 2477 entries

The German with a very Italian name, Giuseppe Pantaleo is the chip leader after Day 1 of Event 28 with local player Steven McNally and China's Yang Zhang second and third.

Two GB players lie 6th & 7th, Iaron Lightbourne who has featured a number of times in these reports over the years, and Wayne Blodwell who's only recorded WSOP cash was in Event 19 last week. There are a number of other GB players in the field too, Samuel Simister, Daniel Watson, Louis Salter and Ben Dobson amongst them.

Daniel Strelitz who won event 11, winner of event 6 are both trying to win a second bracelet this summer, while Phil Hellmuth is trying to extend his record number too.


Event 29 - $10K HORSE, Day 1 of 4, 161 entries so far

The opening exchanges of the big HORSE events saw 161 entries, just 5 below last year's figure and with late reg still open we may well beat last year's total.

The only Colombian bracelet winner, Daniel Ospina, is the big stack after Day 1, with Randy Ohel and Brian Hastings the only 2 others over 200K in chips (starting stack was 60K).

A lot of well known players among the 83 through - Greg Mueller, Mike Sexton, defending champion John Henningan, Daniel Negreanu, Jen Harman, Brian Rast etc. Oh yeah, and Phil Ivey. Just the one Brit in Adam Owen.


To start today

Event 30 - $1000 PLO, 3 Day Event

Event 31 - $3K NLH 6-max, 4 Day Event

[tonytats]

Fk me I’m spending more time on me I pad than playing poker writin* these up!
What a night last night
We had a right result
Went n unpacked about 4 pm lay on the bed by 5 pm scratching me balls 🎱
Fell asleep
Woke at 1130
Right old racket going on outside in Fremont st
A u2 concert
Or some twat who thought he was bono
Mrs was snoring gently
Shall we go go downstairs I enquired
No no not muff diving
Down to the casino
Next thing I know it’s 3 am
Bono’s gone n it’s quiet
Shall we go down I enquire ?
Snore grunt grunt
Next thing it’s 730 am
One night in Vegas we never spent a dime
Now that is a result and we are more on Vegas time then ever
Weds am coffee at Starbucks
$5 pool admission at the downtown grand means it’s quieter up there
It hits 98 degrees by 11 am according to binions date temperature
Lovely of lunch pitta n hunnus for Denise chicken giblets n chips for me coleslaw on the side
A bucket -6 tins of barefoot ballsdangle wine
Angry orchard cider n we are cooking on gas
By 230/3 pm it’s roasting
So we make our way to the Fremont for $2 coronas now gone up to $3 couple vodka n cokes
It’s shower n nap time
With an alarm set for 7 pm
A steak at binions is the plan
Then some casino donk age

Paul Fowler reports ridic queues at the Rio in the run up to the seniors which I’m swerving
Super seniors will be my last foray to the Rio
It’s just too busy n I hate it

Attempts to win the trumping contest led me to eat a few prunes from California but they leave a poo 💩 like mark on the bed sheets !
So I will have to bribe the maid tomorrow