Sunday, June 15, 2008

WSOP Live Blog - Day 17

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Late start for me today. I had to catch up on some writing at home and played in a WSOP main event satellite where I didn't do so hot. Looks like no main event for your hero.

Anyway, plenty of action going down at the Rio. The usual... six events, two final tables, two new tournaments. Lots of suckouts. Plenty of bad beats. The air smells like desperation and body odor. Man, I wonder what the Amazon Room would look like if they still allowed smoking in poker tournaments? It would be a thick cloud of smoke inside the room with visibility less than three feet in front of you. I'm sure with the heavy thickness of cigar and cigarette smoke, a few poker playing potheads would sneak a puff of the wacky tabacky in between hands.

Flipchip once told me a story about how Ted Binion would toke up in the bathroom at the Horseshoe or even in his office. The entire floor would reek of pot and pit bosses would joke, "Ted's here."

Ah, these days all the focused ones are jacked up on performance enhancing drugs such as adderall. Man, give me a bag of kush and a fistful of adderrall, I could play poker for a week straight.

Moving on...

Here's what is going on at Day 17.
Event #25 $10,000 Heads Up - Day 2
Event #26 $1,500 Razz - Day 2
Event #27 $1,500 NL - Day 1
Event #28 $5,000 PLO with Rebuys - Day 1
Event #29 $3,000 NL - Limit Day 1
Event #30 $10,000 Limit - Day 1
There are two bracelets being awarded on Day 17. Barry Greenstein and Archie Karas are looking for glory in the Razz event. Greenstein made his second final table of the 2008 WSOP and Karas at one time was considered the greatest Razz player in the world. And over in the Heads Up championship, it's the final four. Vanessa Selbst is looking for her second bracelet this week.

Here's the final table...
Event #26 $1,500 Razz - Day 2:
Seat 1: Chris Viox (Glen Carbon, IL) - 359,500
Seat 2: Joseph Michael (Austin, TX) - 155,000
Seat 3: Archie Karas (Las Vegas, NV) - 113,000
Seat 4: Brandon Leeds (Phoenix, AZ) - 206,500
Seat 5: Chris Klodnicki (Voorhees, NJ) - 105,000
Seat 6: Mike Wattel (Phoenix, AZ) - 74,000
Seat 7: Mark Tenner (Henderson, NV) - 108,500
Seat 8: Barry Greenstein (Rancho Palo Verde, CA) - 243,000
And here's the final four of the Heads Up...
Vanessa Selbst vs. Alec Torelli
Kenny Tran vs. Jonathan Jaffe
According to one of my readers, Jaffe is a 21 year-old internet pro who is a heads-up specialist. Change100 watched him play on Day 1 and said that he destroyed his opponents.

* * * * *

5:50pm...

Event #25 $10K Heads Up: The finals are set... Kenny Tran vs. Alec Torelli which will go off at 7pm. Selbst and Jaffe couldn't advance

Event #26 Razz: Down to 4. Mike Wattel went out in 8th. Archie Karas busted in 7th place. He won almost $20K. Barry Greenstien is second in chips.

Event #27 $1,500 NL: 89 to go. Humberto Brenes has chips and is among the few named pros left.

Event #28 $5,000 PLO with Rebuys: 36 to go. Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth are at the top of the leaderboard along with the young Ruskie... Alexander Kostritsyn and the other one Kiril Germasimov.

Event #29 3K NL: 270 left in that event. Frenchman Nicolas Levi is among the chipleaders.

* * * * *

7:01pm...

Amir Vahedi was chomping down on a stogie in a smoke free area.

Event #26 Razz final table: Down to three. Barry Greenstein second in chips.

Event #27 $1,500 NL: 79 players remaining out of 2706. German Jan Von Halle is among the chipleaders.

Event #28 $5KPLO with Rebuys: Mike Sexton just eliminated. Down to 31. Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth are among the chipleaders.

Event #29 $3K NL: 206 players left out of 716. They are on their dinner break. Razor is out in front with the lead. Kristy Gazes has 10K and still alive.

Event #28 $10K Limit: Andy Bloch among the chipleaders. The Italian Pirate is among the leaders too... fresh off his bracelet win yesterday.
* * * * *

8:01pm...

I nearly bumped into David Benyamine. He was going on dinner break and holding three Pizza Hut pan pizza boxes. Two seconds later, I rounded the corner and watched Phil Hellmuth sign an autograph for a fan. He was scribbling his signature on a playing card. Hellmuth sharpied his John Hancock on the four of spades.

* * * * *

9:01pm...

Food tilt. FYI, boycott the Sao Paolo Cafe at the Rio. If you catch me eating there, I'll give you $100. Seriously. I will never eat there again after our horrid experience during dinner break. Awful service, which has always been poor, but this time it was just the worst I've seen in four years. Took ten minutes before we had someone take our order and it was only after I complained to the manager. Then the waitress forgot 33% of our order. They never brought Cange100's entree. She had to get back because her dinner break was over. Turned out the waitress never put it in. I was wicked pissed and they didn't even comp the meal. Obviously there's nothing I can do aside from recommend that you guys avoid eating there at all costs. It will be the best decision of your WSOP experience.

Anyway, the Lakers won game 5 of the NBA finals. They won but didn't cover. Phil Ivey is still alive with his bet. Can the Lakers win two more games before the Celtics win one?

Event #25 $10K Heads Up final: The first match took 93 hands before Kenny Tran ended up beating Alec Torelli. Tran is up 1-0 in the best of three series. Action has been paused and Match 2 will resume shortly.

Event #26 Razz final table: They are on a short break. Three left. Barry Greenstein is the leader and has more chips than both of his opponents combined.

Event #27 $1,500 NL: 66 to go. Jan Von Halle is among the top 10 in chips. is wife Katja Tater mentioned that he has been playing tighter than usual.

Event #28 $5K PLO with Rebuys: Chris Ferguson among the chipeladers with Danny Boy and Hellmuth aka God. 26 to go. The G left the building sometime ago after he got busted by Benyamine.

Event #29 $3K NL: Saw Gobboboy in the hallway during is break. He said that he had a lot of chips. A quick glance at the chipcount and he's the chipleader with 171 to go. Erica Schoenberg and Jen Tilly are busto.

Event #28 $10K Limit: Liz Lieu among the chipleaders!! Phil Ivey and Max Pescatori are both out.
* * * * *

10:01pm...

Event #26 Razz final table: down to 2. Greenstein heads up with Chris Klodnicki for the bracelet.

Event #28 $5K PLO with Rebuys: David Williams and Hellmuth were jarring back and forth. Williams won a pot against Hellmuth, which set him off. Hellmuth likes to bully everyone around him, but Williams pushed back. Down to 22. Kirill Gerasimov out in front. OMGClayAiken top 5 in chips.

Event #29 $3K NL: 126 to go. Gobboboy third in chips. Kathy Liebert in the Top 10. Kristy Gazes is still alive with 35K.

Event #28 $10K Limit: Liz Lieu said hello coming back from her break. She reminded me that today was father's day and that was the reason for her good run to start. She feels as though her deceased father is watching over her. "This is my event," she said with an air of confidence. She's currently third in chips and I would love to see her go deep.

* * * * *

11:01pm...

Event #25 $10K Heads Up final: Another pro wins a bracelet. Kenny Tran takes down Event #25. Well it looks like this is the year of the pro... even if no other pro wins another bracelet between now and the 2009 WSOP.

Event #28 $5K PLO with Rebuys: 20 to go. Danny Boy making a run at the chipleader. Plenty of big names left like Hellmuth, David Benyamine, David Williams, Eli Elezra, Jesus, John Juanda, Ted Lawson, and Johnny Chan. Aussie strip club owner Jamie Pickering (who took second in the 1.5K PLO) is the short stack.

Event #26 Razz final table: And yeah, Barry Greenstein is still heads up for a bracelet. He has a 3-1 chip advantage. The bracelet is his to lose.

Event #30 $10K Limit: Both Greenstein and Negreanu are two-tabling the Limit event with two other events.

* * * * *

Midnight...

Event #26 Razz final table: Barry Greenstein wins bracelet! Yeah it's definitely the year of the pro. Barry didn't stick around for too long. He didn't pose for winner's pics or do any post-victory interviews. Instead, he rushed off to the 10K limit event where he had been getting blinded off.

Event #28 $5K PLO with Rebuys: 20 to go. Almost at the money bubble. Top 18 get paid. Kirill Gerasimov still on top with the lead. Ted Lawson is shortstacked.

Event #29 $3K NL: Gobboboy lost his lead and slipped to the middle of the pack. Kristy Gazes and Bond18 are both alive. 93 to go. The money bubble breaks at 72.

* * * * *

2:19am...

Event #27 $1,500 NL: Down to 20. Kenneth "Drama Llama" Terrell is the chipleader.

Event #28 $5K PLO with Rebuys: 15 to go. They have been in the money for a bit. David Williams and Ted Lawson recently busted, but both cashed. Daniel Negreanu has taken over the chiplead.

Event #29 $3K NL: Action for Day 1 is over. 81 to go. Top 72 get paid. Kristy Gazes, Gobboboy, and Bond18 are all still in.

Event #30 $10K Limit: 98 left out of 218. The Grinder and JC Tran are among the chipleaders. Liz Lieu slipped but advanced. Barry Greenstein made it to Day 2 along with a super short stacked Daniel Negreanu, who happened to be the chipleader in the PLO event.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

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