LAKE TAHOE, NV--Well holy crap, shortly before I busted out of Event #5, I was talking to David Wong (who says he plays 80 percent of his poker on Party). He was really short-stacked, too, if you recall ... because he hadn't (in his own estimation) given proper consideration to the value of pushing all-in with an unmade hand in no-limit 7-stud.
Well apparently he adjusted appropriately -- and went on to finish 2nd ... taking home a whopping $3,419 prize.
UPDATE: Tourney officials inform me that there was a three-way chop between Wong, Hanna Batschoun (the only lady playing) and Michael Yoshihara, who was declared the winner and the unofficial No-Limit Hold'em/7-Stud "world champion."
 Doug Kim just went out in 7th place ... he's only 22 years old. Well done, kid. As the Bluff Radio guys were interviewing him, he mentioned that he played on PartyPoker. And then he corrected himself ... "and PokerStars ... uh, I won my seat on PokerStars."
I know that two of the three PokerStars representatives at the final table did indeed win their seats on that site. But I also know that one of them did not ... he was bought. Could it have been Doug Kim? Not that it matters ... but just curious if some execs at Stars just had a little heart attack while execs from (our very good friends at) Party Poker just popped little boners.
(Party, of course, did not buy any final tableists. They just bought the whole final table.)
ALT HED: Who's Your Poker Daddy?
Play has come to an end for today ... we're down to 27 players and headed to Binion's! Oh, wait, no we're not ... this is the first year in the history of the WSOP that this stage of the main event will be played at the Rio. Of the 27 players who remain, two of them are Party guys.
Richard Wyrick is the tiniest stack with 570,000. (By surviving til the end of today, he guaranteed himself an extra $165k!) And Rob Roseman is a slightly below-average stack with 1,685,000. I think this bodes well for these guys. After all, how many times have you seen the biggest stack at this point in the tournament actually go on to win it?
OK, so there was that Greg Raymer guy a couple years ago. But other than that ... current chip leader Jamie Gold is in trouble.
Our guy Richard Wyrick in black (1,350,000) sits across from William Thorsson who has gone from 2nd in chips to 7th (3,675,000).
Note: Nolan just annouced that it's most likely they'll play down to 27 tonight. Right now we've got 31 players left. Hang in there, Richard!
So I'm following Richard Wyrick -- aka Deadeye Dick -- and I think he knows I'm happy to be his sounding board whenever he wants to talk poker strategy. He probably also knows that I keep coming up to him offering unsolicited advice whenever he's on a break now, but hey, I demand the most from my athletes. When the going gets tough ... it's simple: you should try to play well. That's the best way to win.
Just got a little more info on tournament director Jack Effel's "no coaching" declaration.
Apparently, WPT champion Martin de Knijff was doing more than offering friendly advice to one of his poker cronies. He allegedly had secured himself a red media badge, allowing him access to "the moat," and from there he was "coaching" at least one of his fellow Swedes still alive in the main event. Not while in hands, of course (at least not as far as I know), but in between hands with regularity -- presumably in Swedish.
And that's a no-no ... particularly now that so much is at stake with every observation and decision.
Scott O'Reilly just went out. 54th place ... and the first one at the next level of cash payouts: $164,932.
From the looks of it at the table (photo possibly forthcoming) he must've taken a ridiculous beat. But finishing in the top 1 percent of the largest live poker field in history, that's anything but ridiculous.
Before Change mocks my coaching abilities ... er, I mean after ... I just went to check on Big Dick, and he looks a little scared. But he shouldn't be. He's already into 6-figure payouts, and he still has enough "M" to work with.
He looked at me and motioned with his fingers that he had 450,000 left in chips. Blinds are at 10k/20k +3k, and he's UTG. I nodded, tapped my index finger to my forehead and mouthed the words, "Play smart."
Now how can that not be good advice?
UPDATE: Moments after TD Jack Effel made an announcement -- "There is to be no coaching from the media or spectators. No coaching! ... and English only, please" -- Richard Wyrick just doubled up. He got it all-in with AJs against A10s. The flop came A-K-8, and then a K on the turn pretty much locked up the hand for him. He's now got a little more comfort to attack those medium stacks with about 900k.
You might not have noticed Scott Malone, but this pilot and carwash owner is making a big impression back home. Listed as coming from Ulysses, Kansas, Malone is also playing on behalf of a small town in western Kansas called Johnson, (population 1100). Malone is just one of the 15-person poker league called the Bear Creek Rounders that played $25 tourneys for forty weeks to send one of their players to the 2006 World Series of Poker. After driving 22 miles to get to a rented trailer poker house, Malone and the Rounders would play for points. A little more than a year of games and they had collected $12,500 to send their mate to Vegas.
Malone has quite the cheering section. Twelve family members have joined him in Las Vegas for the Main Event, including his father and mother who surprised him yesterday on Day three.
Sally, Malone's mom walked up while I was talking to his wife, Jean.
"Am I to be praised or blamed?" she said when she saw us talking.
"Praised!" Jean said confidently.
"I am just thrilled to death he's gone so far, " said Sally. "We don't think of small town Kansas boys in big leagues like this."
More than half of the Bear Creek Rounders are agricultural farmers. Whatever Malone wins, he gets to keep $10,000 plus 50% of the rest. The remaining 50% will be split between the rest of the Rounders, including one man out on bail for allegedly killing his wife's ex husband.
Or should it be four?
Party man Richard Wyrick apparently just tripled up ... increasing his chip count to 870k! That's still a below-average stack, but good enough to hang in there longer and play some real cards. (We'll see if we can get you some info about the hand that did it for him.)
Paul Raeburn continues to hold strong with 1.1 million.
Meanwhile, Rob Roseman picked up about half-a-million chips recently and is in 7th chip position ... with a comfortably above-average stack of 2.1 million.
Play has ended for the day. 135 players remain, with play resuming in about 9 1/2 hours. Day 4 was the day where all the players in the money struggled to survive til Day 5, where payouts begin to increase more dramatically. (Basically we're at the breaking point of an exponential curve.)
So tomorrow is the day where players duke it out for the big money ... the best of whom will live to fight another day for the big-big money.
Here're some remaining competitors of particular interest to PokerBlog, with tomorrow's starting chip counts:
Pros
15. Jeffrey Lisandro / 1,208,000
26. Annie Duke / 919,00
27. Cuong Do / 914,000
29. Ken Jacobs / 896,000
34. Humberto Brenes / 835,000
70. Allen Cunningham / 503,00
(Yeow, not too many big-names left!)
Party Players
48. Paul Raeburn / 646,000
49. Pat Dattilo / 638,000
53. Rob Roseman / 576,000
71. Scott O'Reilly / 501,000
105. Nicolai Vivet / 316,000
117. Richard Wyrick / 234,000
Bloggers
28. Sabyl Cohen / 960,000
112. Bryan Micon / 275,000
The party ended this evening for a few of the players who came here representing PartyPoker. Christine Wilson, Mark Zajdner, and Brenton Goulding have left the room.
"I didn't get a chance to double up much," Zajdner said about his final day in the main event. "Maybe I should've played a little more to get more chips."
Wilson's last hand came when she pushed with A-Q and was called with A-K.
"I was short so I had to push," she said, "nothing came. I wish it had."
Despite busting out, Wilson's happy with her performance.
"I'm happy to cash," she said. "You don't want to be out, but it's great to the cash window and get paid. It helps relieve the pain."
Both Wilson and Zajdner left Day 4 with $42,800.
Goulding said he ran into premium hands all day that didn't connect with the flop.
"I raised maybe twenty times and was re-raised eighteen times," he said.
Goulding,22, walks away with $47,000. Not bad.
All three players outlasted many pros including Daniel Negreanu and Joe Hachem.
Update: Drew Tantrow and Whit Brayton have also been eliminated.
Top: Christine Wilson sits in the payout after being knocked out. Right: Mark Zajdner filling out paper work before receiving his payout check.
Brenton Goulding is still holding on during Day 4 of his first WSOP. Beginning the day with $246,000, Brenton had worked his way up to almost $600,000 before the dinner break.
Today revealed a different Brenton than I noticed from Day 2. Pulling in chips, sitting back with a beer, Day 2 Brenton was having a great time. Today he is moving a little slower and he is playing a little more cautiously.
"Before it was kind of a joke because I didn't think I would make the money," he said about his play the previous days. "I was chip leader for a good 30 minutes. I might as well actually be serious. I will be all smiles eventually...I just got to wake up."
It looks like Party-man Bucky McMillan is flying deeper and deeper into the money. Though I don't claim this official update to be officially up to date, he's supposedly in 31st chip position with $660k.
UPDATE: He just busted out. Don't know the hand particulars, but it must've been a big one. Bummer, but still ... Congrats to Bucky for finishing 177th and winning $47,006!
I just got word that Party Poker is having a Party hat deliverd to his room in the morning.
Scott O'Reilly shoved in his remaining stack after a raise from an early position player. The initial raiser sneered behind designer sunglasses.
"You must be straight from the internet," he said. "All in, all in, all in."
The antagonist stood up and showboated for the ESPN cameras now trained at him. "Here, you want my all in button?" he asked as he walked over to O'Reilly. "You need it more than I do."
After a few minutes, the player folded and play resumed.
O'Reilly came over to me after the hand and told me had kings. He figured he'd get action after being so aggressive before, but that's poker.
The 22-year-old O'Reilly, from Torquay, England, won his seat through a $215 Party Poker super satellite and is jazzed about making it deep in his first WSOP main event. He was humming along with 250K in chips as dinner break approached.
"It's cool," he said. "It's a massive, massive event and to still be rolling up the prize pool makes it even more [cool]."
 Jennifer Browning found Richard Wyrick on Day 2B after his stack of 190k was cut in half. Today, the player from Lake Mary, Fla is doing that kind of damage to the other players at his table. He started with 49,000 this morning, but after maintaining a constant 40,000 all day yesterday Wyrick figured his Main Event experience was pretty much over straight from today's start.
"In four days I've never ever ever ever ever ever ever had to go all in for all my money," he said.
"Finally I got a suck out with trip sevens on the turn against a pair of queens," Wyrick continued.
Wyrick had started with A7 in the hole and raised. He was surprised to get two callers.
"I had pot odds, and went all in," said Wyrick who found a 7 on the flop but still needed another one to beat another guy with queens. He got that 7 on the turn to beef up his stack to 149,000. Just about an hour into play he now has 160,000.
Do it again, Richard!
Good morning.
There are 481 players left ... 178 of whom, according to the exclusive official WSOP media source, have names to go with their chips. Players we'll be watching and their reported stack size -- going into Day 4, more than a week after it all began:
Pros
David Chiu 650,000
Humberto Brenes 440,000
Aaron Bartley 330,000
Allen Cunningham 285,000
Phi Nguyen 240,000
Phi Nguyen 230,000
(hey, that's what they're saying ...)
Jeffrey Lisandro 230,000
Cuong Do 190,000
John Hoang 180,000
Hoyt Corkins 170,000
Annie Duke 156,000
Joseph Hachem 141,000
Ted Forrest 138,000
Daniel Negreanu 104,000
Tom McEvoy 80,000
Mosa Mustafa 80,000
Surinder Sunar 70,000
Mark Vos 67,500
Kathy Liebert 65,000
Cecilia Mortensen 62,000
Allyn Jaffrey Shulman 55,000
Cyndy Violette 45,000
Susie Isaacs 38,000
Bloggers
Ryan Kallberg 117,000
Daniel Negreanu 104,000
Bryan Micon 55,000
Party Qualifiers
Bucky McMillan 400,000
Mikael Thuritz 365,000
Andres Korn 350,000
Richard Digiorgio 293,000
Walter Novelli 177,000
Robert Newton 150,000
Drew Trantow 139,000
Kevin Brown 120,000
If there's someone we've missed, please let us know. Thanks!
As Day 3 of the Main Event kicks off, 1159 players remain from our starting field of 8773. 879 players will make the money today, guaranteeing a payout of at least $14,597. There are a number of prop bets being made here in the media room regarding when the bubble will burst. My money's on after the dinner break.
Four World Champions started Day 3--Tom McEvoy (1983), Carlos Mortensen (2001), Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (2000), and last year's winner, Joe Hachem-- though only three remain after Ferguson was eliminated by blogger Ryan Kallberg. (Talk about the gambling moment of your life!) Two recent recipients of the WSOP Player of the Year honors also still remain-- 2004 POY Daniel Negreanu and 2005 POY Allen Cunningham. Other notables (read: famous players) still gunning it out for the bracelet and the $12 million top prize include Phil Ivey, Humberto Brenes, Jeffrey Lisandro, Cecelia Mortensen, David Chiu, Cyndy Violette, Annie "Che" Duke, Mark Vos, Nam Le, Paul Wolfe, Layne Flack, Kathy Liebert, David Grey, Hoyt Corkins, Susie Isaacs, Freddy Deeb, Lars Bonding, and David "The Dragon" Pham.
Of the 270 women who competed in the Main Event this year, less than 30 remain including Party Poker qualifiers Christine Wilson (122,000), Nancy Nguyen (53,400), Jennifer Hopkins (5200), Magdalena Halford (42,000), Jordan Handrich (24,800) and Veronica Dabul (68,300). As always, I'll be following the ladies' progess throughout the day.
Only 286 until the money...
 Mike Wilson from Canada did not make it to Day 3, but he considers his first WSOP a success regardless. As a competitive bridge player, he's no stranger to big national tourneys. But Texas Hold'em is relatively new to "The Foot."
He started playing online after leaving a local casino "ticked off" -- not just because they wouldn't accomodate his special needs, but because, he says, they were jerks about it in the process. So he signed up with PartyPoker because he just wanted to play the game like everyone else. After playing online for less than a week, he won a 3,500-player Party freeroll and a seat in the main event at the WSOP.
(Harrah's, by the way, was accommodating, allowing him to have a friend sit nearby simply to help him push in big stacks of chips when necessary, and restack them when he won a pot.)
As mentioned, Wilson's been eliminated. But he's still in Vegas and can likely be found rolling the dice at a nearby craps table.
|
|
