Edward Moncada Poker Tournament Updates

Level Eight Recap

Jun 23, '07

One and a half levels have passed since the players returned from dinner and already there have been almost 200 eliminations. With the player count hovering around 380, this massive starting field is starting to become far less intimidating. Tournament officials are coloring up the green $25 chips and the players are on a short 15 minute break.

Sorel "Imperium" Mizzi is sitting behind a large chip stack and until just recently has been holding onto his chips tightly. The player in seat four at Mizzi's table pushed all in for $4,400 and Mizzi reraised all in to isolate. The player in seat three folded and the two were now heads up. The player in seat four turned over 5 5 and Mizzi showed A 9. Mizzi's opponent stayed in the driver seat following a Q J 5 flop and didn't look back. The turn was the 3 and the river came the 2. Mizzi took a smal hit and doubled up his opponent but still maintains a healthy chip stack.

Anna Wroblewski was enjoying being in the chip lead at her table as well, but like Mizzi, started to give a few chips back at the end of the level. With a board showing A Q 7 J the player in the small blind checked, and the player in the big blind bet out $2,000. Wroblewski called and the player in the small blind raised all in for his last $10,000. The player in the big blind got out of the way and Wroblewski took no time to make the call. Wroblewski showed J J and her opponent turned up K Q. The river was the 10 and Wroblewski's opponent made his straight.

Edward Moncada and Alex Jacob got tangled up in a hand this round, with Jacob walking away with a chunk of Moncada's chips. Moncada raised to $2,300 preflop and the player in seat seven pushed all in for $9,000. Jacob made the call and so did Moncada. The flop came 7 7 6 and Moncada and Jacob both checked. The turn was the K and again both players checked. The river was the K and Moncada checked. Jacob thought for a second, and then checked himself. Moncada turned over A Q, the player in seat seven showed 5 5 and Jacob took down the pot with 9 9.

Erica Schoenberg went on a tear in the last few minutes of the level and managed to accumulate a very healthy chip stack as a result. The player in seat five raised from under the gun and the player in seat six reraised all in for $6,250. The player in seat seven called for about $5,000. The action folded around to Schoenberg who reraised all in, having both players covered. The initial raiser in seat five laughed and folded pocket jacks. The player in seat six turned over A K, seat seven had Q Q and Schoenberg showed K K. The board came 7 7 3 10 6 and Schoenberg held on to take down the large pot. On the very next hand, the player in seat nine raised to $2,300 and Schoenberg reraised to $10,000. The player in seat nine came back over the top all in and Schoenberg instantly called. The player in seat nine showed A-K and Schoenberg flipped up Q Q while still raking in chips from the last hand. The board came J J 4 10 6 and Schoenberg was able to dodge another over card and pick up chips. Schoenberg now has almost $75,000 heading into the next level.

Notable Chip Counts

Marcel Luske	70,000
Minh Nguyen	63,100
Anna Wroblewski	60,000
Alex Jacob	57,000
C.K. Hua	49,000
Erica Schoenberg	36,500
Jon "Pearljammer" Turner	34,000
Juha Helppi	30,300
Kathy Liebert	30,000
Ed Moncada	27,500
Sorel Mizzi	23,650
Men "The Master" Nguyen	23,500
Ron "Grumpy" Ware	22,400
"Miami" John Cernuto	19,200
J.C. Tran	16,000
Eric "Rizen" Lynch	12,000

Player Tags: Edward Moncada,   Alex Jacob,   Erica Schoenberg,   Anna Wroblewski

The Next Big Thing

Jun 21, '07

Its amazing looking into a sea of poker players, only recognizing a few sharks as you go along.  It makes you wonder if the next "big thing" in poker is sitting in the field today, just waiting to be discovered.

The pros are sparsely located throughout the many tournament areas today, and many of them are still waiting to be seated as alternates.  The ones that do see each other always have something nice to say.  Gavin Smith sat down at his table in the pavillion, looked one table over to Paul Darden, and needled him for his slim appearance, first noting that he was "wasting away, and then asking, "Do you have to run around in the shower to get wet"  The first question Smith asks his new tablemates was "Who's stealing?"  It shows that a benefit to showing up a tad late to your table is to be able to tell based on who holds the most low denomination chips, who is most aggressive preflop.  Later in the tournament, the aggressive tournament players stock pile the low denomination 'ante' chips by constantly stealing the blinds.

Ed Moncada stopped by Bryan Micon and Phil Laak's table briefly to note that they were the only people he recognized within 30 yards of his table.  Laak also got a visit from Jennifer Tilly, who had Kings cracked and was eliminated soon after in the first level.

Keep your eye on our Pro Blogs today as we follow Kathy Liebert's progress

Player Tags: Kathy Liebert,   Edward Moncada,   Phil Laak,   Gavin Smith,   Paul Darden,   Jennifer Tilly,   Bryan Micon

Ten Handed Final Table

Jun 18, '07

Play has ended for the evening and there are ten players remaining. This event has been chosen as a televised final table by ESPN and is going to be ten handed. The final table will resume play tomorrow at 3 p.m. with the following ten players in order of their chip counts: Dustin Holmes, Beth Shak, Brett Richey, Perry Friedman, Shankar Pillai, Luke Vrabel, Jason Song, Ben Fineman, Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Corbin.

The players returned from dinner and on the first two hands there were two eliminations. In the first hand back from dinner the action folded to Thomas Wahlroos who pushed all in from the button. Perry Friedman called from the big blind and had A-Q. Wahlroos was holding K-6 and never improved. Wahlroos earned $19,173 for his 14th place finish. Ed Moncada was the 13th place finisher, also earning $19,173. Moncada moved all in with A-Q and was called by Shankar Pillai with K-10. Moncada enjoyed the lead until a ten came on the turn and for emphasis a king came on the river.

The level started off with Phil Hellmuth pumping up the agression and raising several times. Over at the other table, Brett Richey seemed to be doing the exact same thing. Richey made a series of $45,000 raises and collected the blinds and antes more than a few times.

Beth Shak had a strong round following dinner and is now second in chips. One one hand she took down more than $200,000 without even seeing a flop. Shak raised from early position and Shankar Pillai reraised her $200,000. Shak didn't even flinch and pushed all in for $450,000. Pillai went deep into the tank with his tournament life in the balance. After several moments Pillai stood up, said "fold", and showed A-K. Shak thought he was calling and excitedly said, "Aces!" and showed A A. The dealer assured Shak that Pillai indeed folded and she collected around $230,000.

Kevin Hong was the 12th place finisher, earning $21,456. On what would be the final hand of the night, Noah Schwartz moved all in for $232,000. Still steaming from the previous hand in which Shak called the clock on him, Schwartz looked visibly agitated. Perry Friedman took no time at all in calling and flipped over Q Q. Schwartz had 6 6. The board came A 10 3 7 4 and Schwartz was eliminated in 11th place, earning $21,456.

The final table for this event will eventually be televised by ESPN after the conclusion of the World Series but to follow all the action and see who takes home the gold bracelet, check back tomorrow with CardPlayer.com

Player Tags: Edward Moncada,   Phil Hellmuth,   Perry Friedman,   Kevin Hong,   Brett Richey,   Dustin Holmes,   Benjamin Fineman,   Beth Shak,   Jason Song,   Thomas Wahlroos,   Noah Schwartz,   Luke Vrabel,   Daniel Corbin,   Shankar Pillai

Positively, Indeed

Jun 13, '07

Possibly reinvigorated by dinner several pros have been putting their tournament life on the line quickly following the dinner break.

 Jim McManus found himself all-in with a A-J vs. A-4, unfortunately the flop had an Ace and a four. McManus was packing up his things when the river paired nines on the board negating his opponent’s second pair, and proving his best-selling novel’s title are words to live by.

David Benyamine has also been collecting a few chips himself. With the board reading 8 6 6 Q 6, Benyamine made a value bet of $11,000, and tabled Q10 after getting the call. He's sitting comfortably on around $40,000 in chips

Bracelet winner Ed Moncada was eliminated by Toto Leonidas in one hand of note. Leonidas raised to $2,500 from early position, the next player to act called, Moncada went all in for about $5,000 more, Leonidas re-pushed all in for $17,100 more, and the third player folded after a few minutes. Moncada flipped up AK, but Leonidas had him crushed with KK.  The board ran out J J 5 4 9, and Moncada was sent home.

Pros Clonie Gowen and Shannon Shorr managed to double up in the last hour. Clonie pushed all in on the river with the board showing K 5 2 8 7. After her opponent made the crying call she showed 87, and took the pot. Shannon Shorr pushed all in with a K-10 on a flop of J-7-5, and got a call from a player holding 6-4.  The turn and river bricked out, and Shorr survived.

Phil Ivey was not so lucky with his all in.  Ivey was all in preflop for his last $19,000 with A-K vs. his opponent’s J-J.  The Jack on the turn shut Ivey out, and he was eliminated.

Englisman Ian Woodley was reasonably content on $19,000 in chips after the break. 'The table's not bad. I know where i'm at,' he said.

The only remaining Hendon Mobster, Ross Boatman, had 'about $26,000 plus change,' after the break and seemed very relaxed.

Londoner Ben Roberts remains among the chip leaders with around $95,000 in chips.

Fellow Brit, Harry Demetriou stormed out of the blocks after dinner, hitting trip eights in the first few hands. He playfully goaded the other players, 'I do have hands when i raise,' he joked. A player opposite drolly asked 'You call eights a hand?'

Two hands later Demetriou re-raised a shortstack who called all-in. He flipped over jacks while his opponent could only muster A-J suited. No help from the board and Demetriou raked in the pot and his luckless opponent hit the rail.

Demetriou has nestled himself among the chip leaders and is clearly enjoying himself, hovering around $80,000 in chips.

Currently there are 210 players remaining on 21 tables, with plenty of action left in the day.

Player Tags: Toto Leonidas,   Edward Moncada,   David Benyamine,   Clonie Gowen,   Jim McManus,   Harry Demetriou,   Barny Boatman,   Phil Ivey,   Shannon Shorr,   Ian Woodley

Chip Up, Or Chip Out

Jun 09, '07

It seems several pros have adopted a very wishy-washy attitude regarding any one player's chances against such a large field.  Several pros have been stating that they are simply trying to reach a certain number of chips or go broke by the 5pm HORSE event.  J.C. Tran is among those, finding himself all in with the worst of it three times in the last level.  First Tran found himself all in with Q-J suited against A-J, finding an 8 on the river to complete his nut straight.  Next he was up against John Racener on a flop of 982, Tran had 87 to Racener's AA.  The turn 8 bailed Tran out, and Racener missed his two-out redraw with the 10on the river.  Finally Tran's luck ran out as he pushed on a flop of J63 with A5 getting a call from his opponent with 44.  The 4 cut Tran's outs to two, and the J on the river ended Tran's day.  Other players to hit the rail included "Minneapolis Jim" Meehan, David Williams, Ed Moncada, and Gavin Smith.

Anthony Reategui was on the bad end of large pot at his mine-filled table.  In a five-way raised pot with a flop of 1075, Reategui led out with a pot-sized bet of $2,200, only to have two players move in behind it.  Reategui called quickly stating he had the right kind of hand for this pot.  Reategui showed A9, while the other two tabled 55 and 89.  The flop and turn came 7 and 9, filling up Reategui's opponent.  Phil Hellmuth also managed to create sufficient drama for his legion of railbrids, despite the event being in its early stages.  After Hellmuth raised preflop, two players moved all in over the top of his raise.  Hellmuth pondered the call.  He would be all-in himself, but he was getting 6 to 1 on his money.  Finally he folded his A-Q offsuit face-up.  His opponents showed pocket nines and pocket sevens, showing Hellmuth was getting the right price to call.  Both players ended up with sets by the river and Hellmuth patted himself on the back.

The official numbers have been released.  A total of 2,628 players entered today, generating a prize pool of $3,587,220 dollars.  The top 270 players will finish in the money, with 270th place receiving $3,049, and 1st place bagging $637,254.

Player Tags: J.C. Tran,   Edward Moncada,   Phil Hellmuth,   Gavin Smith,   Jim Meehan,   David Williams,   John Racener