$10,000 Main Event - Day 6 - Level 24 (Hour 1)
Jul 13, '08
Blinds/Antes: 15,000 / 30,000 / 4,000
Players Remaining: 71 of 6,844
Average Stack: 1.93 million
Chip Counts:
Dennis Phillips - 5,100,000
Nikolay Losev - 4,900,000
Brandon Cantu - 4,800,000
Aaron Gordon - 4,500,000
Nicholas Sliwinski - 4,500,000
Andrew Brokos - 4,500,000
Ivan Demidov - 4,300,000
Tiffany Michelle - 3,700,000
Judet Christian - 3,700,000
Chris Klodnicki - 3,650,000
Recent Eliminations:
72nd place - Daniel Buzgon - $96,500
73rd place - David Benefield - $77,200
74th place - Jamal Sawaqdeh - $77,200
75th place - Keith Hawkins - $77,200
76th place - Lisa Parsons - $77,200
77th place - Mark Wilds - $77,200
78th place - Matt Matros - $77,200
79th place - Bob Whalen - $77,200
Big Hands and Storylines:
Phil Hellmuth’s Penalty Disappears
During the final minutes of last night’s play, Phil Hellmuth berated Christian Dragomir after he won a pot with 10
4 and cracked Hellmuth’s ace-king. Although the hand occurred at the end of the night, Hellmuth was assessed a one-orbit penalty to be administered during the first orbit of today’s play.
As the official “shuffle up and deal” announcement was made to start off the day, Hellmuth took his seat at the ESPN featured table and received cards on the first hand and continued to on all subsequent hands of the orbit. An inquiry by our reporting team was answered with an explanation that the penalty had been “overruled.” World Series of Poker media director Nolan Dalla informed our tournament reporting team that a statement would be released regarding the overruling within one hour.
Phil won three of the first nine “penalty” hands at his table, bringing well-needed improvement to his struggling chip stack. He quickly rose to more than 1.5 million in chips.
Update: This morning Phil Hellmuth met with Jack Effel, WSOP Tournament Director, Howard Greenbaum, Harrah's Regional Vice President for Specialty Gaming, and Jeffrey Pollack, Commissioner of the WSOP. Based on that meeting and an official review of the situation, it was decided that the penalty imposed on Mr. Hellmuth at the conclusion of play last night was excessive.
"Warnings and penalties are intended to correct inappropriate behavior and our rulings should be as fair as possible, given the circumstances," said Pollack. "In this instance, the punishment did not fit the crime.
"Phil has now been warned and put on notice in a way that he never has been."
Sawaqdeh out in 74th place ($77,200), Crilly triples
Preflop, Jamal Sawaqdeh limped in from early position, and then Jamal Kunbuz raised to 125,000. Chris Crilly called from the small blind and Sawaqdeh called as well. After a 7
6
4 flop Crilly moved all in. Then Sawaqdeh quickly called all in, and after a minute Kunbuz called. Kunbuz had them both covered and when the cards were flipped up was a big favorite after the flop.
Chris Crilly: T
T
Jamal Sawaqdeh: 55
Jamal Kunbuz: AA
Turn/River: TK
As far as the percentages go, Kunbuz went from worst to first on the turn, and then held on when the river was dealt. He nearly tripled up and now has roughly 2.7 million chips. Kunbuz droped to under two million chips after the hand.
Table 4
Flops were hard to come by in the first hour of play at table 4. The first seven hands resulted in late position raises and folds from blinds, and twice Alex Outhred was able to announce all-in after an early position raise, and got his opponents to fold. But then two consecutive hands resulted in a significant chip shift, as well as the first elimination of the day.
Bad Way to Start the Day
Justin Scott raised from early position to 90,000, and table chip leader Nikolay Losev made the call from the small blind. The flop came K62, and after Losev checked, Scott bet 175,000. Losev made the call, and after the Q came on the turn, both players checked. The 6 paired the board on the river, and Losev took the initiative by betting 350,000. Scott made the call and showed AK, but the free river had allowed Losev to hit trips with the A6 and he added to his chip stack.
Scott ran into trouble later in the level as well. He raised to 90,000 preflop and was called by David Saab in the big blind. The Q94 came on board, and both players checked. The 3 was the turn card and again both players checked. The 5 hit the river, and Saab stepped out for a 150,000 bet. Scott called, then mucked when Saab showed him the 88.
Saab Forces First Elimination
The first elimination of the day came courtesy David Saab who raised to 100,000 from the cut-off. Mike Matros then moved all-in from the small blind for 680,000 and Saab called. Saab held 33 while Matros had two overcards with the A7. The flop came paired with the JJ6, giving Matros further outs, as did the 9 on the turn. But the river was a brick, the 4, and Matros was eliminated.
Player Tags: Phil Hellmuth, Chris Crilly, Justin Scott, David Saab, Nikolay Losev
