March to the Final Table is On
Jun 25, '08
Blinds: 3,000-6,000
Players Left: 13 of 720
Chip Leaders:
Martin Klaser: 310,000
Tom Chambers: 290,000
Chad Burum: 260,000
Michael Fetter: 170,000
Derek Kadota: 163,000
Joseph Haddad: 125,000
Erik Seidel: 122,000
Larry Wright: 120,000
Jonathan Maren: 110,000
Daniel Klein: 101,000
Average Stack: 138,000
Eliminations:
14th: Doug Mandeville: $9,829
15th: Jim Geary: $9,829
16th: James Griffith: $7,371
17th: Ian Graham: $7,371
18th: Mikhail Ustinov: $7,371
Big Hands and Storylines:
Ustinov Out in 18th Place
Mikhail Ustinov bet the pot preflop. Action folded to Daniel Klein who tapped Ustinov for his remaining chips of about 7,500. Ustinov called and the players turned up their hands.
Ustinov: A
K6
3
Klein: A7
22
Board: Q84J8
Ustinov missed everything and was sent out the door by Klein's pair of ducks. Ustinov quacked his way out in 18th place, earning a respectable $7,371.
Seidel's Boat Doubles in Value, Then Throws Geary Overboard
Joseph Haddad raised preflop. Erik Seidel pushed all in and Haddad made the call. Both players then told their story.
Haddad: A7102
Seidel: A1093
Board: K9353
Seidel hit two pair on the flop and found a full boat on the river and he doubled up to around 95,000.
A few hands later, Seidel popped it to 12,000 from the button. Daniel Klein called and Jim Geary moved his short stack of 7,000 into the middle as well. The flop then fell 956 and both players elected not to bet. The turn was the 2 and Seidel fired a shot of 15,000. Klein called and the river came with the 9. Seidel put his tiny pistol away and brought out his desert eagle and blasted his entire stack of around 60,000 at Klein, who decided he wanted to live by mucking his cards. Seidel tabled A357, enough to take the entire pot and send Geary out the door in 15th place.
Flashing Eights
At Erik Seidel's table, the dealer apparently flashed the 8 during her deal. The floor came over to investigate as one player had one less card than everyone else. The floor man thought it was a misdeal, but the dealer explained the situation and after some confusion, the "flash of 08" scandal was resolved and play resumed.
Player Tags: Erik Seidel, Joseph Haddad, Mikhail Ustinov
$1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low - Day 2 - Level 14 Recap
Jun 25, '08
Note: The players are now on a 60-minute dinner break
Blinds: 2,000-4,000
Players Left: 19 of 720
Chip Leaders:
Martin Klaser - 290,000
Tom Chambers - 230,000
Chad Burum - 212,000
Michael Fetter - 200,000
Derek Kadota - 172,000
Joseph Haddad - 170,000
Larry Wright - 145,000
Ian Graham - 115,000
Gary Hutzler - 87,000
Daniel Klein - 86,000
Average Stack: 113,700
Eliminations:
Ed Smith
Shannon Shorr
Big Hands and Storylines:
The Hunter Becomes The Hunted
Not long after Dan “Stainley88” Adams amassed a stack of 130,000, he would see most of it disappear.
Derek Kadota raised to 11,000 from under-the-gun. Action folded around to Adams in the blind who made it 44,000. Kadota, covered by Adams, called with 60,000 behind. Adams moved all-in on the Q92 flop and Kadota called. The two turned over their hands:
Adams: AA105
Kadota: AQ102
Kadota was in the lead with two-pair, and his hand held up when the turn and river came 5 and K. That pot lifted “The Ghost” – so nicknamed because his opponents’ chips always seem to vanish (what that has to do with being a ghost I’m not quite sure. Do ghosts have the power to make other objects disappear? I don’t know, I’m just reporting what I was told) up to 240,000.
Adams is now down to 30,000.
Table Draw? More Like Table Unfair!
As the tournament played down to 27, the players were re-drawn to new tables on the other side of the Brasilia Room. The table draw, produced at random, made table 9 the center of the action. Not only were the 4 largest chip stacks assigned to the table, but Erik Seidiel and Shannon Shorr as well. By contrast, not a single player assigned to table 10 had more than 20 big blinds.
No Shorr Thing
Shannon Shorr met a similar fate to Dan Adams, his aces getting cracked in a most painful way. Shorr and Tom Chambers got all of their money in on a Q54 flop. The pot was worth 230,000 and the two turned over their cards:
Shorr: AAK7
Chambers: A853
The turn was the 9, but the river was the crushing 2, giving Chambers a wheel and leaving Shorr with only 5,000. Shorr would be eliminated a short while later when he was rivered again by, what else, a wheel.
Player Tags: Larry Wright, Gary Hutzler, Chad Burum, Michael Fetter, Joseph Haddad, Daniel Klein, Derek Kadota, Shannon Shorr, Tom Chambers, Daniel Adams, Martin Klaser
$1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low - Day 2 - Level 13 Recap
Jun 25, '08
Blinds: 1,500-3,000
Players Left: 32 of 720
Chip Leaders:
Martin Klaser - 270,000
Joseph Haddad - 131,000
Daniel “Stainley88” Adams - 130,000
Ed Smith - 113,000
Chad Burum - 105,000
Larry Wright - 98,000
Erik Seidel - 86,000
Doug Mandeville - 81,000
Sam Khouiss - 80,000
Shannon Shorr - 60,000
Average Stack: 67,500
Eliminations:
Berry Johnston
Chip Jett
Joe Hachem
Big Hands and Storylines:
Sooner Or Later, All Chips Lead To Klaser
Moments after scoring a big pot off of Erik Seidel, Shannon Shorr had the misfortune of tangling with Martin Klaser. Like all other comers today, Shorr did not fare very well. An 80,000 pot was shipped in Klaser’s direction when his AK83 was good for both the high and low on a board of 962Q5. Klaser is now fully in command of his table, with a staggering 270,000 in chips, while Shorr is left with 60,000.
Dan Adams: Bounty Hunter
While there are no actual bounties in this tournament, Dan “Stainley88” Adams has just succeeded in knocking out two of the more notable players in the field.
First, Chip Jett got his last 11,000 all-in pre-flop with AAK2 but Adams’ AQJ4 wound up victorious when the board – 108893 – made him a straight.
Then Adams continued his predatory ways against Joe Hachem, again getting his opponent all-in pre-flop. This time it was Hachem’s KK54 against Adams’ A742. The flop was a nightmare for Hachem: A74. Not only did it give Adams 3-pair, but Hachem’s low draw was counterfeited. To add insult to injury, the Q on the turn and 3 on the river gave Adams a runner-runner flush. Hachem’s elimination brought an end to the his first deep run of the World Series.
But Wait, There’s More...
Sandwiched between those two hands, Adams won a 100,000 chip pot when he and his opponent got it all-in on a K83 flop. Adams showed KK42 for top set and the second low draw while his opponent tabled A832 for the nut low draw and bottom two-pair. The turn and river were high cards – J and 10 – and Adams’ hand held up. He now has about 125,000.
Player Tags: Larry Wright, Erik Seidel, Chip Jett, Berry Johnston, Chad Burum, Joseph Haddad, Joe Hachem, Shannon Shorr, Sam Khouiss, Doug Mandeville, Daniel Adams, Martin Klaser
$1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low - Day 2 - Level 12 Recap
Jun 25, '08
Note: The players are now on a 20-minute break
Blinds: 1,000-2,000
Players Left: 41 of 720
Chip Leaders:
Martin Klaser - 170,000
Joseph Haddad - 134,000
Ed Smith - 105,000
Larry Wright - 100,000
Erik Seidel - 92,000
Bryan Jolly - 86,000
Jack Rosenfeldt - 79,000
Doug Mandeville - 77,000
Sam Khoueis - 73,000
Casey Kastle - 72,000
Average Stack: 52,675
Eliminations:
Chris Ferguson
Damon Singer
Big Hands and Storylines:
Joseph Haddad Makes Short Work of Damon Singer
Two hands over the course of a single orbit is all it took to swap the fortunes of two players in this event. Just an hour ago Damon Singer was in the top 10 of chip leaders with 80,000 and Joseph Haddad was trying to build his stack from his starting 36,000.
The first hand was the big one. On a flop of KJ8 Haddad and Singer got their chips all-in and showed their hands:
Haddad: AAQ5
Singer: AK73
Singer had top pair and a flush draw, but Haddad had a better pair and a better flush draw. The turn was the 2c and when the river blanked with a 2s, Haddad doubled up to about 85,000.
Then, a few hands later, Haddad finished the job. This time Singer got all of his chips – about 45,000 of them – in pre-flop with A832 against Haddad’s AA86. The flop – JJ4 – was a bad one for Singer, causing him to stand up and congratulate Haddad. The turn 4 lessened his pessimism, if only for a moment. And only a moment it was, as seconds later the dealer peeled off the 3, sealing Singer’s fate.
Haddad now sits at second in chips with 134,000.
It Doesn’t Get Much Better Than That
Chip leader Martin Kläser forced an opponent all-in for 15,000 total and the opponent called. “Yes!” Klasner shouted when he saw his opponent’s holding: AQ72. Kläser’s exclamation was justified, as his opponent was drawing slim in a way rarely seen in Omaha. With Klasner holding AK72 he was a big favorite.
The board cemented Kläser’s lead further and the German boosted his chip stack to 170,000. This is no small feat considering his table also includes Erik Seidel, Shannon Shorr, and Berry Johnston. Thus far today the young German has yet to make a single misstep.
Player Tags: Casey Kastle, Larry Wright, Erik Seidel, Chris Ferguson, Joseph Haddad, Sam Khouiss, Doug Mandeville, Bryan Jolly, Damon Singer, Martin Klaser
$1,500 PLO 8/ob - Two More Down
Jun 26, '08
Blinds: 6,000-12,000
Players Left: 6 of 720
Chip Leaders:
Seat 4: Chad Burum - 70,000
Seat 5: Michael Fetter - 230,000
Seat 6: Casey Kastle - 790,000
Seat 7: Jon Maren - 245,000
Seat 8: Martin Klaser - 500,000
Seat 9: Erik Seidel - 325,000
Eliminations: Larry Wright (8th Place), Joseph Haddad (7th Place),
Big Hands:
Chad Burum Doubles Through Joseph Haddad
On a flop of K64, Chad Burum got it all in against Joseph Haddad. Burum held A347 for the second nut-low draw, a pair of fours and a back door nut-flush draw and Haddad showed A2910 for the nut-low draw and not much else. The not much else cost him when the turn brought the 2, counterfeiting his low, and the 5 on the gave Burum the wheel and a much needed double up.
Joseph Haddad Triples, Then Doubles
After getting all of his dangerously low stack in preflop against two opponents, Haddad revealed his fours full of tens on the river to triple up. A few hands later, his hole cards made the nut low and nut straight against Larry Wright to double up yet again to about 160,000.
Larry Wright Eliminated in Eighth Place ($27,027)
Larry Wright was all in for his last 17,000 against Casey Kastle. Kastle flopped the nut flush in spades, and Wright was unable to make a low by the river to survive. Wright was eliminated in eighth place.
Joseph Haddad Eliminated in Seventh Place ($34,389)
Martin Klaser raised and Joseph Haddad moved all in over the top. Klaser reluctantly called showing A1035 and he was in relatively bad shape against Haddad's AA24. But the flop gave Klaser the wheel, and Haddad was unable to catch up or improve. Haddad was eliminated in seventh place.
NOTE: The players then took a 20-minute break.
Player Tags: Casey Kastle, Larry Wright, Chad Burum, Joseph Haddad, Martin Klaser
