Michael Rocco Poker Tournament Updates

Josh Hale's Fours Are No Good

Oct 11, '14

Josh Hale raised to 2,000 from the hijack seat and the cutoff called. The button called and Michael Rocco called from the big blind. The flop was 863 and action checked around to Hale. Hale bet 4,000 and the cutoff called. The button and Rocco folded their hands and the turn was the J. Hale bet 9,000, the cutoff called and the river was the 5. Both players then checked and the hands were tabled. Hale showed two red fours but the cutoff had the better hand with 76.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco,   Joshua Hale

Kim Takes a Chunk Out of Rocco

Oct 11, '14

On a flop of Q73, both Michael Rocco and Dmitry Kim check and a player in late position bet 3,700. Rocco check-raised to 8,200 and Kim went into the tank. The late position player folded out of turn and Kim remained in the tank for a few minutes before putting his entire stack in the middle. Rocco threw in a green, 25 denomination chip to indicate a call and the cards were turned on their back.

Rocco was behind with his AA against Kim’s 77, but found the K on the turn to put himself in the lead. The river, however, was the K to improve Kim to a full house and send him the pot.

Rocco dropped to 29,850 and Kim more than doubled up to 49,600.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco,   Dmitry Kim

Rocco Runs a Bluff

Oct 11, '14

On the river, there was just over 18,000 in the middle with the board reading JT792 and Michael Rocco bet 26,000 from early position, which sent his opponent into the tank. After a few moments, Rocco’s opponent tossed his hand into the muck and Rocco tabled AsKs and chipped up to 58,500 in chips.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco

Rocco Gets Counterfeited

Oct 14, '14

Michael Rocco bet 14,200 on the turn with the board reading Q973 and was called by the player on the button. The river was the Q and Rocco checked. The button immediately bet 26,000 and Rocco went into the tank for over four minutes.

After double checking his hand, he mucked 97 face up, giving him bottom two pair and a flush draw that was counterfeited on the river. The button mucked his hand face down and Rocco slid to 67,000 as the day is inching towards a close.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco

Michael Rocco Wins One

Oct 14, '14

Facing a raise to 4,500 Michael Rocco elected to three-bet to 10,600. The original raiser made the call and the two saw a flop of 433.

Rocco fired 12,200 when checked to and got a call. The turn brought the 10 and both players checked. The river brought the K and again it went check check. The initial raiser flashed the QQ but Rocco flipped up the K10 for two pair to win the pot.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco

Michael Rocco vs Erkut Yilmaz

Oct 13, '14

Michael Rocco raised to 2,400 from middle position and action folded around to Erkut Yilmaz in the big blind, who called.

The two saw a flop of KJ2 and Yilmaz check-folded to Rocco’s bet of 3,000.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco,   Erkut Yilmaz

No Go for Rocco

Oct 13, '14

The player in the hijack seat raised to 1,500 and Michael Rocco called from the big blind. The flop was spread J52 and Rocco check-called the hijack’s bet of 3,800. The turn was the 7 and Rocco check-called again, this time for 3,300. The river was the Q and Rocco checked again. The hijack bet 6,500 and Rocco went into the tank before ultimately folding his hand.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco

Josh Hale's Fours Are No Good

Oct 11, '14

Josh Hale raised to 2,000 from the hijack seat and the cutoff called. The button called and Michael Rocco called from the big blind. The flop was 863 and action checked around to Hale. Hale bet 4,000 and the cutoff called. The button and Rocco folded their hands and the turn was the J. Hale bet 9,000, the cutoff called and the river was the 5. Both players then checked and the hands were tabled. Hale showed two red fours but the cutoff had the better hand with 76.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco,   Joshua Hale

Kim Takes a Chunk Out of Rocco

Oct 11, '14

On a flop of Q73, both Michael Rocco and Dmitry Kim check and a player in late position bet 3,700. Rocco check-raised to 8,200 and Kim went into the tank. The late position player folded out of turn and Kim remained in the tank for a few minutes before putting his entire stack in the middle. Rocco threw in a green, 25 denomination chip to indicate a call and the cards were turned on their back.

Rocco was behind with his AA against Kim’s 77, but found the K on the turn to put himself in the lead. The river, however, was the K to improve Kim to a full house and send him the pot.

Rocco dropped to 29,850 and Kim more than doubled up to 49,600.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco,   Dmitry Kim

Rocco Runs a Bluff

Oct 11, '14

On the river, there was just over 18,000 in the middle with the board reading JT792 and Michael Rocco bet 26,000 from early position, which sent his opponent into the tank. After a few moments, Rocco’s opponent tossed his hand into the muck and Rocco tabled AsKs and chipped up to 58,500 in chips.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco

Rocco Gets Counterfeited

Oct 14, '14

Michael Rocco bet 14,200 on the turn with the board reading Q973 and was called by the player on the button. The river was the Q and Rocco checked. The button immediately bet 26,000 and Rocco went into the tank for over four minutes.

After double checking his hand, he mucked 97 face up, giving him bottom two pair and a flush draw that was counterfeited on the river. The button mucked his hand face down and Rocco slid to 67,000 as the day is inching towards a close.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco

Michael Rocco Wins One

Oct 14, '14

Facing a raise to 4,500 Michael Rocco elected to three-bet to 10,600. The original raiser made the call and the two saw a flop of 433.

Rocco fired 12,200 when checked to and got a call. The turn brought the 10 and both players checked. The river brought the K and again it went check check. The initial raiser flashed the QQ but Rocco flipped up the K10 for two pair to win the pot.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco

Michael Rocco vs Erkut Yilmaz

Oct 13, '14

Michael Rocco raised to 2,400 from middle position and action folded around to Erkut Yilmaz in the big blind, who called.

The two saw a flop of KJ2 and Yilmaz check-folded to Rocco’s bet of 3,000.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco,   Erkut Yilmaz

No Go for Rocco

Oct 13, '14

The player in the hijack seat raised to 1,500 and Michael Rocco called from the big blind. The flop was spread J52 and Rocco check-called the hijack’s bet of 3,800. The turn was the 7 and Rocco check-called again, this time for 3,300. The river was the Q and Rocco checked again. The hijack bet 6,500 and Rocco went into the tank before ultimately folding his hand.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco

Level 29 Update: Martin Hanowski Out 4th, Michael Rocco Out 3rd

Jun 27, '13

Level: 29

Blinds: 30,000-60,000 with a 10,000 ante

Players Remaining: 2 out of 1,072

Average Chip Count: 4,824,000

Chip Counts:

Seat 3: Niall Farrell – 7,300,000
Seat 9: Sandeep Pulusani – 2,300,000

Players Eliminated:

4th: Martin Hanowski – $166,579
3rd: Michael Rocco – $229,500

Live Updates:

Martin Hanowski Eliminated in Fourth Place ($166,579)

Niall Farrell raised to 125,000 on the button and Martin Hanowski reraised to 600,000. Farrell called and the two players revealed their cards.

Farrell: AJ
Hanowski: KK

Board: A7599

Hanowski was eliminated in fourth place and Farrell won the hand with two pair, aces and nines, to grow his stack to 7..3 million.

Michael Rocco Eliminated in Third Place ($229,500)

Niall Farrell raised to 125,000 preflop and Michael Rocco reraised all in. Farrell called and the two players flipped over their cards.

Farrell: KK
Rocco: 66

Board: 742J8

Farrell won the hand with a pair of kings to advance to the heads-up final against Sandeep Pulusani. Rocco was eliminated in third place.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco,   Martin Hanowski

Event No. 16 Begins at 5 p.m. on Saturday

Jun 06, '09

Event No. 16 ($1,500 seven-card stud) will begin at 5 p.m. PDT on Saturday, June 6. Players will begin with 4,500 in tournament chips. The ante will start at 10, with a bring-in of 15, completion of 50, and stakes at 50-100. Levels will be 60-minutes long and there will be a 20-minute break after every two levels. There will be a 60-minute dinner break after level 4 on day 1. Here is a look at the schedule for the event:

Saturday, June 6, 5 p.m.: Day 1 (play 8 levels)
Sunday, June 7, 2 p.m.: Day 2 (play down to final table)
Monday, June 8, 2 p.m.: Final Table

In 2008 this event attracted 381 players and the champion was Michael Rocco, who took home $135,753 in prize money. CardPlayer.com will bring you a summary of the action at the dinner break and end of play each day for this event.

Player Tags: Michael Rocco

$1,500 Stud - Michael Rocco Wins Event No. 35

Jun 20, '08

Michael Rocco Wins Event No. 35 ($135,753)

After grinding Al Barbieri down to his last few pink chips, all it took was a pair of kings to send him to the rail in second place. After realizing his pair had held, Rocco bursted into celebration, screaming with joy. As tears streamed down his face, he spoke about his victory for his five-year-old son. In a time where some bracelet winners take the prestige for granted, it was nice to see a man unafraid to show the world how much the win truly meant to him.

Barbieri earned $83,210 for his runner-up finish.

Player Tags: Al Barbieri,   Michael Rocco

$1,500 Stud - Rocco Chipping Up

Jun 20, '08

Michael Rocco Keeps Chipping Away

Al Barbieri made aces up but was smart enough to just  call a river bet from Michael Rocco. Rocco turned over the wheel and scooped a nice sized pot to increase his chip lead.

Rocco was up to 900,000 after the hand while Barbieri took a hit down to 250,000.

Updated Chip Counts

Michael Rocco - 930,000
Al Barbieri - 210,000

NOTE: Players then took a 20-minute break.

Player Tags: Al Barbieri,   Michael Rocco

$1,500 Stud - Trading Chips Back and Forth

Jun 20, '08

Rocco Takes the Chip Lead

Since coming back from the dinner break, Al Barbieri has been going backwards. Meanwhile, Michael Rocco's small ball approach to heads up stud has given him slightly less than a 2-1 chip lead.

His biggest hand came down when he made trip queens and got Barbieri to call him down.

NOTE: The player are now on a quick 10-minute break.

Player Tags: Al Barbieri,   Michael Rocco

$1,500 Stud - Barbieri Taking Control

Jun 20, '08

Players left: 2 of 381

Chip Leaders:

Michael Rocco - 345,000
Al Barbieri - 800,000

Eliminations: Levon Torosyan (3rd Place)

Big Hands and Story Lines:

Al Barbieri Takes Over

Three handed play has been nice to Barbieri, who has been slowly chipping up and has a big lead over his opponents. On a recent hand with Levon Torosyan, Barbieri was showing four to the flush on board against Torosyan's four to a broadway straight. Torosyan was forced to fold once again and Barbieri chipped up some more. After the hand, Barbieri held nearly 4/5 of the total chips in play.

Levon Torosyan Eliminated in Third Place ($50,186)

After being crippled down to his last 6,000 in chips when his pair of deuces failed to push out Michael Rocco's pair of jacks, Levon Torosyan was eliminated shortly afterwards by Rocco's trip queens. He was eliminated in third place.

NOTE: The player then took a quick 30-minute dinner break before beginning heads up play.

Player Tags: Al Barbieri,   Michael Rocco,   Levon Torosyan

$1,500 Stud - Rapid Bustouts

Jun 20, '08

Players left: 3 of 381

Chip Leaders:

Michael Rocco - 290,000
Al Barbieri - 695,000
Levon Torosyan - 240,000

Eliminations: Giacomo D'Agostino (5th Place), Max Troy (4th Place)

Big Hands and Story Lines:

Giacomo D'Agostino Eliminated in Fifth Place ($28,083)

With just two big bets left in his stack, Giacomo D'Agostino invested it all with split tens against Michael Rocco's aces in the hole. Rocco hit another ace on sixth street to leave D'Agostino drawing dead and busted him in fifth place.

Max Troy Eliminated in Fourth Place ($37,184)

Max Troy was all in on fourth street holding a pair of aces and a straight draw, but he was in big trouble against Levon Torosyan's trip fours. Troy bricked out and Torosyan rivered a full house. Troy was eliminated in fourth place.

Player Tags: Maxwell Troy,   Al Barbieri,   Giacomo D'Agostino,   Michael Rocco,   Levon Torosyan

$1,500 Stud - Slow Going

Jun 20, '08

Players left: 8 of 381

Chip Leaders:

Michael Rocco - 350,000
Al Barbieri - 315,500
Jeff Siegal - 82,000
Giacomo D'Agostino - 185,000
Levon Torosyan - 155,000
Max Troy - 43,000
Andre Boyer - 61,000
Danny Kalpakis - 35,000

Eliminations:

Big Hands and Story Lines:

Michael Rocco's Two Pair No Good

The chip leader coming into the day has been going backwards to start out this final table. After bringing it in with a 5 showing, Rocco stuck around to make fives up on seventh street. Unfortunately for him, Al Barbieri made jacks up to scoop a decent sized pot.

Danny Kalpakis Doubles Up

Kalpakis got his last 22,000 all in on third street with a pair of split queens against Levon Torosyan's split pair of aces. Torosyan never improved and Kalpakis caught a third queen along with a pair of jacks as his full house doubled him up to 50,000 in chips.

Max Troy Doubles Up

Troy was all in on sixth street holding just a pair of sixes against Al Barbieri's ace high. Barbieri squeezed out seventh street to see he made a pair of kings, but Troy's squeeze revealed another ten to make two pair and double up.

Player Tags: Maxwell Troy,   Al Barbieri,   Michael Rocco,   Levon Torosyan,   Dan Kalpakis