Shirley Williams Poker Tournament Updates

First Hour Gone

Jul 07, '07

Cards in the Air

The cards have been in the air for only one hour and already day 1B feels different than day 1A. Day 1A was filled with nervous anticipation and tons of hype. Today feels more like a poker tournament, a convention of gamblers if you will. The day started with World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack unveiling the 2007 Main Event Champion's bracelet. This year's bracelet is made of white gold with 120 diamonds and a 1.3 karat weight. Pollack handed the microphone to the Rio's own Penn and Teller who were given the honor of announcing "Shuffle up and deal!"

Stacked Field

Although many notable names played in yesterday's field, today may have it beat. Scott Fischman, Erik Seidel, Joe Sebok, Sam Farha, Evelyn Ng, David "The Dragon" Pham, Paul Wasicka, John Juanda, "Miami" John Cernuto, Roland De Wolfe and Jennifer Harmon are just some of the big names sharing the felt in today's heat of Main Event entrants.

Champions Present

On any day one of the Main Event it is easy to walk around the Amazon room and count anywhere from five to twenty bracelet winners littered amongst the field. Eric Seidel, Scott Clements, David Williams and Jeff Lisandro are a few of the notable bracelet winners in today's field but more noteworthy may be the number of Main Event bracelet winners that are all playing today. Tom McEvoy ('83), Berry Johnston ('86), Dan Harrington ('95), Scotty Nguyen ('98) and Joe Hachem ('04) have all elected to play on day 1B of this year's Main Event.

A Family Affair?

Poker skills may or may not be hereditary, the jury is still out on that one, but there is something to be said for families that play the game. Brothers Ross and Barny Boatman are both in the field today and sitting just a few tables apart are David Williams and his mother, Shirley. Barry Shulman, his wife Allyn Jaffrey Shulman and his son Jeff Shulman are all at different tables but playing on the same day as well, while father and son Donnacha O’Dea and Eoghan O’Dea from Ireland are also in the field.

Hollywood in the House

Tournament official Nolan Dolla announced over the loud speaker that TV personality Montel Williams was amongst the 1,300 or so that started the day. It is not uncommon on day one to spot a few celebrities either playing or watching. Director and writer Nick Cassavetes is playing today as well as Norm McDonald who is playing for PokerStars.

www.pokerstars.com

Euro news

The European contingent is out in force today. Some interesting tablemates include Neil Channing and Michael Keiner, Ross Boatman and Pat O’Callaghan, Dave Shallow and Alexander Kravchenko, Al Kelleher and Max Pescatori, Rob Taylor and John Juanda, Bruno Fitoussi and Dan Harrington, Kathy Liebert and George McKeever.

Early chip movements include popular Blonde Poker journalist and birthday girl Jen Mason down to $13,050 in chips and equally popular European Poker Tour honcho John Duthie up to $34,050 in chips.

Recent bracelet winner Alan Smurfit is also playing as are Carlo Citrone, Praz Banzi, Juha Helppi, Vicky Coren, Marc Goodwin, Bruno Fitoussi, Simon Trumper, Pascal Perrault, Martin Wendt, Noah Boeken and Martin Green.

Trumper trumps opponent

Simon Trumper, from English crew Dusk Til Dawn, pulled what he described as 'an outrageous bluff' and was inordinately happy with his early play.

'I haven't made day two for five years and that has pi*sed me right off,' he told CardPlayer.com. 'I'm in the small blind with 8-6 and with three limpers i call. The flop came J-4-7 with two spades so if i hit a five i'm ahead or a spade i reckon i can represent the flush.' Cutting a long story short the limpers were weeded out when a spade came on the turn and another on the river. Trumper made it $2,500 into a pot of $4,500 on the river and the early raise dwelled.

Picking up the story Trumper said,' Just then they announced former world champion Berry Johnson was playing today so i took my hands off my cards and clapped. When the other guys saw how relaxed and casual i was he immediately mucked,' beamed an upbeat Trumper.

Notable Chip Counts

Berry Johnston	37,000
Joe Sebok	34,000
Kirk Morrison	33,000
Tony G	29,000
Justin Bonomo	28,200
Sammy Farha	27,000
Evelyn Ng	27,000
Scotty Nguyen	25,800
J.J. Liu	25,000
Joe Hachem	24,000
Barry Shulman	23,500
Bob Bright	23,100
Erik Seidel	23,000
Paul Wasicka	22,700
Robert Mizrachi	22,000
Norm MacDonald	22,000
Isabelle Mercier	21,500
Kathy Liebert	21,000
Allyn Jaffrey Shulman	21,000
Scott Fischman	20,500
Tom McEvoy	20,000
Scott Clements	20,000
Sam Grizzle	20,000
Rett Butler	20,000
Jordan Morgan	20,000
Jeffrey Lisandro	20,000
Howard Lederer	20,000
Dan Harrington	20,000
Alexander Kravchenko	20,000
Sabyl Cohen	19,800
Jennifer Harman	19,650
Noah Boeken	19,000
Annie Duke	18,500
John Juanda	18,300
Kido Pham	17,500
'Miami John' Cernuto	17,000
David 'The Dragon' Pham	16,800
Barny Boatman	15,800
Roland De Wolfe	15,500
Hoyt Corkins	15,400
Juha Helppi	14,600
Mark Seif	14,500
Max Pescatori	14,000
Aaron Kanter	13,500
David Singer	13,000
Davidson Matthew	12,500
Dan Shak	11,000
David Williams	10,500
Bill Chen	10,000

Player Tags: Donnacha O'Dea,   John Cernuto,   Tom McEvoy,   Scotty Nguyen,   Allyn Shulman,   David Pham,   Erik Seidel,   Evelyn Ng,   Jeff Shulman,   John Juanda,   Scott Fischman,   Ross Boatman,   Dan Harrington,   Barry Shulman,   Jennifer Harman,   Jeffrey Lisandro,   Bruno Fitoussi,   Barny Boatman,   Berry Johnston,   John Duthie,   George McKeever,   David Williams,   Sam Farha,   Simon Trumper,   Paul Wasicka,   Scott Clements,   Pascal Perrault,   Joe Sebok,   Shirley Williams,   Carlo Citrone,   Roland de Wolfe,   Joe Hachem,   Jennifer Mason,   Nick Cassavetes,   Martin Wendt,   Victoria Coren,   Praz Bansi,   Norm MacDonald,   Montel Williams

Level 9 Recap Part 1

Jul 10, '07

Unbelievable The Best Hand Won

Holding J 6 Huck Seed got all of his remaining chips in the pot on a flop of 7 6 2 against his opponent’s 10-10.  The turn was a blank, but the river was the J, and Seed doubled up.  As Seed raked in the pot his opponent shook his head in disbelief, and said, “Unreal.”  Seed then responded, “I know it’s unbelievable the best hand won”  His opponent looked at him quizzically, and then it was explained to him how on the flop, despite being behind, Seed’s hand was the slight favorite.

 

French Connection

In such a internationally diverse field its remarkable when notable players with the same heritage get to play together in such a large tournament.  At one table in particular, bracelet winners Bruno Fitoussi and Andre Boyer sandwich PokerStars online qualifier Patrice McClean.  All of these players are French, but I think its safe to say like everyone else in this tournament, they will step over anyone to get to the $8.25 million at the end of the rainbow.

 

Oh Shirley

Shirley Williams found herself in quite a bit of trouble after she raised from the cutoff to $5,000.  The player in Seat 5 reraised to $15,000 from the small blind, Williams reraised to $40,000, and Seat 5 pushed all in for a few thousand more.  Seat 5 flipped over A A, and Williams looked crestfallen as she turned over A K.  She announced, “I need runner-runner-runner-runner clubs” She got half of that on the J 7 7 flop, but the turn and river were the 5 and 7, and Williams was crippled.

 

Ng Out

 
Evelyn Ng was eliminated after she pushed all in over Matt Sterling’s preflop raise with pocket nines.  Sterling, however, had pocket Aces, and with an Ace on the flop it was all over for Ng.

 

Dropping Like Flies

 
Tournament Director Jack Effel has announced that since the eliminations are ramping up so quickly, there is a possibility play may stop early today.  There are approximately 590 players left now with an hour left in the 9^th level.  If the number of players is in the 375 range at the end of the 10^th level, play will stop there.  We’ll have to just wait and see.

Notable Chip Counts

Jared Hamby	380,000
Todd Phillips	342,000
Steve Austin	340,000
Robert Mizrachi	234,000
David "The Dragon" Pham	225,000
Jan Sorensen	207,000
Berry Johnston	180,000
Minh Ly	173,000
Chris Viox	125,000
Sam Khouiss	114,800
Miami John Cernuto	104,000
Huck Seed	98,000
Can Hua	92,000
James Van Alstyne	86,000
Cliff Josephy	83,000
Lee Markholt	81,000
Suk "Steve" Sung	78,000
Joe Tehan	74,000
Alex Kravchenko	71,000
Scotty Nguyen	64,000
Shirley Williams	60,000
Nam Le	57,100
Bruno Fitoussi	57,000
Richard Lee	55,200
Joe Sebok	53,000
Tom Schneider	52,000
Tobey Maguire	42,000
John Hennigan	36,100
Tom McEvoy	36,000
Jeff Madsen	21,800
Raymond Davis	20,000

Player Tags: Evelyn Ng,   Huck Seed,   Bruno Fitoussi,   Shirley Williams,   Pat Mclean

First Hour Gone

Jul 07, '07

Cards in the Air

The cards have been in the air for only one hour and already day 1B feels different than day 1A. Day 1A was filled with nervous anticipation and tons of hype. Today feels more like a poker tournament, a convention of gamblers if you will. The day started with World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack unveiling the 2007 Main Event Champion's bracelet. This year's bracelet is made of white gold with 120 diamonds and a 1.3 karat weight. Pollack handed the microphone to the Rio's own Penn and Teller who were given the honor of announcing "Shuffle up and deal!"

Stacked Field

Although many notable names played in yesterday's field, today may have it beat. Scott Fischman, Erik Seidel, Joe Sebok, Sam Farha, Evelyn Ng, David "The Dragon" Pham, Paul Wasicka, John Juanda, "Miami" John Cernuto, Roland De Wolfe and Jennifer Harmon are just some of the big names sharing the felt in today's heat of Main Event entrants.

Champions Present

On any day one of the Main Event it is easy to walk around the Amazon room and count anywhere from five to twenty bracelet winners littered amongst the field. Eric Seidel, Scott Clements, David Williams and Jeff Lisandro are a few of the notable bracelet winners in today's field but more noteworthy may be the number of Main Event bracelet winners that are all playing today. Tom McEvoy ('83), Berry Johnston ('86), Dan Harrington ('95), Scotty Nguyen ('98) and Joe Hachem ('04) have all elected to play on day 1B of this year's Main Event.

A Family Affair?

Poker skills may or may not be hereditary, the jury is still out on that one, but there is something to be said for families that play the game. Brothers Ross and Barny Boatman are both in the field today and sitting just a few tables apart are David Williams and his mother, Shirley. Barry Shulman, his wife Allyn Jaffrey Shulman and his son Jeff Shulman are all at different tables but playing on the same day as well, while father and son Donnacha O’Dea and Eoghan O’Dea from Ireland are also in the field.

Hollywood in the House

Tournament official Nolan Dolla announced over the loud speaker that TV personality Montel Williams was amongst the 1,300 or so that started the day. It is not uncommon on day one to spot a few celebrities either playing or watching. Director and writer Nick Cassavetes is playing today as well as Norm McDonald who is playing for PokerStars.

www.pokerstars.com

Euro news

The European contingent is out in force today. Some interesting tablemates include Neil Channing and Michael Keiner, Ross Boatman and Pat O’Callaghan, Dave Shallow and Alexander Kravchenko, Al Kelleher and Max Pescatori, Rob Taylor and John Juanda, Bruno Fitoussi and Dan Harrington, Kathy Liebert and George McKeever.

Early chip movements include popular Blonde Poker journalist and birthday girl Jen Mason down to $13,050 in chips and equally popular European Poker Tour honcho John Duthie up to $34,050 in chips.

Recent bracelet winner Alan Smurfit is also playing as are Carlo Citrone, Praz Banzi, Juha Helppi, Vicky Coren, Marc Goodwin, Bruno Fitoussi, Simon Trumper, Pascal Perrault, Martin Wendt, Noah Boeken and Martin Green.

Trumper trumps opponent

Simon Trumper, from English crew Dusk Til Dawn, pulled what he described as 'an outrageous bluff' and was inordinately happy with his early play.

'I haven't made day two for five years and that has pi*sed me right off,' he told CardPlayer.com. 'I'm in the small blind with 8-6 and with three limpers i call. The flop came J-4-7 with two spades so if i hit a five i'm ahead or a spade i reckon i can represent the flush.' Cutting a long story short the limpers were weeded out when a spade came on the turn and another on the river. Trumper made it $2,500 into a pot of $4,500 on the river and the early raise dwelled.

Picking up the story Trumper said,' Just then they announced former world champion Berry Johnson was playing today so i took my hands off my cards and clapped. When the other guys saw how relaxed and casual i was he immediately mucked,' beamed an upbeat Trumper.

Notable Chip Counts

Berry Johnston	37,000
Joe Sebok	34,000
Kirk Morrison	33,000
Tony G	29,000
Justin Bonomo	28,200
Sammy Farha	27,000
Evelyn Ng	27,000
Scotty Nguyen	25,800
J.J. Liu	25,000
Joe Hachem	24,000
Barry Shulman	23,500
Bob Bright	23,100
Erik Seidel	23,000
Paul Wasicka	22,700
Robert Mizrachi	22,000
Norm MacDonald	22,000
Isabelle Mercier	21,500
Kathy Liebert	21,000
Allyn Jaffrey Shulman	21,000
Scott Fischman	20,500
Tom McEvoy	20,000
Scott Clements	20,000
Sam Grizzle	20,000
Rett Butler	20,000
Jordan Morgan	20,000
Jeffrey Lisandro	20,000
Howard Lederer	20,000
Dan Harrington	20,000
Alexander Kravchenko	20,000
Sabyl Cohen	19,800
Jennifer Harman	19,650
Noah Boeken	19,000
Annie Duke	18,500
John Juanda	18,300
Kido Pham	17,500
'Miami John' Cernuto	17,000
David 'The Dragon' Pham	16,800
Barny Boatman	15,800
Roland De Wolfe	15,500
Hoyt Corkins	15,400
Juha Helppi	14,600
Mark Seif	14,500
Max Pescatori	14,000
Aaron Kanter	13,500
David Singer	13,000
Davidson Matthew	12,500
Dan Shak	11,000
David Williams	10,500
Bill Chen	10,000

Player Tags: Donnacha O'Dea,   John Cernuto,   Tom McEvoy,   Scotty Nguyen,   Allyn Shulman,   David Pham,   Erik Seidel,   Evelyn Ng,   Jeff Shulman,   John Juanda,   Scott Fischman,   Ross Boatman,   Dan Harrington,   Barry Shulman,   Jennifer Harman,   Jeffrey Lisandro,   Bruno Fitoussi,   Barny Boatman,   Berry Johnston,   John Duthie,   George McKeever,   David Williams,   Sam Farha,   Simon Trumper,   Paul Wasicka,   Scott Clements,   Pascal Perrault,   Joe Sebok,   Shirley Williams,   Carlo Citrone,   Roland de Wolfe,   Joe Hachem,   Jennifer Mason,   Nick Cassavetes,   Martin Wendt,   Victoria Coren,   Praz Bansi,   Norm MacDonald,   Montel Williams

Level 9 Recap Part 1

Jul 10, '07

Unbelievable The Best Hand Won

Holding J 6 Huck Seed got all of his remaining chips in the pot on a flop of 7 6 2 against his opponent’s 10-10.  The turn was a blank, but the river was the J, and Seed doubled up.  As Seed raked in the pot his opponent shook his head in disbelief, and said, “Unreal.”  Seed then responded, “I know it’s unbelievable the best hand won”  His opponent looked at him quizzically, and then it was explained to him how on the flop, despite being behind, Seed’s hand was the slight favorite.

 

French Connection

In such a internationally diverse field its remarkable when notable players with the same heritage get to play together in such a large tournament.  At one table in particular, bracelet winners Bruno Fitoussi and Andre Boyer sandwich PokerStars online qualifier Patrice McClean.  All of these players are French, but I think its safe to say like everyone else in this tournament, they will step over anyone to get to the $8.25 million at the end of the rainbow.

 

Oh Shirley

Shirley Williams found herself in quite a bit of trouble after she raised from the cutoff to $5,000.  The player in Seat 5 reraised to $15,000 from the small blind, Williams reraised to $40,000, and Seat 5 pushed all in for a few thousand more.  Seat 5 flipped over A A, and Williams looked crestfallen as she turned over A K.  She announced, “I need runner-runner-runner-runner clubs” She got half of that on the J 7 7 flop, but the turn and river were the 5 and 7, and Williams was crippled.

 

Ng Out

 
Evelyn Ng was eliminated after she pushed all in over Matt Sterling’s preflop raise with pocket nines.  Sterling, however, had pocket Aces, and with an Ace on the flop it was all over for Ng.

 

Dropping Like Flies

 
Tournament Director Jack Effel has announced that since the eliminations are ramping up so quickly, there is a possibility play may stop early today.  There are approximately 590 players left now with an hour left in the 9^th level.  If the number of players is in the 375 range at the end of the 10^th level, play will stop there.  We’ll have to just wait and see.

Notable Chip Counts

Jared Hamby	380,000
Todd Phillips	342,000
Steve Austin	340,000
Robert Mizrachi	234,000
David "The Dragon" Pham	225,000
Jan Sorensen	207,000
Berry Johnston	180,000
Minh Ly	173,000
Chris Viox	125,000
Sam Khouiss	114,800
Miami John Cernuto	104,000
Huck Seed	98,000
Can Hua	92,000
James Van Alstyne	86,000
Cliff Josephy	83,000
Lee Markholt	81,000
Suk "Steve" Sung	78,000
Joe Tehan	74,000
Alex Kravchenko	71,000
Scotty Nguyen	64,000
Shirley Williams	60,000
Nam Le	57,100
Bruno Fitoussi	57,000
Richard Lee	55,200
Joe Sebok	53,000
Tom Schneider	52,000
Tobey Maguire	42,000
John Hennigan	36,100
Tom McEvoy	36,000
Jeff Madsen	21,800
Raymond Davis	20,000

Player Tags: Evelyn Ng,   Huck Seed,   Bruno Fitoussi,   Shirley Williams,   Pat Mclean

An Emotional Level

Jun 10, '07

The ladies event started with some big names in the field including pros Vanessa Rousso, Isabelle Mercier, Maureen Feduniak, Evelyn Ng, Kathy Liebert, Mary Jones, Karina Jett, Jennifer Tilly, J. J. Liu, Jennifer "Jennicide" Leigh, Clonie Gowen, Patty G., Marsha Waggoner, Erica Schoenberg and Susie Isaacs.  Hollywood was well represented with celebrities Shannon Elizabeth and Cheryl Hines.  Also playing in today's event is Shirley Williams, the mother of professional David Williams, final table participant Vanessa Selbst, 2006 ladies event final table participant Devi Ortega, Nikki LeTran and Marlis Sawicki.  Even some of the media has joined in to participate including Amanda Leatherman, Lisa Wheeler and Heather Borowski. 

So far the ladies have been playing cautious.  In some cases, absurdly tight.  Over in the corner of the room, an interesting hand took place between three unknowns.  With the blinds at $25-$50, the UTG player open shoved all-in for $1,500.  The button thought for a few seconds before re-shoving all-in for $3,400.  The big blind instantly and proudly mucked KK face up for all to see.  The UTG player showed down QJ and the Button showed KQ.  Embarassed, the big blind stated that one of them must of had Aces and spent the remainder of the hand shaking her head in disbelief.  I did too.  The board came KJJ42 and the UTG player caught trip Jacks to double up.  The silence at the table was incredibly uncomfortable and a once chatty table took a few minutes before coming back to life. 

The ladies event has certainly brought out the nicer side of the players.  Some of the bustouts have even been followed by hugs and emotional goodbyes. 

Evelyn Ng was the only notable bustout in the first hour.

As the field shrinks and chip leaders develop, we'll get you all the action from the floor right here on CardPlayer.com

Player Tags: Kathy Liebert,   Evelyn Ng,   Marsha Waggoner,   Clonie Gowen,   Maureen Feduniak,   Karina Jett,   Susie Isaacs,   Isabelle Mercier,   Joanne Liu,   Jennifer Tilly,   Mary Jones,   Vanessa Rousso,   Shirley Williams,   Jennifer Leigh,   Erica Schoenberg,   Nikki Letran,   Vanessa Selbst,   Devi Ortega,   Shannon Elizabeth

Full House

Jun 09, '07

The Amazon is at max capacity with all 258 tournament tables being used for this event.  Only one hour into the event twelve alternate tables have been seated, amounting to 120 alternates in the first hour.  So far the field looks thin in terms of professional players.  Many of them may be taking a break to take a shot at this afternoon's HORSE event.  But with many alternates yet to be seated who knows.  The entrants to this event have already reached 2,700.  We will have to see if that number will reach 3,000 before registration closes. 

Despite the lighter field there are a few tables containing more than one familiar face.  Table 204 houses Player of the Year frontrunner J.C. Tran, John Racener, and David Plastik.  Racener received a double up courtesy of Tran early in action today.  In a three-way pot with a flop of AQ8, Racener pushed all-in after Tran called the seat 9's raise of 625.  Tran and made the call and Racener had him crushed with 88 to Tran's AK.  Tran picked up some outs with the K on the turn, but the 5 hit on the river to send the pot to Racener. 

Also seen in the poker room are writer/director Kevin Smith, David Williams (two tables down from his mom Shirley), Jared Hamby, and recent bracelet winner Burt Boutin.  Keep your browser with Card Player today as we follow the progress of Freddy Deeb, Erica Schoenberg, and Chris Bell in our Pro Blogs.

Official numbers will be posted as soon as they are announced

Player Tags: J.C. Tran,   David Plastik,   Burt Boutin,   David Williams,   Chris Bell,   Shirley Williams,   Erica Schoenberg,   Jared Hamby,   Freddy Deeb,   John Racener