Matt Stouts Heads Back to California, Matt Berkey Still Leading
Mar 15, '15
The field has been narrowed down to just 36 players in the post-dinner break levels. Matt Stout, who actually had chips in tournaments in two states simultaneously, hit the rail.
Stout has a stack of 51,000 at the World Series of Poker Circuit $1,675 main event at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, and he used the multiple starting days to his advantage to take a shot at the Wynn today. Having been eliminated in Nevada, Stout is now on his way back to his chips in California.
Ben Palmer and Kenna James were also eliminated after the dinner break.
A few hands:
Eric Blair Folds His Hand
Eric Blair raised to 1,200 from the button and the players in the big blind and under the gun called. The three saw a flop of A
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3 and action checked to Blair. Blair bet 1,700, the big blind folded and the player under the gun called to see the Q
on the turn. Both players checked again and saw the A on the river. The player under the gun bet 5,500 and Blair mucked his cards.
Samantha Cohen Bested
With the board reading 8
798 Samantha Cohen was facing a bet of 10,000 from an opponent. Cohen took a few moments to contemplate her next move before calling. The river was the Q and Cohen checked. Her opponent thought over his options for a little bit of time before throwing out two 5,000 chips. Cohen snap-called and her opponent showed 109. Cohen did not show her cards and her opponent took the pot.
Rene Angelil Eliminated by Matt Berkey
Matt Berkey has amassed a monster stack of 193,000, a small portion of it coming from Rene Angelil. We missed most of the action but Angelil was all-in on a J95 board with J10 and Berkey called with KQ. The board completed 97 and Angelil was eliminated.
Player Tags: Kenna James, Matt Berkey, Matt Stout, Eric Blair, Samantha Cohen
Dinner Break Chip Counts
Mar 15, '15
The tournament clock currently says that 49 of the 83 players who entered Day 1A are still alive in the race to the end of level 10. The remaining players are now on a one-hour dinner break and will player four more levels before bagging and tagging for the night.
A walk around the room as the dinner break approached showed Matt Berkey with a stack of 80,000, placing him among the early chipleaders as the first flight heads into the home stretch. Rene Angelil is up to 61,000, while Eric Blair and Leo Wolpert have crossed the 50,000 mark.
Noticeably absent among the eliminations post-re-buy period are Dan Sindelar and Justin Young.
Chip Counts at dinner break:
| Player |
Chip Count |
| Matt Berkey |
80,000 |
| Rene Angelil |
61,000 |
| Eric Blair |
56,000 |
| Leo Wolpert |
52,000 |
| Eric Baldwin |
47,000 |
| Randy Ohel |
45,000 |
| Ben Palmer |
44,000 |
| Samantha Cohen |
38,000 |
| Cy Watson |
31,000 |
| Dutch Boyd |
25,000 |
| Kevin Calenzo |
24,000 |
| Larry Wright |
22,000 |
| Matt Stout |
20,000 |
A few hands from the pre-dinner levels:
Eric Baldwin Versus the Button
The player in the hijack seat opened to 800 and the button called. Eric Baldwin called from the small blind and the big blind did as well. A flop of 976 resulted in action being checked all the way around the table. After seeing the 4 on the turn, Baldwin bet 2,000 and action folded to the button. The button called and the two players saw the 4 on the river. Baldwin checked and the button fired out a bet of 3,500. Baldwin took a few moments before ultimately folding his hand.
Randy Ohel Versus Larry Wright
Randy Ohel raised to 800 from under the gun and immediately said he felt he had not made a big enough raise.
“Part of me wants to lose this hand for not raising enough,” Ohel said as action worked its way around the table.
“I bet that’s a very small part,” Matt Stout said as the player in middle position called and Stout folded his cards from the button.
“Yes. More of me wants to win,” Ohel said.
Larry Wright called from the small blind and the three saw a flop of Q92. Wright checked, Ohel bet 2,000 and the middle position folded. Wright called and he and Ohel faced the K on the turn. Both players checked and saw the 10 on the river. This time, Wright bet 3,500 and Ohel let go of his hand.
“It’s not hard to bluff a guy that tells you he wants to lose,” Stout said as Wright pulled in his chips.
Samantha Cohen Let’s Go
A player in middle position raised to 700 and Samantha Cohen called from the small blind. The big blind three-bet to 1,500 and middle position and Cohen both called to see a flop of J86. Action checked around the table and the dealer revealed the 3 on the turn. Cohen checked and the big blind cut out a bet of 2,500. Both Cohen and the player in middle position folded.
Player Tags: Larry Wright, Eric Baldwin, Randy Ohel, Samantha Cohen
Who's Here?
Mar 15, '15
As the second level of the day nears an end the tournament clock currently reads 58 players.
The tables have steadily filled up and a quick scan of the fields shows quite a few names worth noting. A few of them include Justin Young, Ben Palmer, Dutch Boyd, Cylus Waston, Samantha Cohen, Keving Calenzo, Dan Alspach and Rene Angelil.
Palmer wasted no time getting into the main event action today, as he was one among the first 42 players to start the day at 12pm on the dot.
Palmer has already tallied four cashes during this CPPT series, including a win in the $200 pot-limit Omaha tournament for $5,905. Palmer finished fourth in the $300 no-limit hold’em for $3,327, 53rd in the $600 no-limit hold’em $250,000 guarantee and 23rd in the $400 no-limit hold’em $100,000 guarantee, brining his total on the series to just under $12,000.
Two years ago Palmer finished 5th in this very event – it was a $5,000 buy-in at the time – for $58,229.
An interesting addition to Palmer’s table also materialized during the first two levels of play. Calenzo was seated at the same table and he happens to have been the 6th place finisher at this event two years ago.
Boyd, a three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, is looking to pick up his first major live tournament cash since the 2104 WSOP.
Angelil, husband of singer Celine Dion, has one CPPT cash to date – a $1,423 pay-day from a 58th place finish in the Season I CPPT Wynn $550 no-limit hold’em $250,000 guarantee.
Rene Angelil
Cyrus Watson
Samantha Cohen
Justin Young
Dan Alspach
Player Tags: Dan Alspach, Kevin Calenzo, Samantha Cohen
We caught up with the action with Samantha Cohen in the middle of a big pot on a board reading 8
Barry Donovan moved all in out of the big blind on a flop of 9
Two hands in a row saw all-in between Samantha Cohen and Albert Kenny. In the first one, Kenny raised to 20,000 from the button and Cohen moved all-in from the big blind. Kenny promptly folded and play moved along.
Pratyush Buddiga got all-in preflop with the A
Sam Cohen is in great shape after she just knocked out German pro Marko Neumann. Neumann raised to 800 from the button and Cohen three-bet to 3,300 from the big blind.
3
4
7
Sam Cohen just three-bet shoved pocket fives into Mikolaj Zawadzki’s eights. The board brought no help for Cohen who was knocked out in 16th place for $15,311.
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