Michael Vela Poker Tournament Updates

Mike Vela Is The Bubbleboy, Players Now In The Money

Feb 16, '14

Mike Jarvela opened to 12,000, and Mike Vela shipped in his last 60,000. Jarvela called.

The cards were exposed.

Jarvela: A Q
Vela: J 10

The board ran out A 5 4 3 J, and Jarvela took the pot, sending his opponent to the rail in 37th place.

Jarvela was up to around 350,000 after the hand.

Thanks to the elimination, all the remaining players were guaranteed at least $3,858.

Player Tags: Michael Vela

More For Stefanski

Feb 16, '14

The flop brought 8A5 and David Stefanski bet 11,500 getting the first player to fold, but Mike Vela called from the button.

The turn brought the Q and now Stefanski fired 19,000 and that was enough to take down the pot.

Stefanski now sits on 225,000 while Vela has 95,000 chips left to play with.

Player Tags: Michael Vela,   David Stefanski

Level 11 Update: Big Names Fall Early

Oct 30, '10

Blinds: 800-1,600 with a 200 ante

Players Remaining: 62 out of 272

Chip Counts:

1. Ben Klier — 350,000
2. Josh Arieh — 258,200
3. Byron Springer — 247,300
4. Gavin Smith — 245,800
5. Todd Freeman — 229,100
6. Kyle Bowker — 197,000
7. Besnik Ziba — 188,400
8. Ronald Lee — 187,100
9. Christopher Bonita — 184,400
10. Eli Berg — 177,200

Average Chip Count: 119,016

Notable Eliminations:

Erik Seidel
Chad Brown
Former WPT World Poker Finals Champion Mike Vela

Big Hands:

Erik Seidel Eliminated

Erik Seidel got the last of his chips into the middle with pocket queens and Nikolai Yakovenko woke up with pocket kings and made the call. The kings held and Seidel was eliminated.

Chad Brown Eliminated

There was 20,000 in the pot and a board that read K 10 4 2 sitting on the table when Chad Brown checked from the big blind. Ben Kiler bet 9,700 from the hijack and Borwn check-raised all in for 50,000. Klier made the call and they flipped over their cards:

Brown: K 10
Klier: A A

River: 4

Brown was eliminated on the hand, making for the second big name to fall in the early going today.

Mike Vela Eliminated

Back in the fall of 2007 Mike Vela won this WPT main event, but unfortunately that will not be the case again here in 2010. Vela was all in preflop and one opponent made the call. Their cards:

Vela: 9 9
Opponent: A Q

Board: J J 2 A 3

Vela was eliminated from the tournament by the ace on the turn.

Allen Kessler Doubles Up

Allen Kessler was all in preflop and one opponent called him down. Their cards:

Kessler: 10 10
Opponent: A 9

Board: K K Q 6 J

Kessler doubled up on the hand to survive.

Left In The Deck:

Table Pairings

Table 1: Allen Kessler, Kyle Bowker, Jason Somerville

Table 2: Erik Seidel, John Cernuto, Chris McCormick, Gavin Smith, Chad Brown, Barry Greenstein

Table 3: Josh Arieh, Thomas Marchese, David Peters

Table 4: Jason Mercier, Todd Terry

Table 5: Brock Parker, Jonathan Little, Hoyt Corkins, Sorel Mizzi

Table 6: Andrew Frankenberger, Keven Stammen, Mike Beasley, Darryll Fish, Ronald Lee

Table 7: Mohsin Charania, Christian Harder, Jonathan Aguiar, Howard Lederer

Player Tags: Erik Seidel,   Josh Arieh,   Michael Vela

Mike Vela Eliminated

Nov 05, '08

Last year's champion will be unable to defend his title, as Mike Vela was eliminated shortly before the last break.

Player Tags: Michael Vela

Mike Vela Chips Up

Sep 14, '08

On a flop of J93, a player in early position bets 600. WPT champion Mike Vela reraises to 1,600 and his opponent makes the call.

The turn is the 5 and once again, the player in early position bets 2,600. Vela quickly announces a raise to 7,000 and his opponent goes into the tank. After about 30 seconds, Vela says, "Go away. You're behind." The player concedes his hand and Vela turns over J3 for top and bottom pair.

Vela now has 52,000.

Player Tags: Michael Vela