John Turner Poker Tournament Updates

Level 1 Update: Frank Kassela, Brett Richey Chipping Up

Jun 18, '09

Ante: 50
Low Card: 50
Completion: 200
Limits: 200-400

Big Hands:

Frank Kassela vs. Jerry Buss

Jon Turner completes the bet to 200 with the A, Jerry Buss calls with the 10 and Frank Kassela calls with the K.

Turner: X-X-AJ
Buss: X-X-109
Kassela: X-X-KQ

Turner bets 200, Kassela and Buss both call.

Turner: X-X-AJ8
Buss: X-X-1099
Kassela: X-X-KQA

This time Turner bets 400, Buss raises to 800, Turner folds and Kassela calls.

Buss: X-X-109910
Kassela: X-X-KQAK

Buss bets and Kassela calls.

Kassela checks his pair on the river and Buss checks behind him. Buss turns over 874 for a straight. “That was a bad check for me”, says Kassela as he turns over K99 for a full house. Kassela rakes the pot, bringing his chip count up to 37,000 this hand while Buss falls to slightly below the starting stack with 27,000 in chips.

Brett Richey vs. Blair Rodman

Brett Richey completes the bet to 200 with the 9, Blair Rodman raises to 400 with the 4 and Richey calls.

Richey: X-X-96
Rodman: X-X-49

Richey bets 200 and Rodman calls.

Richey: X-X-96A
Rodman: X-X-493

Richey bets 400 and Rodman calls.

Richey: X-X-96A2
Rodman: X-X-4936

Richey bets 400 on sixth street and Rodman calls. On the river, Richey fires out another bet and after a minute in the tank, Rodman folds. Richey rakes the pot, bringing his chip count up to 36,000 this hand.

Player Tags: Frank Kassela,   Jerry Buss,   Blair Rodman,   John Turner,   Brett Richey

Level 6 Update: Schneider, Baxter, Harman, Kassela Eliminated

Jun 11, '09

Blinds: 300-600 with a 150 ante

Players Remaining: 79 out of 96

Chip Counts:

1. John Juanda — 102,800
2. Vince Musso — 100,200
3. Roland de Wolfe — 84,000
4. Gus Hansen — 76,200
5. Doyle Brunson — 67,000
6. Michael Binger — 65,000
7. Mike Matusow — 65,00
8. Johnny Chan — 64,00
9. Bruno Fitoussi — 61,300
10. Amnon Filippi — 60,000

Average Chip Count: 36,455

Notable Eliminations:

Tom Schneider
Billy Baxter
Jennifer Harman
Frank Kassela

Big Hands:

Tom Schneider Eliminated by Ville Wahlbeck

Andy Bloch raises to 2,000 before the flop, Tom Schneider calls all in for 1,850 and Ville Wahlbeck calls behind him.

Bloch stands pat while both Schneider and Wahlbeck draw one card each.

Wahlbeck rakes the pot with a 10-8 low and Tom Schneider is eliminated from the tournament.

Billy Baxter Eliminated by Greg Raymer

Billy Baxter moves all in before the flop for 6,900 and Chino Rheem quickly calls him from the small blind. Greg Raymer re-shoves from the big blind for 26,250, and Rheem folds after a few minutes in the tank.

Raymer stands pat while Baxter draws two cards.

Raymer turns over a 9-7 low and Baxter throws his cards into the muck. Raymer rakes the pot and Baxter is eliminated from the tournament.

Jennifer Harman Eliminated by Jon Turner

In a three-way pot with Jon Turner and Layne Flack, Jennifer Harman was all in after the draw as Turner and Flack went at it for the side pot.

Turner bets 16,000 after the draw and Flack folds after a few minutes in the tank.

Turner turns over a J-10 low and Harman mucks her cards. Harman is eliminated from the tournament as Turner builds his stack up to 80,000 after this hand.

Frank Kassela Eliminated

Frank kassela raises to 1,500 from the cutoff and Eli Elezra reraises to 4,100 from the button. the player in seat 5 three-bets to 12,500 and Kassela quickly moves all in. Elezra folds and just as quickly, seat 5 calls; Kassela is covered.

Seat 5 stands pat, causing Kassela to draw one card as he open-mucks the 9. Kassela draws a pair of sevens, only to see that his original hand was good, should he also have chosen to stand pat. Seat 5 turns over a 9-8-7 low as Kassella would have had the 9-7 low. Regardless, Kassela is eliminated from the tournament.

Left In The Deck:

The remaining 79 players will take their last twenty-minute break of the night and return to Level 7 at approximately 1:00 am PDT.

Player Tags: Andy Bloch,   Eli Elezra,   John Turner,   Tom Schneider,   Jennifer Harman,   Ville Wahlbeck,   Chino Rheem,   Billy Baxter

Level 10 Update: Kessler Doubles (PLO), Reslock Triples Up (PLO); Both Bust Shortly After

Jun 05, '09

Level Structure:

2-7 triple draw, limit hold’em, and Omaha 8OB: 1,000-2,000 blinds and 2,000-4,000 limits

7-card stud, razz, and 7-card stud 8OB: 500 ante, 500 bring-in, with a 2,000 completion and 2,000-4,000 limits

no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha: 500-1,000 blinds with a 300 ante

NOTES: Games change every eight hands. Two players will be forced to sit out during 2-7 triple draw each hand.

Players Remaining: 96 out of 194

Chip Counts:

1. Soheil Shamseddin — 210,000
2. John Hanson — 172,000
3. Daniel Negreanu — 160,000
4. Patrick Bueno — 156,000
5. David Oppenheim — 133,000
6. Allie Prescott — 118,000
7. Eric Froehlich — 100,100
8. Doyle Brunson — 94,000
9. Hasan Habib — 92,900
10. Brandon Adams — 92,500

Average Chip Count: 60,625

Notable Eliminations:

Chau Giang
Justin Smith
Allen Cunninhgam
Eli Elezra
Allen Kessler
Chris Reslock

Big Hands:

PLO

Chainsaw Doubles Through Jonathan Tare

Jonathan Tare raises to 800 from middle position and Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler moves all in for 8,100. Tare calls and both players turn over their cards.

Kessler: KKJ9
Tare: 8764

Board: Q52A5

Kessler’s pair of kings hold up as he doubles up to just under 20,000. Tare is down to 60,000 after this hand.

Chris Reslock Triples Up

Marc Karam raises to 2,000 from middle position, Chris Reslock calls all in for 500 from the cutoff and Jeff Madsen calls the 2,000 raise from the small blind. The flop comes A10p7, Karam fires 3,000 at the side pot and Madsen folds. Karam rakes the side pot and both him and Reslock turn over their cards for the main pot.

Karam: 8644
Reslock: AJ108

Reslock leads with a pair of aces as the turn and river bring the K and the 5. Reslock triples up to 1,500 this hand.

2-7 TRIPLE DRAW

John Turner Gives Up Some Chips!

John Turner raises to 4,000 from the button and the player in seat 6 calls from the big blind.

First Draw: Seat 6 draws two cards while Turner draws only one.

Turner bets 2,000 and seat 6 calls.

Second Draw: Both players draw one card each.

Both players check.

Third Draw: Both players draw one card each.

This time seat 6 leads out for 4,000 and Turner calls. Seat 6 shows Q7632 for queen-high, Turner mucks a pair. “I made four pairs”, says Turner who is now down to 38,000 in chips.

HOLD’EM

Brett Richey Adds to His Stack

Brett Richey raises to 4,000 from middle position and Alexandre Gomes calls from the big blind. The flop comes 862, Rickey bets 2,000 and Gomes calls. The turn is the 6 and both players check. The river is the K, Richey bets 4,000 and Gomes calls. Richey turns over KJ for top pair and rakes the pot. Richey climbs up to 56,000 this hand while Gomes drops down to 54,000.

Left In The Deck:

The remaining players in the $10,000 Mixed Game Championship will take their first twenty-minute break of the day and will return at approximately 4:25 pm PDT to begin Level 11.

Player Tags: Allen Kessler,   John Turner,   Chris Reslock,   Jonathan Tare,   Brett Richey,   Marc Karam,   Alexandre Gomes

$1,500 Razz - Day 2 - Level 9 Recap

Jun 14, '08

Limits: 600-1,200, 100 ante, 200 bring in

Players Left:  94 of 456

Chip Leaders:
Barry Greenstein - 42,000
David Levi - 42,000
Jonathan Schwartz - 41,000
Michael Wattel - 28,000
Shahram "Shawn" Sheikhan - 28,000
Mark Gerencher - 27,300
Frank Kassela - 26,200
Allie Prescott - 24,000
John Turner - 22,800
Christopher Viox - 22,000

Average Stack: 14,550

Eliminations:
Brett “gank” Jungblut
Cyndy Violette
Kevin “bel0wab0ve” Saul

Big Hands and Storylines:

Color Me Confused

The tournament information screens in the Brasilia Room for the razz event started off level 9 as a retina-scorching and brain-addling shade of purple that left a number of players shaking their heads in confusion. After one player approached the floor and told him it was difficult to read, the color of the screen was switched to a simple and elegant black. Black. Always in style.

It’s That Easy

Barry Greenstein completed with a seven up and the action folded all the way around the table, giving Greenstein the pot. He showed the table A-2 and asked, “Doesn’t everybody get these?” It’s easy for Greenstein to be in good spirits as he is currently among the chip leaders with 42,000.

Jungblut Eliminated

Brett Jungblut got all-in on 3^rd street in a capped 4-way pot with Michael Kushner, Ellen Mead, and Trung Ly. Unsurprisingly, with a board of 6A43, Ly led the betting on every street. Mead folded on 6^th street after being dealt a king. After the final round of betting, the players showed their downcards. Ly’s 6-5-2 made him a wheel, rendering his opponents’ hands irrelevant, and eliminating Brett Jungblut.

Violette Takes Big Hit, Eliminated Shortly After

On 6^th street, with a board reading AT82, Nikolay Evdakov bet 1,200 into Cyndy Violette. Violette, with only 2,000 left and a board of 61094, decided to fold and pick a better spot. Unfortunately, no better spot would arrive and she was eliminated a few hands later.

Player Tags: Frank Kassela,   Brett Jungblut,   Barry Greenstein,   David Levi,   Michael Wattel,   Shawn Sheikhan,   John Turner,   Cyndy Violette,   Trung Ly,   Allie Prescott,   Kevin Saul,   Chris Viox,   Mark Gerencher

Hour One Recap

Jun 30, '07

The first hour of play on day two of event #48 has passed. There are only 93 players left and Mimi Tran, John Turner and John Juanda are no longer among them.  Juanda is technically still in the event, but has left his seat and his chips and is currently being blinded off.

Table 60 has got to be scary for the player in seat two. At his table are David Sklansky (seat 1), Robert Williamson III (seat 2), Steve Deano (seat 4), Andy Bloch (seat 5) and Gavin Griffin (seat 6). At least for now the player in seat two appears to be hanging back and letting the big names at his table go after each other's chips.

Level eight is now over and the limits will be going up to $800-$1,600 in level nine.

Notable Chip Counts

Rafi Amit	48,500
Victor Ramdin	32,400
Michael Binger	30,700
Thor Hansen	28,600
David Williams	26,300
Greg Raymer	25,300
Hoyt Corkins	23,700
Robert Mizrachi	19,800
Allen Cunningham	18,900
Robert Williamson III	18,400
Jeff Madsen	18,400
Steve Zolotow	18,100
Daniel Negreanu	17,300
Chau Giang	16,000
Andy Bloch	13,800
Marco Traniello	11,800
Mickey Appleman	10,800
Amnon Filippi	10,700
Chris "Jesus" Ferguson	10,000
Sabyl Cohen	8,300
Bill Chen	8,000
Berry Johnston	7,400
David Sklansky	5,500
Mel Judah	2,700
John Juanda	1,800

Player Tags: John Juanda,   Andy Bloch,   Mimi Tran,   John Turner,   David Sklansky,   Gavin Griffin,   Robert Williamson III

Tale of Two Brothers

Jun 10, '07

Players have been on an extended break, as the $500 chips were colored up.  It will be interesting if the $25,000 chips will be confused at all with the $5,000 chips, as both are only different shades of orange. 

Play is down to the final 6 tables with 54 players remaining.  Not one but two players with professional poker playing brothers have made it deep in the event:  Ut Nguyen, and Alan Le, brother to Nam.  Le is on a severely short stack with $38,000, but not out yet. 

Fabrice Souiler continues to plug along.  While no longer the big stack in the field with only $350,000 to John Turner's $500,000, Souiler is still a force to be reckoned with.

Player Tags: Phil Hellmuth,   John Turner,   Joe Bartholdi,   Ut Nguyen,   Scott Clements,   Bertrand Grospellier

Phil Quiet

Jun 10, '07

There are currently 61 players remaining on the final seven tables.  The new chip leader John “PearlJammer” Turner has recently been moved to the ‘TV’ table with Phil Hellmuth.  Turner has been showing no fear today, and has chipped up to nearly $500,000, winning a big race with Jacks.  Hellmuth has been holding steady at about $160,000, but with the field shrinking, his stack is now among the middle of the pack.  Turner has been running the table, which has lead Hellmuth to uncharacteristically say very little.

 

Joe Bartholdi has been on the short stack for the last hour, but he is holding strong, as is Ut Nguyen, who was visited by his brother Men “The Master” early in the day. 

 

We are still following John Turner in our Pro Blogs, so keep track of his run to the final table here at CardPlayer.com

Player Tags: Phil Hellmuth,   John Turner,   Joe Bartholdi,   Ut Nguyen

Confidence Runs Into Kings

Jun 10, '07

The tournament directors have just given the crowd what they want.  Because there is only one final table running today, the “secondary” final table located just to the right of the VIP stage has been vacant today.  Before play restarted they moved the table Phil Hellmuth’s in to accommodate more spectators.  Phil has been relatively quiet in the last hour though.

 

The internet players won’t quit though.  Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier put a bad beat on one particular opponent.  Grospellier raised from early position, and his opponent moved all in on the button.  Grospellier called and showed AK, but was way behind his opponent’s KK.  The flop improved neither player coming Q66, but Grospelier spiked the A on the river and his opponent missed his one-out redraw with the 8 river. 

 

John Turner was also the benefactor of another player’s great read.  At Turner’s table the players in Seat 1 and Seat 10 were involved in a nice sized pot in a battle of the blinds.  On a flop of 752, Seat 10 came over the top of Seat One’s flop bet and was called.  The two players checked the 4 on the turn.  The river was the 3 and seat 10 bet $40,000 putting his opponent all in.  After stewing for several minutes, Seat One made the call, Ten showed 105, and One triumphantly flipped 75.  On the very next hand Turner raised $9,500 from early position and both the blinds (Seat One in the small blind) called.  The flop came Q72, action checked to Turner, who bet $16,500, Seat One called and the big blind folded.  The 3 rolled off on the turn, prompting both players to check.  The board paired with the 7 on the river, Turner bet $29,000, and Seat One quickly made the call, mucking just as fast when Turner showed the KK.  Raking in the $100,000 pot Turner is cruising right along.

 

There are currently under 90 players remaining at the final ten tables.

Player Tags: John Turner,   Bertrand Grospellier

Twelve Tables, Chip Up

Jun 10, '07

Players are now returning from a 15 minute break in which the $100 chips were raced off the table.  Internet players John "PearlJammer" Turner and Scott "BigRiskky" Clements have pulled themselves among the chip leaders with over $200,000 in chips.  However, Fabrice Souiller has pushed his stack past $300,000 and is the current chip boss.  David Plastik could not survive on the short stack any longer and was elimnated in 113th place.  There are currently 12 tables and 107 players left.  It seems the shorter stacks are very willing to gamble to get themselves back in contention, and the bigger stacks have no problem snapping them off.

The railbirds are still flocked to catch a glimpse of media darling Phil Hellmuth, hoping of course to catch a meltdown.  Hellmuth is firing on all cylinders today, and with his current chip stack over $150,000 he is in great position to make his first final table of this year's World Series. But as always he has a few players at every table trying to make moves on him, those players are only one lucky river card away from giving the spectators and the ESPN cameras exactly what they want.

Player Tags: David Plastik,   Phil Hellmuth,   John Turner,   Scott Clements

Hellmuth Busy Early

Jun 10, '07

Hopefully just making it to day 2 was satisfying enough, for many players today, because the bust outs are cropping up quickly so far.

Phil Hellmuth has vaulted himself among the chip leaders, despite being seated next to David Plastk and across from James Van Alstyne.  Early on Hellmuth made his 99 stand up calling his opponents bluff on a board of 76455.  He also called a short stack's all in from the button with AK, while his opponent tabled 76.  The flop came KK10, and the turn and river came 56.  Soon after that Hellmuth crippled Van Alstyne when he rivered a flush to Van Alstyne's trip tens.  Van Alstyne was all in soon after with KQ with two callers.  One player pushed the other caller out on the turn with the board showing 10987.  Now heads up the opponent showed JJ, the Q on the river was no help for Van Alstyne and he hit the rail in 122nd place. 

John Turner and Joe Bartholdi also saw their fortunes grow.  Turner put his opponent all in on a board of K963.  When his opponent called quickly Turner thought he was behind with K5, but his opponent showed A9, and Turner was able to dodge the twelve outs when the 5 hit on the river.  Bartholdi managed to win a race for his tournament life.  The player in Seat 8 raised to $6,400 from the cutoff, and Seat 9 called from the button after lots of thought.  Bartholdi then moved all in for $25,900 more from the big blind.  After the cutoff folded, Seat 9 made the call.  Bartholdi showed 66, and his opponent showed AQ.  The board came K93107, and Bartholdi more than doubled up to $74,600.

There are currently 122 players remaining on 13 tables.

Player Tags: David Plastik,   Phil Hellmuth,   John Turner,   Joe Bartholdi,   James Van Alstyne

Cards Back In The Air

Jun 10, '07

Play has resumed in Event #15.  All returning 170 players are in the money, but their sights are set on the bracelet.  Fabrice Souiler returns as one of the chip leaders.  Also with chips are Joe Bartholdi, Phil Hellmuth, and John "PearlJammer" Turner who will continue to relay his progress through our Pro Blogs.  Keep your eyes on CardPlayer.com for hourly updates on all the action.

Player Tags: Phil Hellmuth,   John Turner,   Joe Bartholdi