Level 2 Update: Daniel Negreanu Upset
Dec 14, '09
Blinds: 100-200
Players Remaining: 236 out of 244 (unofficial)
Chip Counts:
1. John Cernuto — 135,000
2. Mike Watson — 110,000
3. Antonio Esfandiari — 105,000
4. Adam Geyer — 95,000
5. Evan McNiff — 95,000
6. Chad Batista — 95,000
7. James Mackey — 90,000
8. Jennifer Tilly — 90,000
9. Carter King — 80,000
10. Yevgeniy Timoshenko — 78,000
Card Player Chip Counts:
Barry Shulman — 68,000
Average Chip Count: 62,000
Notable Eliminations:
Jason Burt
Big Hands:
Chino Rheem’s Trips Boost Him Above Starting Stack
Mike McClain raised to 525 in early position and was called by Mohsin Charania and Chino Rheem in the blinds. The flop came down K
4
2
and everyone checked.
The turn was the 8
and Rheem fired in a bet of 800. McClain called and Charania got out of the way. The river was the 8 and Rheem bet 2,200. McClain called and Rheem showed him 108 to scoop the pot with trips. The defending champion now has over 65,000 in chips.
Scott Montgomery Makes Sure He Gets Paid
The cutoff raised to 600 and Scott Montgomery called on the button. The flop came A89 and both players checked.
The turn was the 2 and the cutoff bet 1,000. Montgomery called and the river was the A. The cutoff checked and Montgomery put in a bet of 2,700.
His opponent thought for a few moments before making the call, however, his chips did not entirely cross the line. Montgomery paused to ask the dealer if it was an official call and once he receieved confirmation, he turned over the winning AJ for trip aces.
We’re not sure if Montgomery was afraid of an angle shoot, but either way, he now has a stack of 51,000.
Jason Mercier Headed South With His Stack
We’re not entirely sure of the preflop action, but it appeared as though Jason Mercier raised to 625 in the cutoff and Soheil Shamseddin reraised to 1,800 from the small blind. Benjamin Zamani then reraised to 5,925 and Mercier made the call.
Shamseddin folded and both players checked a flop of K103. The turn was the 6 and Zamani bet 7,000, getting a call from Mercier. The river was the 3 and both players checked.
Zamani showed A10 to take the pot and boost his stack to 68,000. Meanwhile, Mercier is down to 48,000.
Left In The Deck:
Negreanu Not Happy About Table Draw
There are currently three tables in the poker room and Daniel Negreanu is seated at one, clearly not happy about his table draw.
On his personal twitter account (RealKidPoker), Negreanu voiced his concerns.
“Wow Bellagio officially runs the worst tourney in the country now. Sign up after a guy and you get position on him at the table. Mind boggling. At my table Men and Scotty Nguyen and Elky. We all signed up together.”
Here’s a look at the rest of Negreanu’s lineup.
Seat 1: Billy Kopp
Seat 2: Men Nguyen
Seat 4: Scotty Nguyen
Seat 6: Daniel Negreanu
Seat 8: Bertrand “ElKy” Grospellier
Seat 9: Mike Leah
Seat 10: Russell Rosenblum
All three tables are pretty stacked with well-known professionals, but it doesn’t look like they will break anytime soon, thanks to the very slow structure and extremely deep stacks.
POY Watch:
Card Player TV spoke with current Player of the Year leader Eric Baldwin about his chances to take the overall crown, as well as his recent victory in the $1,000 rebuy tournament here at Bellagio.
Player Tags: Daniel Negreanu, Michael McClain, Chino Rheem, Soheil Shamseddin, Eric Baldwin, Benjamin Zamani, Scott Montgomery, Jason Mercier
Michael McClain Eliminated in 27th Place ($28,569)
Dec 17, '09
Curt Kohlberg raised to 36,000 from the button and Michael McClain reraised all in for 150,000 from the small blind. Steve Brecher made the call from the big blind and Kohlberg mucked. The two final players then turned over their cards:
Brecher: AQ
McClain: Q9
Board: Q75J10
McClain was eliminated on the hand in 27th place and Brecher grew his stack to 670,000.
Player Tags: Steve Brecher, Michael McClain
Jason Mercier was all in for his last 90,000 in the small blind and Mike McClain called from the big blind.
8
, but was dominated against McClain’s A
10
J
Mike McClain was short stacked and all in holding pocket fours against the A-J of chip leader Vivek Rajkumar. The board gave Rajkumar a queen-high straight and McClain was shown the door.
Mike Sowers raised to 23,000 and Mike Pesek moved all in for 130,000. Mike McClain then moved all in to isolate and Sowers folded.