Level 9 Update: Howard Lederer Out
May 28, '09
Blinds: 1,500-3,000 with 400 ante
Players Remaining: 106 out of 201
Chip Counts:
1. Michael DeMichele – 690,000
2. Lex Veldhuis – 625,000
3. Emil Patel 615,000
4. Justin Bonomo 570,000
5. Kyle Wilson 465,000
6. Chris Moneymaker 460,000
7. Alan Sass 440,000
8. Ted Forrest 380,000
9. Alex Jacob 370,000
10. Antonio Esfandiari 365,000
Average Chip Count: 227,000
Notable Eliminations:
Howard Lederer
Cory Zeidman
Dennis Phillips
Brett Richey
Philippe Rouas
Steve Sung
David Einhorn
Big Hands:
Table 70 Is Stacked
In case we haven’t made this clear yet, table 70 may be one of the toughest tournament tables ever assembled. Here is a look at the table:
1. Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver
2. Scotty Nguyen
3. Phil Ivey
4. Brett “get crunk” Richey (Eliminated During the Level)
5. David “The Dragon” Pham
6. Alan “The Usher” Sass
7. Phil Hellmuth
8. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier
9. Steve “MrSmokey1” Billirakis
Phil Ivey Takes 90,000 Pot From Bertrand Grospellier
Bertrand Grospellier raised to 7,200 from under the gun and Phil Ivey reraised to 22,000 from the hijack seat. Grospellier called and both players checked down a board of K
5
292
until Ivey fired out a 20,000 value bet. Grospellier reluctantly called and mucked his hand when Ivey showed pocket queens.
Ivey is now stacked with 358,000 while Grospellier finds himself with only 57,000. Grospellier picked up some chips later on against Steve Billirakis shortly after without a showdown.
School’s Out for the Professor
Dave Ulliott raised to 6,400 under the gun and the action folded around to Howard Lederer moved all in from the small blind for his last 30,000. Next to act was Jeff Lisandro from the big blind and he made the call. Ulliott got out of the way and Lisandro tabled A
K while Lederer showed JJ. The flop was bad news for Lederer as it dropped A7K giving Lisandro top two pair. The 9 and 3 completed the board and Lederer was gone. Lisandro improved his stack to 270,000.
Philippe Rouas Out, Marco Johnson Gets Healthier
Philippe Rouas found himself all in and covered by Marco Johnson. Rouas showed pocket sevens and was racing against the QJ of Johnson. The flop brought a jack and Rouas failed to catch up, busting from the tournament.
Seif and Makhija Chop It Up
Amit Makhija raised to 8,000 preflop from middle position. The action came around to Mark Seif who pushed in most of his chips, election to only keep his black “100” chips in front of him. The bet totaled close to 225,000 and Makhija made the call with his last 118,000. He flipped over AQ while Seif showed AQ. “That was a bad call sir,” Seif joked with Makhija. The board ran out 1098K7 and both players chopped the pot. Seif was at 290,000 while Makhija was around 126,000.
Left in the Deck:
Mike Matusow just walked over to table 62 where Andy Black and Phil Laak are seated. Matusow commenced to poke a little fun at Laak. Black then playfully interrupted “The Mouth,” telling him that making fun of people is not allowed at the World Series of Poker. Matusow countered, saying that making fun of Laak is the exception. All the players laughed and Matusow went back to his table.
Later on, Matusow resumed roaming the room and chatted up Nam Le for a bit while Phil Laak began building an elaborate Stonehenge-like structure with his chips. Yes folks, things are starting to slow down here late in the night.
Player Tags: Howard Lederer, Phil Laak, Mike Matusow, Jeffrey Lisandro, Phil Ivey, Andy Black, Bertrand Grospellier, Philippe Rouas, Marco Johnson
Level 7 Update: Jason Mercier Busts Adam Geyer
May 28, '09
Blinds: 1,000-2,000 with 300 ante
Players Remaining: 141 out of 201
Chip Counts:
1. Lex Veldhuis — 530,000
2. Justin Bonomo — 470,000
3. Antonio Esfandiari — 470,000
4. Alan Sass — 450,000
5. Chris Moneymaker — 380,000
6. Bruno Fitoussi — 367,000
7. Andy Black — 343,000
8. Mark Seif — 330,000
9. Phil Galfond — 320,000
10. Frank Kassela — 310,000
Average Chip Count: 171,000
Notable Eliminations:
Adam “csimmsux” Geyer
Mikael Thuritz
Eli Elezra
Jennifer Harman
Gavin Smith
Jeff Garza
Big Hands:
Jason Mercier Takes Out Adam Geyer
Antonio Esfandiari raised to 6,400 from the cutoff and Adam Geyer reraised to 17,000 on the button. The action moved to Jason Mercier who reraised from the small blind. Esfandiari folded and Geyer reluctantly moved in for his last 30,000 or so. Mercier flipped up pocket aces and Geyer showed down pocket queens.
The board ran out K10542 giving no help to the three-time FTOPS champion and Geyer was eliminated. Mercier now has 255,000 in chips.
David Baker Chips Up
On a board reading 952A Isaac Haxton bet 15,000. David “WhooooKidd” Baker stared his opponent down and decided to make the call. The river was the J and Haxton went into the tank. After about three minutes of dead silence, he tapped the table and Baker followed suit. Haxton turned over 76 for a missed straight draw and Baker showed K9 to take the pot with third pair. Baker now has 247,000 in chips.
Andy Bloch Getting Picked on by Alec Torelli
After losing a big pot earlier to Torelli, Bloch checked a board showing J1047k. Torelli launched a bet of 25,000 and Bloch went into a massive tank session. After almost 10 minutes, Bloch made the call. Torelli flipped over KJ for top two pair. Bloch mucked and his stack dwindled to 17,000. Torelli was at 250,000.
A few hands later, Bloch doubled up with pocket kings against his opponent’s ace-queen.
Chris Moore Doubles Through Andy Black
Andy Black raised to 6,000 from the hijack. Chris Moore was next to act and move in for his last 30,000. Black talked to Moore for a bit before making the call and showing 55. More showed AJ and the board ran out J610Q4, giving Moore top pair and doubling him up to 60,000. Black took a slight hit, leaving his stack at 350,000.
“Action” Jeff Garza Sent Home By Phil Galfond
Jeff Garza was all in and called holding A-Q but was dominated by Phil Galfond’s superior A-K. The board rolled out nine high offering no help to the recently turned 21 Garza. Galfond now has a stack of 320,000.
Phil Hellmuth Crippled By Alan “The Usher” Sass
Alan Sass raised to 5,500 and Phil Hellmuth reraised to 15,000 directly behind him. Sass made the call and the flop came out 654. Sass led into Hellmuth for 19,400 and Hellmuth called.
The turn was the K and Sass checked. Hellmuth fired in a bet of 35,000 and Sass called. The river was the Q and Hellmuth moved all in for 183,000, which had Sass covered by about 37,000. Sass called showing K9 and Hellmuth mucked his hand.
After the hand, Hellmuth pulled one of our reporters aside to admit that he held A-7 for a busted open-ended straight draw. “I’d get penalized for saying this at the table, but I just wanted to let it be known that the most horrible players in the world usually beat me,” said Hellmuth.
The hand drew further attention when it was revealed that the dealer had miscounted the all-in stacks, giving Sass some more of Hellmuth chips. Hellmuth, clearly upset, responded with, “What are you trying to give it all to him?”
Not quite, as Hellmuth still has about 37,000 in chips.
Russell Rosenblum Doubles Up
Russell Rosenblum found himself and his stack of about 100,000 all in preflop holding pocket kings against the pocket jacks of Philippe Rouas. The kings held and Rosenblum safely doubled up to about 210,000.
Player Tags: Andy Bloch, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Hellmuth, Russell Rosenblum, Andy Black, Chris Moore, Alan Sass, Adam Geyer, Alec Torelli, Philippe Rouas, David Baker, Jason Mercier
Phillipe Rouas raises to 25,000 and Tom McCormick reraises to 60,000. Rouas calls and checks a flop of A
Amir Vahedi raises to 40,000, putting Frederic Bussot all in and pretty much committing himself to the hand if the Philippe Rouas decides to get involved from the small blind. Rouas passes, but Bussot finds a hand he likes and calls all in.
Jevad Abrahams raises to 55,000 under the gun and Phillippe Rouas reraises all in from the cutoff for about 290,000. Abrahams instantly calls with pocket aces and Rouas shows pocket jacks. His cries for a jack come unanswered, and Rouas is eliminated in 16th place.
Notable Chip Counts:
Chris Ferguson Doubles Up Lyric Duveyoung
David Benyamine Eliminates Phil Ivey