Tom Franklin Poker Tournament Updates

Level 8 Update

Jun 20, '07

Seventy-two players remain in today’s Pot-Limit Omaha event, slightly less than a quarter of the original 293 entrants. As players continue to drop and the room is consolidated, some new heavily stacked tables are starting to emerge.

Table # 24 now plays host to Josh Arieh, Barry Greenstein, Allen Cunningham, and Captain Tom Franklin. Josh Arieh is stacked with chips and high on the leader board, with Barry Greenstein following not too far behind him. Captain Tom Franklin on the other hand is fatally short-stacked even after tripling up through the player on the button. Arieh limps in a pot from the cutoff followed by the player on the button. Franklin raises all-in for a total of $2,000 from the small blind. Both players call and the flop comes A Q 2. Arieh checks to the button who bets $6,400. Arieh folds out of the side pot and the button shows A Q 7 5. Franklin turns over Q 10 7 7 and the turn and river bring the K and the J, giving Franklin a straight for the win. Franklin triples up this hand and lives to see another flop.

Table # 22 is also in contention for the stacked table award with Dewey Tomko, David Williams, Gioi Luong, and Robert Williamson III. On a flop of J 6 4, Williamson, Luong, Tomko, and the big blind all check around. The 4 hits the turn and once again, all of the players check around. The river brings the 8 and David Williamson fires $1,600 at the pot. Everyone folds to Dewey Tomko who re-raises to $4,000. Williamson looks over at Tomko’s stack and shakes his head, saying, “Wow, that’s eights full right there betting.” Williamson goes into the tank and makes the call a few minutes later. Tomko turns over Q 9 8 8 for eights full, and Williamson gets a good laugh at himself.

Keep your browsers locked on CardPlayer.com for more updates and your favorite Pro Blogs.

Notable Chip Counts

David Williams	99,000
Erick Lindgren	98,400
Johnny Chan	93,000
Humberto Brenes	85,000
Josh Arieh	80,000
Joseph Hachem	73,000
Eli Elezra	66,000
John D'Agostino	64,600
Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi	59,000
Chau Giang	46,000
David "Devilfish" Ulliott	33,000
Robert Williamson III	33,000
Allen Cunningham	27,000
Ram Vaswani	24,000
Dewey Tomko	19,000
Mike Sexton	15,000

Player Tags: Tom Franklin,   Josh Arieh,   Barry Greenstein,   Allen Cunningham

Level 5 Update

Jun 19, '07

Level 5 has come to an end and 184 players now remain with an average chip stack of $4,630. Due to the rapid movement of the heads-up event, all of the stud players have now been moved from outside in the Players Pavilion to inside the Amazon Room. We started to see a few more eliminations as the cost of poker has slowly started to rise, and among those eliminated were Humberto Brenes and Captain Tom Franklin. 

Brenes was eliminated when his aces-up ran into trip jacks and Captain Tom Franklin hit the rail when he ran into Marcel Luske and his full house. In a three-way pot, Tom Franklin was all-in on fifth street, showing a board of 10 9 10 6 against Marcel Luske’s board of 3 6 3 A. The player in seat 6 was showing a board of Q 4 10 J as he called Luske down to the river. Luske checked the river to Seat-6 who fired out a value bet only to be check-raised by Luske. Seat-6 calls and Luske shows 3 4 4 for the full house. Seat-6 folds out of the side pot followed by Captain who mucks his cards as well, leaving only Marcel Luske to rake both pots and add some well-needed chips to his stack. 

Allen Kessler managed to steal a nice pot right before the level change, but it wouldn’t come without a little trash talk from a sore opponent. The player in seat 3 was showing a board of 8 10 9 K against Kessler’s 9 Q K J. Seat-3 was betting the whole time and Kessler called him down to the river. Kessler fires out a bet on the river and his opponent shakes his head and makes the call. Kessler shows 10 10 2 for the straight and Seat-3 smacks the table the flips over 8 8 7 for busted rolled-up eights. Kessler rakes the pot and Seat-3 lets him know just what’s on his mind. 

As players head into Level 6, the stakes will increase to $200-$400 with a $50 ante. Be sure to keep your browsers locked on CardPlayer.com for more updates and all of your favorite Pro Blogs.

Player Tags: Humberto Brenes,   Tom Franklin,   Allen Kessler,   Marcel Luske

Zolotow Takes Two

Jun 18, '07

Steve Zolotow has been quietly accumulating chips for the last two levels in particular.  In one fantastic hand Zolotow finished off "Hollywood" Dave Stann and "Captain Tom" Franklin in one fell swoop.  Franklin was all in on a flop of 10 7 3, Zolotow called and Stann reluctantly called.  The turn card was the 9, Stann moved all in , and Zolotow called.  Zolotow held 77 against Stann's A10.  The river card was meaningless, and Zolotow pulled in a huge pot.

Not fairing quite as well, Greg Raymer was eliminated after his J-9 failed to improve.

Jon Friedburg, Nam Le, and Erick Lindgren each had a strong level  and have above average chip stacks.

Keep your browsers locked on CardPlayer.com for more tournament updates and information.

Player Tags: Tom Franklin,   Steve Zolotow,   Jon Friedberg,   Dave Stann,   Greg Raymer

Numbers Not So High

Jun 11, '07

The official numbers were announced for this tournament.  A total of 340 players entered creating a prize pool of $618,800.  The final 4 tables will finish in the money.  32nd place will receive $4,950 while 1st place will receive $176,358.  Given that some of the "Big Game"pros play for pots that exceed that amount, you can bet that the bracelet is the sole thing on most of the players minds. 

Given that its still early in the tournament the players are having fun with each other at their tables.  "Captain Tom" Franklin is taking delight in needling tablemate Jeff Madsen for his pink poker website baseball cap.  Madsen chose not to needle back.

One particular hand occurred where James Van Alstyne almost scooped a very large pot.  Van Alstyne tabled a Ace-high diamond flush, to compliment his 8-5-4-2-A low against four callers.  However, Michael Mizrachi showed a 7-6-5-3-2 for a better low, and they chopped up the pot.

Look for the table pairings to improve as this talent-laden pool slowly thins out as the limits increase.

Player Tags: Tom Franklin,   Michael Mizrachi,   James Van Alstyne,   Jeff Madsen

Half-Way Home

Jun 08, '07

Slightly more than 200 players remain in today’s $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em Event, which puts us to very close to the half-way mark.

“Captain” Tom Franklin was eliminated when he found himself all-in on the turn in a four handed pot. On aboard of 8547, Eric lynch bets $3,000 and Tom Franklin makes the call. The player in seat 7 re-raises to $17,600 (pot size) and Tom Franklin calls all-in for his last few thousand chips. Lynch folds his hand and gets out of their way as the player in seat 2 also makes the call. The river brings the J and Seat-2, first to act, flips over K6 for a flush. Franklin mucks his baby flush and heads for the rail.

John D’Agostino was eliminated by Phil Laak when, according to Phil, “He had a real hand and I didn’t. I had to call for the math and I ended up sucking-out.”  

It wasn’t all bad news in Level 6 as a short-stacked Phil Hellmuth managed to double up right before the break. Hellmuth bets the pot maximum of $1,500 before the flop and the player in seat 8 makes the call. With only $400 left in front of him, Hellmuth moves all-in in the dark and the flop comes K72. Seat-8 calls the $400 and Hellmuth shows JJ. Seat-8 flips over Q10 and the turn and river bring the 10 and the 3, no help to Seat-8 as Hellmuth proceeds to double up.

Michael Binger also doubled up from the short-stack right before the break. He raises to $2,400 before the flop and Phil Laak makes the call. The flop comes QJ3 and Binger bets $400 of his $500 stack. Laak makes the call and the turn brings the 5. Now Binger moves all-in for his $100 and once again, Laak makes the call. Binger shows AA as the 3 hits the river and Laak throws his hand into the muck.

Keep your browsers locked on Cardplayer.com for more updates and your favorite Pro Blogs.

Player Tags: Tom Franklin,   John D'Agostino,   Phil Laak,   Michael Binger,   Eric Lynch