Young Pham Poker Tournament Updates

Omaha Update

Jun 27, '07

What is there to say about the action in a split-pot limit game?

The day has brought many eliminations, and as a good deal of pros still remain in the field, David Sklansky just doubled up with the short stack. Sklansky re-raised all-in with A Q J 6 against Young Pham’s A K 5 3. The board came 10 10 6 8 6, giving Sklansky a full house on the river, scooping the pot and doubling through Pham. Sklansky lives to see another pot, and so does Captain Tom Franklin. Franklin calls all-in for $400 from the small blind and the big blind raises while the button calls the raise and all-in. Franklin shows A Q 8 3 while the big blind shows 7 7 5 4, and the button turns over A A 10 9. The board comes 9 6 4 8 5, giving Franklin half the main pot with the A-6 low and another quarter of the main pot with a pair of eights - ace kicker. So Franklin doesn’t quite double up this hand but he does make an ROI of 50 % and lives to see another day.

Level 7 has just come to an end and the remaining 250 players are about to enter Level 8 where the blinds have increased to $300-$600. Be sure to check back with CardPlayer.com for more updates and your favorite Pro Blogs.

Notable Chip Counts

Player Tags: Tom Franklin,   David Sklansky,   Young Pham

Chad Brown Escapes the Rail

Jun 05, '07

Chad Brown cheats tournament death and barely escapes being sent to the rail in Level 5. Amir Vahedi raises $500 from under the gun and gets six callers, including Chad Brown from the button. The flop comes 8-8-3 rainbow and Vahedi bets another $500. The next player to act moves all-in for $3,000 and the next player to act after him calls all-in for $2,800. Chad Brown is put to a decision as he’s looking down at 8-7 offsuit and his gut is telling him to fold. At this point, he tells me that he’s almost certain that the player who raises all-in has the case 8 with a better kicker and Chad decides to lay it down. Amir Vahedi along with the rest of the players throw their hands into the muck and the player who moved all-in shows A-A while the player who called all-in shows 10-10. Chad almost chokes when he sees how far ahead he was until an ace hits the river, filling his opponent's boat. What a relief for Chad as he gets to see another day from the tables and not the rail. A perfect example of how even the best of poker players can make the right move for the wrong reason.

 Chad Brown escaped the rail in Level 5, but Danny Wong and J.J. Liu weren’t as fortunate. Danny Wong took a really bad beat in Level 5, eliminating him from the tournament. Wong moves all-in on the turn with a board of Q-9-3-3 and his opponent makes the call. Wong flips over A-3 for trips while his opponent shows 4-3 with a flush draw. A spade hits the river and Wong is eliminated.

 J.J. Liu found herself heading towards the rail when she re-raised the big blind all-in and got called. Liu was holding A-2 against her opponent’s A-Q when the board came J-9-5-4-7.

 Not all hope was lost for the big name pros as Eugene Todd, Amir Vahedi, Shane Schleger, Young Pham, Jared Hamby and Phil Ivey all ended Level 5 with close to or more than $30,000.    

Player Tags: Amir Vahedi,   Phil Ivey,   Joanne Liu,   Eugene Todd,   Shane Schleger,   Danny Wong,   Jared Hamby,   Young Pham

A Railbird's Dream

Jun 05, '07

As the field started to narrow and tables started to break, Phil Ivey among others, found himself sitting along the rail at quite possibly one of the toughest tables remaining. Ivey’s new table draw puts him right alongside of Young Pham, Eric Froehlich and Arnold Spee. At table 59, the very next table over, sits William Chen, Dewey Tomko and J.J. Liu, followed by J.C.Tran, Danny Wong and David Levi at table 57.

J.C. Tran didn’t last too long though, when he bets $550 before the flop and the player to his left makes the call. Both players check to a flop of Q-Q-rag, and J.C. moves all-in on the turn when he pairs his 10. His opponent calls and flips over A-J while Tran shows A-10 for the lead. A king comes on the river giving his opponent Broadway and eliminating J.C. from the tournament.

 As Shane Schleger’s table broke, he too found himself at a terrible disadvantage by drawing a seat right between Phil Hellmuth and Billy Baxter, and directly across from Dan Alspach, and Dutch Boyd.

Dutch Boyd was the next one to go when Phil Hellmuth set a trap for him by limping in the pot with queens from under the gun. Phil Hellmuth, Shane Schleger and Billy Baxter all limp into the pot from an early position. Dutch Boyd moves all-in from the button for $3,650 and Hellmuth quickly calls. Schleger and Baxter both fold and just as soon as Hellmuth can get his chips into the pot he flops over QQ. Boyd shows the bluff with K5 as the board comes J49910. Boyd says to Hellmuth, “Nice trap.”, as he gets out of his seat to leave. Then he turns to the media and jokingly asks us to write that he had A-K rather than K-5. Dan Alspach looks at Phil and says, “I tried to warn him, I said Holy-Moly when you limped in from under the gun.”

The re-buy portion of this event is now over and the numbers should prove to be staggering…once they are officially released. In an unlikely turn of events, Daniel Negreanu said that he only had one re-buy today with an add-on right before the end of Level 2, shocking considering that two years ago Daniel had gone into his pocket 25 times. J.J. Liu on the other hand said that she had 15 re-buys, and she still has barely any chips in front of her.

Player Tags: J.C. Tran,   Dan Alspach,   David Levi,   Arnold Spee,   Daniel Negreanu,   Phil Hellmuth,   Phil Ivey,   Joanne Liu,   Shane Schleger,   Eric Froehlich,   Dutch Boyd,   Danny Wong,   Young Pham

Dropping Like Flies

Jun 04, '07

J.J. Liu found herself all-in and just as quickly all-out when her opponent flopped a pair of queens against her A-10. Next in line to hit the rail was Dutch Boyd when his A-K failed to improve against his opponent’s small pocket pair. Shortly following Dutch to the ropes was William Chen when he limped into a pot out of position and got raised by the button. A short-stacked Chen re-raises his opponent and gets a call. The flop comes AQ8 and Chen moves all-in. He is quickly called by his opponent who flips over AQ for top two pair against Chen’s AK. The turn and river bring the 8 and the 10, failing to improve his hand and Chen is eliminated in Level 5. Most notably was the elimination of Phil Ivey when he moves all-in for his last $200 under the gun. He gets two callers with a side pot on a board of 109664, and the button emphatically flips over 66 for quads. Ivey quietly shrugs his shoulders and shows Michael Mizrachi, who was standing behind him, JJ as he throws his hand into the muck and hits the rail.

Not all is quiet on the felt as Shawn Buchanan has begun tearing it up on his table. After winning the WPT Mandalay Bay event title, Buchanan is looking for his next title, or bracelet should I say. He sits well above the average chip stack along with  T.J. Cloutier, Young Pham, Kathy Liebert, and David Chiu to name a few.

Player Tags: T.J. Cloutier,   Kathy Liebert,   Shawn Buchanan,   David Chiu,   Phil Ivey,   Joanne Liu,   Bill Chen,   Dutch Boyd,   Young Pham