Markus Gonsalves Poker Tournament Updates

Level 5 Update: Day 1 Ends

Dec 14, '09

NOTE: Day 1 has come to an end and play will resume at noon PST tomorrow.

Blinds: 300-600 with a 50 ante

Players Remaining: 240 out of 292 (unofficial)

Chip Counts:

1. Darryll Fish — 220,000
2. Jon Turner — 215,000
3. David Woo — 205,000
4. Billy Kopp — 190,000
5. Antonio Esfandiari — 185,000
6. David Benyamine — 175,000
7. Joe Serock — 160,000
8. Cory Carroll — 155,000
9. Adam Geyer — 150,000
10. Soheil Shamseddin — 135,000

Card Player Chip Counts

Barry Shulman — busted

Average Chip Count: 73,000

Notable Eliminations:

Mohsin Charania
Paul Wasicka
Jeff Madsen
Chad Brown
Tuan Le
Mel Judah
Scott Montgomery

Big Hands:

Markus Gonsalves Doubles Up

A player in middle position raised to 1,050 preflop and Steve Brecher made the call on the button. Markus Gonsalves reraised to 5,400 from the small blind and middle position reraised to 10,625. Brecher mucked and Gonsalves moved all in for 53,825. His opponent made the call and they flipped over their cards:

Gonsalves: KK
Opponent: QQ

The board was dealt Q43K to give Gonsalves a set and the river changed nothing. Gonsalves doubled up on the hand and he now holds 110,000.

Kevin Saul gets Doubled Through

Kevin Saul (pictured left) raised to 1,600 preflop and the button reraised to 4,400. Saul made the call and the flop was dealt K66. Saul checked and the button bet 7,500. Saul check-raised an additional 12,000 and the button made the all-in call. Their cards:

Saul: K10
Opponent: AA

Turn and River: 9 and J

Saul lost the hand and after counting out the chips to double up his opponent he held 50,000.

Barry Shulman Eliminated

A flop of Q93 sat on the table when Barry Shulman (pictured right) bet 3,500 and Chris Moore made the call. Olav Sachsen raised to 13,500 and Shulman reraised to 23,500. Moore made the call and Sachsen mucked. The 4 fell on the turn and Shulman checked. Moore moved all in and Shulman made the all-in call for his final 21,000. Moore turned over J10 for an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw and Shulman showed 32 for bottom pair and a flush draw. The 8 fell on the river to give Moore a flush and Shulman was eliminated right before the end of day 2.

POY Update

All five of the top contenders in the POY race have made it through to day 2. Here is a look at how they faired during the first day of the tournament:

Soheil Shamseddin: 135,000
Yevgeniy Timoshenko: 125,000
Cornel Cimpan: 112,000
Eric Baldwin: 90,000
Jason Mercier: 55,000

Player Tags: Barry Shulman,   Kevin Saul,   Chris Moore,   Markus Gonsalves,   Olav Sachsen

Level 18 Update: In The Money Eliminations

Oct 24, '09

Blinds: 8,000-16,000 with a 2,000 ante

Players Left: 18 of 275

Average Chip Count: 916,000

Chip Counts:

1. Jason Lavallee — 3,050,000
2. Matthew Glantz — 1,400,000
3. Tommy Vedes — 1,250,000
4. Kido Pham — 1,200,000
5. Jason Burt — 1,150,000
6. Shawn Cunix — 1,100,000
7. Freddy Deeb — 1,035,000
8. Terry Ryan — 760,000
9. Larry Berg — 635,000
10. Richard Sciuto — 583,000

Notable Eliminations:

27. Markus Gonsalves — $23,885
26. Prahlad Friedman — $23,885
25. Chris Ferguson — $23,885
24. Mark Seif — $23,885
23. Chad Batista — $23,885
22. Lee Markholt — $23,885
21. Corwin Cole — $23,885
20. Jonas Entin — $23,855
19. Terry Ryan — $23,855

Big Hands:

Markus Gonsalves Eliminated in 27th Place ($23,885)

Markus Gonsalves got the rest of his short stack all in for 167,000 and Mark Seif made the call. Larry Berg then moved all in for 147,000 and Seif called that as well.Berg showed pocket queens, Gonsalves showed pocket kings and Seif was behind with A9.

The board ran out 1032QA and Berg’s set of queens gave him the near triple up and send Gonsalves to the rail. Berg now has 635,000 and Seif takes a hit down to 660,000.

Prahlad Friedman Eliminated in 26th Place ($23,885)

Prahlad Friedman (pictured right) raised in middle position and Jason Lavallee called on the button. The flop came down 1077 and Lavallee bet 59,000.

Freidman moved all in for 340,000 and Lavallee called with pocket jacks. Friedman showed AK and needed help, but it didn’t come when the Q and 4 completed the board.

Friedman is now eliminated and Lavallee is over the 2 million mark.

Chris Ferguson Eliminated in 25th Place ($23,885)

Chris Ferguson raised to 40,000 and Jonas Entin reraised to 178,000 from the small blind. Ferguson moved all in for 300,000 and Etin called.

Ferguson showed AQ and was in major trouble to Entin’s AA. The board offered no miracles and Ferguson was eliminated, boosting Entin’s stack back to 1 million.

Mark Seif Eliminated in 24th Place ($23,885)

Mark Seif has been eliminated from the tournament by Larry Berg. Seif held top pair, but ran into the set of sixes from Berg, who chips up to 1.4 million.

Chad Batista Eliminated in 23rd Place ($23,885)

Chad Batista was all in with a superior A-K against Corwin Cole’s A-J. Batista looked fine until the board produced a jack and sent him to the rail.

Lee Markholt Eliminated in 22nd Place ($23,855)

The perpetually short stack Lee Markholt was eliminated during the chaos of the level and details are unknown.

Corwin Cole Eliminated in 21st Place ($23,855)

Freddy Deeb raised and Jason Lavallee called on the button. Corwin Cole then reraised to 188,000 from the small blind. Deeb folded and Lavallee moved all in.

Cole instantly called with pocket aces and is in great shape against Lavallee’s pocket jacks. Unfortunately, the flop brings a jack and Cole’s tournament comes to an end. Lavallee now has over 3 million, more than double his closest opponent.

Jonas Entin Eliminated in 20th Place ($23,885)

Jonas Entin raised to 42,000 from under the gun and Kido Pham made the call. The flop came down KQ7 and Entin bet 100,000.

Pham then moved all in and Entin called for his last 200,000. Pham showed pocket sevens for the set and Entin was in major trouble with AQ.

The turn and river came 43 and Entin was eliminated. Pham now has 1,500,000 in chips.

Terry Ryan Eliminated in 19th Place ($23,855)

Terry Ryan was just eliminated by Jason Lavallee when he moved all in on the river and was snap called by a spade flush.

Player Tags: Mark Seif,   Chris Ferguson,   Prahlad Friedman,   Freddy Deeb,   Chad Batista,   Jason Lavallee,   Markus Gonsalves,   Jonas Entin,   Corwin Cole