William Kohler Poker Tournament Updates

Final Table Update: Chad Brown, Max Stern Eliminated

Jun 30, '09

Ante: 5,000 – Low Card: 5,000 – Completion: 20,000 – Limits: 20,000-40,000

Players Remaining: 2 out of 467

Chip Counts:

1. David Halpern – 1,100,000
2. William Kohler – 950,000

Average Chip Count: 1,025,000

Eliminations:

4. Chad Brown – $44,589
3. Max Stern – $64,484

Big Hands

Chad Brown Eliminated in 4th Place ($44,589)

Chad Brown was all in for his last 100,000 against Max Stern.

Their cards:

Brown: (34)-4Q8K- (A)
Stern: (X-X)-4992-(X)

Stern’s nines that were showing were good enough to eliminate Brown in fourth place.

Max Stern Eliminated in 3rd Place ($64,484)

Max Stern was down to just 10,000 and was all in against David Halpern and William Kohler.

Their cards:

Stern: (X-X)-71027-(X)
Halpern: (109)-10QJ9-(K)
Kohler: (A5)-645K-(2)

Halpern made a king-high straight on the end to send Stern packing. Action is down to heads up.

Player Tags: Max Stern,   David Halpern,   William Kohler

Final Table Update: Allie Prescott Eliminated in 8th Place ($16,682)

Jun 30, '09

Ante: 3,000 – Low Card: 3,000 – Completion: 12,000 – Limits: 12,000-24,000

Players Remaining: 7 out of 467

Chip Counts:

1. David Halpern — 600,000
2. Chad Brown — 460,000
3. William Kohler — 400,000
4. Brian Swinford — 160,000
5. Matt Savage — 160,000
6. Zak Gilbert — 160,000
7. Max Stern — 70,000

Average Chip Count: 300,214

Notable Eliminations:

8. Allie Prescott – $16,682

Big Hands

Allie Prescott Eliminated in 8th Place ($16,862)

Allie Prescott is all in on fifth street against Matt Savage and William Kohler. Kohler bets on 6th street and Savage folds.

Prescott: 32J4A3J
Kohler:5699AA2
Savage: X-X-6J62

Prescott failed to improve and is eliminated in 8th place ($16,682).

Player Tags: Allie Prescott,   Matt Savage,   William Kohler

$5,000 World Championship Seven-Card Stud 8/b - Day 2 - Level 18 Recap

Jun 18, '08

Note: The players are now on a 20-minute break

Limit: 6,000-12,000, 1,500 ante, 2,000 bring in

Players Left:  13 of 261

Chip Leaders:
Steve Sung - 350,000
Sebastian Ruthenberg - 280,000
Annie Duke - 250,000
Marcel Luske – 250,000
Chris Ferguson - 225,000
Robert Lauria - 212,000
David Benyamine - 170,000
Howard Lederer - 160,000
Robert Beveridge - 155,000
Allen Cunningham - 125,000
Alessio Isaia - 120,000

Average Stack: 200,750

Eliminations:
14^th – Barry Greenstein
15^th – Matt Grapenthien
16^th – Aliaksandr Dzianisau
17^th – Jan Suchanek
18^th – Kirill Gerasimov
19^th – William Kohler
20^th – Thang Duc Nguyen

Big Hands and Storylines:

Full House Over Full House

Jan Suchanek got his money into the pot with fours full of aces and assumed he was ahead of his opponent, who was showing only a pair of queens and two low cards. Suchanek was quite surprised to see his opponent show up with a full house of his own: queens full of fives. With that, Suchanek was eliminated in 17^th place, taking home $11,040.

What Would King Solomon Do?

A shortstacked Barry Greenstein was eliminated by Steve Sung, leading Greenstein to begin his post-bustout routine of taking out his book and signing it for his assassin. Howard Lederer leaned over from the other table and asked, “What happens when it’s a split pot?” This garnered a nice chuckle out of Chris Ferguson, but Greenstein did not seem to be in a laughing mood. Perhaps in the future Barry should bring two copies of his book to high-low events.

The Flying Dutchman

Marcel Luske just scooped a massive pot when he made a six-high straight and six low in a four-way pot. Luske was all-in on 6^th street and action checked around on 7^th street, so Luske scooped the main pot, and the miniscule side-pot went elsewhere. “Gimme all da money.... except the side-pot,” exclaimed Luske. Even without the side-pot the Dutchman is up to a healthy 250,000.

And We Play On

The players just voted nearly unanimously in favor of playing down to 8 players instead of stopping for the night. The lone dissenter was Allen Cunningham, who, unlike the rest of the remaining players, does not seem too excited about the $10,000 Omaha high-low event beginning tomorrow.

Player Tags: Chris Ferguson,   Annie Duke,   Barry Greenstein,   Matt Grapenthien,   Allen Cunningham,   Howard Lederer,   David Benyamine,   Kirill Gerasimov,   Marcel Luske,   Steve Sung,   Jan Suchanek,   Sebastian Ruthenberg,   Aliaksandr Dzianisau,   Robert Beveridge,   William Kohler,   Alessio Isaia,   European Report

$5,000 World Championship Seven-Card Stud 8/b - Day 2 - Level 17 Recap

Jun 18, '08

Limit: 5,000-10,000, 1,000 ante, 2,000 bring in

Players Left:  21 of 261

Chip Leaders:
Steve Sung - 410,000
Sebastian Ruthenberg - 310,000
Annie Duke – 185,000
Howard Lederer - 170,000
Marcel Luske - 160,000
Alessio Isaia - 145,000
William Kohler - 125,000
Aleaksandr Dzianisau – 125,000
Barry Greenstein - 110,000
Allen Cunningham – 110,000
Chris Ferguson - 100,000

Average Stack: 124,300

Eliminations:
22^nd – Doug Ganger
23^rd – Cyndy Violette
24^th – Hasan Habib

Big Hands and Storylines:

Cunning Call Saves Giang Chips

Allen Cunningham: A434
Chau Giang: A6Q8

We enter this hand on 5^th street where both players checked. Giang bet on 6^th street after getting another low card and Cunningham called. Then, on 7^th street, Cunningham bet out. Giang called, and Cunningham turned over (A)(4)(J) for a full house. Giang shows an ace-high flush and mucks his hand. Though Giang lost the post, his ability to simply call at the close of the hand saved him 10,000 in chips, or more than 10% of his stack of 82,000. Cunningham has run his stack up to 110,000.

Jesus Exacts Revenge on Ruthenberg

After a number of hands in which Sebastian Ruthenberg had gotten the better of him, including one monster pot, Chris Ferguson has finally taken a sizeable pot off of the German:

Ferguson: AJ6J
Ruthenberg: 8853

Ruthenberg bet out on 4^th street, having paired his 8, and Ferguson called. The action went bet-call again on 5^th street. Then on 6^th street Ferguson led out with his pair of jacks showing and was swiftly raised by Ruthenberg. Ferguson called and both players checked the river. Ferguson’s (7)(10)(A) was enough to scoop the pot with aces and jacks, and he added to his stack which now sits at 100,000. The hand put a very minor dent in Ruthenberg’s 310,000 chip stack.

Ruthenberg Reclaims Some, Busts Violette

Cyndy Violette was faced with a difficult decision on 7^th street. With her board reading 7AK8 and facing a bet that would put her all-in, she closely scrutinized Ruthenberg’s board: 10A96. Eventually, with so many chips committed, Violette made the call. Ruthenberg showed (3)(7)(4) for the ten-high flush and he scooped the pot. Violette’s run at a second World Series bracelet has been put to an end for now.

Ganger Busted

David Ganger found himself all-in against David Benyamine on 6^th street, hoping to double up or at least snatch half of the pot to stay alive. But when Benyamine showed (7)(4)355J, Ganger muttered, “I’m drawing dead.” With a naked pair of aces and no low draw, he was indeed drawing dead. Ganger will take home $11,040 for his two days of work.

Player Tags: Chris Ferguson,   Annie Duke,   Barry Greenstein,   Hasan Habib,   Allen Cunningham,   Howard Lederer,   David Benyamine,   Chau Giang,   Cyndy Violette,   Marcel Luske,   Steve Sung,   Sebastian Ruthenberg,   Aliaksandr Dzianisau,   Doug Ganger,   William Kohler,   Alessio Isaia,   European Report

$5,000 World Championship Seven-Card Stud 8/b - Day 2 - Level 16 Recap

Jun 18, '08

Note: The players are now on a 20-minute break

Limit: 4,000-8,000, 1,000 ante, 1,000 bring in

Players Left: 24 of 261

Chip Leaders:
Steve Sung - 340,000
Sebastian Ruthenberg - 250,000
Howard Lederer - 190,000
Alessio Isaia - 165,000
Chau Giang - 149,000
Marcel Luske - 135,000
William Kohler - 130,000
Barry Greenstein - 130,000
David Benyamine - 100,000
Chris Ferguson - 100,000

Average Stack: 108,750

Eliminations:
25^th – Jeff Burdsall
26^th – J.W. Smith
27^th – Frank Thompson
28^th – Joe Tehan

Big Hands and Storylines:

Pop Goes The Bubble

Jeff Burdsall is our bubble boy in event  33. He got his last 10,000 chips in on 3^rd street against David Benyamine in a very tight matchup. Burdsall had (A)(6)5 and Benyamine had (A)(4)8. When the cards were on the felt, it was Benyamine’s ace-to-five straight – A4832K5 – that took down the pot. Though we are now in the money, don’t expect the speed of play to pick up too much. There are only a couple of short stacks at the moment; most of the players have fairly healthy stack sizes.

Hasan Habib narrowly missed going out in 25^th place when he was all-in with (9)(5)AA against Kirill Gerasimov’s (3)(3)88. Habib was granted a reprieve when he paired his 9 on 6^th street, making him a better two pair and doubling him up to 28,000.

A few hands earlier at the same table, Barry Greenstein ended J.W. Smith’s night early (...at 12:45 a.m.) when he made a full house – fives full of eights – crushing any hopes that Smith had of making the money in this event.

Ganger (in) Control

Not all of the news in the last level was about short stacks busting out. Some players like Doug Ganger made their moves toward the top of the leaderboard. In a hand against Chris Ferguson and Jasper Lee, Doug Ganger made a straight on 5^th street and both Lee and Ferguson called him down until 6^th street. On 7^th street, with boards reading:

Ganger: 4539
Lee: 865Q
Ferguson: Q3Q10

Ganger bet again. Lee folded this time, and after a good bit of staring at the felt and shaking his head, Ferguson made the call. Ganger flipped 769 and scooped the pot, bringing him to 107,000. Ferguson has 100,000 left, and Lee was eliminated on the very next hand.

Player Tags: Chris Ferguson,   Barry Greenstein,   Hasan Habib,   Howard Lederer,   David Benyamine,   Chau Giang,   Kirill Gerasimov,   Frank Thompson,   Marcel Luske,   Jeffrey Burdsall,   J.W. Smith,   Joe Tehan,   Steve Sung,   Sebastian Ruthenberg,   Doug Ganger,   William Kohler,   Alessio Isaia