Rafe Furst, Defending No More
Jun 03, '07
During the twenty minute overlay right before the dinner break at the start of Level 7, Shannon Elizabeth found herself on the giving end of a huge pot. A series of pot-limit raises and re-raises ultimately ended with her opponent all-in, and more than half of her stack in the pot. Shannon Elizabeth comes in for $1,800 and the big blind raises to $4,000. Elizabeth re-raises to $11,700 when the big blind moves all-in for another $12,900. Elizabeth is holding K
K
against her opponent’s AK
, when the flop comes A7
5, with the Ace in the window. Elizabeth grunts, “Unreal…that sucks!!! I knew this was gonna happen…I can’t believe you called! Her opponent laughs as he rakes the pot when the 8 and the 2 hit the turn and the river.
Her luck didn’t improve much after dinner either. No more than five minutes after the dinner break, Elizabeth once again found herself on the losing end of a big pot. Eugene Todd opens with a $2,100 pot-sized bet and Elizabeth asks him how much he has left. As he proceeds to count out his chips, the frustrated Elizabeth says, “Forget it, I’ll just call.” The flop comes 10103 and Eugene Todd moves all-in for his last $3,400 chips. Elizabeth mumbles, “I said I wanted to gamble”, as she makes the call. She flips over AK while Todd shows J9. Elizabeth was relieved to be ahead on the turn when the 2 hit, but that release of anxiety didn’t last long when Todd spiked the 9 on the river to win the pot. Eugene Todd hides his head in his shirt as the dealer ships him the pot and Shannon Elizabeth proceeds to count her remaining chip stack of slightly less than $3,000. Todd’s fifteen seconds of guilt subsided when he poked his head out of his shirt to tell Tony Ma, “Now that’s how you play, Tony.”
Lady Luck was not a friend of Eugene Todd for much longer. Within a few hands of doubling through Elizabeth, Todd found himself involved in another large pot before the flop. Todd makes a pot-sized bet and his opponent re-raises another $6,500 and all-in. Todd quickly calls and flips over AKwhile his opponent shows 99. The flop comes 943, giving his opponent a set, and as if that weren’t bad enough, the 9c hits the turn giving his opponent quads and ruining any chance Todd had for going on a Level 7 run.
Level 7 also played host to several notable eliminations including that of the defending champion, Rafe Furst. The player in Seat-3 makes it $2,100 to go when Furst re-raises another $4,000. Seat-3 makes the call and the flop comes 742. Furst checks to his opponent who bets $6,000; putting him all-in. Furst makes the call and shows 99 while his opponent shows JJ. The turn and the river bring the 5 and the 2 offering no help to our defending champion as he is sent to the rail and defending no more.
Play resumed after the dinner break with 145 players spanning over sixteen tables with an average chip stack of $16,158. By the end of Level 7, we were down to 124 players. We have just entered Level 8 with blinds of $400-$800
Player Tags: Rafe Furst, Eugene Todd, Shannon Elizabeth
Furst Looking to Repeat
Jun 03, '07
Only 33 tables remain of the 780 players that started the day in the $1,500 pot-limit hold'em event. Defending event champion Rafe Furst is in good shape to go deep again after doubling up to roughly $15,000 in chips. With a board of J
5
3
9
, Furst moved all of his chips in on the turn and was called by an opponent after three minutes of deliberation. Furst's Q
Q
was a huge favorite over his opponent's 10
10
, and after the river improved neither player Furst scooped up the gigantic pot. This puts him alongside John Robert Bellande and Marco Traniello as notable players in the top ten toward the end of level four.
Eric Froehlich, despite eliminating Max Pescatori last level, has been sent to the rail himself. With only two $25 dollar chips , Froehlich looked down at the Q
9
and called all in. Unfortunately, among the numerous limpers and callers was a tricky Nam Le, who happened to be slowplaying the A
A
. Nam Le raised on the flop to isolate Froelich, and took down the pot when Froehlich's hand did not improve.
Keep your browser locked to
Cardplayer.com for hourly level updates and Pro Blogs.
Player Tags: Nam Le, Marco Traniello, Rafe Furst, Eric Froehlich
Shuffle Up and Deal
Jun 03, '07
Action got underway on time today, with players slowly filing in to fill approximately ninety tables. The defending bracelet winner Rafe Furst got off to a good start, doubling his stack in the first level. Notable players came out in full force, including celebrity/poker powerplayers James Woods and Shannon Elizabeth.
There are a number stacked tables in today's field. One table houses David "Devilfish" Ulliot, Chip Jett, Huck Seed and AJ Kelsall. Burt Boutin was moved to a table where Erik Seidel and Amnon Filippi were waiting for him. TJ Cloutier is sharing the felt with Eric Froelich and Nam Le, bringing together some of the toughest tournament players from two generations. Cloutier was left with a short stack after betting the pot on the flop with bottom pair and a straight draw and being drawn out on by a player calling with the draw to the higher end. A few hands later, Cloutier was all in for $275 and received calls from four players. After a flop of 7
6
4
, a player in middle position raised out the other players in the side pot and showed the 9
9
. Cloutier revealed his 7
7
for a flopped set, and after the turn and river bricked he quintupled up to roughly $1,500.
Make sure to check back for more hourly updates and the Pro Blogs of David Ulliot, Eric Lynch, Darrell Dicken, Rafe Furst and others at
Cardplayer.com.
Player Tags: T.J. Cloutier, Nam Le, James Woods, Rafe Furst, Shannon Elizabeth
Pot Limit Hold'Em Set to Go
Jun 03, '07
The $1,500 pot limit hold'em event is set to get underway at noon here at the 2007
World Series of Poker. With around a thousand entrants last year, it is likely that the number of entrants for this pot limit event should be similarly sized. Entrants will be chasing the bracelet that Rafe Furst won last year. With a less massive field than yesterday, one might actually be able to walk the hallways at the Rio without feeling like they are stuck in a mosh pit. Keep you're browser locked on
Carplayer.com for hourly level updates and the Pro Blogs of Amir Vahedi and Max Pescatori.
Player Tags: Amir Vahedi, Max Pescatori, Rafe Furst
Shawn Sheikhan vs. Daniel Negreanu
Justin Smith vs. Max Pescatori