$2,500 No-Limit Hold'em - Short Stacks Go Home
Jun 09, '08
Blinds: 15,000 - 30,000 with a 4,000 ante
Chip Leaders:
Duncan Bell - 2,950,000
Brent Hanks - 1,400,000
Shawn Buchanan - 1,000,000
Steve Merrifield - 1,000,000
Nathan Doudney - 510,000
Eliminations: Nicolas Levi (9th Place), Brent Ditzik (8th Place), Ariel Soffer (7th Place), Jason Sanders (6th Place)
Big Hands and Storylines:
Nicolas Levi Eliminated in 9th Place ($59,442)
Nicolas Levi was all in for 225,000 and Steve Merrifield made the call. Levi showed down pocket sevens and he was racing against the A
10
of Merrifield. The board ran out 1066
810
and Levi exited the table in ninth place just two hands into play.
Brent Ditzik Eliminated in 8th Place ($83,541)
Duncan Bell raised to 90,000 and Brent Ditzik moved all in. Bell quickly called showing pocket jacks and was up against Ditzik's AQ. The flop brought a queen for Ditzik, but it also came with a jack. There were no runner-runner miracles for Ditzik and he was eliminated in eighth place.
Ariel Soffer Eliminated in 7th Place ($107,639)
On just the eleventh hand of play, Duncan Bell raised to 110,000 and Ariel Soffer moved all in for his last 184,000 with pocket sixes. Bell had J10 and turned a king high straight to eliminate Soffer in seventh place.
Brent "Bhanks11" Hanks Doubles Up, Jason Sanders Crippled
Brent Hanks raised to 85,000 and Jason Sanders made the call. The flop came KJ10 and Sanders moved all in, having Hanks slightly covered. Hanks instantly called and flipped up KK for top set. Sanders sheepishly turned over Q2 for an open-ended straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. The turn ended things quickly when the K gave the young online pro quads and a new stack of 1.4 million. Sanders was left with just over a round of blinds.
Jason Sanders Eliminated in 6th Place ($139,770)
Duncan Bell raised to 100,000 and Jason Sanders called all in with 107. Bell showed 22 and both players were off to the races. The flop of 966 gave Sanders many more outs, but the 2 on the turn ended the hand, and his tournament. Sanders finished in sixth place.
NOTE: Players then went on a 20-minute break while coloring up the 1,000 denomination chips.
Player Tags: Duncan Bell, Brent Hanks, Nicolas Levi, Brent Ditzik, Ariel Soffer, Jason Sanders
$2,500 No-Limit Hold'em - Final Table Today
Jun 09, '08
The final table for event no. 13 will begin today at 2 p.m. The final 9 players will be vying for a first-prize of $666,777 and a World Series of Poker bracelet. If there is a theme for today’s final table it would have to be inexperience: four of the players today have never made a final table before, and three of the players are making their first ever money-finish in a tournament. Here is a rundown of the players at the final table:
Duncan Bell of Vancouver will be making his first ever final table, but his nerves might be tempered a bit by the massive stack of chips sitting in front of him. Bell comes into the final table as the big chipleader. With 1,966,000 chips he will be coming into the final day with nearly twice that of his second-place rival.
British Columbia is sure to be represented well today: Shawn Buchanan, second in chips, is from Abbotsford, BC. Buchanan has 4 World Series of Poker cashes to his name, but his greatest accomplishment is taking down a World Poker Tour title at the 2007 Mandalay Bay Poker Championship. After taking home over $750,000 in that event, he should be more at ease at today’s final table.
Steven Merrifield has been slowly building his way toward this day. The Fairmont, West Virginia native has cashed in 3 World Series of Poker Circuit events this year, each score bigger than the last. Then last week, he made his first World Series cash, finishing 53rd in the $1,000 no-limit hold’em with rebuys event.
Jason Sanders will begin the day with 1,099,000 in chips, but regardless of where he finishes this is guaranteed to be his biggest score ever. Sanders has no major cashes to his name, but a final table at the World Series of Poker is quite a way to start the list. Sanders hails from Simi Valley, California.
You might not consider Brent Hanks a major threat going into this final table if you were to look solely at his live numbers. The Filmore, NY resident has only two lifetime live cashes totaling $8,000. The online tournament world knows full well the talent of Hanks however . "BHanks11" is currently 7th in Card Player's Online Player of the Year ranking, having won both the PokerStars Sunday Million and Nightly Hundred Grand this year. Hanks will hope to carry over his online success to the brick and mortar world with a win today.
Brent Ditzik of Phoenix, Arizona commences our group of players who will be starting with a short stack. With blinds starting at 12,000/24,000 and a 3,000 ante, Ditzik’s stack of 384,000 leaves him with only 16 big blinds to start the day. This is Ditzik’s first ever final table.
Nicolas Levi from France has only 4 major cashes in his career, but they are quite the collection. He has, to his credit: a European Poker Tour final table, finishing 7th in Dortmund; a World Series of Poker cash in a 6-handed event; a World Series of Poker Europe cash, finishing 27th in the Main Event in London; and just earlier this year he made his first ever money appearance in a World Poker Tour event at the Five-Star World Poker Classic. A 6th place finish today will surpass Levi’s best tournament cash of $112,667.
Hollywood’s Ariel Soffer has the odds stacked against him today. Not only has he never had a major tournament cash, but he is also coming into today’s event as a short-stack. A win today by Soffer would be a true underdog tale. Soffer will begin today’s event with 191,000.
Nathan Doudney will enter today’s event with less than 10 big blinds, but this event already has to be considered a success for. Until this tournament, despite three cashes, Doudney had never finished higher than 33rd in a World Series of Poker event. The man from Bend, Texas will need quite a bit of help from the poker gods today to go deep at the final table.
Player Tags: Shawn Buchanan, Duncan Bell, Nathan Doudney, Brent Hanks, Nicolas Levi, Brent Ditzik, Ariel Soffer, Jason Sanders
