William McMahon Poker Tournament Updates

$10,000 World Championship Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better - End of Day 2

Jun 20, '08

The final two-tables are set! Level 17 saw 7 eliminations and the staff at the Rio decided to call it a night with 18 players remaining. Foremost among the players returning tomorrow will be Mike Matusow. With a big stack of chips and an even bigger mouth, Matusow will be happy with nothing less than his 2nd bracelet of this year's series. To do so, he will have to fend off a number of big names. Hendon Mobber Ram Vaswani will enter the final day with the chip lead and he too will have a multiple-bracelet motivation: a win in this event will give him bracelets in consecutive years. Also in the hunt are high stakes cash specialists Chau Giang and David Benyamine. Benyamine, who was bounced on the final table bubble of the $5,000 stud high/low event only a few days ago, will have extra incentive to make a final table run here.

The players will reconvene at the Rio tomorrow at 3 p.m. PST.
 

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Here is a recap of the final level of the day:

Blinds: 5,000-10,000

Players Left: 18 of 235

Chip Leaders:
Ram Vaswani - 450,000
Mike Matusow - 390,000
Chau Giang - 370,000
Greg Jamison - 315,000
Eugene Katchalov - 290,000
Toto Leonidas - 265,000
David Benyamine - 260,000
David Chiu - 260,000
Berry Johnston - 260,000
Hieu Ma - 230,000

Average Stack: 261,000

Eliminations:
19^th – Patrick Rao
20^th – James Grove
21^st – James Van Alstyne
22^nd – Danny Smith
23^rd – Brad Booth
24^th – Bruno Fitoussi
25^th – Dustin Sitar

Big Hands and Storylines:

Dustin Donates And Goes Home

The two short stacks at the table Dustin Sitar and Stuart “thedonator” Patterson got all-in pre-flop and showed the following hands:

Patterson: A1072
Sitar: AKJ6

When the board – 109429 – had been dealt, Patterson’s nines and tens were enough to take down the pot. Sitar, slightly covered by Patterson, was eliminated in 25^th place. Patterson is now up to 80,000.

“You Gotta Get Lucky”

Brad Booth raised from late position. Mike Matusow called from the button saying, “I’ll give you some action,” and William McMahon called in the big blind. The flop came JJ8. McMahon checked, Booth bet, Matusow raised, and his two rivals called. The turn was the 9 and McMahon and Booth both checked to Matusow who bet. This time McMahon cagily raised and Booth, with only 3,000 chips left, was forced to fold. Matusow called and the pair saw the river: 10. McMahon bet, Matusow raised, the call was made and they showed their hands:

Matusow: KKJ10
McMahon: KJ95

Matusow had re-drawn out on the river after McMahon had spiked a 6-outer on the turn. After the conclusion of the hand there was much discussion about whether the hand had played itself or if there was any other way it could have been played. Matusow put his inimitable stamp on the conversation when he opined, “You don’t think Phil Hellmuth has 11 bracelets because he plays good, do you? You gotta get lucky!” Matusow, whether through luck, skill, or a bit of both, is now up to 390,000.

You Gotta Get Lucky: Part II

The very next hand, William McMahon got most of his chips into the pot against David Chiu by the flop. McMahon bet his last 20,000 on the turn with the board reading KK510 and Chiu, after a great deal of thought, made a frustrated call. Chiu’s frustration grew when he saw McMahon’s holding: A10103. Chiu was drawing to only 3 outs with AA92 but the river was an unhelpful 9. The hand elevated McMahon to 120,000. Hey, you gotta get lucky.

Player Tags: Toto Leonidas,   Tony Ma,   David Benyamine,   Mike Matusow,   Greg Jamison,   David Chiu,   Ram Vaswani,   Chau Giang,   Bruno Fitoussi,   Berry Johnston,   James Van Alstyne,   Dustin Sitar,   Eugene Katchalov,   William McMahon,   Brad Booth,   Stuart Paterson

Event 8 - $10,000 Mixed Championship - Level 16

Jun 05, '08

Players Remaining: 16 of 192

Average Stack: 240,000

Notable Chip Counts:
Tom Dwan - 620,000
Matthew Glantz - 560,000
Sam Farha - 360,000
Gus Hansen - 255,000
David Oppenheim - 235,000
Tom Schneider - 235,000
Eli Elezra - 221,000
Ali Eslami - 210,000
Jeff Madsen - 190,000
Johnny Chan - 180,000

Recent Eliminations:
William McMahon (17^th)
Brandon Adams (18^th)
Greg Mueller (19^th)

Big Hands:

Omaha 8: Gus Loses Massive Pot to Eli

On a board of 8772, Gus Hansen and Eli Elezra began a raising war.  Gus finally broke and just called Eli’s final raise.  On the Td river, Hansen checked to Elezra who fired another bet into the pot.  Hansen paused for a moment and said, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”  He tossed a call across the line and Elezra turned over AK33.  Elezra’s second-nut flush and ace-trey nut low was apparently good for a scoop, as Gus Hansen mucked his cards upon seeing Elezra’s hand.  “Wow, boys, I just took a more than 90,000 dollar pot from Gus,” commented Elezra as he dragged the pot.

Omaha 8: Gus Hansen Burning Through Chips

Gus Hansen continued to plummet after losing to Eli, this time to Tom Dwan.  In a battle of the blinds, Hansen raised from the small blind and Dwan reraised from the big blind.  Hansen called, and the two saw a flop of Q54.  Hansen checked, and Dwan fired again.  Gus called and the 8 hit the felt on the turn.  Again Gus checked, and again Dwan bet.  Gus folded, and was heard afterward to remark that he had been the chip leader eight hands ago and was now fearing elimination.

Watch Erik Seidel discuss Omaha 8

Razz: William McMahon Doubles Up Before Being Eliminated

Moments after doubling up when his AQT6554 was good for the pot in a hand during the razz level, William McMahon was eliminated by Lee Watkinson in a large pot.  Johnny Chan was originally involved in the hand, but folded his cards on fourth street when his board read J8.  During the same round, Lee raised enough to put McMahon all in, and McMahon called.  By the river, Watkinson’s board of A87543 had the crowd of interested players commenting that McMahon was drawing dead.  He was eliminated in 17^th place, and the remaining players redrew for their new seat assignments during two-table play.  Today’s portion of the event will end when eight more players are eliminated and the final table is set.

Watch T.J. Cloutier discuss the game of razz

Player Tags: Lee Watkinson,   Gus Hansen,   Eli Elezra,   William McMahon

Event 8 - $10,000 Mixed Championship - Level 15

Jun 05, '08

Players Remaining: 19 of 192

Average Stack: 202,105

Notable Chip Counts:
Johnny Chan - 490,000
Gus Hansen - 435,000
Matthew Glantz - 365,000
Eli Elezra - 298,000
Tom Dwan - 285,000
David Oppenheim - 260,000
Tom Schneider - 250,000
Michael DeMichele - 250,000
Sam Farha - 192,000
James Mackey - 160,000

Recent Eliminations:
Adam Friedman (20^th)
Doyle Brunson (21^st)
Scott Seiver (22^nd)
Chad Brown (23^rd)
Nikolay Evdakov (24^th)

Big Hands:

Pot-Limit Omaha: Tensions High as Amnon Filippi All In

On a board of 9342, Amnon Filippi pushed all in for his remaining 6,200. The bet represented a small fraction of the current pot, and Filippi wondered aloud why Sam Farha was deliberating for so long before calling. Farha announced that he didn’t want to show his hand, but called the bet anyway. When he finally called and Filippi turned over AAT5, Sam threw his cards towards the muck.

The dealer declared that because the hand was all in, Farha’s cards would have to be retrieved and shown so the river could be dealt. Filippi objected as the hand had already touched the muck, and the floor man was called. The ruling was that the hand would have to be shown, and a dealer standing behind the table waiting to relieve the current dealer said that he had seen Farha’s cards and would repeat them to the director to verify the authenticity of the hand. After telling the floor man what he believed Farha’s cards were, the floor man turned over the KQ96. The river didn’t improve the hand.

Farha objected the ruling and requested to the floor man that a different dealer replace the current one. The floor man obliged, and a new dealer sat in. Johnny Chan vocally opposed this ruling, and forecasted that it would set precedence for future players to arbitrarily request new dealers for insignificant reasons. The floor man disagreed with Chan, and play continued with the new replacement dealer.

The first hand with the new dealer was a game change to deuce-to-seven triple draw, and an extra card being dealt resulted in a misdeal. Johnny Chan sarcastically requested a dealer change.

2-7 Triple Draw: William McMahon Vs. Brandon Adams

On the first draw round of a hand in the deuce-to-seven triple draw, both William McMahon and Brandon Adams drew two cards. After receiving his new replacements, Adams led out with a bet. McMahon raised, and Brandon deliberated while counting his remaining chips. He eventually folded, leaving himself with only 65,000 in chips, well below the tournament average.

Player Tags: Gus Hansen,   Johnny Chan,   Sam Farha,   Christopher Gentile,   William McMahon,   Brandon Adams,   European Report

Hour Two Recap

Jun 15, '07

The second level of this final table was absolutely crazy. In the last hour there have been seven eliminations and the action is now heads up between James Mackey and Stuart Fox. The play this level was almost all preflop, with less than five flops on hands that didn't eliminate a player. James Mackey and Michael Binger established themselves as the aggressors at the table this level, and their large chip stacks reflected that. The two remaining players are on a short break while tournament officials place the money on the table and get the bracelet ready. Play will resume shortly.

The order of eliminations are:

9th Place - Mike Gracz ($43,684)
8th Place - John "Tex" Barch ($60,254)
7th Place - Jan Sorenson ($81,343)
6th Place - Nick Schulman ($108,457)
5th Place - Karga Holt ($140,091)
4th Place - Will McMahon ($194,319)
3rd Place - Michael Binger ($295,245)

James Mackey will return from the break as the dominant chip leader. Mackey has a 12:1 chip advantage coming into heads up play, with $5,900,000 up against $495,000 helf by Stuart Fox. Fox came into the final table fourth in chips and has only played one hand all day. Fox has been able to sneak in the back door into at least second place by watching his companions battle all day.

There are approximately two hands remaining in the 20th level and after that the blinds will rise to $30,000-$60,000 with a  $5,000 ante.  There will be  $100,000  of dead money in each hand in the 21st level which means Fox will be forced to make a move soon.

Player Tags: Michael Gracz,   John Barch,   Jan Sorensen,   James Mackey,   William McMahon,   Stuart Fox,   Michael Binger,   Nick Schulman,   Karga Holt

William McMahon Eliminated in 4th Place ($194,319)

Jun 15, '07

First to act, Michael Binger raised. Stuart Fox folded on the button and James Mackey called from the small blind. Will McMahon reraised all in from the big blind and caused Binger to fold. Mackey made the call and showed 10 7. McMahon had pushed with A 6. The dealer laid out 9 7 3 3 3 and Mackey was ahead since the flop. McMahon was eliminated in 4th place, earning him $194,319. Macky continues to chip up and has a commanding lead over Binger and Stuart Fox.

Player Tags: James Mackey,   William McMahon,   Stuart Fox,   Michael Binger

Jan Sorenson Eliminated in 7th Place ($81,343)

Jun 15, '07

Will McMahon raised from middle position and Michael Binger reraised. Jan Sorenson reraised all in and McMahon got out of the way. Binger had Sorenson barely covered and called. Binger showed 10 10 and Sorenson flipped up A A. The flop came 10 8 4 and Binger looked so calm in his seat it was as if he expected it. The turn was the Q and the river came the 5. Jan Sorenson was eliminated in 7th place, earning him $81,343.

Player Tags: Jan Sorensen,   William McMahon,   Michael Binger