PokerStars Game #19777921814:  Hold’em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2008/08/21 - 00:47:39 (ET)
Table ‘Phereclos’ 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: peiscottster ($135.60 in chips)
Seat 2: Veritas618 ($54 in chips)
Seat 3: visavis1111 ($98.10 in chips)
Seat 4: csquard ($48.65 in chips)
Seat 5: jackiemike ($22.40 in chips)
Seat 6: rdbougi83 ($18 in chips)
visavis1111: posts small blind $0.25
csquard: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to csquard [As Ah]
jackiemike: raises $1 to $1.50
rdbougi83: raises $3.50 to $5
peiscottster: folds
Veritas618: folds
visavis1111: folds
csquard: raises $18 to $23
jackiemike: folds
rdbougi83: calls $13 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($5) returned to csquard
*** FLOP *** [Qh Td Ad]
*** TURN *** [Qh Td Ad] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [Qh Td Ad Ac] [9d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
csquard: shows [As Ah] (four of a kind, Aces)
rdbougi83: shows [Qs Qd] (a full house, Queens full of Aces)
csquard collected $35.90 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $37.75 | Rake $1.85
Board [Qh Td Ad Ac 9d]
Seat 1: peiscottster folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 2: Veritas618 (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: visavis1111 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: csquard (big blind) showed [As Ah] and won ($35.90) with four of a kind, Aces
Seat 5: jackiemike folded before Flop
Seat 6: rdbougi83 showed [Qs Qd] and lost with a full house, Queens full of Aces

Alot of poker posts this weekend (or at least just putting data up for folks).  I was reading some things about Google listings and the like, so I decided to see what pops up when you Google World Series of Poker.  Bizarre mix.

1. World Series of Poker This is the official site from Harrah’s
2. World Series of Poker Silverlight I have no idea what this is (it is a directory of the official site), but it goes to a dead page.  Good work, Bluff (who administers Harrah’s site)
3. Poker Listings Wow, their coverage pops up in third
4. Wiki page for WSOP
5. Playing Winning Poker Some hack site listing the WSOP winners
6. Conjelco Archive site from 2000; shows links to old WSOP sites pre-2001
7. UNLV History of WSOP
8. Bodog
9. WSOP 2008 Hack site of someone who scooped up the WSOP2008 domain
10. PokerPages Landing page for WSOP links at PokerPages

PokerStars popped up in 10th as I was doing this, with PokerNews about 15th or so.  CardPlayer shows up on page 5 with Bluff not showing up until page 7 of the Google search, and then some random article about the WSOP Circuit schedule.

79 players to start play on Sunday at nine tables.  Make that 78 players as Phil Hellmuth has to sit out an orbit before he can look at his first cards.  He’ll drop back to 640k in chips to start the day.  I’m assuming one of the ESPN tables today will be Table G08, with Mike Matusow (7s, 1.17mil) sitting next to Tiffany Michelle (8s, 3.44mil). Thomas “Thunder” Keller is lightest in chips to start (245k) and probably has lost the most weight in the last year of any player left in the event.

With the starting pot at 81k (15k/30k with a 4k ante), 47 players have an M>15 with 17 players looking at an M<10.  Here are the top three tables to start the day:

Table G05 (20.974mil) This is by far the monster table for today, with five of the top twenty in chips including the chipleader, Mark Ketteringham.  Kettering started Saturday at the heaviest table in the Amazon Room, and he’ll do the same today.  Jeremy    Joseph    3,100,000 Mark    Ketteringham    5,800,000 Gert    Andersen    1,447,000 Brandon    Cantu    2,288,000 David    Benefield    2,490,000 Dennis    Phillips    3,436,000 Sean    Davis    861,000 Michael    Carroll    957,000 Mark    Owens    595,000

Table G02 (19.974mil) 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 21st, and 22nd in chips make this a very balanced, chip-laden table.  Look for alot of very deliberate play here unless this table gets hit with some early coolers.  Chris    Klodnicki    2,496,000 Kido    Pham    1,600,000 Aaron    Keay    990,000 Anthony    Scherer    2,245,000 Alfredo    Fernandez    3,053,000 Peter    Eastgate    2,629,000 Judet    Christian    3,031,000 Scott    Montgomery    1,669,000 Mauro    Lupo    2,261,000

Table G04 (17.28mil) Nikolay Losev (3rd, 4.06mil) and Albert Kim (4th, 3.74mil) make this a top-heavy table, with no other players in the top 25 in chips.  I’ll be rooting for Matt Matros to hang in there, one of the first players I interviewed.  Geert    Jans    1,633,000 Justin    Scott    1,971,000 Alan    Gould    1,838,000 Daniel    Buzgon    876,000 Alex    Outhred    699,000 Albert    Kim    3,734,000 David    Saab    1,705,000 Nikolay    Losev    4,058,000 Matt    Matros    766,000

The chip counts for the final 79 looks like this:

Mark    Ketteringham    Los Angeles    California    5,800,000
Andrew    Brokos    Catunsville    Maryland    4,080,000
Nikolay    Losev    Moscow    Russia    4,058,000
Albert    Kim    Staten Island    New York    3,734,000
Tiffany    Michelle    Los Angeles    California    3,438,000
Dennis    Phillips    St. Louis    Missouri    3,436,000
Aaron    Gordon    Brighton    England    3,369,000
Jamal    Kunbuz        Venezuela    3,327,000
Terry    Lade    Ormond Beach    Florida    3,225,000
Jeremy    Joseph    Buffalo    New York    3,100,000
Alfredo    Fernandez    Miami    Florida    3,053,000
Judet    Christian    Bucuresti    Romania    3,031,000
Peter    Eastgate    Odense    Denmark    2,629,000
David    Rheem    Los Angeles    California    2,586,000
Chris    Klodnicki    Voorhees    New Jersey    2,496,000
David    Benefield    Fort Worth    Texas    2,490,000
James    McManus    Dublin    Ireland    2,434,000
Kelly    Kim    Whittier    Alaska    2,425,000
Cristian    Dragomir    Bucharest    Romania    2,372,000
Brandon    Cantu    Las Vegas    Nevada    2,288,000
Mauro    Lupo    Barrie    Ontario, Canada    2,261,000
Anthony    Scherer    Truckee    California    2,245,000
Nicholas    Sliwinski    Las Vegas    Nevada    2,236,000
Jason    Riesenberg    Halbur    Iowa    2,217,000
Nhan    Le    Orange County    California    2,190,000
Ivan    Demidov    Moscow    Russia    2,185,000
Justin    Sadauskas    Chicago    Illinois    2,000,000
Justin    Scott    Detroit    Michigan    1,971,000
Dean    Hamrick    Plymouth    Michigan    1,905,000
Jonathan    Plens    Toronto    Ontario, Canada    1,870,000
Garrett    Beckman    Gardner    Kansas    1,860,000
Alan    Gould    Plantation    Florida    1,838,000
Craig    Marquis    Arlington    Texas    1,748,000
David    Saab    Mesbourne    Australia    1,705,000
Scott    Montgomery    Perth    Ontario, Canada    1,669,000
Geert    Jans    Blitterswijck    DNR    1,633,000
Kido    Pham    Dallas    Texas    1,600,000
Andrew    Rosskamm    Cleveland    Ohio    1,593,000
Paul    Snead    Kings Park    New York    1,572,000
Joe    Bishop    Cincinnati    Ohio    1,570,000
Phi    Nguyen    Hawaiian Gardens City    California    1,540,000
Larry    Wright    Montgomery    Alabama    1,502,000
Gert    Andersen    Herning    Denmark    1,447,000
Bob    Whalen    Cudahy    Wisconsin    1,382,000
Rafael    Caiaffa    Belo Horizonte    Brazil    1,338,000
Peter    Neff    Los Angeles    California    1,275,000
Niklas    Flisberg    Stockholm    Sweden    1,264,000
Gregory    Byard    San Francisco    California    1,189,000
Chris    Crilly    San Clemente    California    1,183,000
Suresh    Prabhu    Atlanta    Georgia    1,175,000
Mike    Matusow    Las Vegas    Nevada    1,169,000
Allen    Kennedy    Valdosta    Georgia    1,153,000
Clint    Schafer    Baton Rouge    Louisiana    1,123,000
Darus    Suharto    Toronto    Ontario, Canada    1,057,000
Owen    Crowe    Halifax    Massachusetts    1,050,000
Tim    Loecke    Highland Park    Illinois    996,000
Aaron    Keay    Vancouver    British Columbia, Canada    990,000
Michael    Carroll    Carson    California    957,000
Jamal    Sawaqdeh    Denver    Colorado    888,000
Daniel    Buzgon    Marlton    New Jersey    876,000
Sean    Davis    Atlanta    Georgia    861,000
Ylon    Schwartz    Brooklyn    New York    816,000
Victor    Ramdin    Bronx    New York    795,000
Felix    Osterland    Tuebingen    Germany    786,000
Brian    Tatum    Lake Village    Indiana    780,000
Adam    Levy    Orlando    Florida    767,000
Matt    Matros    Brooklyn    New York    766,000
Phil    Hellmuth    Palo    Alto    721,000
Alex    Outhred    Los Angeles    California    699,000
Keith    Hawkins    Middleton Tyas    England    636,000
Jason    Glass    Buffalo Grove    Illinois    629,000
Mark    Owens    Chicago    Illinois    595,000
Lisa    Parsons    Franklin    Tennessee    581,000
Jeremy    Gaubert    Lockport    Louisiana    578,000
Mark     Wilds    DNR    DNR    485,000
Eric    Bamer    Lacey    Washington    479,000
Craig    Stein    Marcedonia    Ohio    440,000
Christopher    Zapf    San Francisco    California    297,000
Thomas    Keller    Scottsdale    Arizona    245,000

I’ve been emailing a list to folks but thought I would post it here as well.  These are the 21 tables starting today.  Let me highlight a few quick stats.  There are 189 players left, with a half hour or so of 5k/10k w/ 1k ante (starting pot of 24k).  If you look at the next two levels, you’ll see there is a 50% jump in the pot with Level 20 due to the antes (6k/12k w/2k ante) then a slight rise (8k/16k w/ 2k).

SB    BB    Ante    Pot
Level 19     5,000      10,000      1,000      24,000
Level 20     6,000      12,000      2,000      36,000
Level 21     8,000      16,000      2,000      42,000
Level 22     10,000      20,000      3,000      57,000
Level 20     12,000      24,000      3,000      63,000
Level 21     15,000      30,000      4,000      81,000

140 of the 189 players start the day with an M>15, and it doesn’t shift much when they move to Level 20 (M>15 is 110 of 189).  This is fairly consistent with the last two years as the stacks get deeper, allowing players with patience to move up without resorting to shovebot poker.  Only 23 players start the day with an M<10, although it jumps to 49 after the level is completed.

I’d also point you to a few big stack tables.  We often see significant chip movement and accumulation from these tables as we get deep in the Main Event.

Table B13 (9.39mil) Five players with over a million in chips plus two more with 850k puts close to 7% of the chips at this table to start.  You could see the chipleader of the day emerge from here if there are plenty of fireworks.

Table B03 (9.20mil) Two of the top six in chips are here (Christian Dragomir 2nd/2.1mil & David Rheem 6th/1.85mil).  Rheem is in the BB when Dragomir is on the button and is joined by two other million chippers.  Mike Matusow (458k) could be primed for an early bustout or a big move here.

Table G06 (8.795mil) Chipleader Jeremy Joseph (2.19mil) is joined by five other players with >800k.  You might have heard of one: Gus Hansen (1.37mil)

Table B05 (7.96mil) Allen Cunningham is third in chips (1.14mil) among five players >800k, which includes Tiffany Michelle.

Table G10 (4.31mil) The shorty of the twenty-one tables, with six players <400k.  If these were a sneaky bunch, they could just fold their blinds until their table breaks and all move up in the money.

Here are the seat assignments for Saturday’s Day 5:

Tri    Nguyen    Westminster    California    592,000    B01    01
Dwayne    Stacey    Romsey    England    372,000    B01    02
Ylon    Schwartz    Brooklyn    New York    870,000    B01    03
Jason    Riesenberg    Halbur    Iowa    735,000    B01    04
Kyle    Carlston    Las Vegas    Nevada    265,000    B01    05
Mark    Wilds        DNR    241,000    B01    06
Nathan    Hays    Elm Creek    Nebraska    312,000    B01    07
Robert    Hwang    Barnegat    New Jersey    875,000    B01    08
Nhan    Le        DNR    336,000    B01    09
Sean    Davis    Atlanta    Georgia    851,000    B03    01
Daniel    Buzgon    Marlton    New Jersey    775,000    B03    02
Cristian    Dragomir    Bucharest    Romania    2,065,000    B03    03
Kara    Scott    Brighton    England    247,000    B03    04
David    Rheem    Los Angeles    California    1,851,000    B03    05
Owen     Crowe    Halifax    Massachusetts    1,100,000    B03    06
Mike    Matusow    Las Vegas    Nevada    458,000    B03    07
Jeffrey    Anderson    Hermosa Beach    California    355,000    B03    08
Phi    Nguyen    Hawaiian Garden City    California    1,500,000    B03    09
Michael    Carroll    Carson    California    454,000    B05    01
Alex    Outhred    Los Angeles    California    1,377,000    B05    02
Cory    Albertson    Houston    Texas    556,000    B05    03
Robin    Larsson    Koping    Sweden    590,000    B05    04
Allen    Cunningham    Las Vegas    Nevada    1,141,000    B05    05
Darius    Suharto    Toronto    Ontario, Canada    1,428,000    B05    06
Tiffany    Michelle    Los Angeles    California    909,000    B05    07
Tim    Loecke    Highland Park    Illinois    856,000    B05    08
Lonnie    Heimowitz    Monticello    New York    650,000    B05    09
Garrett     Beckman    Gardner    Kansas    515,000    B11    01
Allen    Carter    Carrollton    Texas    413,000    B11    02
Brad    Johnson    Huntsville    Alabama    237,000    B11    03
Reagan    Silber    Las Vegas    Nevada    671,000    B11    04
Brent    Sheirbon    Panama City    Panama    919,000    B11    05
Pontus    Khosravi    Gothenburg    Sweden    629,000    B11    06
Alexander    Kostritsyn    Moscow    Russia    1,137,000    B11    07
Andrew    Brooks    Catonsville    Maryland    678,000    B11    08
Anthony     Clark    Gold Coast    Australia    397,000    B11    09
Andy    Witek    Nevada City    California    367,000    B13    01
Vito    Branciforte        Germany    845,000    B13    02
Joshua    Freeman    Plantation    Florida    658,000    B13    03
David    Benefield    Fort Worth    Texas    1,372,000    B13    04
Dave    Hoy    Norwich    England    850,000    B13    05
Jamal    Sawaqdeh    Denver    Colorado    1,268,000    B13    06
Paul    Snead    Kings Park    New York    1,411,000    B13    07
William    Purle    Wokingham    England    1,022,000    B13    08
Mark    Ketteringham    Los Angeles    California    1,600,000    B13    09
Jeremy    Gaubert    Lockport    Louisiana    696,000    B15    01
Jason    Glass    Buffalo Grove    Illinois    204,000    B15    02
Mikael    Johansson    Kristianstad    Sweden    619,000    B15    03
Aaron    Keay    Vancouver    British Columbia, Canada    363,000    B15    04
Christopher    Zapf    San Francisco    California    119,000    B15    05
Joshua    Norris    Toronto    Ontario, Canada    207,000    B15    06
Doug    Ashmore    Houston    Texas    471,000    B15    07
Jonathan    Plens    Toronto    Ontario, Canada    1,029,000    B15    08
Dean    Hamrick    Plymouth    Michigan    939,000    B15    09
Hai Bo    Chu    Melbourne    Australia    100,000    B21    01
Geoffrey    Herzog    Jacksonville Beach    Florida    1,695,000    B21    02
Anton    Nikaj    Putnam Valley    New York    496,000    B21    03
Nghia    Le    Shakopee    Minnesota    279,000    B21    04
Adam    York    Bristol    England    95,000    B21    05
Markus    Feurie    Bregenz    Austria    796,000    B21    06
Bob    Whalen    Cudahy    Wisconsin    927,000    B21    07
Chris    Overgard    Naperville    Illinois    607,000    B21    08
Clint    Schafer    Baton Rouge    Louisiana    1,017,000    B21    09
Alan    Gould    Plantation    Florida    713,000    B23    01
Thomas    Keller    Scottsdale    Arizona    251,000    B23    02
Helge    Pedersen    Odesnse    Denmark    272,000    B23    03
Santeri    Valikoski    Espoo    Finland    1,069,000    B23    04
Cort    Kibler-Melby    Berlin    Germany    235,000    B23    05
Jeremiah    Smith    Las Vegas    Nevada    955,000    B23    06
Cedric    Kolstad    Mesa    Arizona    1,032,000    B23    07
Geert    Jans    Blitterswijck    Netherlands    937,000    B23    08
Alfredo    Fernandez    Miami    Florida    787,000    B23    09
Noah    Kawashige    Honolulu    Hawaii    177,000    B25    01
Andrew    Teng    London    England    1,024,000    B25    02
Jeff    Madsen    Los Angeles    California    690,300    B25    03
Anthony    Meeker    Rockville Center    New York    130,000    B25    04
Justin    Sadauskas    Chicago    Illinois    1,160,000    B25    05
Chris    Barrile    Maruborough    Massachusetts    200,000    B25    06
Tom    Cope    Westport    Connecticut    275,000    B25    07
Niklas    Flisberg    Stockholm    Sweden    610,000    B25    08
Marc    Podell    New York    New York    369,000    B25    09
Anthony    Scherer    Truckee    California    1,157,000    B31    01
Evan    Jarvis    Toronto    Ontario, Canada    563,000    B31    02
Justin    Scott    Detroit    Michigan    639,000    B31    03
Matt    Matros    Brooklyn    New York    1,126,000    B31    04
Andrew    Rosskamm    Cleveland    Ohio    1,764,000    B31    05
Joel    Fischbein    Las Vegas    Nevada    836,000    B31    06
Gert    Andersen    Herning    Denmark    277,000    B31    07
Greg    Byard    San Francisco    California    476,000    B31    08
Andy    Schulte    Madison    Wisconsin    454,000    B31    09
Aaron    Gordon    Brighton    England    493,000    B33    01
Brandon    Cantu    Las Vegas    Nevada    1,981,000    B33    02
Phil    Hellmuth    Palo Alto    California    581,000    B33    03
Barry    Leventhal    Brooklyn    New York    675,000    B33    04
Darrin    Grant    Toronto    Ontario, Canada    491,000    B33    05
Peter    Eastgate    Odense    Denmark    690,000    B33    06
Felix    Osterland    Tuebingen    Germany    1,491,000    B33    07
David    Saab    Melbourne    Australia    776,000    B33    08
Peter    Traply    Budapest    Hungary    260,000    B33    09
Eric    Bamer    Lacey    Washington    689,000    B35    01
Jeffrey    Papola    White Plains    New York    493,000    B35    02
Jeff     Kimber    London    England    987,000    B35    03
Keith    Hawkins    Middleton Tyas    England    406,000    B35    04
Mark    Vos    Cape Town    South Africa    1,373,000    B35    05
Minna    Ritakorpi    Vantaa    Finland    257,000    B35    06
James    Mills    Downey    California    167,000    B35    07
Cornel    Pazai    Santa Clara    California    506,000    B35    08
Karle    Wilson    Westchester    Ohio    1,070,000    B35    09
Kido     Pham    Dallas     Texas    317,000    B41    01
Brian    Tatum    Lake Village    Indiana    919,000    B41    02
Allen    Kennedy    Valdosta    Georgia    429,000    B41    03
Chris    Klodnicki    Vorhees    New Jersey    600,000    B41    04
Nikolay    Losev    Moscow    Russia    2,110,000    B41    05
Joe     Bishop    Cincinnati    Ohio    940,000    B41    06
Aditya    Agarwal    Calcutta    India     861,000    B41    07
Charles    Dolan    Huntington Beach    California    319,000    B41    08
Jose    Barbero    Buenos Aries    Argentina    1,255,000    B41    09
Sarkis    Akopyan    Moscow     Russia    442,000    B43    01
Jonathan    Friedberg    Las Vegas    Nevada    140,000    B43    02
Shahram    Sheikhan    Las Vegas    Nevada    1,516,000    B43    03
Sylvain    Coeur    Echirolles    France    405,000    B43    04
Tim     Taylor    Tampa    Florida    470,000    B43    05
Peter    Neff    Los Angeles    California    1,127,000    B43    06
Jerry     Martin    Indianapolis    Indiana    1,112,000    B43    07
Jesse    McEuen    Las Vegas    Nevada    309,000    B43    08
Lou     Esposito    Howard Beach    New York    233,000    B43    09
Matthew     Jensen    Los Angeles    California    320,000    B45    01
Craig    Marquis    Arlington    Texas    1,080,000    B45    02
Albert    Kim    Staten Island    New York    1,688,000    B45    03
Diren    Yildiz    Namur    Belgium    625,000    B45    04
Jerry    Cusick    Commerce City    Colorado    156,000    B45    05
Brandon    Becker    Loveland    Ohio    348,000    B45    06
Adam    Levy    Orlando    Florida    720,000    B45    07
Tsaoussis    Charalampos    Starnberg    Germany    506,000    B45    08
Judet    Cristian    Bucuresti    Romania    1,096,000    B45    09
Terry    Lade    Ormond Beach    Florida    900,000    G03    01
Chad     Layne     Las Vegas    Nevada    140,000    G03    02
Matt    Lessinger    Alameda    California    308,000    G03    03
Petteri    Pirinen    Espoo    Finland    222,000    G03    04
Jason    Su    Austin    Texas    1,360,000    G03    05
Terry    Stewart    Augusta    Georgia    946,000    G03    06
Lanini    Davor    Parma    Italy    1,958,000    G03    07
Jamal    Kunbuz        Venezuela    837,000    G03    08
Kelly    Kim    Whittier    Alaska    637,000    G03    09
Dan     Assor    Caracas    Venezuela    888,000    G04    01
Graddus    Terwiss Cha Van        DNR    249,000    G04    02
Will    Brewin    Bristol    England    285,000    G04    03
Scott    Montgomery    Perth    Ontario, Canada    1,117,000    G04    04
Ben    Roberts    London    England    214,000    G04    05
Jens    Klaning    Aarhus    Denmark    611,000    G04    06
Deng    Dong    Edmonton    Alberta, Canada    388,000    G04    07
Karen    Manfrede    Santa Monica    California    195,000    G04    08
Victor     Ramdin    Bronx     New York    1,322,000    G04    09
Mao    Qiu    Shanghai    China    1,200,000    G05    01
Garth    Paul    Cleveland    Ohio    647,000    G05    02
Mark    Owens    Chicago    Illinois    577,000    G05    03
Nicholas    Sliwinski    Las Vegas    Nevada    1,408,000    G05    04
James    McManus    Dublin    Ireland    1,761,000    G05    05
Stephen    Kenna    Dublin    Ireland    495,000    G05    06
Alex    Tinsley    Wauconda    Illinois    168,000    G05    07
Raja    Kattamuri    Dallas    Texas    499,000    G05    08
Yde    van Deutekon    Zoetermeer    Netherlands    384,000    G05    09
Jeremy    Joseph    Buffalo    New York    2,187,000    G06    01
Justin    St. John    Pittsburgh    Pennsylvania    552,000    G06    02
Robert    Betts    Albuquerque    New Mexico    969,000    G06    03
Mauro    Lupo    Barrie    Ontario, Canada    821,000    G06    04
Gus    Hansen        Monaco    1,367,000    G06    05
Craig    Stein    Macedonia    Ohio    523,000    G06    06
Chris    Crilly    San Clemente    Georgia    896,000    G06    07
Reggie     Lyons    Dublin     Ireland    609,000    G06    08
Suresh    Prabhu    Atlanta    Georgia    871,000    G06    09
Kellen    Hunter    Minot    North Dakota    399,000    G08    01
Chip     Jett    Las Vegas    Nevada    386,000    G08    02
Keith    Ferrera    Cincinnati    Ohio    1,268,000    G08    03
Dennis    Phillips    Cottage Hills    Illinois    801,000    G08    04
Rafael    Caiaffa    Belo Horizonte    Brazil    697,000    G08    05
Larry    Wright    Montgomery    Alabama    826,000    G08    06
Lisa    Parsons    Franklin    Tennessee    348,000    G08    07
Steve    Pestal    Long Beach    California    200,300    G08    08
Stephane    Hornet        DNR    207,000    G08    09
Hoyt    Corkins    Glenwood    Alabama    305,000    G10    01
Neil    Sweeting    London    England    160,000    G10    02
Keoni    Schwartz    Honolulu    Hawaii    651,000    G10    03
Ivan     Demidov    Moscow    Russia    942,000    G10    04
George    Rahme    Burbank    California    128,000    G10    05
Robert    Ford    Johnstown    Pennsylvania    1,213,000    G10    06
Bernie    Koerner    Alexandria    Kentucky    300,000    G10    07
Greg    Debora    Toronto    Ontario, Canada    255,000    G10    08
Patrick    Zamarian    Zurich    Switzerland    357,000    G10    09

I remember seeing Scotty Nguyen slowly making his way through the Atlanta airport a couple years ago with his wife or girlfriend (I have no idea what his marital status was at the time).  I’m not a gawker nor am I a hound, and I decided to simply watch him as he walked down the terminal.  He was a very slight man, and the only tell he had was his Oklahoma casino jacket.

He takes down the $50k HORSE event this morning at the World Series of Poker, adding to his 11th place finish in last year’s WSOP ME.  I must admit that I’ve always thought of him as a caricature rather than one of the top players in the world.  Yet here is a guy who has now won five WSOP bracelets, including two Omaha 8 or better titles, a PLO bracelet, the 1998 WSOP Main Event, and now the biggest cash of his career, the $50k HORSE title.  This is no fluke.  This vaults Scotty right up there in the annals of the greatest tournament players in the game.

NY Times article today on the prop bets of poker pros.  It includes one of the first poker blogs I ever read, Life of a Poker Pro’s Luke Kim.  Luke made the jump to Vegas several years ago, and his site is a hidden gem if you’ve never read it.

I know most folks don’t like repopping here with KQs, but what is your line and what did these guys lay down here?  And do I like the turn or hate it?

PokerStars Game #17940221360:  Hold’em No Limit ($0.50/$1.00) - 2008/06/05 - 18:30:05 (ET)
Table ‘Umbriel V’ 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: LavaBrick ($175.30 in chips)
Seat 2: csquard ($187.45 in chips)
Seat 3: mrcrgl ($99.50 in chips)
Seat 4: oOTOUCHOo ($103.40 in chips)
Seat 5: halloworld ($14.10 in chips)
Seat 6: Thulsadoon ($48.10 in chips)
halloworld: posts small blind $0.50
Thulsadoon: posts big blind $1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to csquard [Qc Kc]
LavaBrick: raises $2 to $3
csquard: raises $5.75 to $8.75
mrcrgl: calls $8.75
oOTOUCHOo: folds
halloworld: folds
Thulsadoon: folds
LavaBrick: calls $5.75
*** FLOP *** [Kh 4h Qs]
LavaBrick: checks
csquard: bets $22.70
mrcrgl: calls $22.70
LavaBrick: calls $22.70
*** TURN *** [Kh 4h Qs] [4s]
LavaBrick: checks
csquard: bets $75
mrcrgl: folds
LavaBrick: folds
Uncalled bet ($75) returned to csquard
csquard collected $92.85 from pot
csquard: doesn’t show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $95.85 | Rake $3
Board [Kh 4h Qs 4s]
Seat 1: LavaBrick folded on the Turn
Seat 2: csquard collected ($92.85)
Seat 3: mrcrgl folded on the Turn
Seat 4: oOTOUCHOo (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: halloworld (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: Thulsadoon (big blind) folded before Flop

I’d forgotten what the meat of the World Series of Poker is like.  When you’re there, the days of the week begin to blur together, just as the events start to blur together.  Four events are now in the books, with six more in action today.  It is dizzying to say the least.

The early performance trend is that the pros knows poker.  Of the first four bracelet winners, we have one first time winner/casher (Grant Hinkle, in the crapshoot called the $1.5k NLHE cattle drive).  The other three bracelet winners claim bigger cashes than their WSOP victory this week.  Nenad Medic took down Event #1 $10k PLHE for a nice $794k (bested by his $1.7mil at the 2006 WPT Foxwoods $10k NLHE event), David Singer’s $214k for the Event #3 was his seventh highest cash (an even $1.0mil for his 2007 Caesar’s Palace Classic title was his best cash).  Erick “E-Dog” Lindgren took home $347k for his Event #4 $5k Mixed Hold-em bracelet, his best cash in almost seventeen months ($795k, 2007 Aussie Millions $100k event).

Upcoming Final Tables are packed with experienced pros young and old.  Event #5 $1k NLHE w/ re-buys includes chip leader Michael Banducci (seven WSOP cashes), Michael Binger (3rd place in ‘06 Main Event, ten WSOP cashes), and Atlanta native Jeff “yellowsub86″ Williams (first WSOP season, winner of ‘06 EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final).  The lower buy-in events likely will continue to produce Final Tables littered with wide-eyed newbies, but the higher buy-in events are filled with names we’ve all come to know.  Lindgren’s Final Table is a good example of that (in order of finish):  Lindgren, Justin Bonomo, Andrew Robl, Roland de Wolfe, David Rheem, Howard Lederer, David Williams, Pat Pezzin, and Isaac Haxton.  Robl’s $132k won in the last six months and Pezzin’s $142k in his four years of tourney play are the lowest amounts at this Final Table.

I’ll do these quick rundowns every few days.  Let me know if they are helpful and interesting, as well as if you’d like to see anything in particular.

Today marks a day of pause in the World Series of Poker coverage, as it should be the first day that online sites are forced to return to old posts and rid their site of photos older than 72 hours (above photo from 2007 WSOP Event #1, which doesn’t fall under these rules).  PokerListings has one of many views on this, but I can’t see how this is good for anyone.  A quick glance around the web shows most sites have not complied yet, so we’ll see how all of this progresses today.  As many have written, poker pros need more exposure, not less, so I can’t see how this benefits them.  There must be side deals that exempt certain sites, and the biggest early offenders seem to be some of the biggest sites.

As I’m not part of the official poker media anymore, it is interesting to look at how coverage is unfolding.  Several sites have mastered the art of the one-hour update restriction, which is a set-in-stone rule in effect the last two years (and policed in 2007).  Sites are not supposed to update their blog or website with live coverage more frequently than an hour at a time, although other news (interviews, news reports, etc) is not covered by this.  Probably the best at adapting to this restriction is CardPlayer and their coverage.  It pains me to say that, to be sure.  They were part of the first evil empire of poker media, and their people were quite arrogant throughout the 2006 WSOP, putting anyone without the CardPlayer badges in their place.  I don’t know anyone there, but their tournament coverage is top notch.  They have a common format they are using each hour to cover a tournament.  It includes the following (in order):  Blinds/antes, players left/# in starting field, Chip Leaders, average stack, and Big Hands and Storylines.  It gives you a better understanding of how a tournament is progressing and is very easy to read, and I find myself retyping CardPlayer in my browser more than once a day (I can’t leave their site up on my laptop due to too many old scars…).

Event #2 saw the largest non MaIn Event field in the history of the WSOP, and with it came the first significant poker operational problem of the WSOP.  A decision had already been made that these hugely popular WSOP-newbie tourneys would be split into two starting days.  This brought out an initial red flag of the field dissipating too quickly, getting dangerously close to what the cash bubble might be on Day 1A.  Think of it like a golf tournament, where you split the starting field of the Masters into two Days 1 & 2.  The second player group would know what score they would have to shoot to make the cut, a very big advantage over the first players.  225 players made it through Day 1A from a field of 2,048, while 224 bagged their chips on Day 1B from a field of 1,881.  With 378 players being ultimately being paid, it meant that the Day 1’s were too short (ending around a little after midnight, 19 minutes into Level 9) while the Day 2 was too long.  The WSOP started play for Day 2 at 3:00PM Monday, which in retrospect was at least two hours too late (play ended around 12:30AM for Day 1B, and policy is to give players at least twelve hours off).  I’m not sure of the exact time, but play ended on Day 2 around 6:00AM after play had gotten down to 18 players.  A vote was held, and players will reconvene now at 1:30PM.  All of this is an unfortunate side effect from the large field and quick evacuation of players on Days 1A and 1B.  It is most unfortunate as the money gets significant as the players dwindle, and most of the players aren’t used to fifteen-hour marathons that end as the sun rises the following morning.  I’m not sure why they didn’t simply tell the players to come back at 6:00PM and play to a winner for Day 3, unless it was as a convenience to any Harrah’s executive who would be at the Final Table.  Pokerati reports that ESPN made the call as they are planning to film the Final Table.  Again, why should that have anything to do with anything?

The first Final Table was all the WSOP could have hoped for, with top pros and recognizable names filling the seats.

1st  Nenad Medic    $794,112.00
2nd Andy Bloch    $488,048.00
3rd Kathy Liebert    $306,064.00
4th Mike Sexton    $248,160.00
5th Amit Makhija    $198,528.00
6th Chris Bell    $157,168.00
7th Patrik Antonius    $124,080.00
8th Mike Sowers    $99,264.00
9th Phil Laak    $74,448.00

My buddy Liz Lieu snuck away from her sick bed and entered Event #2 over the weekend.  She’s had an evil run with pocket aces all year, and she was knocked out of Day 1B with them.  She is blogging for PokerListings, so you can check her out there.

That is another trend this year, pros blogging virtually everywhere.  I’ll scout around to see if there are any particularly worth reading.  I’m hoping to snag some interviews remotely and will try to sneak in some WSOP content throughout the Series.

I hate when the pot is supposed to be shoved to you, then for some strange reason it goes elsewhere.

PokerStars Game #17788564475:  Hold’em No Limit ($0.50/$1.00) - 2008/05/30 - 01:33:43 (ET)
Table ‘Kalchas IV’ 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: pic111 ($101.50 in chips)
Seat 2: sebwin ($97.50 in chips)
Seat 3: csquard ($98.50 in chips)
Seat 4: PapalRage ($243.75 in chips)
Seat 6: mr ladrao ($162.15 in chips)
sebwin: posts small blind $0.50
csquard: posts big blind $1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to csquard [Ac 8c]
PapalRage: folds
PapalRage leaves the table
mr ladrao: folds
pic111: raises $3 to $4
sebwin: folds
csquard: calls $3
*** FLOP *** [8d 6c 3c]
csquard: checks
pic111: bets $7
csquard: raises $12 to $19
pic111: calls $12
*** TURN *** [8d 6c 3c] [2s]
csquard: bets $31
pic111: raises $47.50 to $78.50 and is all-in
csquard: calls $44.50 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($3) returned to pic111
*** RIVER *** [8d 6c 3c 2s] [7c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
csquard: shows [Ac 8c] (a flush, Ace high)
pic111: shows [5c 4c] (a straight flush, Three to Seven)
pic111 collected $195.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $197.50 | Rake $2
Board [8d 6c 3c 2s 7c]
Seat 1: pic111 (button) showed [5c 4c] and won ($195.50) with a straight flush, Three to Seven
Seat 2: sebwin (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: csquard (big blind) showed [Ac 8c] and lost with a flush, Ace high
Seat 4: PapalRage folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: mr ladrao folded before Flop (didn’t bet)