Tuesday, July 01, 2008

WSOP Day 33 - Live Blog

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Today is a lazy day at the WSOP in between HORSE and the main event. However, these are the overlooked days where some of the more interesting stories happen. For example, Phil Hellmuth is among the final 20 players left in the baby HORSE event. He ended Day 2 as the chipleader and seeking another final table and his 12th bracelet.

And then in today's Limit Shootout, it might seem like a throw away event, but it's loaded with pros seeking a last shot at a bracelet before the main event starts. Some of them are playing for Player of the Year points, others have prop bets that have to settle.

Here are today's events:

Event #50 $10,000 PLO - Final Table
Event #51 $1,500 HORSE - Day 3 & Final Table
Event #52 $1,500 NL - Day 2
Event #53 $1,500 Limit Shootout - Day 1
And here's the PLO final table that ESPN will be taping featuring one wild Aussie character in Billy the Croc.
Event #50 $10,000 PLO - Final Table:
Seat 1: Kido Pham (Dallas, TX) -- 1,080,000
Seat 2: Brandon Moran (Chicago, IL) -- 1,286,000
Seat 3: Peter Jetten (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) -- 492,000
Seat 4: Michael Mizrachi (Las Vegas, NV) -- 1,767,000
Seat 5: Billy Argyros (Melbourne, Australia) -- 729,000
Seat 6: Greg Hurst (Tazewell, TN) -- 637,000
Seat 7: Tom Hanlon (Dublin, Ireland) -- 192,000
Seat 8: Marty Smyth (Belfast, Ireland) -- 1,068,000
Seat 9: Richard Harroch (San Francisco, CA) -- 372,000
Two bracelets will be awarded today. Will Phil Hellmuth win one?

* * * * * *

1:23pm...

To my darling readers in Canada, god bless you and long live the Queen. Jeff Haas told me to say that. Hope you have a great one!

Event #53 $1,500 Limit Shootout: Stacked field. Arieh, Binger, Bloch, Jesus, Greenstein, Thor Hansen, Harman, Kravchenko, Liebert, Lindgren, Negreanu, Nguyen, Pescatori, Sebok, Seidel, Gobboboy, Traniello, Violette, and Watikson... to name a few.

* * * * *

4:04pm...

Event #50 10K PLO Final Table: 8 players remaining. The Grinder = chipleader. A couple of Irish guys are at the final table. I hung out in the Milwaukee's Beast lounge with a few Irish guys drinking cheap beer. Did you know mini-vottles of water cost $2.50 up there? Robbery.

Event #51 1.5K HORSE: Down to 16. Final two tables. I think Hellmuth is still the chipleader. At this rate, that final table might not be set until 10pm.

Event #53 Shootout: Gobboboy among the chipleaders. DonkeyBomber, Capt. Tom's Penis, and David Sklanasky are all busto.

* * * * *

4:20pm...

Today's smoke break is sponsored by PokerStars!



* * * * * *

5:21pm...

Event #50 10K PLO Final Table: Still 8 to go. The Grinder is out in front. Hung out in the audience for the ESPN taping of the final table. Nothing much to really report.

Event #51 1.5K HORSE: 13 players remaining. Hellmuth is still the chipleader.

* * * * *

7:02pm...

I walked past the Champions Lounge and Daniel Negreanu was out front signing autographs. There was a line backed up for over 50 yards for people wanting a piece of Danny Boy.

Underaged Annette_15 was at a press conference in the BetFair lounge. My buddy Stormy got her to autograph his shirt. He was with an old buddy, Mark L., who used to host a homegame in Peter Cooper Village back int he mid-1990s that I frequently played in. Wow, what a long time ago... and the WSOP was never even a possibility back then.

I spotted Annette_15 by the casino cage across from the Hooker Bar. She was with Dag Martin Scandi dude. When I sat down at the sportsbook, Dag was one of the players featured on an episode of the 2007 WSOP Main Event.

I specifically went to the sports book to watch some of the Yankees and Rangers game. Yanks were down but tied it up at 2 when I was there. On my way back to the Amazon Room, I bumped into ActionBob from NJ. He was in town and played a few events. He took first place in a Venetian event the other night and he's freerolling the rest of the WSOP including the main event.

I had a beer with MeanGene at the secret bar.

Event #50 10K PLO Final Table: Five players left. The Grinder still out in front. Billy the Croc is 4th in chips.

Event #51 1.5K HORSE: 9 to go. Hellmuth slipped to third in chips. Final table bubble since final table of HORSE is eight handed.

Event #52 1.5K NL: 87 players remaining... everyone is on dinner break. Dan Heimiller is among the leaders.

Event #53 Shootout: 823 runners. Gobboboy advanced along with David Bach, Hoyt Corkins, JC Tran, and Mike Wattel.

* * * * *

8:05pm...

Event #51 1.5K HORSE: Final table of eight is set...
Seat 1: James Schaaf - 392,000
Seat 2: Matt Grapenthien - 46,000
Seat 3: Sam Silverman - 310,000
Seat 4: Phil Hellmuth - 400,000
Seat 5: Jason Dollinger - 346,000
Seat 6: Tommy Hang - 680,000
Seat 7: Victor Ramdin - 78,000
Seat 8: Esther Rossi - 166,000
They are currently on a dinner break. When action resumes, Hellmuth goes for bracelet #12.

* * * * *

9:13pm...

Event #51 1.5K HORSE Final Table: Down to 7. One player busted in the first orbit since the final table began. Hellmuth is second in chips. This final table is off to the side while ESPN films the 10K PLO final table, although ESPN has a second unit shooting b-roll just in case Hellmuth wins. Victor Ramdin is also at the table. he's a member of Team PokerStars and several of his fellow PokerStars players are on the rail including Isabelle Mercier, William Thorson, Joe Hachem, and Bill Chen. Amnon Filippi and Dario Minieri were also on the rail checking out the action. And yeah, the final table attracted a slew of spectators and railbirds.

* * * * *

11:20pm...

Event #50 10K PLO Final Table: Down to two. The Grinder busted out in 3rd, while Billy the Croc went out in 4th. The Corc had a lot of Aussie players on the rail cheering him on including Mel Judah and Joe Hachem. There was a bachelorette party hanging out in the Beast Lounge. Lots of wasted horny girls.

Event #51 1.5K HORSE Final Table: Down to 4. Phil Hellmuth is the super short stack. That table has more railbirds than the 10K PLO. Everyone is taking photos of Hellmuth and awaiting a Hellmuthian meltdown. A couple of drunks were hanging over the Beast Lounge and taunting and shouting at Hellmuth. He blew them off.

* * * * *

12:20am...

Event #51 1.5K HORSE Final Table: Four players remaining. Hellmuth was super short. He was all in for is tournament life and doubled through James Schaaf. Hellmuth was so excited that he jumped off the stage, almost into the crowd. I stood on the rail and for a milisecond I thought Hellmuth was going to dive right into the crowd since he was so pumped that he doubled up. Instead he gave a few of his fans a high-five including Shawn Rice. Quinn Do and JC Tran are on the rail sweating Tommy Hang. One of the guys from Anthrax is on the rail sweating Hellmuth.

* * * * * *

1:01am

Event #50 10K PLO Final Table: Marty Smyth wins bracelet in 10K PLO. Hundred drunk Irish guys in crowd cheering him on, chatting, and screaming! It was one of the more festive heads up matches I had seen. Half the crowd was filled with drunk Canadians cheering on Peter Jetten. The other half were shitfaced Irishmen screaming at the top of their lungs. Lots of fun. The crowd can really make or break a final table. For a while I ditched the PLO final table to cover Hellmuth and baby HORSE. But as soon as it got heads up and the drunk Irish guys started screaming, I went back over there to chill out. Oh yeah, another European won a bracelet!

Event #51 1.5K HORSE Final Table: Down to 3. Esther Rossi just busted. Hellmuth third in chips and is shortstacked. The dude from Anthrax is on the rail and drinking vodka and cokes. Tommy hang has 1.8M out of 2.5M chips in play. This is his bracelet to lose.

* * * * *

1:20am...

Event #51 1.5K HORSE Final Table: Hellmuth out in third. No 12th bracelet for the poker brat.

With his elimination, I am outta here. Thanks for following along. You've been a great crowd. See you tomorrow.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

No comments:

Post a Comment