Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
Stacks continue to consolidate, with some players now possessing more than 1,000,000 in chips. Players are dropping far faster than tournament organizers expected. At last count, 255 players remained. The plan for the day was to play to 300. We could still have another 5 or 6 hours of poker ahead of us.
What’s most notable right now is that the big names are either treading water or sinking. David Chiu, who was among the chips leaders for almost a full day, lost almost all of his 700k stack. At one point he was under 100,000 chips, but bounced back to 300k.
Popularity: 1% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
Yesterday, I reported that Paul Wolfe disappeared after a couple of days of patient play on the short stack and resurgence just before the dinner break. Then he was gone.
Today I caught up with Paul, and heard about his final hand. Here’s how Paul described the play:
Popularity: 1% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
Aaron is over 500k after taking another pot with a pre-flop re-raise. In the middle of the last level he described his table as “tough,” but observed that his opponents are giving him—and his stack—the proper respect.
The smile on his face remains. I asked him about his demeanor, and he said, “Poker’s fun. If I was going to take it super seriously I’d have stayed in college and gotten a real job.”
Popularity: 1% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
How are the pros who’ve busted out of the available tournaments pass their time?
Well, in the Full Tilt Suite today, Mark Vos, Andy Bloch and Richard Brodie are playing “Degenerate Omaha hi/lo.” (The name was given by Brodie.) Here’s how you play: deal out the starting hands face up. Deal the flop, one card at a time, then the turn and river. Cheer heartily for your cards draws.
The high hand and low are both worth 100.
So far, Vos is stuck a few hundred.
I’m thinking of getting in the game. I think I have an edge.
Update: The stakes have gone up. There’s now a $200 per hand ante and $400 goes to both the high and the low. Brodie is getting cold-decked and is badly stuck. I’ve decided not to play.
Popularity: 1% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
The day started well for Aaron Bartley. As I came by his table, he was raking a pot. After a count of his chips he told me he was at 460k, which put him in the top 30 overall. When I asked him what happened in the previous hand, he said, “a guy bet out for half his stack and I pushed. He folded.” He didn’t have time to go into the details, as a new hand was starting.
The situation looks favorable for Bartley. There are no recognizable players at his table, and the other two people with more than 200k are to his right.
Bartley is active, playing a number pots. In less than an orbit, he raised a hand, called a raise and limped behind an early position limper. He’s also gotten lucky. In the hand that he raised preflop, he was called by the big blind. It appeared he was behind until he hit his set on the river. He got paid nicely on his river value bet.
He’s also pleasant, chatting with his tablemates. Around the room, there are near constant cries of “All in and call.” ESPN is trying to catch most every all-in confrontation on tape. Listening to the cries, Bartley encouraged action, saying, “we have to catch up.”
Popularity: 1% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
Paul Wolfe is about as likeable a guy as you’ll ever meet. I’ve never seen him without a smile on his face. At the table he’s chatty and seems happy to be sharing time with his tablemates.
At today’s dinner break, Paul was in high spirits. He’d been on a short stack for almost two full days of play. Just prior to dinner he’d managed to pick up a couple of pots and finally had a little room to breathe. He had about 100k, and he liked the way the table was shaping up. One player at this table, he said, was playing horribly, blasting off chips. Another player, a man with a big stack, had betrayed a tell he thought he could take advantage of.
I went to sweat Paul after dinner, to see if he could continue his ascension. About fifteen minutes into the level, I waded through the masses and made my way to his table.
Popularity: 1% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
We’re in the money! Assistant tournament director Jack Effel just announced the good new to 873 joyful players.
Prior to the final non-cash bust-outs, players were reacting – with varying degrees of skills – to the situation. Paul Wolfe, sitting on stack of roughly 75k (not exactly an intimidating sight) raised liberally, taking a couple of pots without content.
At table 56, a young man sat with all of 6k. He calculated that he could make it through ten hands of play, so he set about folding, hoping to hear that enough people busted for him to make the money.
“What are you looking at your cards,” Wolfe asked him. “You’d fold Aces there.” Wolfe was right. The player had almost nothing to gain by playing a hand, and he could fold his way into a 16,000 pay day.
Popularity: 1% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
Layne Flack lasted about four minutes past the last break. There was an early position raise and a call to Layne who called. The flop came 8-6-2. The initial raiser moved in; the second player called. Layne called as well. His opponents showed KK and QQ; Layned flipped up 88, for top set.
He was poised to take a massive 240k pot. Instead, a Queen on the turn sent him to the rail.
Popularity: 1% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
There are still roughly 1,000 people in the Main Event, and most are sitting stonily, desperately trying to stay alert so that they don’t make big mistakes. There isn’t a whole lot of talking.
That is not the case at table 147, where Layne Flack and a dopey Frenchman have the players talking like the participants in a drunken 1/2 game. Layne has gotten everyone’s histories: “He qualified on a $63 satellite;” “He got in on frequent player points.”
After raising in early position, one of the short stacks re-raised, and Layne folded, offering, “The man’s wife is here. I don’t want to embarrass him.”
Everyone’s chatting, having a good time, and Layne is raising about three times around and calling in position. He seems to be using the conversation to his advantage.
When a new player came to the table, he joined in the chat, saying, “I don’t like having you to my left!” The first time this player raised, Layne called behind him and took the pot when checked to on the flop.
Popularity: 1% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated) Posted by jgreenspan | Filed under Uncategorized
Allen Cunningham sits with about 180k in chips. He’s in second chip position at his table, but there’s little doubt who the best player at table 135 is. Soon after positioning myself at the table, the player in seat 1 got up, walked over to me, and said, “This just in, Allen Cunningham has X-ray vision.”
“He take a tough pot from you?” I asked.
“No,” the man said, “he’s just totally controlling the table.”
Popularity: 1% [?]
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated)
Most Popular Posts
- Last Place Pays Freeroll Shootouts
- Ted Forrest: I Wanted To Show That The Impossible Was Possible - #1109 - 2010 WSOP #90
- One Wants to Die ... - #1111 - 2010 WSOP #92
- #1023 - 2010 WSOP #4 - Seen and Heard at the Series #4 - Banned Forever
- Summary - The Ted Forrest-Mike Matusow Weight-Loss Prop Bet of 2010 - #1117 - 2010 WSOP #98
