Poker From The Rail
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Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Continuing our recap of the 2010 World Series of Poker as we approach the 2011 WSOP, I thought it would be appropriate to repost what I thought were some of the worst beats during the Main Event. I took a (well deserved) beating on some of them, but felt the insanity/nasty factor made most these hands worth submitting.
Bad beats suck. It’s just the nature of the game. Unless you have your opponent drawing completely dead, you have a chance to be on the ugly side of a slim draw. Spending the last few years around both live and online poker games, I have seen my fair share of just incredibly horrible beats. From the river one outers to the runner runner perfect 1% gross beats. It seems my never ending lot in life is to explain to online players that their bad beats happen live and vice versa.
The 2010 WSOP was nothing out of the ordinary in this aspect. At one stretch I watched four consecutive all-in situations where aces or kings were cracked in absolute brutal fashion. ESPN’s Andrew Feldman made his appearance at the Rio at the start of the Main Event and immediately watched big hands get flushed, after two months (or two weeks) you just become immune to them. Perhaps another reason I give very little slack to those who feel the need to tell bad beat stories. I’ve seen them all, your beat is nothing spectacular.
The Main Event brought over 7,000 players and seemingly just as many suckouts. While it is completely impossible to report them all, we did witness quite a few plus our friends at PokerNews were all too happy to display a little grief for the readers. I went back over my notes, tweets, and posts to find the worst ones after a Rail reader left a comment asking about the worst beats I saw. To keep things interesting I’m just posting nine and leaving the last one empty for the readers to fill in the blank.
Here you have some of the nasty, gross, disgusting ways to bust out of the 2010 WSOP Main Event and watch $10,000 disappear. Every one of these beats would send the online railbirds straight to the forums to complain about some sort of “conspiracy”. They were live, they happened, someone walked away very unhappy. After reading these I hope you begin to realize just how wide open this game can be.
Enjoy.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
We’re just a few short days away from the start of the 2011 World Series of Poker and things are beginning to buzz. Plans are being solidified, airfare booked, and rolls wired to the Rio cage. While the world winds itself up for the coming series, we thought it would be nice to head back to last year for a few highlights.
Last week I put together a list of some of the best pictures of the summer and today I tried to come up with my 5 favorite stories from last year. It was not an easy task as I didn’t add the much anticipated first WSOP for Annette Obrestad, the incredible class shown by Brandon Adams getting berated on the way to a second place finish, or the incredible run of 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela.
While they may come off as a strictly Full Tilt Poker list, as a long time poker observer, these were the stories I consider the most memorable.
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Gavin Smith, Michael Mizrachi, November Nine, Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
One of the best parts of this gig is getting to work with some of the best photographers in the business. Last summer most of our top pictures came from the work of our HeatherB who seems to be in all places all the time. There was so much action to cover between the Pavilion and Amazon Rooms yet she managed to capture some of my favorite images over the last few years.
But sometimes you need special access to get a memorable shot and that’s what happened in the one above. It’s an image of Phil Ivey collecting his 8th career WSOP bracelet and was taken from atop a tall ladder. This technique was used by BJ Nemeth to catch probably my favorite WSOP picture in 2009, and it worked again in 2010.
Below is a recap of a few photo posts we put up last summer during the long, hard grind. We’ll be running a contest to pic the favorites so feel free to drop a comment.
2010 World Series of Poker: Week One in Pictures
2010 World Series of Poker: Week Two in Pictures
2010 World Series of Poker: Week Three in Pictures
2010 World Series of Poker: Week Four in Pictures
2010 November Nine in Pictures
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Pictures of the Week, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
One of the more interesting aspects of the November Nine Reunion at Foxwoods Resort Casino a few weeks ago (writeup here) was getting a chance to speak with the players now that they had some time to process the entire scene. It was also the first real time we were able to speak with them at the same time about the final table together. After busting in November, they were quickly whisked off to a mad house of flashing cameras and floating microphones.
This was no formal press conference where the players were up on a dias while getting peppered with questions. It was a casual affair with everyone milling around, eating some tasty cheeses courtesy of the fine folks at Cabot Creamery, and discussing the final table. While asking about strategy and action, I was able to throw in some zingers to keep them on their toes courtesy of our Facebook friends.
*Congrats to jawoca780, nwo321, Darkone1, DertyJerz1014, aplusmhs, watchdog26, Henreiman. Thanks for the questions, the FTP points are in your accounts.
How has their lives changed? For the better?
“Nothing much has changed about me. I still go to work every single day then grind online, go out w my friends. I mean beside I can’t walk into a card room without getting recognized, a big target on me.” – Soi Nguyen
“I was a good player before the final table, nothing has really changed. I was in Vegas to play $1,500 event. This is my biggest score, and maybe the best score I’ll ever have in my life. But when I came back home, I continued my life. I love my life.” – Filippo Candio, rockstar.
What was the first thing you did with the winnings?
“Lexus ISF, it has like 420 horsepower or something like that. But I’m never home to drive it.” – Matthew Jarvis
“I bought a Bentley.” – Soi Nguyen, the guys like their rides.
“I got an Xbox 360, and Halo Reach. That was probably my only real splurge so far.” – Joseph Cheong
“I literally bought nothing.” – John Dolan
What was the 1st thing they did after the tournament?
“I just kind of hung out with my girlfriend for a bit. I hadn’t drank anything in a year, but we went out that night and partied it up. Yeah, started drinking again. Me and Joseph swapped some percentage too, so I still had a bit of a sweat.” – Matthew Jarvis
“I actually had a party at PURE for the November Nine, nothing too crazy because I stuck out Vegas for a few weeks after that just doing nothing.” – Michael Mizrachi
“I just went back to my room and laid on my bed for 10, 15 minutes by myself. All of my friends we down in the suite partying, giving me some time alone. After about 15 minutes I went down and we partied.” – Soi Nguyen
“It was pretty late when I busted. I went to sleep right away. My apartment was just ten friends all over the floor just sleeping.” – Joseph Cheong
Can I borrow $10,000 so I can play next year?
They all said “no”. Better luck next time.
Filippo Candio and John Racener relax before the November Nine Reunion tournament
Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi hands with Eric Ramsey from PokerNews
Filippo Candio rocking his custom Full Tilt November 9 jersey
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Filippo Candio, John Dolan, Matt Jarvis, Michael Mizrachi, November Nine, Soi Nguyen, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Some of the fringe benefits of this gig are getting to witness history in person, attend cool gatherings, and watch some of the best players in the game ply their trade. Last week I received a unique invitation to attend a once in a life time reunion of a WSOP Main Event final table. On just 24 hours notice I found myself in the middle of the Connecticut wilderness at Foxwoods Resort Casino.
It was Bernard Lee, Foxwoods resident poker pro, who came up with the brilliant idea to reunite members of the 2010 November Nine in one spot. He scheduled the special gathering around their Mega Stack series which included a 3-table freeroll for their regulars to play with those nine as well as a meet-and-greet with the players. As the youngest final table in history, this 2010 group was perhaps the best suited for this type of activity. They all seem to generally like to hang out with each other and enjoy their company. This was never more evident then the Monday night activities which included an impromptu highstakes bowling match.
Apologies for the low-grade, cell phone capture of the bowling action. Jason Senti was the hands down best bowler, Michael Mizrachi and Matt Jarvis were a very close 2nd, Joseph Cheong was spotted several dozen pins and managed to win, Jonathan Duhamel will always be invited to highstakes bowling.
Those festivities were just the preliminary fun before getting to the reason everyone was in town. The players, media members, fans and random people walking by gathered in front of the poker room for the first official reunion of the final nine members of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event. They spent their time before the tournament joking around with each other, answering any questions thrown at them, and acting like a group of players who didn’t have a care in the world.
The tournament itself was set up as a 3-table, 10-handed Sit N Go which would feature the November Nine, Foxwoods pro Bernard Lee, ESPN WSOP commentator Lon McEachern, editor Kasey Thompson, and the remaining seats occupied by lucky Foxwoods regulars who qualified to have their names entered into a raffle. While this freeroll was sporting a $25,000 prizepool, the November Niners had plenty of side action going on their in the form of last longer bets that boosted their stake in the game to around $50,000.
After Lon McEachern took over the mic to introduce the November Nine, play was underway. This was a much more relaxed experience then the last time these nine were together with plenty of chatter. Autographs were signed between hands and pictures taken with their fans on the rail. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi shared fan favorite honors with WSOP Champion Jonathan Duhamel and was also the first one to claim a knockout, sending Joseph Cheong to the rail in an early hand.
After a few hours of play the final table was formed and included three of the November Niners in Jonathan Duhamel, Michael Mizrachi, and Matt Jarvis along with Lee. The Grinder and Jarvis spent most of the day on the featured (and live streamed) table but Mizrachi would be an early casualty. Duhamel was enjoying himself throughout the day but could finish no better in this tournament then 5th place and soon we had Matt Jarvis going heads up for the win, and quite a bit of side action, with Foxwoods regular Ben Hopkins. The heads up battle went back and forth as the two traded punches but it was Hopkins who would bring home the title for the Foxwoods poker room sending Jarvis out in 2nd place but a pocket full of his November Niners cash.
Foxwoods Resorts put on a fantastic event which had the perfect combination of poker and good times, a great atmosphere for a special group of players to come back together. I’m not sure if this could ever be pulled off again successfully but these were the right guys at the right time.
Come back later this week for another post going over our time before the tournament when they answered any and all questions. Click the video below for Lon McEachern’s introductions.
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Filippo Candio, Jason Senti, John Dolan, John Racener, Jonathan Duhamel, Joseph Cheong, Matt Jarvis, Michael Mizrachi, November Nine, Soi Nguyen, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
It was just a week ago when the poker world turned it’s eyes back towards the Rio in Las Vegas as the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event champion was set to be crowned. Once again the hallway between the casino and the theater were packed with players, family, and friends waiting to get their seats to watch history.
The WSOP continues to build the hype each year and add little quirks to the process but in the end it comes down to the players to determine how each event is remembered. Great players, excitable fans, and crazy hands will be burned in our memory long after the thoughts of confetti explosions and ring girls. In the end it’s always about the players.
We were lucky last weekend to have a few great photographers running around the Penn & Teller theater getting some fantastic shots of the action. Their access was limited, understandably, due to restraints from ESPN for taping but they did a great job including the picture above showing the WSOP bracelet for the November Nine victor.
Below are a few of my favorite pictures from the 2010 November Nine.
(Click to enlarge)
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Filippo Candio, John Dolan, John Racener, Joseph Cheong, Matt Jarvis, Michael Mizrachi, November Nine, Soi Nguyen, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
We have nearly two days to process the action we saw Saturday evening during the first day of the 2010 November Nine and a lot of still makes people shake their heads. We weren’t even four into play when we saw a hand go down which made me remark “It will tough to find a more memorable hand but there is always hope”. I set myself up with one little comment and the rest of the evening was chock full of crazy hands to make for some great TV but most were brutal to watch from a poker players perspective.
Now we prepare for the final heads up match between commanding chip leader Jonathan Duhamel versus John Racener. Duhamel is sitting with 188,950,000 while Racener is more than a 6-to-1 dog with just 30,650,000. On his day off Racener seemed fairly relaxed about the upcoming match having already seeming to be gifted an extra $1,400,000 via the Cheong demolition but I expect him to come in today ready to battle. Speaking with Gavin Smith yesterday, he believed if Racener were able to find an early double up he would be a huge force in the heads up battle when given enough chips to play around.
We’ll be back at 20:00PT this evening bringing you regular updates throughout the heads up match.
20:15 – Before things get underway we have Ty Stewart and Jack Effel on stage to introduce the 2010 Poker Hall of Fame inductees along with the newest Play of the Year Frank Kassela. They also recognized Full Tilt’s Jeff Madsen as the 2006 Player of the Year, which didn’t exist at that time. Madsen won two bracelet and two other 3rd place finishes during that year cementing himself as one of the top young players.
This was followed by the induction of the Poker Hall of Fame class of 2010. WSOP Media Director was next up to introduce “Action” Dan Harrington by detailing his many accomplishments including his back-to-back Main Event final tables in ’03/’04, his Main Event win in 1995, as well as his top poker strategy series “Harrington on Hold’em”. Harrington came forward and gave a gracious speech to the crowd that drew quite a few laughs.
It was then poker legend Doyle Brunson’s turn to take the mic and introduce his friend Erik Seidel. Texas Dolly highlighted the career of Seidel beginning by extolling his virtual as a fantastic cash game players but also took a little stab at his semi-celeb appearance in the movie Rounders. Seidel took the podium and immediately had a little fun at fellow Tilt’er Tom Dwan’s expense by saying “I want to thank the members of the media and the hall of fame for voting me in….Before Tom Dwan”. He thanked Howard Lederer, Doyle Brunson, and Steve Zolotow for the impact on his game then spoke of being humbled to make a living playing a game.
With the ceremonies complete, we are just about to get underway with the Heads Up portion of the November Nine.
21:15 – After the long process of introductions, forced handshakes, and the “shuffle up and deal” command by 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela we were finally underway. Things did not start out well for John Racener losing a few modest pots taking his stack down to just under 19,000,000. Immediately after getting the level change and chip counts we had our first all-in and call.
Duhamel put Racener all-in and received a snap call with the shortstack holding QQ versus Duhamel’s K4. For seemingly the first time, there was no horrendous run of cards and the best hand held up. Duhamel still holds a massive chip lead and there is a long way to go.
The environment in the theater is very active with Duhamel’s supporters chanting “DU – HA – MEL!” and Racener’s side chanting “DOUBLE UP! DOUBLE UP!”. In the crowd so far tonight we have Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Joe Cada, Greg Raymer, and Phil Hellmuth just to name a few. If the match continues to chug along we will try to grab some of them at break.
Jonathan Duhamel – 176,350,000
John Racener – 43,250,000
22:00 – After a short break, the players return and it has not been a good hour for John Racener. Duhamel is using his big stack to just lay constant pressure leaving Racener with just 16,000,000 to Duhamel’s 204,000,000.
22:08 – And just like that we are done, Jonathan Duhamel put Racener all-in and he called after some deliberation with K8 of diamonds. Duhamel never had a tough sweat as the board ran out clean to give him the victory over Racener in a short but tough battle. Racener never popped very far over 40,000,000 over the 43 hands of heads up play and needed to run really well to overcome the huge starting deficit.
John Racener collects $5,545,855 for second place with Jonathan Duhamel taking home $8,944,138 and the gold bracelet with the victory.
Back in a bit with thoughts, updates, and pictures.
1st – Jonathan Duhamel – $8,944,310
2nd – John Racener – $5,545,955
3rd – Joseph Cheong – $4,130,049
4th – Filippo Candio – $3,092,545
5th – Michael Mizrachi – $2,332,992
6th – John Dolan – $1,772,959
7th – Jason Senti – $1,356,720
8th – Matthew Jarvis – $1,045,743
9th – Soi Nguyen – $811823
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
00:30PT – As we head into Level 40, Joseph Cheong continues to lead the 5 person field but chips are still finding their way around the table and this is still anybody’s game. Mizrachi has managed to live by his nickname by pulling himself back up a little with timely moves and few dangerous situations. Filippo Candio was either brutally card dead the previous level or he was sleeping off a food coma from the dinner break but he finally woke up near the end to open/shove a few times to pick up some chips.
When the players return from a 20 minutes break they will be playing with 600,000/1,200,000 blinds and a 200,000 ante. Average chip stack is 43,860,000 (36.55 big blinds M of 21.93)
1 – Joseph Cheong – 66,750,000
2 – Jonathan Duhamel – 56,550,000
3 – Michael Mizrachi – 39,500,000
4 – Filippo Candio – 29,950,000
5 – John Racener – 26,550,000
01:15PT – Just like that and the dream of a Michael Mizrachi double bracelet year is no longer alive. After batting to build his stack he ran into Duhamel. The Grinder seemed to be getting frustrated with his situation and put all his chips in the middle holding Q8 on a Queen high flop, unfortunately for the biggest name at the table Duhamel was holding pocket Aces.
No help came on the turn or river and Mizrachi is our 5th place finisher. A great year by any measurement.
Joseph Cheong continues to push the action with his big stack and Duhamel has now blown right past him. Racener and Candio need to grab more chips to improve their situation.
1 – Jonathan Duhamel – 91,950,000
2 – Joseph Cheong – 79,650,000
3 – John Racener – 26,150,000
4 – Filippo Candio – 21,500,000
01:45PT – The time tag is not a typo, here in the U.S. we have just passed the Daylight time switch so we are reliving the 1am hour. Unfortunately Filippo Candio will not be able to go back in time to when he actually at chips as he was our 4th place finisher. He was in the danger zone and pushed with KJ into big stack Cheong’s A3. “subiime” Cheong flopped an Ace and had Candio drawing dead on the turn to put us in position to reach the heads up portion of the event.
Cheong and Duhamel spent a few orbits trading the chip lead with Cheong becoming the first player to pop over the 100,000,000 level. Then Cheong seems to have lost his mind with the time change in what became the biggest pot in WSOP history. With both players holding a combined ~180,000,000 in chips there was really no reason to butt heads with John Racener standing by with just ~20,000 in chips but that’s exactly what happened. After a series of raises between the two, Cheong 6-bet all with nothing more A7o and Duhamel snap called with Queens. Absolutely clean board and the 177,000,000 pot was shipped to the Canadian.
That left Cheong with just 4,500,000 and he was eliminated shortly thereafter.
So that sets your heads up match for Monday at Jonathan Duhamel and the happiest shortstack in the world, John Racener who was basically gifted an extra $1,400,000 (difference between 2nd and 3rd pay jump). The chip counts are so lopsided it will take a miracle for him to move up to the top spot.
Back tomorrow with a recap.
1 – Jonathan Duhamel – 200,100,000
2 – John Racener – 29,200,000
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, November Nine, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Team Mizrachi enthusiastically sweating The Grinder in action
22:15PT – The stack sizes are starting to get shallow for a few players and we’ve now lost another player. John Dolan came into the day sitting with the second biggest chip count but could only manage a 6th place finish. In a battle of the blinds, Dolan shipped his chips in from the small blind with Q5o and was called by Jonathan Duhamel in the big blind with pocket 4′s. We had a great chance for another interesting river when Dolan picked up some interesting outs on the turn but blanked the river and will hit the cage for $1,772,959.
Candio and Racener are still in the red zone and will need to get to work while Mizrachi, Cheong, and Duhamel are the top part of the leaderboard.
Level 39 has blinds at 500,000/1,000,000 with 150,000 antes.
Chip counts:
1 – Michael Mizrachi – 61,950,000
2 – Joseph Cheong – 61,575,000
3 – Jonathen Duhamel – 52,925,000
4 – Filippo Candio – 27,025,000
5 – John Racener – 16,125,000
23:15PT – That was definitely the most entertaining hour of play so far with several all-in and calls, John Racener with two of those. I mentioned he needed to do some work and he got there twice. The first time he put all his chips in the middle with a slow, reluctant call from Mizrachi in a dominating position. Magically his AK stood up against the A8 for a small double up. Not long after than hand he put a bigger addition to his stack against previous chip leader Jonathan Duhamel and this one did not go down clean as his AQ was crushed pre-flop by AK.
But just as Phil Ivey learned last year, that can be an ugly hand to witness. Sure enough Racener hit a Queen right off the bat and was mobbed by his supporters.
That hand left Duhamel as the shortstack among the 5 remaining players and he was forced to make a decision when Mizrachi pushed all-in after a raise. After a long tank Duhamel eventually called with A9 to race against Grinders pocket 3′s. A nine popped on the turn and the board ran out clean on the turn and river to push Duhamel up to second in chips and moving Mizrachi to the Dank Position.
Current chip counts:
1 – Joseph Cheong – 67,925,000
2 – Jonathan Duhamel – 53,900,000
3 – John Racener – 39,600,000
4 – Filippo Candio – 29,725,000
5 – Michael Mizrachi – 28,450,000
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, November Nine, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
In an effort to make it easier to follow along, we are breaking up our coverage into Levels.
18:45PT – The players must sense when I comment on the lack of action, no sooner was the last update posted and we had a double up. John Racener doubled through Filippo Candio in a battle of the blinds and flopped a set of Queens. Things didn’t get frisky until the turn Ace and then Candio put him all-in on the river. Racener moved up the leaderboard but still has plenty of work ahead.
The players are heading off on their 90 minute dinner break and we will return with them.
20:15PT – The dinner break flew right by and the cards are back in the air. This is traditionally the time when we see players begin to get a little spunkier and the action picks up. Bellies full of food and possibly an adult beverage or two plus probably some interesting advice from their friends may get things loosened up. We are still 5 knockouts away from calling it a day and we need to pick up the pace if I’m to hit my 2:30am prediction.
Mizrachi comes back hanging onto the chip lead with Duhamel on his tail while Jason Senti, Filippo Candio, and John Dolan all need to get things in gear to get themselves back into the game.
There is one hour left in Level 38 and blinds are 400,000/800,000 with 100,000 ante.
1 – Michael Mizrachi – 50,225,000
2 – Jonathan Duhamel – 47,200,000
3 – Joseph Cheong – 32,150,000
4 – John Racener – 25,175,000
5 – Jason Senti – 22,675,000
6 – Filippo Candio – 22,625,000
7 – John Dolan – 20,850,000
21:15PT – An hour has gone by and we’ve yet to lose another player but we have seen a few all-in moves but none have been called. That was until just before the end of the level when we had more fireworks, another memorable hand made for TV.
Jason Senti raised pre-flop only to be re-raised all-in by Joseph Cheong, which he quickly called getting everyone on their feet. Another race with Senti’s offsuit AK against Cheong’s pocket tens. While ESPN lined up the cameras, Senti ramped up his supporters and they didn’t have to stop when he seriously out-flopped on the K K Q board. But if was that simple I wouldn’t call it a memorable hand. The hand became very interesting when a Jack on the turn. After an excrutiating pause for dramatic effect, the dealer peeled off the 9 of diamonds to fill out an unlikely King high straight for Cheong and knocking out Jason Senti in 7th place.
The remains players are now on a 20 minutes break and Senti takes home $1,356,720 for his efforts.
Chip counts:
1 – Michael Mizrachi – 65,375,000
2 – Joseph Cheong – 46,325,000
3 – Jonathan Duhamel – 41,425,000
4 – Filippo Candio – 29,575,000
5 – John Racener – 21,175,000
6 – John Dolan – 15,700,000
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, November Nine, WSOP
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