Poker From The Rail
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Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The closest Phil Hellmuth would come to the $10,000 Stud/8 Championship bracelet
(Photo credit: WSOP.com)
Phil Hellmuth really wants to win his 12th World Series of Poker bracelet and is trying to rid himself of this four year draught. He’s only cashed twice this summer but the first was a 2nd place finish to John Juanda. Last night he found himself at his second final table within a week and another tough field.
This time around it was the $10,000 7-Card Stud/8 tournament which would put him back in the mothership facing competition in the form of David Benyamine, Ted Forrest, Joe Tehan, and 2010 November Niner John Racener. Unlike his confident stature during the $10,000 Deuce-to-Seven final table, Hellmuth seemed to be out of sorts for long stretches of time. Those in attendance were also witness to a classic “Poker Brat” rant against Racener for a play he eventually admitted was proper.
Three handed play lasted for nearly 3 hours until Racener finally succumbed but Hellmuth was unable to make up the 3-1 chip deficit, losing out to new bracelet winner Eric Rodawig just a few minutes before WSOP staff would have ended play for the evening.
Hellmuth will be back at it again in the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship once again trying to pick up bracelet number 12 and shoot down those who say he can no longer win.
~
Pot Limit Omaha always brings out the gamblers, through in a shorthanded format and they’ll flock to the tables. 507 players put down the $5,000 buyin and only 20% of the field would survive the day. 104 players return for Day 2 with three interesting names leading the pack with Vanessa Selbst, Erick Lindgren, and Shaun Deeb. The field will only need to crush the dreams of 50 plus players to make the money and hopefully sure up the final table.
1 – Vanessa Selbst – 250,300
2 – Erick Lindgren – 208,700
3 – Shaun Deeb – 194,800
4 – Vincent Van Der Fluit – 194,500
5 – Michael “Timex” McDonald – 181,800
6 – Jamie Rosen – 157,200
7 – Greg Brooks – 147,000
8 – Jesper Hougaard – 142,800
9 – John Kabbaj – 138,800
10 – Christopher DeMaci – 137,700
Other Notables: Peter Jetten (134,000), Joseph Cheong (120,700), Brian Rast (105,500), Praz Bansi (93,600), Layne Flack (93,500), Will Failla (91,5000), Jason Senti (89,700), Josh Arieh (85,000), Tom Dwan (81,300), Isaac Baron (76,100), Jeffrey Lisandro (62,800), Matt Affleck (62,400), David Chiu (58,700)
Remember to keep an eye out on our @FullTiltPoker twitter and Facebook page for updates during the day. The Fantasy WSOP contest is also up and running for non-US players, get in the game and challenge your favorite pros.
David Benyamine and Cyndy Violette play out a hand during the $10,000 Stud/8 Championship
Tags: 2011 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Cyndy Violette, David Benyamine, Phil Hellmuth, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
David Benyamine among the leaders of the $10,000 Stud Hi-Lo Championship
It was bound to happen during one of these smaller buyin tournaments, the field would decimate itself so quickly they would actually make the money on Day 1. Event #34 $1,000 No Limit Hold’em was the first to break that dubious barrier this year. 3,144 players began the day and the 323 remaining players made the money on the very last hand dealt. Simple math tells us (assuming 10 full levels) they were dusting off their stack at an impressive 4.7 players per minute. That rate will increase when play restarts as the shortstacks are happy to now shove in their last few chips for the min-cash or courtesy double up.
On the other side of the coin is the $10,000 Stud/8 Championship which has gone through 2 complete days without yet hitting the money. 168 players began, 18 remain, only 16 will make the money. Those returning include 11 time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth and 8 time bracelet winner Erik Seidel. There is potential here for another historic final table.
1 – Eric Rodawig – 695,000
2 – David Benyamine – 448,000
3 – Mikhail Savinov – 431,000
4 – Ali Eslami – 415,000
5 – Antony Lellouche – 373,000
6 – Joe Tehan – 372,000
7 – Phil Hellmuth – 332,000
8 – Felipe Ramos – 331,000
9 – John Racener – 321,000
10 – Ted Forrest – 280,000
Other Notables: Phil Laak (193,000), Erik Seidel (126,000), Bill Chen (113,000), Justin “BoostedJ” Smith (86,000), Cyndy Violette (53,000), Jon Turner (44,000)
Only one new event with the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha 6-handed tournament which should draw a great field of online pros, grizzled veterans, and every Euro-grinder in Las Vegas. Two bracelets are “scheduled” to be awarded in the $10,000 Stud/8 Championship and $1,500 No Limit Hold’em.
Remember to keep an eye out on our @FullTiltPoker twitter and Facebook page for updates during the day. The Fantasy WSOP contest is also up and running for non-US players, get in the game and challenge your favorite pros.
Amarillo Slim plays the 2011 World Series of Poker Seniors Championship sporting a nice hat
Tags: 2011 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Amarillo Slim, Bloggers on the Rail, David Benyamine, Erik Seidel, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
It wasn’t surprising that Sunday was a more laid back day in the term of historic events but we still saw another huge field with the latest $1,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament. 3,175 players entered and they imploded their chipstacks to where the field is almost in the money on Day 1. It won’t take long to reach the money today when just 341 players remain and 324 are paid.
We’ll see two more bracelets awarded today in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em and $2,500 Limit Hold’em 6-handed events. Both will require a long evening to get down to the winner as 36 remain in the NLHE and 12 in the Limit. The bracelet winners will have earned their title.
126 players entered the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship and not a soft spot in the house. Each table was a rock garden unto itself with chips very hard to come by. 87 players still remain after the long Day 1, they will return today attempting to play down to their final table. Plenty of top names remain for the railbirds to visit and we’ll see them restart at 3pm.
1 – Sebastien Sabic – 129,900
2 – Alexander Kostritsyn – 105,600
3 – Joe Cassidy – 92,900
4 – Fabrizio Gonzalez – 86,700
5 – Mike Sexton – 85,000
6 – Mikail Tulchinskiy – 80,800
7 – Scott Clements – 80,300
8 – Chris Amaral – 79,700
9 – Chris Tryba – 79,400
10 – Alexander Dovzhenko – 76,700
Other notables: Erick Lindgren (74,000), Hasan Habib (70,500), Marco Liesy (69,600), Pat Pezzin (67,500), Jennifer Harman (65,900), Frank Kassela (64,600), Justin Smith (56,400)
Remember to keep an eye out on our @FullTiltPoker twitter and Facebook page for updates during the day. The Fantasy WSOP contest is also up and running for non-US players, get in the game and challenge your favorite pros.
Tags: 2011 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, David Benyamine, Matt Affleck, Scott Montgomery, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
It’s the final day of the 2011 National Heads-Up Championship, sometime this evening we will have our 7th champion in this event picking up a nice trophy along with $750,000. Most of the eyes will be on Erik Seidel who is having a great start to 2011, all he’s been doing is winning every high roller event he enters, the 2011 PCA High Roller, the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge, and the 2011 Los Angeles Poker Classic High Roller. There are no soft spots remaining in the Elite 8 which includes 2003 WSOP Champion Chris Moneymaker, 2010 WSOP Champion Jonathan Duhamel, WSOP bracelet winner David Benyamine, WSOP bracelet winner Vanessa Selbst, cash game specialist David Oppenheim, and heads up monster Olivier Busquet. Worthy of note, both David Oppenheim and Andrew Robl were not scheduled to play and only entered the field as replacements.
Seidel is trying to make the final match for the second year in a row but will have to get through the tough Vanessa Selbst and the winnner of the Benyamine/Robl match. First up today will be Olivier Busquet versus Jonathan Duhamel on the feature table and Chris Moneymaker versus David Oppenheim on the secondary. Cards should be in the air around 11am, check back for updates.
11:00 – Enjoying the fun part of poker as entertainment as the players wait during several run throughs with Leeann Tweeden teleprompting. After the requisite group photos and interviews, the cards are in the air. Two WSOP Main Event Champions, the Heads Up specialist, and the cash game monster. Players are starting with 200,000 in chips with blinds at 1,000/2,000.
Winner of this match is guaranteed $125,000 while the loser must settle for $75,000.
11:30 – It didn’t take long to determine our first semi-finalist. Chris Moneymaker and David Oppenheim were trading some pretty big punches back and forth throughout their match, with Moneymaker getting the best of it. They both put the chips in the middle on the turn with Oppenheim holding two pair but Moneymaker with a lot of outs including the flush draw which got there on the river.
Olivier Busquet has been working over the reigning WSOP Champion building up a sizable chip lead with the blinds climbing. Duhamel recently doubles up with A8 versus KT but is still facing a deficit.
Behind the scenes:
12:15 – The match between Jonathan Duhamel and Olivier Busquet took so long the blinds forced a shove or fold situation. With just 40 big blinds combined between both stacks, Duhamel called the all-in of Olivier Busquest. The 2010 WSOP Champion was behind in the hand but ahead in the match, then turned a Jack with his KJ versus Busquet’s AQ.
This means we have two WSOP Main Event champions in the Final Four.
Next up is Erik Seidel versus Vanessa Selbst and Andrew Robl versus David Benyamine.
13:00 – Not surprising the proceedings are running a little behind. The busiest people in the room are the PA’s and seat-fillers making sure we have a packed house. We finally have all the players in the room and ready to go in the last set of Quarterfinals. 8-time WSOP bracelet winner will be looking to continue his hot 2011 run against Vanessa Selbst. The other match will pit David Benyamine against Andrew Robl, the last player to enter the field.
Introductions and photos are completes and cards are in the air.
14:00 – Very little action over the last hour with all players having the chip lead at some point during their match. Vanessa Selbst was down a significant amount but took a big chunk from Seidel and that match is very close. David Benyamine was down most of the match against Andrew Robl but has recently taken the lead. Only one time in the history of this event has a member of Team Full Tilt not made the Final 4 and that year saw Red Pros Paul Wasicka and Gavin Smith move through.
14:20 – The blinds finally caught up to the stacks and we filled out the Final Four in consecutive hands.
Erik Seidel was facing a 3 to 1 chip deficit against Vanessa Selbst after a few big hands. He woke up to Aces to get a lot of chips back, flopped top pair 6′s to get a massive lead, and then Selbst shoved into his AJ the very next hand. He will be making his second straight Final Four and looking to improve on his second place finish of last year.
While that hand was being filmed, Andrew Robl and David Benyamine were patiently waiting for their turn on camera. Robl had a slight chip lead and a big lead in the hand with ATh versus A6. No luck for the Frenchman and the Andrew Robl will move on.
There is a one hour break while they change the set, back around 16:00 with the Semi-finals.
Erik Seidel versus Andrew Robl
Jonathan Duhamel versus Chris Moneymaker
15:30 – Fans and spectators are filing into Caesar’s poker room for the final matches of the tournament. Friends and family have first option at the best seats making for a big line to get in. It already looks to be a rowdier crowd than the previous two rounds. We are getting ready to see a battle between the former and reigning WSOP Champions along with the High Roller master and the young gun.
Play will be underway shortly.
17:00 – Two long drawn out battles were the tale of the semi-finals. Chris Moneymaker battled Jonathan Duhamel through several stalemates but it ended in a battle of the kickers. On a Q-J-T-6-5 board, all the chips went in the middle. Unfortunately for the reigning WSOP Champion, his Q9 was fatally outkicked by Moneymaker’s KQ. There were rumblings as to why Moneymaker was invited to this event and he seems to have quieted them for the time being. No matter the outcome, he will be back for the next few years.
The last battle was veteran against young gun. Erik Seidel was down early in his match with Andrew Robl but continued his great 2011 run by knocking out the online grinder. On a 2-2-3-T-T three-heart board, Seidel put Robl all-in and sent him into the tank. Minutes passed, he checked his cards, riffled his chips, watch, rinse, repeat. He eventually called and we’ll never know what he had until the broadcast as he just mucked when Seidel tabled 33 for the full house and another trip to the final match.
30 minute break and we’re back with the best of 3 final match.
17:30 – While the staff is setting up the money and trophy, a few numbers to keep you company. Here are Erik Seidel’s numbers for 2011 along:
3rd place in the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em 6-max at the 2011 PCA for $46,560
4th place in the $25,000 No Limit Hold’em High Roller at the 2011 PCA for $295,960
3rd place in the $100,000 High Roller Event at the 2011 Aussie Millions for $618,139
1st place in the $250,000 Super High Roller at the 2011 Aussie Millions for $2,472,555
5th place in the $5,000 Heads Up Championship at the 2011 L.A.P.C. for $14,500
1st place in the $25,000 High Roller Event at the 2011 L.A.P.C. for $144,570
Chris Moneymaker on the other hand is guaranteed to make his second biggest tournament cash, his biggest being the $2,500,000 for winning the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event.
They are about to begin.
18:45 – The first match in the best of three final is complete and was never really close once things were rolling. Erik Seidel took an early lead and never looked back, steamrolling over the 2003 WSOP Champ while only taking one minor hit. Even after losing with A2 to T9, he was still sporting a 3-to-1 chip lead and pressed forwards.
Moneymaker finally put his chips in the middle again with a flopped open end straight draw versus top pair for Seidel, running bricks ended the first match and he will now have to win two straight to overcome Seidel.
20:00 – The second match was a much longer ordeal but finished with the same result.
Erik Seidel is the now the 2011 National Heads-Up Champion after outplaying and outlasting a very game Chris Moneymaker. At one point during this match he was holding a huge chiplead but would give it back over a series of hands that spelled his doom. Near the end Moneymaker took a stab at a big pot holding nothing but Jack high on an Ace high board, Seidel tanked for a while before finally calling with his weak Ace. After picking off that bluff, the chips continued to move in Seidel’s direction. The hand saw Seidel check-raise a 5-5-0 flop only to have Moneymaker push over the top all-in. Unfortunate timing as Seidel had flopped trip 5′s and Moneymaker was holding King high looking for a runner runner perfect miracle which never appeared.
This continues Seidel’s amazing run to start the year with no end in sight.
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Chris Moneymaker, David Benyamine, David Oppenheim, Erik Seidel, Jonathan Duhamel, National Heads-Up Poker Championship
Posted by admin | Filed under Heads Up
Winners updated
Quarterfinal match ups for tomorrow:
Clubs
Olivier Busquet versus Jonathan Duhamel – Winner Duhamel
Spades
Chris Moneymaker versus David Oppenheim – Winner Moneymaker
Hearts
Andrew Robl versus David Benyamine – Winner Robl
Diamonds
Erik Seidel versus Vanessa Selbst – Winner Seidel
Great to see Full Tilt Pros represented in each round.
Here’s a look at how the field has been shrinking
Tags: 2011, David Benyamine, Erik Seidel, NBC Heads-up, poker championship, Quarterfinals
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
There is a definite buzz in the Amazon Room even though the place is nearly empty. Just a little island of light in an ocean of darkness, but under those lights are 78 players looking to make poker history. Some probably went out to drink to their success til late in the evening, some went straight to their room for a long sleep, others probably weren’t able to sleep at all. It’s a diverse group of players bringing together old schoolers, online “internet kids”, and a flock of those unknown until recently.
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, David Benyamine, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Today is the first where we finally begin to form “dream” final table set ups, with just 200 players remaining in the field we have a good idea throughout the day who’s making drastic moves in either direction. It was even a little tough with less than 500 to start the day yesterday but now we have just over 20 tables to keep an eye on. Which young gun will make his name in these final days? Which old school player will put a jolt back in their career? How many of these big online players are going to show up in November?
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, David Benyamine, Scott Clements, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
It was an oddly quiet week in the Rio this week with a few rare day with only one new event and some without a final table. That all changed as the week closed out when we found ourselves with 6 or 7 tournaments running at the same time. Richard Ashby became the second Full Tilt pro to win a bracelet at the 2010 WSOP and can be seen above collecting it from Tournament Director Jack Effel.
There was the always present controversy surrounding the annual Ladies Event but that didn’t stop them from coming in with a huge field. There were a few $10,000 Championship events which drew small, strong fields for the battle and big prizepool. During the Limit Hold’em Championship we had a few pros who were sweating the action during the Celtics/Lakers NBA Championship game, certainly with big money on the line. Mike Matusow is also pictured below sweating a prop bet with David Benyamine concerning the number of entrants.
After the jump you can find the rest of Heather B’s pictures from Week 3 at the 2010 World Series of Poker including a few new shots of the latest Perry Friedman “Parade of Hats”.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Annette Obrestad, Bloggers on the Rail, Cyndy Violette, David Benefield, David Benyamine, Erick Lindgren, Howard Lederer, Karina Jett, Lacey Jones, Mike Matusow, Nick Schulman, Perry Friedman, Phil Ivey, Pictures of the Week, Richard Ashby, Roland de Wolfe, Svetlana Gromenkova, Tom Dwan, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
I’m not sure if it’s me or the room, but things are dragging a bit in the Amazon Room today. I’m sure it’s me and a bunch of players I saw out and about last evening. I was super sneaking and crashed a competitor’s WSOP party last evening, it was my little contribution to the effort as I attempted to their players to stay up late and enjoy too much liquid entertainment.
This was after destroying their team in the Dream Team Poker Media Charity tournament. I didn’t do so much destroying, it was actually my teammates since I was the first out for our team.
These are the things I bring to the team.
As it stands, we’re down to just above 1300 players as we kick into Level 12 of the Main Event. That means just roughly over half the remaining players will have a disappointing walk home while the rest will cash at the cages. Phil Ivey was moved right along the rail near the door and is getting himself a lot of attention from fans and the ESPN cameras. Causing even more congestion on the rail is legendary Phil Hellmuth at the very next table. Ivey has been chipping up throughout the day and is continuing his hot run with around 430,000 at this time.
Less talking and more pictures. These are some pictures from Day 2b when several FTP pros made a run. The first picture is of the aforementioned Phil Ivey with our favorite Amazon Room masseuse, Sugar Lips. That’s the name she goes by, don’t blame me. The rest of the pictures after the jump.
Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bill Gazes, Bloggers on the Rail, David Benyamine, David Colcough, Kristy Gazes, Maya Antonius, Phil Ivey, Steve Wong, Trond Eidsvig, WSOP
Posted by One Angry Monkey | Filed under Heads Up
Most of the matches so far in the Full Tilt Poker Heads-Up Challenge have been David versus Goliath situations – not today. This time we’ve got a David versus David match-up, as 5 seed David “The only Frenchman on earth that I’m actually jealous of” Benyamine takes on 12 seed David “Not a real singer” Singer. At first glance it appears this should be an easy victory for the Frenchman, but Singer could prove to be a tough opponent. Do we have another upset brewing? Only time will tell. And me. Because I get to decide who wins and loses. So, in a way, I’m more powerful than time itself. It’s just the first in a long line of steps leading me to a god-like status. Wow, we better get this match started before my delusions of grandeur start gaining power. On to the showdown:
Tags: David Benyamine, David Singer
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