Poker From The Rail
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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 AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
Day 2 of the 2011 National Heads-Up Championship is getting ready to go later this afternoon. 32 players are still alive for the title and they will play in two separate flights to start the day. By the time we are done, there will be just 8 players remaining to play on the final day. There are no soft spots in this field and it will continue to get rougher with each match.
There are a few interesting matches in the first heat. The Clubs and Spades Bracket will be the first to battle it out including HU monster Olivier Busquet versus Liv Boeree (Liv B versus Liv B), Andy Bloch will battle young gun Jason Mercier, and in another battle of Tilt against Tilt with Carlos Mortensen against David Oppenheim. Play is schedule to kick off around 12:15, which likely means closer to 1:30. Back with updates throughout the day, matchups and pictures below.
Clubs Bracket Round 2:
Olivier Busquet versus Liv Boeree – Secondary feature table
Jason Mercier versus Andy Bloch
Barry Greenstein versus Ayaz Mahmood
Jonathan Duhamel versus Antonio Esfandiari – Main feature table
Spades Bracket Round 2:
Doyle Brunson versus Dennis Phillips
Daniel “jungleman12″ Cates versus Chris Moneymaker
Carlos Mortensen versus David Oppenheim
Patrik Antonius versus Eugene Katchalov
15:00 – The Spades/Clubs Bracket heat is complete, 8 players are in the money and through to Round 3.
It didn’t take long for us to have the first casualty of the day and it was produced on the feature table. 2010 WSOP Champion Jonathan Duhamel and Antonio Esfandiari put all the chips in the middle with a flush draw. Unfortunately for Esfandiari, his 2nd nut flush draw was up against the nut flush draw. The diamond on the turn had The Magician drawing dead and hitting the rail.
Andy Bloch was the next to exit at the hands of Jason Mercier and was never ahead in the match. Fan favorite Patrik Antonius ran into a tough hand against Eugene Katchalov when he had top pair/top kicker versus two pair. Half the rail left the building along with Antonius. In the battle of Full Tilt, David Oppenheim and Carlos Mortensen were all-in several time and finally The Matador’s hot streak came to an end. The “made for TV” hand came in the much anticipated battle of Liv Boeree against Olivier Busquest. Boeree was ahead pre-flop when the chips went in with QQ versus Busquet’s ATd. An all diamond flush was the death knell for the English pro.
Chris Moneymaker continued to run good and knocked out monster grinder Daniel “jungleman12″ Cates with AT versus AK by flopping a ten. Doyle Brunson gained his revenge over Dennis Phillips winning a race with AQ versus 77. The longest match saw 2010 WSOP Heads-Up Champion Ayaz Mahmood dodge a ton of river out to knockout Barry Greenstein.
It wasn’t a particularly good round for the Full Tilt pros but there are still a few bullets left in the Hearts/Diamonds heat.
Hearts Bracket Round 2:
Andrew Robl versus Emmitt Smith
Gavin Smith versus James Bord
Phil Laak versus Michael Mizrachi
Tom Dwan versus David Benyamine
Diamonds Bracket Round 2:
“Elky” Grospellier versus Phil Galfond
Vanessa Selbst versus Peter Eastgate
Jennifer Harman versus Erik Seidel
Greg Raymer versus Phil Gordon
17:00 – The Hearts/Diamonds Bracket gave the TV audience a little more entertainment when they paired Phil Laak with Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi on the feature table. The two were very animated and put on a great show. There were several all-ins at the table with the chip lead bouncing back and forth. Each time they were joined on stage by their significant others, Jenn Tilly and Lilly Mizrachi. “The Grinder” eventually out-dueled Laak to move to the next round and in the money.
The quickest match of the event occurred between Phil Gordon and Greg Raymer. The cards were barely in the air when a dealer called out “all-in and a call”. It took several minutes to get the production crew and they were racing when the cards were tabled. Gordon’s big slick flopped a king and the 2004 WSOP Champions tournament was complete. Gavin Smith quickly followed when he put his chips in the middle on a flop giving him a nut flush draw against the flopped set of James Bord. The turn ended things quickly when the board paired and another fan favorite was sent out.
David Benyamine knocked out Tom Dwan and Phil Galfond made a huge comeback against EklY Grospellier. The secondary table feature the NFL all-time leading rusher Emmit Smith who tried to double up against Andrew Robl and was looking good when his K4k flopped a 4 but Galfond went runner runner for a straight. The last match of the night was Vanessa Selbst and Peter Eastgate who also traded the chip throughout the match but it ended on the feature table with QQ versus JJ.
Next up is Round 4 of the Clubs and Spades Brackets. The crew is breaking down tables and set to resume in an hour.
Spades Bracket Round 3:
Doyle Brunson versus Chris Moneymaker
David Oppenheim versus Eugene Katchalov
Clubs Bracket Round 3:
Olivier Busquet versus Jason Mercier
Ayaz Mahmood versus Jonathan Duhamel
18:30 – The Round of 16 is about to get underway. Before Michael Mizrachi took on Phil Laak at the feature table, I asked his brother for a prediction.
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20:00 – As expected with just four matches, this round went quickly. Poker legend Doyle Brunson was the first casualty while playing Chris Moneymaker on the feature table. Brunson put all his chips in the middle with top pair and Moneymaker made the call but was holding a better kicker. Brunson rode to the rail and Moneymaker promised to go straight home to bed before the 10am start tomorrow. He will meet up with Full Tilt’s David Oppenheim who eliminated Eugene Katchalov holding A6 versus A8, hitting a 6-ball on the flop.
The 2010 WSOP Heads-Up Champion Ayaz Mahmood’s run also came to an end at the hands of 2010 WSOP Champion Jonathan Duhamel. He will meet the 2009 Borgata Poker Open Champion Olivier Busquet who came from a big deficient against Jason Mercier to move into the final 8. After a series of all-ins, Busquet flopped Kings up versus Mercier’s 34. All four players will return tomorrow to determine the champion.
Hearts Bracket Round 3:
Andrew Robl versus James Bord
Michael Mizrachi versus David Benyamine
Diamond Bracket Round 3:
Phil Galfond versus Vanessa Selbst
Erik Seidel versus Phil Gordon
21:00 – Round 3 matches are underway for the Hearts and Diamonds Bracket, caught up with Michael Mizrachi before his match with David Benyamine (and my unimproved shaky-cam).
22:30 – The final matches of the day are complete and we now have our Elite 8. 2010 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event Champion James Bord was the first victim of the round. He called Andrew Robl’s all-in when they were practically dead even in chips, unfortunately his ATd was no match up against AK. Robl was a last minute replacement and is making it all count. Michael Mizrachi good run was ended by David Benyamine after a series of unlucky hands, eventually shoving his last few blinds in with 86d into AJ. Team Mizrachi has left the building.
In a hand no one in the room saw coming or going, Vanessa Selbst eliminated Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond to move on. There was no fan fare or camera to let the crowd know a big hand was in progress. While that was hand was in progress, a shortstacked Phil Gordon shoved a dominated Ace into Erik Seidel’s AQ to finalize tomorrow’s field.
Diamond Bracket final: Vanessa Selbst versus Erik Seidel
Heart Bracket final: Andrew Robl versus David Benyamine
Club Bracket final: Olivier Busquet versus Jonathan Duhamel
Spade Bracket final: Chris Moneymaker versus David Oppenheim
Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, David Oppenheim, Michael Mizrachi, National Heads-Up Poker Championship
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
With all the excitement of the Day 1d sell out, massive amounts of Ante Up for Africa pictures, and trying to track down our players scattered amongst a sea of over 2,800 players I just never had the time to share with you the pictures from Day 1c. I will quickly remedy that as well as bring you some of the best photos from yesterday.
Enjoy.
More pics after the jump:
Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Craig Marquis, David Oppenheim, Erica Schoenberg, Erick Lindgren, Jeff Madsen, Kelly Kim, Lynette Chan, Maya Antonius, Mike Stout, Phil Ivey, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
David Oppenheim ends Day 1 of the WSOP $10,000 Mix Championship with the chip lead
Photo credit: IMPDI
With two hours remaining until starting the first event of the day, the players around the cash game tables and in the halls were still talking about Phil Ivey taking down his 6th bracelet the evening before. Speculation on the number he can win in his career, how much money he made from his deepstacked betting partners, would he win another this year.
We know he won’t win back-to-back tournaments this year because he busted from the $10k Mix Championship last night. Everyone seemed amused when Ivey left his bracelet performance behind and went to resurrect his blinded off stack. He was taking some needling from Howard Lederer and Daniel Negreanu sitting in the dead center of the tournament.
Today we’ll see two more bracelets awarded in the $1,500 NLHE 6-max and $2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha, neither of which was able to play down to the final table before the “night” was halted at 3am. Day 2 kicks off for the $2,000 NLHE and $10,000 Mix Championship. Two new events will begin, the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em at noon and a $2,500 Limit Hold’em 6-max at 5pm.
The premier event for the day will be the stud stacked Mix Championship lead by Full Tilt pro David Oppenheim with a bunch of scary players on his tail. Also sitting pretty from team Full Tilt are Eric Froehlich, Brandon Adams, Andy Black, David “The Dragon” Pham* and 2009 WSOP $40,000 NLHE winner Vitaly Lunkin. They will play down to their final table which is a lock for another great show.
With the start of the weekend I expect the rail to start filling up this afternoon with fanboys, groupies, and those who mis-understand the term “no flash photography”. Sharp elbows, sharp mind, stay sane.
Chip counts after the jump:
Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, David Oppenheim, WSOP
Posted by One Angry Monkey | Filed under Heads Up
Another week has passed, so that means it’s time for another round of the Full Tilt Poker Heads-Up Challenge. 64 of our top pros will go into battle, but only one will be victorious when it’s all said and done. This week’s match features number one seed Chris Ferguson − Jesus himself − taking on the 16th seeded David Oppenheim, cash game specialist and golfer extraordinaire. As with all of these one versus 16 match-ups, the 16 seed has absolutely no chance, it’s merely a formality. Feel the excitement!
Tags: Chris Ferguson, David Oppenheim
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