Poker From The Rail

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

Day 3 at the World Series of Poker is always one of my favorite. It’s the first day when the entire field is together, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel with the breaking of each table. Unlike the rest of the summer, when they break a table here it stays broke. Crews quickly pile the chairs on the hand carts and take apart the table. Never to be used again.

Everyone knows the front runners and the short stacks. The pros are trying to position themselves for bubble time tomorrow by building their stacks to punish the fearful. Scared money players are looking at their stacks while trying to figure if they can make it, crawling and scraping, to a WSOP min-cash.

ESPN is back in full force (coincidentally destroying wifi access for the media) with camera bullying their way between the tables looking for money shot. Players will “Hollywood” as soon as the crews find the table, not realizing sitting for 10 minutes and then folding will not get them on the broadcast.

Plenty of big names remain in the field at the start of play. 2011 WSOP bracelet winner Ben “benba” Lamb is pacing the field with over 550,000 in chips followed by Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul and Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo also in the Top 5. The top lady standing is Stephanie Albertini with a very healthy 400,100 in chips. Patrik Antonius, Jeff Madsen, and 2010 November Niner Joseph Cheong will be in contention tomorrow unless they run into some horrid luck.

In all we will see just shy of 1,900 player start today with them busting out at a fairly decent pace. They’ll break every table out of the Pavilion Room until we are just left with an Amazon Room containing the next poker world champion.

Check back for regular updates.

Top chipstack to start Day 3:

1 – Ben “benba” Lamb – 551,600
2 – Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul – 542,200
3 – Aleksandr Mozhnyakov – 478,600
4 – Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo – 462,300
5 – Tuan Vo – 434,500
6 – Guillaume Darcourt – 410,500
7 – Nicolas Fierro – 405,000
8 – Narenda Banwari – 404,800
9 – Stephanie Albertini – 400,100
10 – Dong Yang Yan – 383,400

Other notables: Patrik Antonius (361,000), Mike “SowerUNCC” Sowers (347,700), Sam Simon (317,900), Shaun “tedsfishfry” Deeb (294,700), Mark “dipthrong” Herm (273,000), Sam Stein (262,200), Justin “BoostedJ” Bonomo (252,400), Jeff Madsen (231,500), Joseph “subiime” Cheong (229,100), David Oppenheim (226,000), Paul “paulgees81″ Volpe (221,5000)

Level 12:

Shaun Deeb is an interesting character. For the longest time he was considered one of the best online tournament players around, then he “retired” for a year, before returning with full force. He once played the Ladies Event in drag complete with pink tank top and makeup. He’s unpredictable at the poker table which can cause players to call him very light when they have no idea what he is playing. Usually this helps him pull in big stacks but sometimes Mother Variance bites back.

Deeb was pulled to the ESPN feature table for taping and a 30-minute delayed live feed. As is normal, he was making moves and building a stack until another player 5-bet shoved on him with A6. Generally there might be a chance his Ace is good but in this instant he was snap called by Deeb with pocket Aces.

But sometimes bad things happen and unless you have your opponent drawing completely dead, there is always a chance. His opponent saw a light in the window with a flopped 6 and then it blew up the Mothership with the rivered 6-ball. That knocked Deeb all the way down to 20,000 and sure fire bad beat hand on the TV.

Level 13:

The most interesting hand of this level happened before my very eyes as I walked the room. I happened upon a table where player in seat 7 was already in the tank for several minutes. I didn’t detect excessive acting, he certainly looked like a man having to make a hard decision. The ESPN cameras appeared and the opponent who had put him all-in sat stone faced.

The 7-seat eventually folded saying “I’ll never fold this hand again but I think you have AA” as his pocket kings were flipped over. Players were shocked and stunned. The winner began sliding his hand into the muck when Freddy Deeb talked him into showing for the camera. He nodded towards the dealer who turned over his pocket Aces for all the world to see at some point during the broadcast.

Some notable stacks around the room:

Chris “boNeZee” Bonita – 465,000
Peter Jetten – 405,000
Sam Simon – 390,000
Joseph Cheong – 335,000
Mark “dipthrong” Herm – 300,000
Thomas Keller – 270,000
Jason Alexander – 245,000
Phil “USCPhildo” Collins – 240,000
Jean-Robert Bellande – 233,000
Miami John Cernuto – 230,000

Level 14:

Today brought one of the oddities of the Main Event when the two hour dinner break came in the middle of Level 13, extending into the evening. Staff locked down the Amazon Room and it was odd moment of quiet. Just 15 tables remained in the Pavilion Room during the break and only four remain at the end of Level 13. Although it’s a long shot, they might actually make the money this evening with some vibrant action.

Huck Seed was one of the big elimination over the last level when his Queens could not dodge a flush draw. Annette Obrestad was eliminated almost immediately after the dinner break but she was short stacked. Shuan Deeb’s mini-stack didn’t last long after his bad beat earlier in the day becoming another big name on the rail. 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Joe Cada has also been shown the door along with Carlos Mortensen, Tom McEvoy, and Lee Watkinson.

New Yorker Patrick Poirier became the first player in the Main Event to eclipse the million chip mark giving him only 333 big blinds. Chris “boNeZee” Bonita continues to contend as the field shrinks picking up a new of big pots along the way. Also sitting near the top of the table are Kevin Saul, Blair Hinkle, Ben Lamb, Shannon Shorr, and Joseph Cheong.

Just one more level before play concludes for the day. Doubtful we’ll knock out enough to hit the money bubble but we’ll get to see the joys of that moment early on Day 4.

Tags: 2011 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Annette Obrestad, Annette_15, Bloggers on the Rail, Carlos Mortensen, Jeff Madsen, John Cernuto, Patrik Antonius, Shaun Deeb, WSOP

Read more | Comments (0) | July 14th, 2011 Play Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

The Monday slow down kicks in today with only one final table to be played, two new events which will sport smaller starting fields and just a few hundred players remaining in the $1,000 weekend tournament. Several Full Tilt pros are looking to add a third bracelet to the team and a big payout.

212 players put up the $10,000 buyin for the Limit Omaha/8 World Championshp and 23 of those return today to determine the champion. Michael Chow begins play with the chip lead and Full Tilt’s “Miami John” Cernuto, Steve Zolotow, and John D’Agostino are part of the returning field but all will need a solid dose of run good and fortune to get there. The joys of a limit split pot game will guarantee a nice long night for the players, staff, and media.

$10,000 Omaha/8 World Championship top ten:

1 – Michael Chow – 600,000
2 – Abe Mosseri – 531,000
3 – Sammy Farha – 512,000
4 – Eugene Katchalov – 463,000
5 – Sergey Altbregin – 444,000
6 – Mike Sexton – 386,000
7 – Steve Wong – 363,000
8 – Tai Nguyen – 325,000
9 – Jea-Robert Bellande – 314,000
10 – Tony Merksick – 312,000

Day 2 of the latest $1,000 NLHE tournament is just a few dozen table breaks away from the money after a considerable grind, the starting field was 3,289 players across the two Day 1 flights paying out the top 342 players and only 507 players made it through the minefield. Those who survived include Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Tony “Bond18″ Dunst, Eric “EFro” Froehlich, Matt Brady, David “Doc Sands”, Liv Boeree, Eric Liu, and Matt “All In At 420″ Stout.

The new events of the day are “boutique” specials with a $2,500 NLHE 6-handed tournament at noon and a $1,500 Stud/8 kicking off at 5pm. Neither field will be room busters but both will feature an interesting crew of characters for railbird entertainment. Brock Parker picked up his second bracelet in a week during this 6-handed event last year (both bracelets were in the 6-handed format) and will return to defend his title.

Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, John Cernuto, Tom Dwan, WSOP

Read more | Comments (0) | June 14th, 2010 Play Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

The July 4th holiday is over and today we expect a much bigger crowd for Day 1c then the previous two.  Before the start of the day, players were being stacked up by security behind the ropes and just about every table was staffed. This will definitely be the biggest field of the Main Event start ups and there will be plenty of action. Congressional champion of online poker, U.S. Representative Barney Frank addressed the crowd and issued the traditional “Shuffle up and deal”.

In the good news of the day, “Miami” John Cernuto is back in the Amazon Room after spending several days in the hospital with some serious health issues. He seems to be back to his old self, holding court over the table and joking with Tom McEvoy. Many other members of Team Full Tilt are making the Main Event appearance including Howard Lederer, John Juanda, Lee Watkinson, David Singer, and 2008 Final Table player Kelly Kim.

There was speculation around the room about the size of today’s field considering a lot of online pros generally spend their Sunday taking on the big online tournaments but some of those big names are in the field today including Eric “Rizen” Lynch. We won’t have the exact number of entrants until well into the evening but there is a chance we’ll hit the magic 2,000 player number.

More to come later in the day including pictures from Day 1b. A handful of Full Tilt pros including Fabrice Soulier (87,725), Mike Matusow (37,875), Chris Ferguson, (24,050), and Erik Seidel (18,550). Those players will return on Tuesday for Day 2a.

Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, John Cernuto, John Juanda, WSOP

Read more | Comments (0) | July 5th, 2009 Play Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

As many in the poker world are already aware, “Miami” John Cernuto collapsed yesterday while playing in the $2,500 Razz event.  According to several sources, Cernuto was in the middle of a hand (all babies per the rumor) when he fell to the floor.  Eli Elezra jumped to his aid and the tournament room was quickly emptied.  There are varying version of what was wrong but “Miami” John contacted World Series of Poker Media Director Nolan Dalla to inform everyone that he was still alive and kicking.

Full Tilt blogger Michael Craig wrote about the experience from his perspective, he was in the middle of the tournament himself and on his way to Day 3.

His medical concerns will keep him away from the Amazon Room for awhile but we wish him the best and a speedy recovery.

Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, John Cernuto, WSOP

Read more | Comments (0) | June 24th, 2009 Play Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

We’ve put another week of the 2009 World Series of Poker in the books with more craziness.  The crowds continue to storm the hallways of the Amazon Room looking for a table and a chance.  The crazies are starting to make their way onto the scene, pros and amateurs are mingling together with a common goal, chip runners stay busy 24 hours a day.

While all this is going on, the good folks at Image Masters continue to provide us with some great action shots during the tournaments.  Every morning I receive pictures from the day before that I use to enhance the stories I try to bring the readers.  I hope they’ve added to the experience.

Today I bring you some photos from Week 2 of the 2009 World Series of Poker without my ramblings.  A small taste of what we have available, look for a full gallery coming in the next few days.  All pictures courtesy of Image Masters.

Pictures after the jump, click to enlarge:

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Tags: 2009 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Andy Black, Beth Shak, Bloggers on the Rail, David Chiu, Erica Schoenberg, Erik Seidel, Howard Lederer, Huck Seed, Jennifer Harman, John Cernuto, John Juanda, Katrina Jett, Perry Friedman, Phil Ivey, Pictures of the Week, Svetlana Gromenkova, WSOP

Read more | Comments (0) | June 12th, 2009 Play Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker

Posted by One Angry Monkey | Filed under Heads Up

Welcome back to another round of the Full Tilt Poker Heads-Up Challenge, where we take 64 of our top pros and pit them against one another in a Mortal Kombat style showdown. OK, so nobody gets killed, but you get the idea. This week’s match is the second of our six seed versus 11 seed showdowns, as John “May or may not be from Miami” Cernuto takes on Niki “I shouldn’t have switched screen names” Jedlicka. This should be a good match folks, as we have an established vet taking on one of poker’s young guns. One quick note before we get started, today’s match will be a slightly abridged version of what we normally do, as I’m feeling lazy today and could only be bothered with seven categories, not the usual nine. Without further ado:

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Tags: John Cernuto, Niki Jedlicka

Read more | Comments off | June 26th, 2008 Play Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker