Shaun Deeb | Poker From The Rail

2011 World Series of Poker Main Event Day 3

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

2011 World Series of Poker Day 20: Running of the Lemurs

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

Phil Laak reads up on Stud while playing the $10,000 7-Card Stud Hi-Low Championship

“I see dead money.” Quote from an anonymous pro as he walked the Rio hallways today with thousands of other players looking to make their mark in yet another $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event. The tournament floor becomes the “killing fields” as the professional players make a lot of moves early to double up or move along, the amateur players over value their hands and dust off their stacks.

The field will be massive, the beats will be sick, but someone will have a sparkling new bracelet in a few days and a life time of memories.

The big game to watch today will be the completion of the $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha, they battled into the early morning yet still return 26 players. Among those looking for the bracelet are chip leader Sam Stein, Ben “benba” Lamb, Christian “charder30″ Harder, Brock Parker, Adam Junglen, and Tex Barch.

Since they did not finish Day 2 until near 4am, they will have plenty of time to rest before the 4pm restart.

1 – Sam Stein – 843,000
2 – Ben “benba” Lamb – 657,000
3 – Warren Fund – 501,000
4 – Christian “charder30″ Harder – 496,000
5 – Brock Parker – 386,000
6 – Austin Scott – 370,000
7 – Jeremy Harkin – 340,000
8 – Adam Junglen – 231,000
9 – Zimnan Ziyard – 228,000
10 – Henning Dethlefsen – 220,000

The 10-Game Mix will also return for an extra day when they were unable to crown a champion after 10 levels of play. “Friend of the blog” Shaun Deeb had a perfect chance to capture his first WSOP bracelet when he made the final table with a commanding chip lead. He was unable to hold on after a series of unfortunate hands to finish in 4th place in the wee hours of the morning.

Three players remain for the title with Chris Lee holding the lead over Brian Haveson and Travis Pearson.

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.

Michael Binger (also) reading up on Stud while playing the $10k Stud Hi-Lo World Championship

Tags: 2011 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Michael Binger, Phil Laak, Shaun Deeb, WSOP

2011 World Series of Poker Day 19: Seniors Come Out To Play

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

History was made yesterday, just not in the way I was expecting. The heads up match between Mike Sexton and Chris Viox did not last long with the deficit being too much to make up. The lights around the mothership had barely warmed up before the match was over and Voix was the last player standing. Later in the night we had a chance to see a big win in the $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship with a stacked final table including Barry Greenstein, Nick Schulman, Justin “BoostedJ” Smith, and Isaac Haxton.

The real history made yesterday involved the Seniors Event which drew the biggest tournament field with one starting day. 3,752 quinquagenarian’s and over (look it up) filled the hallways and tables to grind out their championship. The field was so big the WSOP was forced to seat players at special tables far up the Rio hallway near the casino and all other events/restarts were pushed back to accommodate the field.

While I often downplay the significance (in my mind) of these non-open events, I spoke with a player last night after they were done and I was moved slightly off my position. He said, “We’re mostly just a bunch of fun old guys who just want to play some poker.” Can’t argue with that.

The picture above is among my favorites of the WSOP to date. Erick Lindgren standing among the Seniors field looking for his father Richard. He was able to track him down, chat for a bit and then move on to his next event.

There are some big names sticking around in the 10-Game Mix event with online guru (and fan favorite) Shaun “tedsfishfry” Deeb leading the field. Most players have nothing but positive things to say about this format where they must show skill across many games. For those unaware, here is the 10-Game Mix rotation:

No Limit Hold’em, Razz, Limit Hold’em, Badugi (Limit), 7-Card Stud, 2-7 Draw (No Limit), Omaha/8, Pot Limit Omaha, 2-7 Triple Draw (Limit), and 7-Card Stud/8.

I’m not sure whether the champion of this event can be crowned the best all-around player or just someone who manages to dodge their worst played games. We do know that Shaun Deeb has a history of doing well in the big mix cash games, time to see if it translates to his first WSOP bracelet.

1 – Shaun Deeb – 321,700
2 – Brian Haveson – 288,000
3 – Travis Pearson – 258,100
4 – Jason Stern – 220,000
5 – Septimiu Popescu – 217,300
6 – David Benefield – 211,300
7 – Tad Jurgens – 161,000
8 – Don McNamara – 156,000
9 – Roland Israelashvili – 149,000
10 – Daniel Makowsky – 141,200

Other Notables: John D’Agostino (124,600), Matt Vengrin (110,300), David Whitis (1 and certainly a typo in the spreadsheet)

Continuing the theme of big time online players, Ben “benba” Lamb leads the Pot Limit Omaha event followed by Paul “paulgees81″ Volpe, Christian “charder30″ Harder, and Tom “SBRounder” West among others. The never dull, always blasting away 4-card bingo version of the game cruised right along losing nearly 80% of the field on Day 1. If things hold true to form, this event should reach it’s final table 9 before calling it a night at the “hard stop”.

1 – Ben “benba” Lamb – 169,800
2 – Joseph Ressler – 139,300
3 – Paul “paulgees81″ Volpe – 125,200
4 – Mohamad Kowssarie – 124,800
5 – Arthur Morris – 124,300
6 – Brian Roberts – 117,000
7 – Emmanuel Sebag – 103,800
8 – John Patgorski – 102,300
9 – Jeffrey Lisandro – 94,100
10 – Frank Peelen – 91,100

Other Notables: Tex Barch (89,800), Christian “charder30″ Harder (84,100), Brett Richey (69,600), Brock Parker (60,900), Noah Schwartz (56,100), Bill Chen (47,800), Dan Heimiller (36,200), Tom “SBRounder” West (35,100), Erick Lindgren (30,700), John Juanda (29,800), John Racener (29,700)

Tags: 2011 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Christian Harder, Erick Lindgren, Shaun Deeb, WSOP

Big Money Sunday – September 5th

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

It was a fun day all around the poker world yesterday with action all over. There were live tournaments finishing their run in both Cannes and London, huge online tournaments going off, as well as the regular fare of huge guarantee events here for Full Tilt’s Big Money Sunday. The “evening” would not be complete until sunrise on the east coast of the Us but there was plenty to cover.

First up on the evening was some live action railing via the internets to London. The WPT made it’s stop in London were a small but esteemed group of players bought into the High Roller event. In the end it came down to a battle between Tony G and Full Tilt’s Justin “BoostedJ” Smith for the title. I imagine it will make for some great television coverage between the two. Smith came into the event with over $1,500,000 in career tournament earnings but without a major title, in the end he defeated the “jovial” Lithuanian to win the £141,000 first place prize and his first victor photo.

Turning eyes towards the online world we found a crowd favorite come out of retirement for a nice score. Shaun “eff’n” Deebs has never backed away from expressing his opinions or standing behind them which generally puts him in the class of you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. After making a huge splash in the online poker tournaments, Deeb decided to take an extended breather from the grind until recently. Last night he announced his return with a big victory in our $750,000 Guarantee main event of the day for cool $132,787. Welcome back Shaun!

Other honorable mentions for outstanding performance of the day go out to Jon “sketchy1″ Eaton (20th in the Sunday Brawl, 10th in the $200,000), Lauren “locoenlacabeza” Kling (16th in the Sunday Brawl, 27th in the Sunday Mulligan), and Garrett “GBecks” Beckman who almost did the unbelievable by hitting the final table of the $200,000 Double Deuce shove-fest in back-to-back weeks.

But the best results of the day belong to the anonymous “mralan2950″ who followed up his win in the Sunday Brawl by taking down the star studded $200,000 Guarantee rebuy tournament. Finding information on “mralan2950″ is proving to be difficult by they do sport an impressive resume which includes over $1,000,000 in tournament cashes on Full Tilt alone including a Sunday Mulligan title to go along with two victories in the $1k Monday events. For his efforts in just those two events alone, “mralan2950″ collected over $170,000 in prize pool cash. Not a bad night.

Naturally you can’t take down events like these without a little luck on your side. Three-handed he laid these two beats on Jamie “pokerjamers” Armstrong in back-to-back hands.

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