June 6, 2008 marked the eight day of action at this year’s WSOP. As has been the case for a few days, six tournaments ran simultaneously today and the big stories were Matt Keikoan winning event 7 and Anthony “tongi” Rivera winning event 8. Those two events have their own coverage; click the links, so we’ll cover just the four other events which ran today in this report.

Event #9 $1,500 NLHE Short Handed Day Two

Day 2 of Event 9, $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Six Handed rejoins with 71 players from a original 1,236 poker players. As it stands right now Matt Matros is the chip leader. The complete final table and stack sizes are below:

John Conkright 997,000 chips
Michiel Brummelhuis 883,000 chips
Rep Porter 732,000 chips
Nathan Templeton 449,000 chips
Devin Porter 357,000 chips
Anthony Shilyuk 310,000 chips

Here are some key hands from day 2:

With 14 left Antuan Bunkley moved all in for around 25,000 with Pocket Queens and Devin Porter called with Pocket fives. The flop and turn was safe for Bunkley as it came 2s-9d-4d-4c, but the river proved to not be as nice for Bunkley as a 5 of clubs came on the river eliminating Bunkley and boosting Porters stack over 135,000.

When it was down to just 12 players Jonh Conkright went all in preflop with Kevin MacPhee. Conkright was holding pocket Queens and MacPhee held pocket eights. The entire board came 4d-Ad-7d-6c-10h and Conkright doubled up, while MacPhee was crippled with only 70,000 chips left. A few hands later MacPhee went all in with J8 and this time Templeton was holding the better hand with KK and MacPhee was sent home with $36,442 for his effort.

One of the last hands of the day was a four player pot where Templeton open raised Devin Porter, John Conkright and Zand called. The flop came Js-10s-10h and Porter was first to act and checked, Conkright was next to act and bet 100,000. Templeton folded and Zand raised to 325,000. Porter went into the tank and decided to fold, later saying he had AJ. Conkright moved the rest of his stack in and Zand made the call. Conkright showed Kd10d and Zand showed 8s9s. The turn brought a J of diamonds making Conkright a full house and the river was a 7 of diamonds, which left Zand with 30,000 in chips.

The final table will begin at 2:00 PM and will be playing for a the WSOP Bracelet along with a first place prize of $372,843.

The experience of this final table is fairly solid; Nathan Templeton is making his second WSOP final table appearance. Back in 2006, is when he reached a final table in a No Limit Hold’em event and took down a prize of nearly $150,000. Rep Porter has had several deep cashes in major tournaments including the 2007 WSOP Main Event where he placed 39th and earned $237,865.

Devin Porter is a young poker player who has made an interesting feat of reaching the final table of the first two World Poker Tour events he has played. In 2007, he also finished forth in a WSOP event.

Michiel Brummelhuis is a poker pro from the Netherlands who is making his very first WSOP final table debut, same goes for Anthony Shilyuk.

Event #10 - $2,500 Omaha/7 Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 Day 2

Event #10 - $2,500 Omaha/7 Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 Or Better rejoins with 108 players from an original 388 poker players in the hopes of playing down to the final table. The final table will resume for Day 3 and the $232,911 first place prize.

Surprisingly a ton of the big names busted out early in day two which include: Howard Lederer, Men Nguyen and Greg Raymer. Other big names that busted later in the day include: Berry Jonston, Allen Cunningham and Jeff Lisandro.

Here are some key hands from Event #10 Day 2

Hoyt Corkins was eliminated by Van Alstyne during round 14 and players were down to the final two tables. Hoyt put all his money in on the flop in a stud-8 hand showing 7d-Qd-3h-4h and lost to a straight and Hoyt left earning a little of extra cash in his pocket.

Matt Graham earned himself $15,171 after he busted in 12th place after he received two callers on third street during Stud 8. Brandon Cantu and Greg Pappas were the two players in the hand. Cantu was driving the bus throughout the hand and picked up the side pot and the main pot after Graham put all his money in. Chantu showed 10c-10h-2h-7d with Ah-Ad-4c hidden and Graham showed 3c-Qc-4d-7s with 5d-6c-8s hidden.

Brandon Cantu ended up being the final table bubble boy, which took over an hour since the last elimination. He raised his short stack all in preflop and was called by John Cernuto. Cantu showed Ad-10d-4h-10h and Cernuto called with Ac-3c-3s-6h. The board came 5c-4c-6c-5d-7h giving Cernuto the low and nut flush for the high hand and eliminating Cantu.

Final Table Chip Counts:

Farzad Rouhani 513,000
Greg Pappas 304,000
John Cernuto 285,000
Tom Chambers 235,000
Michael Mizrachi 231,000
John Racener 180,000
Daniel Mowczan 122,000
Yueqi Zhu 87,000

Day 3 of this tournament will resume at 4:00 PM in the Amazon Room.

Event #11 - $5,000 No Limit Texas Hold’em Shootout Day 1

Event #11 - $5,000 No Limit Texas Hold’em Shootout brought 360 poker players and created a $477,900 first place prize. This is usually more of a niche event and tends to bring out the deepest bankroll players that are well unknown. The list of high profile players did not disappoint as you can see from just a few of the entrants which include: Daniel Negreanu, Patrik Antonius, Humberto Brenes, Phil Ivey, Phil Laak, Andy Block, Erick Lindgren, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Erik Sediel, John Juanda and many more.

If you’re unfamiliar with how the shoot out format is played out; think of it as a bunch of six handed sit and goes where the winner advances. And with 360 entrants you can imagine how tough the field and table draws would be with the amount of professional players who entered the event.

Key hands of the day:

John Juanda and Phil Hellmuth were involved in a monster hand when Juanda raised to 1,800 from the small blind and Phil re-raised to 4,800. Juanda went all in and Hellmuth pushed his remaining chips in the pot and quickly flipped up KK, only to be disappointed when Juanda flipped over AA! Hellmuth couldn’t catch a two outer and was eliminated. Shortly after Juanda eliminated Doc to advance to round 2.

When Joe Sebok eliminated Quinn Do to advance to round 2 he had a 4-1 chip lead. The last hand of the day for Do was when Sebok limped from the button and was raised to 3,000, and Sebok called. Do pushed all in with Ad-9s when the flop came 7d-2d-6h and Sebok called with 7h-8d. Do was unable to catch an Ace or 9 and Sebok advanced.

Greg Muller made a preflop call with 10-10 after Johnny Kincaid raised all-in with Qd-8s. The board did not help Kincaid and Muller advanced to round 2.

Erik Seidel advanced to day 2 when he bet 2,400 in chips from button and was raised Held Kolastikov raise to 7,600 and Seidel just smooth called the raise from position. The flop came 6h-9s-Jc and Kolastikov lead out for 10,500 and Seidel raised to 25,000. Kolastikov re-raised very quickly and was all-in and Seidel called. Seidel flipped up Ah-Jh for top pair nut kicker and back door flush draw and Kolastikov showed 8h-7c with an open-ended draw. The turn and river failed to help Kolastikov and Seidel moves on.

A few high profile players are returning for Day two which include: Joe Sebok, Greg Muller, Tony G, Erik Seidel, Alex Jacob and John Juanda. The field is still very strong, but there is a good chance an unknown player will win the Shoot Out Bracelet.

Day two will resume for Round 2 at 2:00 PM.

Here is the table seating for Day 2:

TABLE 1
Seat # Player:
1 Evan McNiff
2 John Murphy
3 Eugene Katchalov
4 Thomas Roupe
5 Joe Sebok
6 William Palmer

TABLE 2
Seat # Player:
1 Mats Gavatin
2 Pier Ruscalla
3 Christopher Howard
4 Leo Wolpert
5 Maciek Gracz
6 Jacobo Fernandez

TABLE 3
Seat # Player:
1 Isaac Haxton
2 Greg Mueller
3 Burt Boutin
4 Adam Levy
5 Paul Roper
6 Ryan Thurlow

TABLE 4
Seat # Player:
1 Tony G
2 Robert Firestone
3 Sirous Jamshidi
4 Elton Beebe
5 Alex Jacob
6 John Monnette

TABLE 5
Seat # Player:
1 John Juanda
2 Eric Froehlich
3 Andrey Zaichenko
4 Gabriel Costner
5 Timothy West
6 Erik Seidel

TABLE 6
Seat # Player:
1 Andre Remy
2 Gregg Turk
3 William Blanda
4 Phil Tom
5 Richard Kirsch
6 Ariel Schneller

Event #12 - $1,500 Limit Hold’em began today with 880 poker players, which is 30 players less than last years numbers. Although, this years field was full of high profile poker players that include: Tom Schneider, Shaun Deeb, Shannon Elizabeth, Erick Lindgren, Phil Hellmuth, Chris Ferguson, Justin Bonomo and many others.

Phil Hellmuth continued to run bad in this event as he has done in the 2008 WSOP. Last year not only did Phil win his 11th WSOP Bracelet he also cashed in several events. Today he got punted early after his pocket aces were cracked by a amateur who turned two pair, which crippled his stack. His exit hand was when he put his remaining chips in with pocket 10’s and lost to Ace 10 off suit. We feel that things will start turning around for Phil soon and he can win his 12th bracelet!

When dealt Qd-3d Chris Ferguson found himself in a big pot with his short stack and then found himself to the exit door. On a board of Js-2s-2d-10h Ferguson lead out and Chris Podlewski called with Kh-6d. The river paired the board with a 10 and Ferguson was eliminated. Other notable players that busted quite early are Humberto Brenes, J.C. Tran, and Shaun Deeb.

Daniel Negreanu receives a foam finger after he got involved with his short stack on a cheap flop with a limper from middle position. The blinds who were behind Negreanu and Tony Licastro also called to see the flop of 10c-2h-kd. The big blind bet out and Negreanu raised and receives a 2 bet cold call from Licastro. The turn was a Queen of hearts and Negreanu checked called Licastro. The river was a 4 of hearts and Negreanu check called again and was all-in with QdJd and Licastro showed Ks9h and Kid Poker was sent home.

Erick Lindgren is playing very laggy and 3 bet Ks-10c preflop against the button and an early position limper. The flop came Kc-9c-8h and Lindgren bet out each street and was called by each player. The turn brought a 7 of diamonds and the river was a 5 of hearts. The river he received one call and showed one pair of kings and his opponent mucked. Lindgren was sitting pretty with 23,000 chips after he scooped the pot.

Play will resume 3:00 PM Saturday at the Amazon Room with 179 survivors out of 880 original entrants. Day 2 should be very exciting with players including: Erick Lindgren, Terrence Chan, Marcel Luske and Tom Schneider still in the mix and battling for a bracelet.

Top 10 Chip Leaders:

Eric Pratt 40,700
Eric Crain 38,400
Jimmy Shultz 38,300
Roy Thung 35,800
Joseph Sanders 35,800
Marco Traniello 34,400
Vinny Vinh 30,700
Gerald Schaffner 30,600
Ali Esbumi 30,300
David Rood 29,500