David Daneshgar 2008 WSOP Event 52

EVENT #52 $1,500 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM

Today we will be covering the last lottery event of the WSOP, hehe just joking no really I’m serious(ly joking) hehe. Today we are covering the final table of the last of seven $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em events. Two days ago 2693 started and leave us with just 9 a European, a Russian and seven American’s who are all looking to join an elite group of poker players. The chip counts and seating assignments are as follows:

Seat 1: Dan Heimiller - 544,000
Seat 2: Matt Matros - 1,472,000
Seat 3: Farzad Rouhani - 212,000
Seat 4: Andrey Zaichenko - 521,000
Seat 5: Scott Sitron - 504,000
Seat 6: Voitto Rintala - 553,000
Seat 7: Jeff Courtney - 1,443,000
Seat 8: David Daneshgar - 1,178,000
Seat 9: Corwin Cole - 1,668,000

We start day 3 with the end of level 21 nearing, where the blinds are 12,000/24,000 with a 3,000 ante. With 4 player all just over 500k and one player just above 200k the fireworks and eliminations should come fast then we could be in a grind once we hit 4 or 5 players left, but even still with only just over 8 million chips in play it should still move fairly quickly. As many have commented at this years tournament, the 1,500 buy-in No-Limit events just leave no play as the levels escalate to quickly for the amount of players in the field and as early as level 4 players are already in shove mode.

The first hand of the day saw Matt Matros raise and pick up the blinds, I don’t for see this being an indication of play. And as expected the first elimination came quickly it wasn’t however our shortest stack. On hand #4 when Voitto Rintala open shoved from middle position with his last 46k who doubled up fellow short stack Scott Sitron the hand before. After the raise Rintala found a customer in the shape of Jeff Courtney and then a second customer as Farzad Rouhani called from the BB. Rouhani checked blind as the board fell 5d 9d 5h and Courtney checked behind, bringing a turn card in the shape of the Qc. This cause Rouhani to lead out for 40k and was called by Courtney. The river put a third 5 on the board and Rouhani open shoved for 114k and Courtney folded. Rouhani tabled the NUTS but to add insult to injury he had a Queen to go with his Five. Rintala flashed a pair of Sixes as he headed off to pick up his pay check of $57,712 for his 9th place showing.

On hand #9 Rouhani continued his rise from what should have been first out as he got tangled with Jeff Courtney yet again, this time he raised from middle position to 67k and found two callers Courtney from the button and David Daneshgar from the SB. When the board fell 3s 2s Qs Daneshgar checked to Rouhani who put in a continuation bet of 270k, however this time Courtney pushed in causing Daneshgar to quickly fold and Rouhani to put his tournament life on the line which he did. When the cards were tabled they read:

Courtney: Kd Qh for top pair
Rouhani: As Jd for nut flush draw and an over card

As the turn fell a Queen of diamonds it cut Rouhanis’ outs to just 8 as the King of spades would fill Courtney up. However much to Courtney’s displeasure it was the 8 of spades giving Rouhani the NUT Flush and nearly a million chips, that’s almost five times what he started with in a mere 9 hands.

The end of that “degree all-in moment” also signaled the start of level 22 increasing the blinds to 15,000 & 30,000 with a 4,000 ante, as they always like to say the Price of Poker has just gone up! On hand #14 Andrey Zaichenko another short stack managed to dodge a bullet after getting it all-in preflop with Kd Jd against Corwin Cole’s As 10h. The flop landed Ac 5d Ks giving both a pair and leaving things in tough shape for Andrey Zaichenko but when the 9d hit the turn he went from a mere 5 outs to a very modest 14! And one of those 14 hit the river in the shape of the Kc and thus doubling Andrey Zaichenko up.

On hand #27 every player’s worst nightmare/greatest wish occurred! This of course matter which side of the always dreamed of/dreaded Ace’s vs. King’s confrontation. In this episode Dan Heimiller was on the good side of it at least pre-flop, and David Daneshgar had the shitty side. The action went as follows, Rouhani opened to 80k under the gun and Andrey Zaichenko made the call from middle position when David Daneshgar popped it to 306,000 from the cut off only to run into Dan Heimiller on the SB who shoved it all across the fabled line, leaving both Rouhani and Zaichenko to get out of the way and Daneshgar made the call and saw the worst news possible. The board ran out 9h 6s 2d 4s 6d and Heimiller did more then double up as he picked up a pot of over a million chips.

Again on hand #31 Rouhani and Courtney got into it this time Rouhani “Hollywooded” Aces like the true vet he is and got Courtney to call his all-in after Courtney’s Kh Jc hit a great looking board of 5h Jh 8h however that board looked like a supermodel in itty bitties to Rouhanis’ Ah As and when the heart hit the turn it was all over and Rouhani has again made a victim of Courtney.

After another hour of play the fire works still have not happened as originally thought, wait let me correct that they have happened just the short stacks keep staying alive . With the start of level 23 the blinds will jump to 20k/40k with a 5k ante that’s a 100k an orbit ouch! Luckily for the remaining eight they have twenty minutes break before it starts.

After being the victim of Rouhani multiply times so far today Jeff Courtney’s day came to an end on hand #33, when he found himself the victim of guess who ROUHANI! Rouhani opened the pot from early position with a raise of 105k just over 2 ½ times the BB, and Courtney made a stand from the button with a shove of 580k straight, after a few minutes and some “friendly” table banter Rouhani said exuberantly “LETS GO!” and when they showed down it was the classic race!

Rouhani: Ad Qd
Courtney: Js Jd

When the flop fell Qc 4c 9d it was bad news for Courtney who would need a Jack, running clubs, or running straight. However on the turn the later of those two options was gone when the Four of hearts fell leaving Jeff with just 2 cards to save him and the Nine of hearts wasn’t one. Leaving him with $84,546 to sooth his wounds, and the proverbially $%^ rapping that Rouhani provided him in just over 2 hours here at the final table. Thus leaving Rouhani, who started the day with 212k, less than 10 big bets not including the antes as the chip leader!

On hand #46 Zaichenko found himself in trouble as he open shoved for 770k from the button with dinner for two Opps! I mean 9h 6h, and was SNAP CALLED! Scott Sitron who woke up to Kc Kh. When the flop came Ks Qc 2s Zaichenkos’ only chance of winning was running Jack Ten. But all was for not as the 9 peeled off the turn leaving Zaichenko with $112,116 little Benny’s to help lick his wounds on a big mis-step.

As level 23 came to an end Matros and Cole got into an all-in situation however when the cards were tabled they both saw that they had the same hand with Ace Queen, however after two diamonds hit the flop only Matros could win but when the card bricked black on the turn both men took their money back. Level 24 will see 25 and 50 thousand blinds with a 5,000 ante. And after just over sixty hands we sit like this:

Scott Sitron — 2.32 million
Farzad Rouhani — 1.79 million
David Daneshgar — 1.47 million
Corwin Cole — 1.3 million
Matt Matros — 695,000
Dan Heimiller — 460,000

On hand #64 Matt Matros former final tablest of the World Poker Tour’s 25k buy-in World Championship, found his day come to an end as he and Corwin Cole got into it again this time however Matros was way ahead with As Qh, however when the flop fell Kh 4h 9s Matros was in real deep trouble with only 2 live outs or a running straight with no heart to win. That all came to an end with the 10h hit the turn and Matros leaves us with $148,875 for his 6th place finish today. Cole picked up the next two hands in the blinds and his now very close to Sitron for the chip lead with over 2 million.

As we just passed hand seventy of this final table Dan Heimiller has become very active picking up three straight pots and four out of the last five to get back into contention. However he subsequently who has just given back 260,000 in the last 2 hands one on a check down with Rouhani and the other on a check check flop that was followed by a bet on the turn from Cole. As we pass hand #80 the counts are as follows:

Farzad Rouhani – 2.2 Million
Scott Sitron – 1.96 Million
Corwin Cole – 1.75 Million
Dan Heimiller – 1.12 Million
David Daneshgar 1.01 Million

As level 24 came to a close there wasn’t much action to speak of at all and with the blinds jumping to 30k/60k with 5k ante, things should heat up with Heimiller and Daneshgar having just over 10 orbits as it cost 115k to play every round of the button.

With the players exchanging pots the chip leader and short stacks keep changing faster then one should expect, as Sitron seems to have gotten a good feel for the action and is starting to take control as he his now pushing 3 million as he made a great play in a hand with Rouhani. In which he check called the flop then fired a shell on the turn and river, after folding Rouhani was shown the Ten high bluff as Sitron raked the pot.

After just over one hundred hands in the books we are sitting as follows:

Scott Sitron - 2,705,000
David Daneshgar - 1,530,000
Dan Heimiller - 1,450,000
Farzad Rouhani - 1,305,000
Corwin Cole - 1,055,000

Which as one can see is quite different from just a mere 20 hands ago, but with the limits this high something has got to give and we could see as much as three players fall before the next limit increase. With Seven more hands in the books we have lost another player and oh wait make that another after the eighth.

On hand #113 Corwin Cole sang his swan song as he ran 9c 8d smack into Ac 8c from Sitron, after Cole moved in for 870k from the cutoff and found Sitron waiting in the BB. With a flop of Ad 6c 3s Cole was in deep trouble leaving him with a running straight or running nine’s. However with a King on the turn Cole found himself on the outside looking in, but in fairness looking in on a $189,311 payday.

On hand #114 2008 Bracelet winner Rouhani followed Cole to the cashier’s cage when shoved from the button with his last remaining 515k. His Ah 9d was a 70/30 dog to the 10d 10s Sitron found in the SB, and when the flop brought a 10 and the turn paired the board Sitron had found his second victim in 2 hands and has further increased his chip lead. But not to stop there on hand #115 Sitron raised under the gun to 200k over three times the BB, and was called by Heimiller in the big blind. After the flop landed 2d Ks 2h Heimiller checked to the aggressor and aggress more Sitron did firing another 200k which Heimiller called yet again. With the 10h on the turn both men checked, and with a 5c on the river Sitron picked up where he left off on the turn when he fired another 200k and was called fairly quickly by Heimiller, who mucked after seeing the Beautiful Ladies that Sitron was hiding in the hole.

Just 15 hands after my last chip update things have begun to settle as Heimiller has over taken Sitrons’ chip lead, by a small margin. The majority of that was due to a rather interesting hand in which Sitron played a perfect trap after checking his option on the BB, he was very happy to flop a straight when the board ran 6-10-8 all spades. Heimiller led out for 175k on the flop and was called by Sitron, when the 9c fell on the turn Heimiller took another shot this time 325k which Sitron yet again smooth called. However when the Qh hit the river Heimiller checked trying to induce a bet I’m sure however with a better one card straight out there Sitron was forced to check and saw to his displeasure the Jd 10c from Heimiller. Sitron showed his flopped Nut straight before tossing his hand away.

Dan Heimiller - 3.36 Million
Scott Sitron - 3.0 Million
David Daneshgar - 1.64 Million

As we approach yet another break Heimiller found himself quite active in the last 20 hands or so but unfortunately for him not to his satisfaction, as he now finds himself on the short stack yet again this time with 1.69 million. Sitron has retaken his advantage to a turn of 3.66 million and Daneshgar is in the middle at 2.75 million. We’ll see these three back here at the ESPN table in twenty minutes. When the blinds will be a mighty 50k/100k with a 10k ante what a jump  way to go Harrah’s! 180k every 3 hands nice should be some exciting open shoves with Kx 5x.

Go figure on hand #136 the second one back from the break Daneshgar and Heimiller mixed it up from the blinds. After Daneshgar called the SB and Heimiller checked the flop fell 2s 4s 5c, after a check check the turn brought the inside draw in the shape of the 3h. Daneshgar made it 100k to go and Heimiller bumped him to 250k which was quickly called. When the river hit the 5h Heimiller fired 550k which was insta-called by Daneshgar who had checked and both players tabled a 6 for a straight and a chop.

Daneshgar: Qc 6h
Heimiller: Kc 6d

GO FIGURE!

Just six hands later however Heimiller pissed off Lady luck and found himself with $275,695 ways to try and bribe her next time. After Sitron opened from UTG/Button for 225k, Daneshgar couldn’t fold quick enough leaving Heimiller to think for a moment before shoving in. Sitron called the 1.6 Million straight and both men tabled:

Heimiller: Ac 3c
Sitron: As 10c

Leaving Sitron in great shape, when the board hit Jc 10s 4h, Heimiller had nothing but running cards either to trips or a Bike. With the Jd on the turn he could now only chop the pot with an Ace but that was not to come as the river fell 5c. Leaving us with Sitron and Daneshgar to battle for the bracelet.

The heads up action will start shortly but to update you on the chip counts here’s how we sit:

Scott Sitron – 4.874 Million
David Daneshgar – 3.265 Million

With seventeen hands in the books Daneshgar has taken 14 of those and now sits on 4.46 million to 3.49 million of Sitron. However on the next hand Sitron got 500k of those chips back and both players now sit level with 160 hands of play in the books tonight.

A lot of the pots thus far have not reached the flop and if they have it’s been a case where there is only one bet put in after the flop hits and it’s either been on the turn or the river. Daneshgar has picked up Aces but got nothing but Sitrons’ blind but at least it was the big one. Over the last ten hands Sitron has chipped away by taking small pot here and there and now sits on just under 5 million. Daneshgar has picked up Aces yet again however to his dismay he received a walk and tabled the Aces and collects his 60k vs. the 110k he had to risk for it without even seeing one card let alone to rockets.

On hand #182 a few hands after the levels jumped yet again this time to 60k and 120k with a 15k ante, the first significant preflop action got everyone’s attention. After Sitron raised from the Button to 320k, Daneshgar announced raise prior to slipping another 575k to make 895k straight! Sitron made the call and with a 2h Ac 6s on the flop Daneshgar led out for 610k less then a 1/3 of the pot, and found the call I would have to assume he was hoping for. When the board paired 6h he checked (again assuming) to induce a bet from Sitron which he received in the form of 800k leading to all of Daneshgars’ chips nearly beating the 800k from Sitron into the pot, and before Sitron could get his chips in he got his cards in the muck. Daneshgar has taken a commanding lead after that hand.

After 10 hands of jockeying David Daneshgar ended it on hand #192 the fiftieth of heads up play, when Sitron limped on the button and shoved all 2.9 million following a raise to 400k from David in the BB, and David snap called him so quick the audience here was caught of guard.

Sitron: Ah 8c
Daneshgar: 10d 10c

And Sitron would have to over come a 70% disadvantage to double up and take the lead in this battle. But when the flop ran 4d 6d 6h he was down to an Ace, running eights, or a running five/seven. With the 9c on the turn he had just an Ace to keep him alive but it was not to be as the Jack of hearts delivered David his first bracelet and $625,442 pay day. Which is almost 417 times his $1,500 investment, that has got to help the R.O.I.! :). For his great play and great resolve to over come being the second shortest stack at the start of the day Scott Sitron will leave the Rio with $385,974 that should help to ease the pain of letting one slip away.

For all those of you have taken the time to read this thank you, good luck and hope you keep watching and reading!

By Staypuff