June 10, 2008 marked the twelfth day of action at 39th Annual World Series of Poker. We’ll cover all non-final table-action in this report and you can refer to the following links for final table coverage:

2008 WSOP Event 15 Ladies Championship Final Table
2008 WSOP Event 17 $1500 Shootout Final Table

The first event we’ll cover is Event 16 Day 3, $2000 Omaha Hi/Lo..

Lets get right into it…

Last night this tournament broke earlier, or should we say late? In any case the final table is scheduled to be played today, but we first need to get the field reduced from 18 players to nine.

The action gets going quickly as Jimmy Fricke doubles up on the very first hand of play when he tables A’s to make A’s and K’s two pair, and shortly after his opponent in that hand Michael Reed finds himself out in 18th as he loses his all-in against Scott Clements when Clements makes the nut low and a flush to scoop the pot. In the spirit of Chip and a Chair Jim Pechac started the day with just two chips (2K) which was not even enough for the SB let alone the BB however he has managed to run that up to 28k following multiple double ups! And after yet another impressive hand finds himself up to 111k with only 15 players remaining as the eliminations are coming quite quickly. So after 1 hour of play we find ourselves already down to 13 players and just following the break Jose Paz finds himself Mr. Unlucky 13 but does pocket $11,071 in that ominous spot. In the last hour we saw Ted Forrest lose a monster pot as he drops 80k and found 2 more fresh additions to the rail, and with 11 players left the Tournament Staff have elected to begin hand for hand play. After the commencement of hand for hand play Ralph Rudd finds himself the next victim as they combine to one table as they look for 1 more bird to join the rail and finalize the final 9. The chips counts and seating assignments for the last table are.

1. Ralph Perry (345,000)
2. Andrew Brown (400,000)
3. Scott Clements (160,000)
4. Lee Grove (37,000)
5. Jim Pechac (240,000)
6. Jimmy Fricke (50,000)
7. Soheil Shamseddin (350,000)
8. Ted Forrest (270,000)
9. Kia Hooshmand (165,000)
10. Allan Enciso (155,000)

With the end of the level in sight Lee Grove called all-in after a early position raise from Andrew Brown, both players were called by the story of the day “Big” Jim Pechac. With a 7h Js 2h flop Brown bet out and was called by Big Jim, when an 8d came off the turn Brown bet and then called the raise from Jim, after the As hit the river the action was check check Jim took the Hi with 4c 2s Ad Jc to make 3 pair even though only 2 count, and brown grabbed the low 4s 5h Jh Qs for a 5 low which was enough to beat Grove’s Ac 3c 10h 2c and Lee finished as the final table bubble boy and collect $13,587 and is left with a empty dream. With that we have our final 9 and all eyes will be on Ted Forrest as he is in good position to get an early bracelet.

For the rest of the coverage see our 2008 WSOP Event 16 Final Table Report.

Event #18 $5,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw W/re-buys Day 2
It’s 3pm and the intense field that makes up this event has returned, 39 players, yesterday we reported that 40 had made day 2 so sorry for that mix up. The leader board is as follows, and the chip leader is Tom “Durrr” Dwan who early yesterday admitted that he has only played maybe 3 hours of 2-7 before yesterday quick learner I suppose.

Tom Dwan 238,900
Mike Matusow 174,500
Tom Schneider 153,500
Chris Ferguson 149,000
Stephen Wolff 138,900

Yan R Chen 136,700
Doyle Brunson 135,000
David Benyamine 132,200
Michael Binger 131,300
Phil Ivey 122,300

Jeffrey Lisandro 120,400
Chad Brown 117,200
Michael Mizrachi 116,900
Lamar ‘Wil’ Wilkinson 103,200
Nick Schulman 97,700

Shahram ‘Shawn’ Sheikhan 95,100
Erick Lindgren 94,800
David Peat 94,200
David Grey 92,100
Robert Mizrachi 86,500

Brandon Adams 86,400
Jim Bechtel 86,000
Eli Elezra 82,800
Phil Galfond 74,800
Jon Turner 72,400

Steve Sung 69,000
Carlos Mortensen 67,800
Philippe Rouas 66,000
Howard Lederer 60,200
Barry Greenstein 57,900

Dario Alioto 57,200
Nikolay Evdakov 56,800
Mickey Appleman 49,000
Todd Brunson 38,900
Layne Flack 38,500

Lyric Duveyoung 32,900
Mark Dickstein 32,800
Dan Harmetz 32,000
Tony ‘G’ Guoga 19,000

With the action underway Phillippe Rouas found himself out of the event at the hands of Mike “The Mouth” and was followed shortly there after when Full Tilt team member David Benyamine knocked off fellow team mate Phil Ivey. After great success thanks primarily to Phil Ivey continually chipping him up Todd Brunson (son of Doyle) found himself peaking around 200k yesterday but after a rough finish yesterday and tough start today he found himself all-in, however Tom Schnieder didn’t call and Todd is at 40k. Mike Matusow was just given a serious warning for peaking at a folded hand after he raised from the SB and the BB mucked. After being the center of much talk with regards to an early favorite to win Todd Brunson couldn’t beat the deck and found himself out when he threw a J to draw after getting all-in however he paired his nine! In a sick sense of irony his pre-draw hand was best, when David Grey stood pat on a J – 9.

As play continues Eli Elezra has found himself eliminated and Mike Matusow has found the deck to be a beautiful thing as he has been dealt a perfect 8 four times since play began over 2 hours ago, and finds himself with around 280k. In a exciting pot Tom “Durrr” Dwan raised to 8,700 pre-draw and was called by Nick Schulman before Lederer raised it up to 43,700. With action back to Durrr he shoved in and after a fold from Schulman Howard called off the rest of his chips. Durrr stood pat with a natural 8 and Howard tabled a 2 4 6 7 leaving him any 3 5 or 8 to win and on the draw he peeled a 2 and found himself wanting, and leaving Durrr with 460k in chips and near the top of the board. Mortensen is playing the part of the cat that kept coming back, upon finding himself short stacked again today he has managed to rebuild yet again and is sitting on 130,000 after being as low as 19k not more then an hour ago. Mizrachi is the next among the casualties when his hand was not strong enough to best the 10 9 from David Benyamine. Tom Dwan continues his heater in this event as he surpasses the half million mark and is looking like an early favorite to win this thing. After a short break the Tournament staff here did a redraw for the final 3 tables and here’s how it looks as we get nearer to the money

Table #5
1 – Mike Matusow
2 – Carlos Mortensen
3 – Erick Lindgren
4 – Tony G
5 – Tom Schneider
6 – David Benyamine
7 – Yan Chen

Table #10
1 – Chris Ferguson
2 – Tom Dwan
3 – Layne Flack
4 – Jeff Lisandro
5 – David Grey
6 – Barry Greenstein
7 – Dario Alioto

Table #13
1 – Jim Bechtel
2 – Nikolay Edvakov
3 – Michael Binger
4 – Doyle Brunson
5 – Shawn Sheikhan
6 – Nick Schulman
7 – Chad Brown

After the dinner break the action is moving once again and not long into Layne Flack and Shawn Sheikhan are both out, Shawn was the victim of yet another slow roll by Edvakov who did the same to Phil Hellmuth yesterday and let me make an amendment Shawn is on the list of acceptable slow rolls as well hehe. As we chased down the bubble Carlos Mortensen’s dream run back from Oblivion has come to an end as he raised all-in and walked head first into Erick Lindgren’s 9-7 and was unable to draw out, and Ferguson was also among the bubble causalities as he left in 18th. As we enter level 14 we’re also sitting at bubble land Doyle is not afraid as his motto is win and screw squeaking in under the bubble, and he got involved with Chad Brown. Doyle tabled 7 6 and Chad tabled 8 6 a 7-2 cold deck, Doyle has about 82k. However shortly there after Doyle’s desire to win found him as the bubble boy as his Pat 10 was not enough against the Pat 9 of Tom Schneider and with that everyone left is in the money.

After an hour of play we have only lost 2 as Doyle finished as bubble boy and Michael Binger was the next out and first in the money cashing $26,025. As the night went on the knockouts started to pick up pace as in the last hour 2 more have left for the day as Evdakov and Schulman leave in 13th and 14th and $26,025 for their 3 days of work. This is the 4th cash for Evdakov you’d think after that much tournament action he would have learnt some Edict. Tom Dwan’s complete fall from grace was narrowly averted as Tony “G” missed his live draw on a 9 low and Tom’s 9-8 held as he doubles up to 25k a far cry from the 500k he once had, however a few moments later his comeback was thwarted as David Benyamine raised pre-draw and Tom called All-in with a Pat Q-10 and David drew one to make a 10-7 and send Tom home in 8th with $45,110. With Tom’s exit the final table of 7 is set and the following will come back tomorrow at 3 to battle for one of the world’s most coveted tournament titles.

Erick Lindgren 1,104,000
Barry Greenstein 541,000
Mike Matusow 520,000
Jeffrey Lisandro 461,000
David Benyamine 410,000
Tony ‘G’ Guoga 394,000
Tom Schneider 162,000

Update: Event 18 Final Table Results

Event #19 $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Day 1
With a noon start the Amazon room is tranquil prior to the storm of Omaha players that will fill this room very shortly, as we near the start of the event it appears we will see the field grow from last year and sit in the low 600’s. There are many well known players in the field today, including Erick Lindgren who will later join the 2-7 No-limit event and be forced to do the two table action, also Vanessa Rousso, Lee Watkinson, Scottie Nguyen and others will battle today to lay claim to a bit of gold.

Scott Fischman is one of the first notables to come and GO in today’s event as he has just busted. The earlier estimate of low 600’s is being obliterated as we now sit well over 700. After a big pot between Roland de Wolfe and Jeff Madsen the later was left with just one 25 chips which he quickly lost there after and is the next on the list to go home. As level 3 has begun the final numbers are in and the field of near 550 last year has swelled incredibly to 759 for this years event of which only 450 remain. Katja Thater, Phil Gordon and Bill Gazes are among the next to sully up to the rail and enjoy the visual action. Greg Raymer got into back to back hands that sent him to the rail in the first he flopped 2nd nut flush to lose to the board going running pair to give Carol Kline Ace’s full and next Raymer’s 5d 6d 7h 8h flopped the nut straight on a 4-7-8 board but his opponents Ah 10d 8d 9c improved to a better straight when a jack peeled the turn.

They don’t call him the master for nothing, Men Nguyen raised preflop to 525 and was reraised as another player went all-in. Men said the hell with it and called tabling Qh 7h Kc 2s against Ad Kd 9h 10d leaving Men in rough shape, but a rainbow board comprised of 3-7-5-6-5 leaving a pair of 7’s as the best hand. After just three and a half hours we find the field cut by nearly 2/3’s as only 288 remain. As level 4 came to a close both Nenad Medic and Marcel Luske have gone the way of the Dodo from this event, players are now on break. Anthony Chatelain found himself with a flopped straight draw and flush draw on a K-K-J flopped board, however for him Nosebleed cash game specialist Chau Giang flopped Quads leaving Anthony drawing dead to anything but the rail. The famous David Sklansky along with Humberto Brenes have both been sent home as the 5th level has come to a close.

Omaha is a draw game and in a bit of humor Rafi Amit made a comment that players need to stop trying to bluff him when they hold the nuts as he has rivered several players in a row to win pots. As the event progress Vanessa Selbst is in the atmosphere with a chip stack of 86k that is more then double the average stack of just over 37k with only 122 remaining as we head into the next break, in the last hands before the break 2 more have fallen and we are 120 players remaining. Men Nguyen is trapped into a pot with a flush draw against a flopped full house from his opponent and will not add to his list of cashes in the WSOP today. As we approach the break and the start of level 9 we are only a dozen from the money with only 2 hours to play tonight. As the bubble approached former world champ Scottie Nguyen and former PLO champ Rafi Amit find themselves the two player eliminated prior to the bubble and with that everyone is going home with some money, immediately following the bubble Kathy Liebert surrenders herself to the deck which doesn’t provide any help and she is the first person out in the money. The following players are the first to cash and received $2,900 for nearly 9 hours play

65. John Womack
66. Timothy Finne
67. Paul Seibert
68. Dax Garrison
69. Alex Jacob
70. Charles Satterwhite
71. Ryan Carey
72. Kathy Liebert

As day one is coming to a close the elimination rate has increased quite a bit and we have gotten down to 46 players as Vanessa Selbst continues to pad her lead and now sits on over 200k.

$3,522
47. Marcel Bedard
48. Brian Woods
49. Kasey Nam
50. Roland Isra
51. Jeffery Higgins
52. Leroy Baca
53. Gerhard Schieber
54. Michael McStott
55. Christopher Cardgraff
56. Paul Evans
57. Doug Carli
58. Sean Patrick
59. Michael Katz
60. Dave Ulliott
61. Rolf “Ace Speaks” Slotboom
62. William Bryant
63. Santos Ortiz
64. Robert Parise

The top 10 chip stacks are as follows

Vanessa Selbst 203,600
Anthony Phillips 133,100
Carter Gill 114,000
Eugene Todd 103,600
Greg Cox 82,900
Phil Reed 82,000
Craig Natte 80,900
Jesper Hougaard 74,800
Rob Hollink 70,600
Jordan Morgan 70,100

With only 46 players remaining they will all go get a good nights rest not having to worry about making the money just worry about making the final table when they return on Wednesday at 2pm.

Event #20 $2,000 Limit Hold’em Day 1
Event 20 limit hold’em kicks off this afternoon as the unofficial numbers sit at just over 400 and should near 450 by the end of level 2. Last years champ took home a nice $217k for his work and today’s first place should be about the same.

There are quite a few well known players playing in today’s event including the like’s of Joe Sebok, Eric Lynch, Bill Edler, Van Nguyen, Annie Duke, Marco Traniello and others. Bill Edler was the first known player to make an exit after an exciting 3 way pot left him facing a completed gut shot on the river against his flopped set of 8’s. Negreanu is running quite nicely as he 3 bet the pot preflop and got 2 callers, when the board hit Jh 4h 4c it was double checked to Danny who bet to find two callers. A turn in the shape of the 5h led to a check bet, Daniel simply called and the first player check folded. The river brought the 6d and both players checked and Daniel’s K’s bested his opponents AQ.

As level 4 comes to a close Alex Kravchenko and Daniel Negreanu are 2nd and 3rd respectively behind leader Ayaz Mahmood. Team Full Tilt Poker Pro David Chiu was looking good until running spades eliminated him from contention. Phil Hellmuth Jr. came to the tournament today wearing some weird WWII type military jacket and was found ranting about getting run down with A’s when his opponent hit trips on the river, and in usual fashion he stated that he loves the action! Negreanu and Hellmuth are playing well here in the early stages as Phil Ivey who started very well in this WSOP however since the Stud event where he nearly final tabled he has been playing quite poorly and found himself out early again. He however was very pleased with the Lakers win over the Celtics.

Daniel continues to build his chip lead as he was able to get his opponent to call him with AJ high on the river after his AK connected on the turn even though it was un-needed. He now sits at around 22k, and is climbing. At the end of level 6 we have a new chip leader in the form of Stuart Paterson with 25,800 who is followed closely by both Daniel Negreanu 21,500 and Shannon Shorr 21,000. As round 7 comes to a close Daniel breaks 30k and Phil Hellmuth, JC Tran and Bill Chen find themselves table mates sucks to be the other 7 players. As day one comes to a close Bill Chen finds himself the first victim of the table of death. The top 10 heading into day 2 play on Wednesday are as follows.

Daniel Makowsky 49,200
Eric Buchman 46,500
Alon Croitoru 33,700
Daniel Negreanu 32,200
Casey McCarrel 31,600
Ayaz Mahmood 30,700
Brendan Taylor 30,300
Hien Tran 30,100
Ardell Willis 30,000
David Rood 29,300

Of the 480 who entered only 125 remain and will look to make not only the money but also the final table when they return. Fourty-Five players will leave here with money the first of which will get $4,368 and the last of which $204,874 and a little silver piece of metal that some would consider the pinnacle of there poker career oh ya the BLOODY BRACELET!

Well my friends it has been my pleasure as always to bring you more information on the happenings of this the 39th World Series of Poker. May all the Canucks continue to impress as we have collected two bracelets already and Danny looks good to make it three but we’ll see. For now Good night sleep tight!

By Staypuff