June 17 marked the nineteenth day of action at the 2008 WSOP in Las Vegas. Today we saw the year of the pro continue as both John Phan and Rob Hollink each score their first bracelet. We have full coverage of those events elsewhere on our site; click their names for details, so this report will focus on the day’s other three events.

Event 33 – $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low World Championship Day 1

This is another one of the World Series of Poker tournaments that brings out the biggest and highest ballers in the poker world. A few big names that are in attendance includes: Allen Cunningham, Barry Greenstein, Mike Matusow, Daniel Negreanu, and of course Eli Elezra who will be defending his title as the 2007 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low World Championship.

These are just a few of the players that make up the 261 entrants that have all bought into the the $5,000 tournament, which have created a prize pool that is worth xxx,xxx and will all be competing for the Seven Card Stud Hi-Low World Championship bracelet along with the first place prize of $328,756.

Key hands of the day:

Early in the day Daniel Negreanu, Brad Booth and another player get involved in a 3 way hand. Negreanu with a 6 of hearts showing completed the bet and was called by seat 3 showing a J of diamonds, and Brad Booth with a Ace of spades up. The next street Negreanu draw a 4 of clubs and bet and Booth and seat 3 called again. Booth drew an Ace of diamonds on fifth street and then he bet the remaining streets, seat 3 folded and Negreanu continued to call. At the end of the betting round Negreanu’s cards hit the muck and Booth turned over Ah-As-Ad-Qs-Jh for the winning hand.

We have to share one of the toughest tables in the tournament: (table 25)

Seat 1: Erik Seidel
Seat 3: Tony G
Seat 4: Erick Lindgren
Seat 5: Sabyl Cohen-Landrum
Seat 7: Todd Brunson
Seat 8: Chris “Jesus” Ferguson

Apparently, this is what happens when players show up late to the event.

Annie Duke and Todd Brunson found themselves in a pot together with a unknown player sitting in seat 4. Duke had a Ace of diamonds showing and raised the bring in. Brunson and seat 4 called. Duke bet out again on fourth street and Brunson and seat 4 called. Fifth street came and Duke bet out again and Brunson raised, seat four and Duke called. Duke pair her 6 on sixth street and shet bet out, and seat four folded, and Brunson called. Seventh street came and Brunson called Duke’s bet again.

Brunson: (4d-5s) 7c-2s-3c-9h (9d)
Seat 4: (x-x) 4c-6c-3h-Js (x)
Duke: (x-x) Ad-2d-7s-6s (x)

Brunson showed the winning hand of a pair of nines for high and and a seven-five low.

Tom Schneider was eliminated when he put his remaining short stack with this hand below. Schneider’s opponent made a king high flush and Schneider made two pair.

Schneider: (6h-6d) Qh-4s-3h-4h (8d)
Opponent: (7c-7d) Jc-9c-8c-Kc (2s)

Players that were eliminated late in the day without hand histories include: Ted Forrest, Robert Williamson III, Ted Lawson, and Nick Schulman.

The last of elimination of the day was Scott Clements. Clements put his remaining stack in on forth street when he was showing As-Kc-Kd-4h against an opponent showing 4d-Qh-4c-5h. The remaining streets did not help Clement and he was eliminated only holding a pair of kings, while his opponent made two pair.

The day finished off with Matt Grapenthien with the chip lead and he will be ready to enter Day 2 of the Seven Card Stud Hi/lo World Championship, which begins at 3:00 PM tomorrow with 120 players remaining out of the 261 entered. These players will battle it out on day 2, which will play down to the final eight players that will make the final table. Below are the day 1 chip leaders and stack sizes:

Matt Grapenthien 51,900
Victor Shalom 51,100
Robert Mizrachi 49,600
Shawn Sheikhan 46,900
Vegard Nygaard 46,100
Frank Thompson 44,700
Bob Lauria 42,600
Tad Jurgens 41,100
Thang Duc Nguyen 41,000
Steve Sung 40,900

Popular players that will be showing up for day 2 include: Shawn Sheikhan, John Juanda, Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, Shannon Elizabeth, David Benyamine, Phil Ivey, Allen Cunningham, Norman Chad, Chris Ferguson, Dutch Boyd, Max Pescatori, and Steve Sung.

Event 32 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Day 1

At noon today the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em began and is one of several up coming $1,500 No Limit Hold’em events that will be taking place this year. The 2,304 entrants have created a prize pool of $3,155,950! The last man standing will receive $573,734 for first place, plus a WSOP gold bracelet.

High profile players that are in attendance include: Shawn Buchanan, Jared Hamby, Theo Tran, Juha Helppi, Mark Seif, Beth Shak, Jimmy Fricke, Josh Arieh, Erica Schoenberg, Allen Cunningham, Vanessa Rousso, Scott Clements, Phil Hellmuth, Sorel Mizzi, Kenna James, Men “The Master” Nguyen, and Jean-Robert Bellande.

Key hands of the day:

Kenny Tran made an early exit on the day when he moved all in on the small blind for 2,050 and the big blind called holding 3c-3s and was against Tran’s Ac-Qs. The board ran Ks-9s-9h-4c-3h making his opponent a full house, which sent Tran home.

On round 5 of the day Jimmy Fricke ran his pocket 10’s into pocket aces and was eliminated from the day. The same round Greg “FBT” Mueller was eliminated after his Ac-10c ran into an opponents Ad-Kd on a 10h-Ks-Kh flop.

Hellmuth thinks about folding a full house when the small blind 3 bet Hellmuth on the river with a board of 8h-4s-3d-2s-2h and Hellmuth was holding 2c-8c. After much deliberation, speeches and well his usual bull shit Hellmuth made the call and his 2-8 was good. “Where’s Roland de Wolfe?” said Hellmuth, “God, I almost folded there!”

From the small blind Sun Poker player Kenna James completed the bet and the big blind raised to 1,650, James re-raised 6,450, big blind played back moving all in for 14,150, James called. James showed 2h-2c and big blind showed Ah-Ad. The flop even hit a Ace and James failed to go running deuces for quads and was eliminated from the tournament.

Jean-Robert Bellande called a middle positions raise to 3,000 from the big blind. The flop fell Kc-Kh-3s and Bellande moved all in for his remaining 4,550 in chips. His opponent hit the tank and ended up calling with Ac-Qc and Bellande showed Ah-10s. The turn hit a queen and the river a six and Bellande was sent to the rail.

Theo Tran played his last hand of the tournament when he put his remaining chips in after seeing a flop of 8c-8s-7d, holding Ad-Qd and received a call from a player holding Jc-Js. The turn even brought a jack and Tran was drawing dead.

198 people cheered when Leroy Le was knocked out of the tournament after he moved all in for 6,500 from the button with Ad-10d, Ben Alcober looked at his cards from the small blind and called Le’s all in with Q-Q. The board was unable to help Le and he was eliminated in 199th place. Why did the people cheer? Well, Leroy Le was the bubble boy of the tournament.

Beth Shak makes a timely double up just before the day was ending with pocket three’s. Preflop she was able to get in her remaining 8,000 in chips with 3-3 and received a call with a player holding As-ks. The board did not hit a ace or a king and Shak is now sitting with roughly 17,000 in chips.

The last major pot of the day was when Morgan Machina re-raised the button’s raise from 3,500 to 9,500, the button pushed back for 13,500 and Machina called. The players showed:

Machina: Kh-Jh
button: Kd-9d

Machina has him dominated with a better kicker, although there is a flush war! The board failed to hit both players and Machina’s King-jack high wsa good enough to double up and is now sitting with just under 33,000 in chips.

The day finished off with Andy Garza with the chip lead and he will be read of the action on day 2, which begins at 2:00 PM tomorrow with 166 players remaining out of the 2,304 entered. These 166 remaining players will battle it out on day 2, which will play down to the final nine players that will make the final table. Day 1 chip leaders and stack sizes:

Andy Garza 169,200
Donny Carlton 148,100
Jonathan Jaffe 134,700
Anil Jivani 130,200
George Lind 125,300
Michael Banducci 117,000
Adrian Dresel-Velasquez 116,000
Scott Sitron 114,000
Jose Luis Velador 110,500
Steven Weusten 104,000

Event #31 – $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Six-handed – Day 2

Day 2 of the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Six handed tournament started today at 2:00 PM and there are 73 players remaining out of the initial 1,012 entrants. These players are competing for a share of the $2,327,600 prize pool. Day 2 will be wrapped up once there are six players remaining, which will make the final table. The final table will begin tomorrow for Day 3 and will give out the gold bracelet to the last man standing.

High profile professional players remaining in the tournament: Scotty Nguyen, Bill Chen, Jason Mercier, Shankar Pillai who won’t this event last year, Max Pescatori, Robert Lipkin, and Sebastian Ruthenberg.

When the day started Alon Shahar held the chip lead with 264,100 followed be Dario Minieri with 191,600. Official chip leaders and stack sizes entering day 2 are below:

Alon Shahar 264,100
Dario Minieri 191,600
Justin Filtz 180,200
Randall Brueckner 131,100
Frank Rusnak 127,800
Michael Skomac 123,700
Ed Fernandez 121,800
Andrew Emory 121,400
Cory Albertson 120,500
Brendan Keenan 119,100

Key hands of the day:

Defending champ Shankar Pillai will not be able to win this event two years in a row, since he has just been eliminated by Frank Rusnak. Pillai from the button raised to 9,000 and was re-raised by Rusnak to 24,000 from the small blind. Pillai pushed his remaining 25,000 in chips in and Rusnak made the call. The players revealed:

Pillai: A-10
Rusnak: A-Q

The board came 2-4-Q-A-Q and Pillai was removed from the tournament. Pillai cashed for $9,775.

Michael Skomac has been eliminated after a collusion with Frank Rusnak, both players put all their chips in preflop and they both showed:

Skomac: Kh-Qh
Rusnak: As-Qd

The worst case senario for Skomac as he was completely dominated and would need a king to fall on the board. He was in luck when the flop came Kd-9h-2c, the turn brought a 2s, however the river was a brutal card for Skomac when the Ace of clubs hit. Which made Rusnak a higher pair and Skomac was eliminated from the tournament. Although, he did not go empty handed as he walked away with $19,086.

At this point we are down to the final two tables who sit:

Seat 2: John O’Shea — 750,000
Seat 3: Frank Rusnak — 580,000
Seat 4: Kevin Song — 395,000
Seat 5: Justin Filtz — 550,000
Seat 6: Seth Fischer – 160,000

Seat 1: Dario Minieri — 775,000
Seat 2: Alon Shahar — 405,000
Seat 3: Stuart Marshak — 460,000
Seat 4: Todd Terry — 500,000
Seat 6: Scotty Nguyen – 340,000

Todd Terry was a deep stack player remaining in the tournament and fell in what was kind of a strange hand when him and Dario Minieri got in a pot together. Minieri raised to 35,000 preflop and Terry re-raised to 110,000. Action came back to Minieri and he pushed all in and Terry called. At this point we are expecting to see AA vs KK…. the hands were shown:

Terry: Ah-Jd
Minieri: 7d-6s

The board ran 2h-5s-7h-2s-5d, and Minieri was able to hit a pair and eliminated Terry and now Minieri is sitting with close to 1.9 million in chips, which is nearly a third amount of chips in play.

Justin Filtz and John O’Shea have been battling back and forth with poker and vocally. When the board ended up 4-3-3-3-2, O’shea showed that he had a full house when flipping over A-2. They proceeded to have a little verbal joust:
“Good catch on the river,” – Filtz.
“My ace wasn’t good?” – O’Shea.
“No, I had you until the river,” – Filtz.
“No, my ace was definitely good.” – O’Shea.
“I had ace-jack.” – Filtz.
“Your eight flashed when you folded though.” – O’Shea.
“You didn’t see correctly then.” – Filtz.
“You should continue bet that flop anyway.” – O’Shea.

The bubble boy of the final table went to fan favorite Scotty Nguyen who was eliminated in 7th place. From the small blind Seth Fischer pushed all in and Nguyen who was covered by Fischer, called from the big blind. The players revealed their hands:

Nguyen: 10d-10s
Fischer: 7h-9h

The board ran 6d-5h-Qh-Js-Jh, the river card made Fischer a flush and eliminated the great Scotty Nguyen, who took home $50,508. After this elimination the final table was set and Day 2 ended.

The final table players and chip counts:

Dario Minieri — 1,721,000
Kevin Song — 1,173,000
Justin Filtz — 891,000
John O’Shea — 589,000
Seth Fischer — 508,000
Stuart Marshak – 183,000

Play will resume at 2:00 Pm tomorrow.