Barry barryg1 Greenstein showed masterful form by storming through a 453 player field en route to a $157,643 payday in Event #26 of the 2008 World Series of Poker. His win capped off a profitable weekend for PocketFivers in WSOP events. Greenstein and Pokerpwnage pro Brandon BrandonPL Leeds reached the final table of the $1,500 Razz tournament. In addition, eight PocketFivers cashed in the $10,000 Heads Up Championship Event, led by Michael ShipItThisWay McNeil, who finished in 10th place for $36,096. All of the thrills from the Rio were tracked on PocketFivesLive.com, your home for WSOP coverage.

Greenstein recorded his third cash of the 2008 World Series of Poker. He placed third in the $5,000 No Limit 2-7 Draw with Rebuys tournament (Event #18) for $225,552. He also took home $7,583 for 46th place in the $2,000 No Limit Holdem event (#23). He’s now a three-time WSOP bracelet winner, with his other victories coming in 2004 and 2005; his lifetime World Series of Poker earnings amount to over $1.7 million. Greenstein is also the proud owner of two World Poker Tour titles, winning the Season II World Poker Open and the Season IV WPT Invitational. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Jessica Welman spoke to Greenstein’s son Joe Sebok on Sunday: “In the spirit of Father's Day, I asked Joe Sebok what makes his dad's Razz game so solid. He noted that Barry knows all the tricks on how to get in an extra bet and how to avoid paying people off. At the very least, he is far and away the most experienced Razz player at the table and it is no wonder that he pulled so far ahead of the pack in the final stages of the event.”

PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Court Harrington, who has followed Greenstein through WSOP and WPT events, stated, ""If it involves cards and chips, Barry Greenstein can play whatever the game may be at the highest level. In games without much exposure, such as Razz, he has a huge edge over the field. Barry plays every game as close to optimally as anyone out there. His skill came through tonight as he dominated the final table on his way to another bracelet - while also playing in the $10K limit tournament at the same time. While on breaks during heads up play Barry would head over to the limit tournament and get as many hands in as he could before returning to the bracelet battle. With the Razz bracelet on his arm he can head straight over and try to build a stack in the limit event."

Leeds found himself as the short-stack at the table five-handed and wound up dropping his final pot with A-3-4-6-8 against Chris Voix’s A-2-4-5-6. All was not lost for Leeds, however, who cashed for $33,081. About an hour earlier, he tangled with Mark Tenner, who chopped his stack size. For Leeds, it was his third World Series of Poker cash. He’s finished in the money exactly once in each of the past two years.

Leeds commented to PocketFives.com, “I feel like I have as much experience playing Razz as anyone else. I’ve played Razz online exclusively for two years and, because of that, I’ve played so many more hands. I thought it’d be awesome to go heads up against Barry Greenstein at the final table.” He’s mainly playing Pot Limit Omaha online now and considers his best online poker achievement to be “winning the Full Tilt Poker Sunday $216 HORSE tournament around this time last year for $6,000. It wasn’t a ton of cash, but the final table was loaded. I ended up going against [PocketFiver] GB2005 and we had a two-hour long heads up seesaw battle.” On Pokerpwnage, he’ll be providing Razz and HORSE instructional videos.

In the $10,000 Heads Up no limit hold’em tournament, Michael ShipItThisWay McNeil (pictured at right) finished in 10th place, cashing for $36,096. He was the victim of Jonathan Jaffe, who called McNeil’s all in on a board of 6-J-Q-10-8 with a Q-9 offsuit for a straight. McNeil never flipped over his cards, but walked away with his second career World Series of Poker cash and his first since 2006. One month ago, McNeil recorded a $73,329.20 win in Event #19 of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series. He’s also recently cashed in the PokerStars Sunday Million and the Fill Tilt Sunday Brawl. PocketFivesLive.com Reporter Brett Collson talks about McNeil’s play: “He's not afraid of anything at the table, and is one of the most feared heads up players around because of it.”

Also in Event #25, Michael worldsgrtest Banducci (pictured at right) finished in 29th place. The winner of a bracelet in Event #5, Banducci notched his second WSOP cash in 2008, upping his lifetime WSOP earnings to $850,000. Recent scores for Banducci include sixth place in the PokerStars Sunday Million for $40,000 and a second place in the $150K Weekly on Absolute Poker for $26,000. In Event #25, he was sent packing by Emil Patel when the river card gave Patel a flush. Collson commented, “While Banducci already took down a bracelet in the $1K with rebuys event, his game is more suited for the heads-up format. Banducci is mostly seen crushing the $10/20 NL heads-up tables online, so it's no surprise he went deep in Event #25.”

Justin ZeeJustin Bonomo finished in 35th place for $14,438. He was second in Event #4 for $230,159. That event was won by Grant Hinkle, whose brother Brian just took down Event #23. Bonomo has a string of healthy WSOP cashes, including a $96,612 payday in the $5,150 buy-in Circuit Event at Caesars Palace in April. His lifetime WSOP earnings top $400,000. Welman commented on ZeeJustin’s run through the Heads Up Championship: “Justin Bonomo continued to show his versatility and skill as a player with his strong finish in the heads up event. He put up an impressive fight against his third round opponent, Jason Rosenkrantz, and just happened to be on the wrong end of a coin flip situation that kept him from advancing to Day 2. His first round match against David ‘Raptor’ Benefield was one of the marquee matches of the event. That victory alone is an impressive testament to Bonomo's heads-up play.”

Landing in 36th place in Event #25 was Ryan youngluck Young. He won a WSOP bracelet last year in a $1,500 no limit tournament, taking home over $600,000 in the process. He recorded a $50,000 WSOP Circuit Event cash in January at the Grand Casino Tunica. Collson commented, “Ask any one of the online pros about Young and they'll all tell you what an outstanding player he is. The results don't lie.” Event #25 marked Young’s third cash of the 2008 World Series of Poker.

Also bringing home the bacon for PocketFives.com in Event #25 were Travis TravestyFund Rice, Theo pittrounder Tran, Phil OMGClayAiken Galfond (pictured at left), and Blake Balla-B13 Cahail. Each cashed for $14,438. It was Tran’s fourth WSOP cash in 2008. He also took fourth in Event #2 for $327,148, fourth in Event #7 for $191,231, 25th in Event #13 for $17,350, and 42nd in Event #25. Rice, Galfond, and Cahail each recorded their first cashes of the 2008 World Series.

The 2008 World Series of Poker is underway from the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Main Event kicks off in just a couple of weeks on July 3rd. All of the action from the world’s largest poker tournament can be found on PocketFivesLive.com, your home for live WSOP coverage. Planning on playing in any of the 30 remaining WSOP events? Click here to register and we’ll cover you on PocketFivesLive.com.