update on the World Series of Poker, currently underway from the Amazon Room at the Rio in Las Vegas. In the first two weeks, PocketFivers captured a whopping four bracelets and over $4.3 million. Now, that number has ballooned to over $5.5 million. There have been over 50 cashes since last week, highlighted by a 3-4-5 finish by three prominent PocketFivers in Event 25, $2,000 No Limit Hold’em. You can follow all of the action from poker’s biggest stage on
. With the $10,000 Main Event less than two weeks away, we look forward to big things to come from members of the site.
Event #25
Event 25 saw three PocketFivers make the final table with a chance to capture a gold bracelet. In the end, Justin “jurollo” Rollo (pictured at right) finished third, tops among the PocketFives contingent. Rollo was almost even in chips with eventual winner Ben Ponzio when he shoved all in with A-3 of clubs and Ponzio called with pocket queens. The board didn't help Rollo and he was severely crippled. He took home third place for $244,566.
In the same event, PocketFives Open Champ Evan “oakplayer” Schwartz finished fourth. Ponzio was the bane of Schwartz as well. Ponzio raised with A-9 of clubs and Schwartz called with J-T. The flop was T-9-6 and both players got it all in. Evan was in a good position to eliminate another player, but running clubs hit on the turn and river to give Ponzio the nut flush. A few hands later and short in chips, Schwartz was eliminated by Rollo in fourth place for $165,008. Travis “TravestyFund” Rice finished fifth after losing a race with pocket jacks versus Rollo’s K-Q. He took home $111,970.
Event #28
In Event 28, Ben “bfineman” Fineman and Luke “Darvin HAM” Vrable both made the final table. Fineman took home fifth place and $100,431 and Vrable won $21,456 in the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event. CardRunners owners Taylor “Green Plastic” Caby (pictured at right) and Andrew “muddywater” Wiggins both cashed the event. Caby won $14,608 for his 23rd place finish and Wiggins pocketed $9,130 for 53rd place. Nick “gbmantis” Niergarth notched the first of two cashes in the WSOP in Event 28, 54th place for $9,130. He also cashed in Event 31, the $5,000 Heads Up No Limit Hold’em tournament.
Event #30
Some great play came in Event 30, a $2,500 Short-handed No Limit Hold’em tournament. Steve “MrSmokey1” Billirakis, winner of Event 1 and now the youngest person ever to win a bracelet, finished 16th and took home another $15,390. This was MrSmokey1’s fourth cash at this year’s WSOP. He’s at a balmy $577,612 overall. Three other P5s members that have already seen cash in this year’s tourney, Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg (pictured at right), Ryan “toetagu” Fair, and Barry “barryg1” Greenstein, added $9,546, $9,546, and $5,260 to their 2007 WSOP totals, respectively. Friedberg won his first bracelet in last year’s tourney and continues to show how strong his poker skills are in this year’s events.
A top 20-ranked player on P5s, Danny “THE__D__RY” Ryan, cashed for $6,429 in Event 30 along with Jonathan “HoosierAlum” Depa. The latter just took 2nd in the PokerStars Super Tuesday for $42,150, showing how much of a double-threat guy he really is. JC “PrtyPSux” Alvarado (who just finished 8th at the WPT Mandalay Bay Event a few weeks ago) and Jordan “scarface_79” Smith each cashed for $3,507.
Event #31
In Event 31, Keith “Dr. Fells” Block (pictured at right) advanced to the final four of the $5,000 NLHE Heads-Up Event. He defeated Steve Sarrafzedah with pocket kings versus pocket jacks. His third place finish and $128,968 should give him confidence headed into other events.
Event 31 saw several other PocketFivers take home some cash. Aaron “aaronbeen” Been had his first cash of the WSOP. He took home $16,582. Taking the same amount was Carl “colson10” Olson, who made his second cash to increase his take to $27,067. Another P5er making his second cash was Nath “Cap’nJackpot” Pizzolatto, who added $9,212 to his total. A beacon of consistency, Eric “Rizen” Lynch cashed for the fourth time in this year’s WSOP and now has $170,079 under his belt. Joe Sebok and Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabeck also won $9,212 in the $5,000 Heads Up No Limit Hold’em Event.
Events #33 and #34
In Events 33 and 34, two PocketFivers notched sixth place finishes for healthy paydays. Brandon Adams scored his second cash of the WSOP in Event 33, a $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys tourney, for $75,794. Adams also cashed in Event 21. Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar (pictured at right) scored $36,763 in Event 34, the $3,000 Limit Hold’em event. For Rajkumar, it was his third cash in Las Vegas. These two helped propel PocketFivers to over $6.7 million raked in at the WSOP.
PocketFivesLive.com is at the Rio covering all the action. The complete coverage can be found at PocketFivesLive.com!