Poker Articles

The final starting day of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event saw a staggering 2,809 runners take to the felts at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, a sellout. In fact, 500 players were turned away, including T.J. Cloutier, Patrik Antonius, and five-time WSOP bracelet winner Ted Forrest. Players who could be found among the 300 tables in play included PocketFiver Tyson POTTER Marks (pictured at right), who finished with 196,500 chips. The entire field is looking up at Troy Weber, who hails from West Terre Haute, Indiana. Weber holds a stack of 353,000 and is the only player in the field to cross the 200,000 chip plateau. All of the action can be found on PocketFivesLive.com, your home for WSOP coverage of online poker players.

Tyson POTTER Marks hails from Missoula, Montana and won the $109 buy-in $50,000 Guaranteed on PokerStars in March for $19,000. Other top finishes in 2009 by the PocketFiver include wins in the Full Tilt Poker $75,000 Guaranteed and $30,000 KO Guaranteed. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Rachel Crader, who has been keeping tabs on members of the online poker community throughout the 2009 WSOP Main Event, noted, “Tyson told me he won a couple of big pots early in the day and just kept chipping up after that. Each time I stopped by his table, he had more chips and managed to avoid a bit hit during the day. He seemed pretty excited about the opportunity he has given himself with his impressive Day One play and there is no reason why he shouldn’t be.”

Seated in the Brasilia Room, Carter ckingusc King (pictured at left) bounced professional poker player Leif Force from the tournament. King bet out after a flop of A-K-4 with two clubs and Force moved all-in over the top for 30,000. King made the quick called and flipped up A-K for top two pair. Force showed A-5 of clubs for top pair a flush draw. However, running diamonds sent Force to the rails and propelled King to near the top of the leaderboard with 80,000 chips. During the rest of the day, he continued to pile onto his stack and ended with 170,000. King chopped the Main Event of the 2008 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) for over $1.2 million.

Crader commented, “Carter had great success at one of the most difficult tables in the room. He played the entire day with Chris SLOPPYKLOD Klodnicki and Hal Lubarsky at his table. In addition, Mike Katz, Jeff Madsen, and Leif Force were all there for stretches, yet he managed to accumulate chips steadily.” Players were scattered across the sprawling Rio grounds and could be found as far away as the poker room, which is a five to ten minute walk from the Amazon Room at the edge of the casino.

Among those who hit the skids on Monday was Scott SCTrojans Freeman (pictured at right). He recorded not one, not two, but three PocketFives.com Triple Crowns in May of 2007 and took 19th in the WSOP Main Event that year for $333,000. In 2008, Freeman grabbed fourth in a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys event for $223,000. Freeman was bumped from the 2009 WSOP Main Event by Prahlad Friedman after pushing all-in over the top of a raise holding J-8 of hearts. Friedman called and showed A-Q, hitting two pair on a board of Q-J-5-A-7. Other PocketFivers who did not survive Day 1D included Scott BigRiskky Clements, Alex EC10 Venovsky, Ben Shankingyou Palmer, Scott emptyseat88 Fischman, Brent Astrolux85 Roberts, Jeff crzysavage Gressard, Eric basebaldy Baldwin, Jared TheWacoKidd Hamby, and two-time 2009 bracelet winner Brock t soprano Parker.

PocketFivers who reached Day 2B on Wednesday and their approximate chip counts included:

Tyson POTTER Marks – 196,000
Carter ckingusc King – 170,000
Bertrand ElkY Grospellier – 120,000
Joe JoeBlazenyc20 Chaplin – 110,000
Joe LatestLines2 Ward – 105,000
Amit amak316 Makhija- 100,000
Andrew muddywater Wiggins – 91,000
Robert PlayaPlz Lipkin – 87,000
Brian ship_the_perc Lemke – 84,000
Blair blur5f6 Hinkle – 80,000
Blake Balla-B13 Cahail – 79,000
Scott mindwise Pendergrast – 78,000
Ken isuck123 Goldin – 76,000
Matt ch0ppy Kay – 72,000
Mark dipthrong Herm – 71,000
Michael moneyinbag Aron – 71,000
Mike gonzo9876 Katz – 65,000
Danny BigDShaggy Johnson – 59,000
Robert CamasGoose Goodson – 59,000
Shawn sprstoner Glines – 58,000
Stuart Stuman123 Yancik – 57,000
Scott gunning4you Seiver – 56,000
Patrick BigRed0000 Stemper – 55,000
Jason JCarver Somerville – 51,000
Josh jdsmith9 Smith – 50,000
Jon apestyles Van Fleet – 48,000
Jacob bazeman Bazeley – 42,000
Jared soxnation83 Mahoney – 40,000
Justin jurollo Rollo – 36,000
Bryan badbeatninja Devonshire – 36,000
John peanut111 Peterson – 33,000
Jerome j-weezy Johnson – 32,000
Allen AawwNutz Carter – 32,000
Glen choron Chorny – 30,000
Mike goleafsgoeh Leah – 30,000
Steve PiKappRaider Burkholder – 30,000
Jonathan FatalError Aguiar – 28,000
Justin lockdownpokah Allen – 27,000
Eric blizair Blair – 27,000
Seth grtwhitehoop Fischer – 25,000
Brian maravichlsu Lanoix – 25,000
Kevin jadedragon Andriamahefa – 24,000
Eric Efro Froelich – 24,000
Adam Roothlus Levy – 23,000
Lauren locoenlacabeza Kling – 22,000
Andy BadgerPro Schultz – 21,000
Louis MrBeeks Werman – 21,000
Ken wandingo Coppens – 18,000
Matt All In At 420 Stout – 16,000
Marco CrazyMarco Johnson – 15,000
Zachary CrazyZachary Clark – 11,000
Andrew tiltyjoker Lee – 1,000

The champion of the 2009 WSOP Main Event will pocket a cool $8.5 million. Visit PocketFivesLive.com for WSOP coverage of online poker players in Day 2A, which kicks off on Tuesday.