Poker Articles

A blistering 2,922 players took to the felts for the second of two Day 2s in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. When the smoke cleared, just 1,436 remained, setting up a combined Day 3 field of 2,044 runners. The action will resume on Friday in the feature tournament. In the interim, a special media charity tournament will be held using the Dream Team Poker format and include the entire reporting staff for PocketFivesLive.com, your home for the top WSOP coverage of online poker players. Day 2B saw Jason JCarver Somerville (pictured at right) and Joe LatestLines2 Ward dominate the field, ending with two of the top chip counts among PocketFivers.

A record number of players started Day 2B, in part due to the triple stack structure and in part due to a sellout on Day 1D. Somerville received a sizable boost to his stack after knocking out an opponent with A-K against A-Q. That hand propelled him to nearly 120,000 and he ended the day with a healthy tally of 289,000. Somerville has had a productive 2009 WSOP, taking fifth in a $3,000 buy-in Triple Chance No Limit Hold’em tournament for $103,000 and finishing as the runner-up to Jeff Carris in the $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Shootout for $193,000. The two events marked his first two career WSOP final tables.

Meanwhile, Ward (pictured at left) nearly doubled his stack of 155,000 late in the day to settle at 273,000. The Massachusetts native is in search of his first WSOP bracelet. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Rich Ryan recalled, “Ward has admitted in the past that multi-table tournaments can be boring, but hopefully 273,000 chips in the WSOP Main Event will excite him. Ward played solid throughout Day 2B and is sitting with a big stack entering Day 3.” Ward is one of the game’s true good guys and is an inaugural member of PocketFives.com.

PocketFiver on PocketFiver violence between Patrick BigRed0000 Stemper (pictured at right) and Josh brikdog24 Brikis was the highlight of the final hands of play. Stemper put in a min-raise from the button and Brikis re-raised from the big blind with K-Q. The flop came Q-J-9 with two diamonds. Brikis bet out and Stemper called to see the turn fall a five. Brikis bet 8,000 and Stemper once again called behind. The river was a nine. Brikis led out for 10,000 and Stemper called, turning over A-Q to scoop the pot. At the end of Day 2B, Stemper’s chip stack stood at 166,000, while Brikis’ bracelet dreams were still very much alive at 136,000.

PocketFiver VaShon Julian Verse Watkins (pictured at left) doubled up to end the day. After a board of J-7-6-4 with two clubs, Watkins pushed all-in for his last 21,000 chips with 10c-8c. An opponent called, flipping up pocket tens. Watkins needed to catch a club or nine on the river to stay alive and, sure enough, the three of the suit hit, pushing Watkins to over 80,000. His chip stack continued to head in the right direction from there and Watkins ended the day with 108,000. In November, he took down a tournament held as part of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) for $450,000. He captured another FTOPS title in February for $46,000.

The WSOP Main Event’s top ten chip stacks heading into Day 3 are as follows:

1. Amir Lehavot - 610,500
2. Peter DeBaene - 465,000
3. Tropy Weber - 453,200
4. Dan Bizzerian - 439,500
5. Gabe Walls - 417,900
6. Mikael Thuritz - 395,400
7. Andrew Gaw - 386,000
8. Eric Cloutier - 383,000
9. Jason Brice - 376,100
10. Ed Perry - 370,000

PocketFivers remaining from Day 2B, along with their approximate chip counts, include:

Jason JCarver Somerville – 289,000
Joe LatestLines2 Ward – 273,000
Tyson POTTER Marks – 256,000
Andy BKiCe Seth – 231,000
Kevin BeL0WaB0Ve Saul – 227,000
Bertrand ElkY Grospellier – 225,000
Brian ship_da_perc Lemke – 217,000
Theo pittrounder Tran – 203,000
Joe jcada99 Cada – 200,000
JC PrtyPSux Alvarado – 186,000
David Davidp18 Peters – 172,000
Patrick BigRed0000 Stemper – 166,000
Justin jurollo Rollo – 162,000
Joe JoeBlazenNYC Chaplin – 160,000
Clayton Clayton27 Newman – 157,000
Jordan iMsoLucky0 Morgan – 155,000
Dutch havoj Boyd – 150,000
Adam a_junglen Junglen – 147,000
Steve 19FMzadester Levy – 140,000
Josh brikdog24 Brikis – 136,000
Hevad RaiNKhAN Khan – 130,000
Sam ALL GOLF Murphy – 129,000
Frank Round42 Rusnak – 122,000
Justin lockdownpokah Allen – 109,000
VaShon Julian Verse Watkins – 108,000
Josh jdsmith9 Smith – 104,000
Carter ckingusc King – 104,000
Ryan RJules12 Julius – 103,000
Kevin Bashee420 Hercules – 103,000
Mike gonzo9876 Katz – 100,000
Josh theNorfman Norris – 100,000
Aaron aarobeen Been – 95,000
Tracey xtrACEy Nguyen – 93,000
Jon FatalError Aguiar – 85,000
Jacob bazeman Bazeley – 79,000
Seth grtwhitehoop Fischer – 79,000
Darus BejoMas Suharto – 78,000
Felipe Improved Montenegro – 77,000
Robert CamasGoose Goodson – 73,000
Kevin phwap Boudreau – 72,000
Shawn sbuck21 Buchanan – 71,000
Bryan maravichlsu Lanoix – 71,000
Andre aakkari Akkari – 67,000
Blair Rodman – 64,000
Beck smileylsu Campbell – 60,000
Craig craigthedeac Boyd – 57,000
Glen choron Chorny – 56,000
Ryan ryanghall Hall – 56,000
Peter petegotaplan Lubrano – 56,000
Kenny Kenny Rap Weinstein – 53,000
Steven zugwat Silverman – 51,000
Luke bdbeatslayer Vrabel – 49,000
Shawn sprstoner Glines – 43,000
Mark markysals11 Salinaro – 42,000
Kevin WiCane Pionkowski – 40,000
Eric Rizen Lynch – 39,000
Ben 98 Mute Yerushalaim – 36,000
Ryan rbeckwith Beckwith – 36,000
Shane shaniac Schleger – 34,000
Kyle kwob20 Bowker – 28,000
Brandy Parligod Savage – 28,000
Casey sobizzle21 Sobczewski – 24,000
Louis MrBeeks Werman – 18,000
Ryan youngluc Young – 17,000

The action resumes on Friday with Day 3. The 2009 WSOP Main Event will play down to its final table on July 15th. Check out PocketFivesLive.com for the latest WSOP coverage of online poker players.