By
Dan
And down the stretch they come at the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. Sunday marked Day 6 of the $10,000 buy-in event. One more day of play now stands between several PocketFivers and a crack at being a member of the final table, which will be determined in just a few hours. PocketFivers still in the hunt for the WSOP Main Event title included Chris SLOPPYKLOD Klodnicki (pictured), Scott r_a_y Montgomery, and Owen ocrowe Crowe. PocketFivesLive.com, the best source for WSOP coverage of online poker players, was live at the Amazon Room inside the Rio for all of the latest from Day 6 of the Main Event.
Chris SLOPPYKLOD Klodnicki finished Day 6 with 6.2 million chips, which was good for ninth overall. He’s ranked 43rd on PocketFives.com and has two wins in the PokerStars $100 rebuy in the past five months; the pair of cashes combined for $90,000. He’s also logged an $84,000 win in the Full Tilt $1K Monday as well as a victory in the PokerStars $150K. Klodnicki trails the 11.9 million stack of chip leader Dennis Phillips.
Scott r_a_y Montgomery currently sits with a 4.3 million chip stack, the 16th largest out of the 27 remaining players. He has a pair of UBOC cashes in last December’s events, combining for $21,000. At the 2008 World Series of Poker, Montgomery took 16th place in the $10,000 buy-in Heads Up tournament, cashing for $36,096. His total take from this year’s WSOP is $73,000.
Owen ocrowe Crowe (pictured at right) enters Day 7 on Monday with 3.8 million chips. On April 22nd and June 16th, he recorded victories in the PokerStars $100 rebuy, cashing for a combined $60,000. Last month, despite the 2008 WSOP also occurring, Crowe managed to rack up nearly $40,000 in tournaments that are tracked for the PocketFives.com Rankings. The Canadian finished eighth in a $1,500 no limit event (#8) at this year’s WSOP for $81,833. Prior to 2008, he hadn’t cashed in a WSOP event since 2005. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Adam Johnson talks about Crowe’s style of play: “Crowe's aggressive style has given him a big stack leading into Day 7. He also has a slow gear, playing relatively tight for extended periods of time at certain tables throughout this tournament, especially on Day 6.”
Andrew foucault Brokos was sent home by Montgomery holding A-Q against pocket jacks all in pre-flop. Brokos finished 35th for $193,000. His only two prior WSOP cashes have both been in the Main Event. Brokos finished 361st in last year’s World Championship for $34,664 and 279th in 2006 for $38,759. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Brett Collson talks about Brokos’ exit from the tournament: “Montgomery also landed the biggest hit to Brokos' stack when he made two pair against Andrew's pair of aces and all the money went in on the turn. He played fantastic poker throughout.”
Day 6 started with word that David Raptor517 Benefield (pictured at right) had busted from the 2008 WSOP Main Event. On a board of 10-9-8-7 with three clubs, Benefield was all in holding K-J against Brandon Cantu’s A-9. Cantu held the ace of clubs. The river was the six of clubs, sending Benefield out in 73rd place. Online, he cashed for $18,737.50 in September’s PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. He also cashed for $41,360 in the first event of this year’s WSOP. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Adam Johnson commented, “Benefield is a high-stakes cash game pro who has made waves in this year’s WSOP. He’s logged some impressive results in a small sample of bigger buy-in events. A CardRunners instructor whose specialty is nosebleed games, Benefield has made a smooth transition into the live tournament world.”
Jeremy thechemist83 Gaubert (pictured at left) was sent packing by Mike “The Mouth” Matusow. Gaubert held big slick against Matusow’s pocket jacks and couldn’t catch up. He was eliminated in 58th place for $115,800. He’s had several sizeable cashes online, including a second place finish in the Sunday Million back in December for $178,398. Four months prior, Gaubert took down the Sunday Warm-Up for nearly $80,000. Collson commented, “Gaubert, along with Jeff Papola, played as good of a short stack as I saw during the Main Event. Jeremy picked his spots to steal and chip up without any confrontation. It's no coincidence that he has such terrific results online.”
Rafael rcaiaffa Caiaffa took 55th place in the Main Event, cashing for $115,800. Short-stacked, he pushed with J-7, but was called by Phi Nguyen, who held Q-8. Nguyen flopped a pair of eights and Caiaffa was sent packing. His chip stack took a big hit several hands earlier when Tiffany Michelle showed Q-9 on a board of 9-4-3-7-Q.
In a battle of the blinds, Peter number1pen Neff hit the rails in 36th place. He pushed from the small blind with A-9, but ran into Darus Suharto’s A-J in the big blind. The board came 8-J-K-8-K. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Jessica Welman noted, “From the get-go, Neff had a rough road to navigate to make it to Day 6 of the Main Event. Every day, I found Peter at a stacked table and every day he managed to outplay his opponents, who ranged from Brock t_soprano Parker to Gavin Smith to Dani Ansky451 Stern. He remained calm and level-headed throughout the Main Event despite the intense pressure associated with running so deep. He should be proud of his performance.”
Also finding the exit on Sunday was Adam Roothlus Levy, who finished in 48th place for $135,100. Short-stacked, he pushed pre-flop with A-10, but ran into pocket kings. He commented to PocketFivesLive afterwards, “I had the tightest image at the table by far. It was amazing how many hands I didn’t see today and how many I saw in previous days. You have to run so good in this tournament for so long, just like in the Sunday Million.” Levy has had a solid 2008 WSOP run. In addition to his six-figure cash in the Main Event, he took 12th in Event #5 for $36,176, 14th in Event #11 for $16,920, and also cashed in Events #39 and #48. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Jill Harrison talks about Levy’s play: “Levy has performed exceptionally well in this year's WSOP. Given his repeated success, it's evident how talented Levy is. Moreover, his affable table reputation and good humor allow him to switch up his playing styles with ease and still win over his opponents at the same time.”
Jonathan therookieqq9 Plens (pictured at right) was knocked out holding A-K against Anthony Scherer’s A-8. Scherer flopped two pair and that was all she wrote for Plens, who cashed for $154,400 and 42nd place. Plens has won both the $100 rebuy on PokerStars and Fifty-Fifty on Full Tilt Poker. Those two wins combined for over $35,000 in winnings. Johnson describes Plens’ contingent at the WSOP: “Plens hasn't played many live tournaments, but he picked a good time for his first cash in the WSOP. Plens had a strong gallery of online players railing him throughout the Main Event: Russell rdcrsn Carson, Joshua theNorfman Norris, and Sorel Imper1um Mizzi stopping by deep in his run. Given the volume that Plens has put in online and the friends he's made along the way, it's probably not the last time we'll be hearing from him live or online.”
Rafael rcaiaffa Caiaffa hails from South America and is the first Brazilian to go this deep in the Main Event, finishing in 55th place for $115,800. Caiaffa moved in with J-7 suited for his last 120,000 in chips. He was called down with Q-8 and the board was no help. This Portuguese-speaking poker pro exited, holding the record for the top-performing Brazilian in the Main Event. Harrison commented, “He started Day 6 with a below-average stack and patiently outlasted two-dozen players, playing tight and trying very hard to pick the right spot.”
Garrett GBecks Beckman (pictured at right) finished in 31st place, taking home $193,000. With the board showing three clubs, Beckman got all in on the turn holding the ace of clubs against his opponent’s ten-high straight. The river was a blank, ending Beckman’s Main Event run. He’s the 28th ranked player on the PocketFives.com Worldwide Rankings. He recently finished in second place in the Full Tilt Poker $750K Guarantee for $80,250. Other big cashes include being a runner up in the UltimateBet $200K Guaranteed for $26,500 and a win in the $100 buy-in $25K Guaranteed on Stars for just under $20,000. Welman added, “Beckman is one of the most even-keeled players I have ever had the pleasure of watching and, at times, he seems far more mature than his 23 years. His experience at the poker table is evident in his results and I find it unsurprising that he made it so deep in this event.”
Here are the chip counts of the final 27 entering Day 7:
Dennis Phillips - 11,910,000
Craig Marquis - 11,460,000
Tiffany Michelle - 9,755,000
Peter Eastgate - 9,325,000
Kelly Kim - 8,840,000
David Rheem - 8,280,000
Gert Andersen - 6,740,000
Paul Snead - 6,600,000
Chris Klodnicki - 6,245,000
Judet Toni - 5,000,000
Ivan Demidov - 4,965,000
Nicholas Sliwinski - 4,925,000
Joe Bishop - 4,855,000
Brandon Cantu - 4,740,000
Darus Suharto - 4,510,000
Scott Montgomery - 4,320,000
Owen Crowe - 3,800,000
Albert Kim - 3,675,000
Ylon Schwartz - 3,655,000
Jason Riesenberg - 3,405,000
Anthony Scherer - 2,385,000
Dean Hamrick - 2,375,000
Tim Loecke - 2,280,000
Aaron Gordon - 1,790,000
Niklas Flisberg - 1,330,000
Phi Nguyen - 1,020,000
Michael Carroll - 1,015,000
Join us at Noon PT for the final day of play in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. Visit all of the WSOP coverage at PocketFivesLive.com.