P5sLive Update: World Series of Poker Main Event
The lingering question on everyone’s minds over the past year concerned the number of entrants in the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event. With the last of four Day 1’s concluding on Monday, the poker world learned that a total of 6,358 players had entered what is now the second largest live poker tournament. According to WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, “Poker is alive and well, and the 2007 World Series of Poker has been a tremendous success.”
After over 200 PocketFivers attended the third annual PocketFives Party at the Hooters Casino in Las Vegas, many hit the town for their final night before buckling down to focus on the millions of dollars at stake. The result: PocketFives cashed 280 times for a blistering $9.3 million prior to the start of the Main Event. That’s almost $35,000 per cash on average and represents about 10% of the total WSOP prize pool of $100 million. All of this before a card is even dealt in the Main Event.
With many PocketFivers still in the running for the $8.25 million first place prize, PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Court Harrington, who played in the Main Event this year, but was the unfortunate victim of pocket sevens outdrawing pocket kings, comments on several players’ runs:
Cory "UGOTPZD" Carroll – "Cory is an amazing player. His ability to apply pressure constantly and yet seemingly never over-commit himself to a pot is amazing. He reads other players and situations as well as anyone out there. I heard two other top pros talking about three players they would never bluff. At the top of the list – Cory Carroll"
Darrell "Gigabet" Dicken – "Gigabet has a reputation as one of the deepest poker theorists in the world and his results show that, not only can he explain the game, he can also put his knowledge into practice."
Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi – "Sorel has just turned 21 and is already one of the most well-known names around major live poker tournaments. He is always deep, always has chips, and seems to always be involved in big hands. He’s another hyper aggressive player that never gives his opponents any breathing room.”
Brock "t_soprano" Parker – "Brock tends to fly under the radar, never drawing a lot of attention, but always accumulating chips. He is one of those guys that, every time you look over, you think – Wow, where did all those chips come from? If I had to describe Brock's game in two words, I would say ‘mistake free.'”
Jared "TheWacoKidd" Hamby – "His trademark green hat sure has seen a lot of final tables lately and he has plenty of hardware to carry around from all his victories. I don't think anyone would be surprised to see Jared at the final table of the Main Event."
Hevad "RaiNKhaN" Khan – Khan has been crushing his tables through the first few days of WSOP play with no signs of slowing down. He’s another top-notch player showing his skills on the biggest stage of all."
Scott "SCTrojans" Freeman – "Scott is one of the many top online players who has made the transition seamlessly into live play. Live poker requires a patience that is often difficult for online players to adapt to, but Scott has shown versatility and the ability to adapt to his opponents. He has cruised into Day 4 of the WSOP Main Event and put himself in solid position to still be here in a couple of days."
In case you didn’t catch all of the action on PocketFivesLive.com, we’ll take you day by day through the 2007 WSOP Main Event:
Day 1-A:
Michael "SirWatts" Watson (pictured at right) found his name around the top of the leader boards in a hand wherer a Q-8-X flop came. Watson held pocket eights and was up against a player with Q-T. Another queen came on the turn to give Watson a boat, and his opponent was more than willing to commit the rest of his stack with trip queens. Watson’s hand held up on the river and he raked in a big pot to increase his stack to 85k.
Dan "javahound" Tarnopol turned his 20k starting stack into 60k by the time the dinner break arrived. Dan had a good read on one of his opponent's playing styles and took advantage of it to gain a big stack out of the gate. In one particular hand, Dan held A-Q and tried to raise, but did not announce it and was forced to call, joining a few other limpers to see and ace-high flop. Dan bet out on the flop, received only one caller, and then proceeded to bet a larger amount on the turn to define his opponent's hand. When his opponent called on the turn, Tarnopol put his opponent on two pair. Because of Dan's own solid tight image so far, Dan knew his opponent put him on A-K or A-Q and decided that he would shove if a king or queen hit the river to make his opponent fold. As luck would have it, a king hit the river and Dan's opponent mucked his cards after Javahound shoved.
Benefiting from the image change, the next hand Dan picked up pocket queens and made a raise, while two opponents (including the one from the previous hand) called and they saw a K-Q-J flop. Dan then made a small bet to keep the pot small in case he had to fold to a huge raise. The player from the previous hand made the call and a three fell on the turn. This time, Dan's opponent led out and Tarnopol moved all-in. Dan's opponent held pocket threes, made the call, and promptly busted out of the event.
Day 1-A chip counts: (Tinten Olivier overall leader with 270,500)
Dan "javahound" Tarnopol – 129,000
Brock "t_soprano" Parker – 110,500
Cory "UGOTPZD" Carroll – 105,100
Barry Greenstein – 93,600
Day 1-B:
Within the first 35 minutes of play, Joe Sebok had almost doubled his starting stack (over 35k with well over an hour left in the first level of play). Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy (pictured at right) hit his nut spade flush on the river and quickly called when Doug Kim pushed all-in. After doubling through Kim, Bax had over 60k and was among the chip leaders.
TheWacoKidd was able to double up shortly after being moved to a new table when he found A-J suited under the gun and raised it to 1,700. After the big blind made the call, the flop came J-8-6 and Hamby's opponent check-raised. Jared called and was all-in against his opponent's Q-J. The board filled with a five and an ace to put Hamby up to 35k and it great position.
Day 1-B chip counts: (Dag "dmikkel" Mikkelsen overall leader with 236,000)
Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy – 117,700
Stephen "MrTimCaum" O'Dwyer – 100,100
Chris "MarvinGarden" Birchby – 63,800
Jared "TheWacoKidd" Hamby – 59,600
Gregory "DuckU" Hobson – 55,000
Vinnie "Botl" Iannuzzi – 24,000
Day 1-C:
Gavin "WSOP2005" Griffin (pictured at right) was, at one point, near 130k in chips after taking down a huge pot and eliminating an opponent. With the blinds at 300/600 with a 75 ante on a flop of J-9-7 with two hearts, Griffin's opponent called an 11k bet and both players saw the turn card, a heart. With three hearts now on the board, Griffin and his opponent pushed all the chips in the middle on the turn. Griffin showed a straight with T-8 in the hole. Having pocket aces with the A of hearts, his opponent frowned as the river did not bring a heart. Victory for Griffin.
Darrell "Gigabet" Dicken, a respected online and live poker professional, doubled up after eliminating another solid player, Al Krux. With the blinds at 300/600 with a 75 ante, Darrell opened the pot for 1,800 in early position and received one caller before Krux moved all-in for 33k with big slick. Gigabet held pocket kings and shoved as well to scare the first caller who folded his cards. Dicken's pocket kings held up, increasing his stack to over 70k in chips and nearly doubling the average stack.
Carl "Colson10" Olson was also having an impressive run and reached the 100k mark in chips while the average stack was at 32k. Olson had been hitting big hands all day and was among the top chip holders with over 200k when play ended for the day.
Day 1-C chip counts: (Tom Bernard overall chip lead with 220,000)
Carl "Colson10" Olson – 205,000
Darrell "Gigabet" Dicken – 150,000
Taylor "GreenPlastic" Caby – 62,500
Vivek "psyduck" Rajkumar – 61,000
Matt "SamEnole" Smith – 49,000
Day 1-D:
PocketFivesLive.com's own Court Harrington (pictured at right) was up to 45k after winning a few small, but key pots. In one hand, Court held 9-3 suited in the small blind and saw five-way action with blinds at 300/600. The flop was Q-7-2 and, after everyone checked, the turn brought a 9. The player bet out and Court called. The river came a 4. The player bet out 3,800 and Court felt that the only hand the player could have was A-9. After some thought Court called and sure enough, the player had just king-high as Court raked in the good sized pot.
One point at the same table as Court, Imper1um skyrocketed to 70k after being down to as low as 2,000 when he raised with A-Q and a player in the blinds re-raised Mizzi with pocket kings. Mizzi thought for a bit and shoved in his remaining 35k. Thankfully, the ace fell on the river, doubling Mizzi up. Mizzi won another huge pot that sent him over the 100k mark: A player made it 2,200 and Mizzi raised 6,000 more pre-flop. The flop was K-T-3 and Mizzi bet around 8,000. The player raised 30k and Mizzi pushed all-in for 46k more. After about four minutes of deliberation, the player mucked.
Day 1-D chip counts: (Josh "pairDboard21" Evans overall chip leader – 240,000)
Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi – 122,000
Scott "SCTrojans" Freeman – 115,000
Court Harrington – 100,300
Michael "martine23" Martin – 61,000
Jon "PearlJammer" Turner – 61,000
Peter "Nordberg" Feldman – 60,000
Jordan "scarface_79" Smith – 48,000
Brett "gank" Jungblut – 11,000
Day 2-A:
TheWacoKidd (pictured at right) was up to 375k chips, putting him very near to the top of the chip counts after winning a huge pot with pocket aces all-in pre-flop against ace-king. Waco raised to 4,500 and Gene Strickland (sitting with over 300k) raised to 17,500. Jared then raised to 45k and Gene moved all-in. Jared called off the rest of his almost 190k stack and doubled up when his hand held.
Steven "MrTimCaum" O'Dwyer tripled up with one of the nicer hands in Hold’em, pocket fives. David Einhart raised to 7,000 under the gun and the player in seat four called. O'Dwyer was in the big blind and called 5,000 more. The flop was 5-3-3 two hearts and O'Dwyer led out for 13k. Einhart made it 40k to go, leaving 30k behind, and the player in seat four pushed all-in, having both O'Dwyer and Einhart covered. O'Dwyer beat seat four into the pot with his flopped full house and Einhart called off his final 30k. Einhart held K-K and seat four had A-J of hearts. O'Dwyer's hand held and he raked in a pot worth approximately 300k.
Aditya "intervention" Agarwal doubled up when he held aces in late position with blinds at 1k/2k with a 300 ante. A player under the gun made it 8,000 to go and Agarwal made it 31k. The UTG player pushed out enough chips to put Agarwal all-in and he called. The flop was K-T-6 with three clubs. Agarwal held the ace of clubs, but his opponent had a gutshot straight draw. The turn and river were both blanks and Agarwal went over the 200k mark.
Day 2-B:
Josh "pairDboard21" Evans (pictured at right), who was the overall chip leader for Day 1, continued to increase his stack after two levels in Day 2-B. With the blinds at 500/1,000, another player at his table shoved three out of four hands with around a 30,000 stack. The last time that the player shoved, Evans looked down at A-Q and decided to call. When his opponent turned over his cards, Josh saw A-J, and his hand held to bring his stack to over 285k chips.
Scott "SCTrojans" Freeman was relocated to a table with poker pro J.C. Tran. Tran's skill, reputation, and huge chip stack did not stop Scott from making huge plays to build his own stack. At the new table, Freeman first got up to 145k after flat-calling a raise with pocket queens in position. Freeman's opponent bet on every street of the 9-high board and Scott ended up turning over the winning hand. He later went on to bluff J.C. Tran out of another big pot to get to 170k in chips.
Day 3:
An always-aggressive Imper1um eliminated a player less than 10 spots from the money when Sorel held A-Q against A-K. Sorel flopped a queen and then hit another on the turn to seal the deal. He raked in the 100k pot, taking him over 500k total.
Jim "P0KERPR033" Campbell had proven his skill already in his climb to the #1 spot in the rankings, which is a major feat in itself and requires consistent outstanding results to even be anywhere near the top, much less to actually make it to the elusive #1 spot. In one of the last few hands before the dinner break, Campbell called a raise to 10,500. The big blind also called. On the K-4-2 flop with two spades, the big blind checked to the initial raiser, who bet 21k and Jim called. After the big blind folded, the dealer put out the 3 of clubs for the turn. When it was checked to Campbell, he bet of 31k to take down the pot and add to his stack.
After being as low as 45k, TheWacoKidd chipped up to 98k when the following hand occurred: Jeff "Mr.Rain" Banghart raised to 23k when the blinds were at 3k/6k and a 1k ante. Another player called and action came to Jared who said aloud, "Come on dealer, one time!" Jared peeked at his cards for a split second before quickly announcing all-in. Both the initial raiser and caller called the 98k all-in and the flop came A-Q-4 with two spades. Banghart moved all-in on the flop with A-Q and the other player mucked. Top two pair was no good, though, when Jared turned over pocket aces for top set. The aces held and it brought Hamby over 300k.
Day 4:
With everyone in the money and 337 players left in the running for the Main Event bracelet, Day 4 showed to be very exciting with fast play and even faster eliminations. Even though Ryan "macker21" McClean eliminated Daniel Negreanu the day before on the ESPN feature table, his tournament run ended around the first part of the day as he took home $39,445. Shortly after McClean’s elimination came fan favorite, both on PocketFives and here around the Rio, Stephen "MrTimCaum" O'Dwyer (pictured at right). After handing a tough situation with poise yesterday, arriving to find his assigned seat with someone else in it and his chips missing, O’Dwyer was also able to take home four times the buy-in along with Carl "Colson10" Olson and Darrell "Gigabet" Dicken.
Imper1um was able to add to his enormous chip count by eliminating Guang Pu Lu. After Lu raised to 35k, Mizzi called in the small blind and the flop came K-8-5. Mizzi set Lu all-in, which was only around 4,000 more. Lu called and showed A-T, while Mizzi held J-3. A jack came on the turn and Lu was unable to catch his ace on the river.
Players making it through Day 4 include Dag Martin "dmmikkel" Mikkelson who looks to be the chip leader coming into Day 5 play, Hevad "RaiNKhaN" Khan who is also among the chip leaders, Cody "thugmoneymkr" Slaubaugh, and Cory "UGOTPZD" Carroll.
The following PocketFivers managed to cash so far in the WSOP Main Event. The final table kicks off on Tuesday, July 17:
Dag "Dmikkel" Mikkelsen (42nd – $237,865)
Markus "LURPED" Gonsalves (48th – $190,053)
Josh "pairDboard21" Evans (76th – $106,382)
Jared "TheWacoKidd" Hamby (88th – $82,476)
Jason "Jaybizzle8" Bird (89th – $82,476)
Cory "UGOTPZD" Carroll (91st – $67,535
Dario Minieri (96th – $67,535)
C. "Thugmoneymkr" Slaubaugh (100th – $58,570)
Matt "All In At 420" Stout (118th ($58,570)
Patrick "MrNiceGuy" Huse (128th – $58,570)
Peter "Nordberg" Feldman (133rd – $58,570
Justin "Jurollo" Rollo (149th – $58,570)
Tristan "Cre8ive" Wade (163rd – $51,398)
Brock "t_soprano" Parker (178th – $51,398)
Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi (208th – $51,398)
Justin "OutsGalore" Sellers (216th – $51,398)
Matt "Mattster24" Sterling (238th – $45,422)
Stephen "MrTimCaum" O'Dwyer (295th – $39,445)
Carl "Colson10" Olson (304th – $39,445)
Ryan "macker21" McClean (305th – $39,445)
Darrell "Gigabet" Dicken (323rd – $39,445)
Rob "RRadar" Roseman (360th – $34,664)
Brent "El Rubio" Sheirbon (391st – 34,664)
Greg "DuckU" Hobson (395th – $34,664)
Brian "poker366" Hollywood (411th – 34,664)
Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy (446th – $29,883)
Aditya "Intervention" Agarwal (450th – $29,883)
Jim "P0KERPR033" Campbell (480th – $25,101)
Jason "Gamble24/7" Stern (567th – $20,320)
The winner of the Main Event will take home a blistering $8.25 million and a coveted WSOP bracelet. Their name will forever be entrenched with some of the greats: Stu Ungar, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Chris Ferguson, just to name a few. Last year’s champ, Jamie Gold, ran away with $12 million. Who will be next? Find out on PocketFivesLive.com .
