Poker Pub Poker Blog

Harrahs is launching WSOP Europe. The festivities are expected to play out from Sept 6-16 and shall take place at three casinos operated by London Clubs International – Fifty, Leicester Square and the Sportsman.

Additionally, Harrahs has relaxed their dress code in the US for the WSOP. They now are allowing multiple logos, not to exceed 12 square-inches.

Poker Pub Sponsors and deals:

Your ad here

save up to $200 on inexpensive, denominated, high quality poker chips. Customized poker chip sets - All Casino supplies, only at 5 star deal.

Play free poker at CheckRayz - free entry, cash prizes and money-added buyin poker tournaments. Sign up now!

The Poker Writer Poker Blog - Read about all things Poker.
Poker Blog for Sale or trade

I strongly suspect the WSOP Europe event surely signals a willingness of Harrahs to diversify their WSOP business outside of the USA.

Back to the logo-ware, this move is apparantly being done to better afford players the opportunity to maixmize their sponsorships.

While multiple logos are allowed, they must fall under the following guidelines (Logos may not):

(a) Contain any false, unsubstantiated, or unwarranted claims for any product or
service, or make any testimonials that Harrah’s, in its sole and absolute discretion,
considers unethical;

(b) Advertise any habit-forming drug, tobacco product, handgun or handgun
ammunition;

(c) Advertise any malt beverage or any distilled liquor or any non-alcoholic product
containing the name of a liquor product other than Milwaukee’s Best Light or
another product of the Miller Brewing Company.

(d) Contain any material constituting or relating to a lottery, a contest of any kind in
which the public is unfairly treated or any enterprise, service or product that
abets, assists or promotes illegal gambling

(e) Contain any material that is defamatory, obscene, profane, vulgar, repulsive or
offensive, either in theme or in treatment or that describes or depicts repellently
any internal bodily functions or symptomatic results of internal conditions, or
refers to matters that are not considered socially acceptable topics;

(f) Advertise pornographic products of any kind;

(g) Include any element of intellectual property without the owner's consent to such
use or gives rise to any claim of infringement, misappropriation or other form of
unfair competition;

(h) Disparage or libel any person or product.

(i) Advertise a dot.com gaming site that conducts business with U.S. residents.

(j) Are or might be injurious or prejudicial to the interests of the World Series of
Poker, the Rio, Harrah's or its affiliated companies or are otherwise contrary to
honest advertising and reputable business in general. This includes but is not
limited to the name or logo of any person or entity that uses or has used the
trademarks, trade names or logos of Harrah's or its affiliated companies without
written authorization from an authorized officer of Harrah's.

(k) In addition, all logos, patches, and promotional language for any dot.net website
must contain a clear and visible "dot.net" suffix at least the same size as the site
name.

(l) Harrah’s reserves the right at all times to impose a ban on any apparel deemed
objectionable by Harrah’s, in its sole and absolute discretion.

Complete articles and press releases:

http://dps.twiihosting.net/wsop/doc/content/doc_591_58.pdf - 2007 WSOP Rules

http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/news/fullstory.sps?inewsid=406630&itype=&iCategoryID=1514 - WSOP Europe

Related Posts

2006 WSOP Main Event Coverage

BPT Grand Final - 2 Trips to Oz on the line

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License.

Subscribe to the Poker Pub

Filed under: Live WSOP Main Event Coverage

All content written in the Poker Pub is licensed under a Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs2.5 License (copyright).

Play free poker at CheckRayz - free entry, cash prizes and money-added buyin poker tournaments.

Blogger? Join the Blogger Poker Tour today! Season 2 sends two bloggers to the Aussie Millions... BPT - only at Poker.com!

Original post: http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com/2006/08/wsop-main-event-coverage.html - i am irritated that i've tried to make an original post three times today, but blogger just didn't feel like letting that happen.

All content written in the Poker Pub, http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com is under copyright. Said copyright is displayed on the left bar. Details of such copyright is available in easy to understand language by clicking on the Creative Commons link.

Final Table with chip counts

Seat 1 - Richard Lee - $11,820,000
Seat 2 - Erik Friberg - $9,605,000S
eat 3 - Paul Wasicka - $7,970,000
Seat 4 - Dan Nassif - $2,600,000
Seat 5 - Allen Cunningham - $17,770,000
Seat 6 - Michael Binger - $3,140,000
Seat 7 - Doug Kim - $6,770,000
Seat 8 - Jamie Gold - $26,650,000
Seat 9 - Rhett Butler - $4,815,000

Elimination hand - Jamie Gold calls from early position and Dan Nassif raises from the button. Jamie Gold makes the call. The flop comes 532 and Nassif pushes it allin. Gold immediately makes the call and shows 22 for a set. Nassif turns over AK and is behind. The turn is the A and Nassif needs a four for a chopped pot. However, the river is the 10 and Dan Nassif has been eliminated in 9th place.

Elimination hand - Friberg eliminated. Allin preflop with Gold... JJ v. QQ - gold set on the river, flop and turn missed everyone. 8th place for Erik Friberg and worth $1,979,189Elimination - Paul Wasicka raises to from mid position and Doug Kim calls from the button. The flop comes 443 and Wasicka bets out. Kim moves all in and Wasicka calls with a quickness. Kim shows 99 but runs into QQ. Kim is in trouble. The turn is the J and the river is the 7. Doug Kim has been eliminated in 7th place.

Chip Count Update
Jamie Gold $38,000,000
Richard Lee $19,300,000
Paul Wasicka $14,200,000
Allen Cunningham $12,900,000
Rhett Butler $3,100,000
Michael Binger $2,800,000

...break and I now have live feed...

10.15pm EDT - Parade of Champions, Hachem, Fossilman, Jesus, Scotty Nguyen, our first WSOP millionaire Brad Dougherty, Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, Tom McEvoy all introduced...

10.20pm EDT - Discussion of Gold claiming he would rather finish second and may throw the game.

10.25 EDT - Players back from break and action is underway. Six handed...
Blinds 120,000-$240,000 with a $40,000 ante

Chip Count
Jamie Gold T37,400,000
Richard Lee T17,030,000
Allen Cunningham T15,230,000
Paul Wasicka T14,870,000
Rhett Butler T 3,365,000
Michael Binger T 2,280,000

Lee steals pot.

Cunningham-Gold battle. Gold raises, 10-9-8 flop. check check. 8 turn, 1.1 million bet from Cunningham. Gold raises into him and raises 4 million into the 3 million pot. Cunningham folds.
10.30pm EDT Next hand, Allen Cunningham moves allin. Call from Michael Binger. 22 v A6. Binger's Tourney life on the line... Flop comes As-6d-4d. Turn 5 of hearts, giving Allen outs with 3's or 2's. River misses and Michael Binger doubles up, sits around 4.5 million.

10.35pm EDT - Binger moves into 5th in chips

Butler moves allin, sitting with an M of a bit under 10. Butler steals on Gold’s blind.
Rough CountGold 40 milLee 17 milCunningham 14 milWasicka 11milBinger 4.5 milButler 3.2 mil
Wasica raises to 800,000 UTG. Cunningham flat calls in position. Flop comes AA9. Paul checks, Cunningham bets 1.1 million bet and takes down the pot just as Hellmuth shows up in the booth.
Wasicka call BB on the Cunningham UTG raise. 2-3-4 flop. Check from Wasica, followed with 1 million chip bet. Wasica does in fact lay it down.

Wasicka v Gold 5-5-7 -9-9 check down to the river. Gold takes it down with an Ace.
Butler raises 900K, which is 1/3 of his stack. Binger seemingly has a hand but he throws it in.
Lee limps, Wasicka raises it to 1 million, Lee calls the raise. Qd-9s-6d. Check check. 7s. Lee bets out 2.5 million, and Wasicka folds.

10.52 - Cunningham enters the pot making it 750K preflop, Butler moves allin from the Big Blind. Allen folds the hand.

Cunningham raises to 750K again. Gold calls from the button. Blinds fold. Flop comes 4c-8c-3s. Allen Cunningham bets 1.1 million. Gold, in position lays the hand down, Cunningham rakes it in.
Gold bluffs and shows with 2-3 in position and takes down a pot.

Gold raises in the cutoff Wasicka reraises in the SB. Gold folds.

5 deep limped pot As-Jd-9d. Gold bets 1 million into the pot. 4 folders... Gold takes down the unraised pot uncontested on the flop.

Gold in the BB. Jd-10c-7c check check. Ac. Binger picks up the pot.

11.05pm EDT - Cunningham raises and takes down another pot.

Gold enters pot on the button. Lee enters from the BB. Flop comes 10s-2c-9c. Lee takes the pot down.

Binger takes it down preflop.

Big hand - Gold raises to 800K, Cunningham puts in 560K from the BB to make the call. 8-8-3. Allen checks. Jamie bets 1 million allen calls. 2 clubs on the turn. Cunningham checks, Gold checks. Q comes on the river. Cunningham checks, Gold bets 2 million. Gold is talking around about his hand, straight up taunting Allen, saying he'll show his bluff. Allen Cunningham calls with A-9 and takes down the pot! Wow...

11.20 - Butler moves allin, takes the pot down.

Cunningham raises to 750K. Gold calls. Flop Q-J-5. Gold checks, Cunningham continues with 1.2 million. Gold folds. Cunningham continues to dominate Gold.

11.25pm EDT Cunningham raises. Binger moves overtop and allin. Roughly 3 million is the allin. Cunningham counts out his chips as he ponders the decision. Makes the call. Cunningham QsJs- Binger AQ.

Flop comes all clubs and misses both. Binger has Qc, Cunningham needs one of two jacks. River delivers a blank. Binger doubles through Cunningham to 7 million.

11.30pm EDT - Cunningham raises preflop takes the pot down uncontested.
Cunningham raises to 750K UTG. Gold took a walk, has been autofolded last two hands. Lee calls from the SB. From the BB, Wasicka reraises to 3 million into the 2 million pot. Cunningham folds. Lee folds.

Lee limps from the button, Wasicka completes, Cunningham checks on BB. Ah-2c-9h. Check, check, 900K. Call from Wasicka, fold from Cunningham. Ks Check, check on the turn. River 2d. Check from Paul, check. Paul Wasicka takes the pot down with two pair, after letting Richard Lee bluff some chips off to him. Wasicka moves into third place.

Gold limps UTG. Paul makes it 900K from the button. Gold Calls. A-K-10. Million chip bet from Paul (less than half pot). Gold folds and 3.4 million to Paul Wasicka.

BB Gold vs. Richard Lee (raise mid position preflop) 2h-7h-5d. Lee bets 1.1 million. Jamie Gold checkraised, making it 3 million total (1.9 million checkraise). Richard Lee folds.

Wasicka makes it 800K. Gold calls from the SB. Flop comes 9h-5h-10h. Check from Gold. Paul checks. 3d. Gold pushes 2 million in and takes the pot down.

11.45pmEDT - Gold raises on the button to 800K. Lee lays down the BB and Gold takes three in a row.

All-in :Gold limps from the cutoff. Lee is raising OOP from the SB to 1.2 million. Wasicka in BB folds. Gold re-raises 4 million additional. Gold seemingly has a monster, based on his posture. Richard Lee moves allin, Gold calls.

Gold has QQ v Richard Lee's JJ. Flop comes: x-K-K. Turn and River are blanks and Richard Lee has been eliminated. We're five handed with Jamie Gold having more than 1/2 the total chips. Wow!

Rough Chip Count
Jamie Gold T54 million
Paul Wasicka T14 million
Allen Cunningham T13 million
Michael Binger T7 million
Rhett Butler T3 million

Dinner Break... See you in 90 minutes.

Commentary: Like him or not, Jamie Gold has a presence about him at this final table. I do not find him to be the best player at the table. He seems to lack focus at times. He has made players (i.e. - Lee) make huge, costly mistakes. Allen Cunningham is by far the better player at this table, which is not really a surprise. He's taken his shots at Gold, picking and choosing his spots. I'm liking the way Cunningham has been playing. He and Wasicka are still alive, despite Gold seemingly running away with the chips. Binger and Butler do have the short stacks, but I'm not feeling the whole chip n chair story from them. I do foresee a Gold meltdown on the horizon.
The players return from dinner and we're nearly underway...

This commentary of the WSOP Final Table brought to you by the Shark Powered Network. SPN members CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark bring you the best in freeroll and money added poker tournaments on the net. Sign up at all the SPN sites and get started playing free poker.

Blinds 120,000-$240,000 with a $40,000 ante
Rough Chip Count
Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T14 million M of 25
Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T13 million M of 23
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T7 million M of 12
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T51 million M of 91
Seat 5 - Rhett Butler - T3 million M of 5 - Red Zone

1.45am EDT - money is on it's way into the room. $12 million allegedly being brought out to the table. Money comes forever.

1.50am EDT play resumes for real this time. 28 minutes left at these blind levels.
First hand after the break Rhett Butler UTG+1 moves allin. Paul Wasicka calls from the button. Blinds fold. Butler A10 v Wasicka 88. And the flop comes... k-q-10, which reall helps Rhett. K on the turn, river is a miss and Rhett Butler doubles through Paul Wasicka.

Binger and Butler are roughly tied for last in chip count now with Binger doubling through.

2am EDT - Gold raises and takes the pot.

Cunningham steals from the cutoff.

Scotty Ngygen joins the commentary.

Gold steals from the button, raises from the cutoff next hand. Cunningham calls from the BB. Cunningham bets out on the turn, call from Gold. Possible straight on the board at the river, check/check. Allen flopped a straight flush draw, takes down the pot.

Gold limp raises after Binger raising initially. Binger lays down the hand, respecting the limp raise move. Gold had done this twice earlier both times with pocket Queens.

Butler raises on Jamie's BB and takes the pot, showing A10 UTG.

Chip Count

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T10.5 million
Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T15 million
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T7.2 million
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T50 million
Seat 5 - Rhett Butler - T6.3 million

Cunningham raises to 750K, Binger calls in position Q-10-6. 4d on turn. Cunningham moves at pot with 1.1 million (50% pot) call. J on the river. Check/check. Binger two pairs, Cunningham mucks. Binger takes in roughly 4 million.

Gold raises button Wasicka calls. Ks10s6s. Check check. Gold bets 1 million. Fold from Wasicka.
Gold raises again Qs-8c-3h. Gold bets 1 million again. call this time. 9c on the turn. Gold 2 million. Paul lays down OOP.

Gold is not letting up, staying active and aggressive.

Paul calls on the button. SB completes, BB checks. J-7-5 on the board. Checks through. 5d on the board from the turn. Binger comes out with 600K. Paul calls on the button. 7s on the river. Paul wins the pot with an ace high kicker to Binger's king high.

Big hand alert - Paul raises cutoff to 800K. Gold calls in the BB. KQ2dd. Check from Gold. 1.1 million continuation from Paul. CheckRaise from Jamie Gold of 4 million more. Paul is in all-in or fold mode here and moves. Gold calls with AK vs. K10. Wasicka is in trouble here. 10 comes on the turn, and it's looking good for Paul. AQJ hurts Paul. River is eight of diamonds. Get Paul a towel, as he sucks out on the turn and doubles through Jamie Gold in roughly a 18 million dollar pot.

Jamie Gold is disgusted, saying over and over "I can't play any better than that."

Blinds are up, now at T150K/T300K, ante of 50K as they color up...

2.30am EDT - updated chip counts

This commentary of the WSOP Final Table brought to you by the Shark Powered Network. SPN members CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark bring you the best in freeroll and money added poker tournaments on the net. Sign up at all the SPN sites and get started playing free poker.

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T18 million M of 24
Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T12.8 million M of 17
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T6.8 million M of 9
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T46 million M of 61
Seat 5 - Rhett Butler - T6.2 million M of 8

Cunningham enters the pot with a million dollar raise. Butler moves allin from the SB. Alan folds.
Gold takes it down preflop.

Wasicka limps on the button. Cunningham moves and Binger and Wasicka fold.

Paul raises a million, Binger reraises to allin. Paul Wasicka looks at his chippage trying to get a count and determine what he's wanting to do. He folds.

Cunningham raises utg. Gold calls in position. Paul Wasicka calls on the BB. 8c-ah-2s. Allen bets out 1 million Jamie calls, Paul folds. Turn delivers 6d. Check/check. River 2h. Gold takes down the pot with a bet on the end. Chips got spilled from Butler, so they're going through to recalculate the pot.

2.45am EDT - Binger raises. Wasicka moves allin from the blinds. Binger lays down.
Gold raises UTG. Binger calls from the bb. KJ3 is the flop. Gold bets out. Binger moves allin on the CheckRayz. Gold calls with top pair. Binger v Gold, each with K-10, chopped pot.
Wasicka limps on Gold's BB. Flop As-9-4s. Gold checks. Wasicka bets and takes her down.
Wasicka makes it 1 million from the cutoff. Cunningham calls as does Butler calls from the BB. 8-6-2 rainbowed greets the players. Rhett checks, Wasicka continues, Cunningham moves all-in and folds everyone up.

Binger raises 1 million on the cutoff, Gold calls on the button. Wasicka moves 4 million more, squeezing. Binger folds. Gold calls. Paul shows AK and takes the pot down.
We're nearly 8 hrs into this tournament today.

Wasicka limps on the button yet again. AsAdJs. Check Check and Paul takes the pot down.
Wasicka is really pressuring, seemingly active in every pot recently, as he takes another down from the cutoff preflop and yet again from the UTG.

Wasicka in the BB, Gold raises. J-3-4. Gold bets and wins.

Butler raises from the button and wins the pot.

Paul limping button again. 7-3-2, three handed. Cunningham bets out from the SB. Binger raises to allin from the BB. Binger takes down the pot.

Paul moving on the cutoff again. Jamie calls the blind. A-4-7 on the board. Paul continues and wins.

Big hand - Paul raises 1 million UTG Binger moves allin from the button. 5.7 million more to call. Call is made! Paul has KQ vs Binger's KK. Flop comes: Q-7-3. Turn is an ace. River brings the 2 of hearts. Binger has doubled through Paul Wasicka.

This commentary of the WSOP Final Table brought to you by the Shark Powered Network. SPN members CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark bring you the best in freeroll and money added poker tournaments on the net. Sign up at all the SPN sites and get started playing free poker.

Commentators kinda forgot there was a game going on as they talked over and through everyone.

Updated Chip Count
Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T13.9 million
Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T9.6 million
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T13.5 million
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T46 million
Seat 5 - Rhett Butler - T4.8 million

3.25am EDT - Paul raises small blind, Allen calls from the BB. Flop comes A-10-8 rainbow. Paul leads out on the flop, which is out of character, given his past OOP play. Allen throws his hand away.

Gold raises UTG 1.2 million, Paul calls on the button. A-3-9. Check check. J turns. Gold bets 1 million. Paul calls quickly. River 2h. Check Check. KJo v QJo. Paul takes the pot down.
Paul raises cutoff, Binger reraises, Paul folds yet again.

Note: I'm no longer going to do hand for hand updates, only big hands...

3.37am EDT - Butler All-in from the button Cunningham folds despite the math nearly working out.

All-in 3.44 - Butler allin after limp limp. Cunningham calls. Gold calls. Flop: Jh-6d-5d check/check. 2c. Gold bets, Cunningham folds. Gold's KJo vs Butler's 44. 3 or 4 keeps Butler alive. River is the ten of clubs. Gold takes down the pot and Rhett Butler is eliminated.
We're four handed...

"The Mouth" doin commentary, really critical of the earlier move by Richard Lee. Huge, huge mistake, though Mike is citing fatigue from the marathon as being a factor.

3.50am EDT - Updated Chip Counts
Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T14.2 million
Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T10 million
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T12 million
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T52 million

3.57 - Gold limps, Binger raises. Gold asks for a chip count and calls. Flop comes A-10-2 rainbowed. 1.5 million into the pot. Gold folds.

Over/under betting going on via ESPN's email on when the WSOP will end. Over/under is 6am. Mattesow is pushing the over.

4am - Binger reraises, knocks Cunningham off a hand.

--- Word from our sponsors at the 4am mark. This commentary of the WSOP Final Table brought to you by the Shark Powered Network. SPN members CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark bring you the best in freeroll and money added poker tournaments on the net. Sign up at all the SPN sites and get started playing free poker.

All-in - Cunningham v Gold. Ac-Jc-3h. Cunningham small bet. Gold raises. Cunningham allin 4.2 million to go. Gold talks at Cunningham, asking if he's ready to go home. Gold folds up shop, Cunningham takes the pot down.

Gold raises from the button. Paul re-raises 2 million more. Gold folds up.

Chip Count through 184 hands

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T13.8 million
Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T12.15 million
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T12.85 million
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T51.9 million

4.20 smoke break...

4.25 - 3 way action Allen raises, Paul and Jamie call. AJ9hhh Ac. Paul sends out a small seemingly suck bet on the turn. Cunningham raises it up 3 million more. Paul all-in. Allen folds. Paul shows Kqd for a huge huge bluff. Allen claims to have folded pocket tens, with the ten hearted. Huge huge huge bluff by Paul on Allen. WOW!

4.30am EDT - Cunningham moves allin from the button on Paul’s raise. Paul lays it down.

This commentary of the WSOP Final Table brought to you by the Shark Powered Network. SPN members CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark bring you the best in freeroll and money added poker tournaments on the net. Sign up at all the SPN sites and get started playing free poker.

As an aside, it's really nice to be watching each and every hand played, as opposed to the soundbite highlights on ESPN, even if we don't get the pocket cams.

Gold vs. Cunningham. Cunningham bets on the turn. Gold raises. Little commentary back n forth between the two. Scratch that, lot's of talk. Gold can't seem to keep his trap shut. I suspect this is going to give Allen enough info to make the correct read. Fold.

Blinds will be 200K/400K 50K ante after the break.

Chip Count at the Break

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T18.7 million
Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T7.6 million
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T15 million
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T49.35 million

Jennifer Harman has joined the commentary booth. She thinks Gold was worried about Cunningham, however, Paul's been surprising Jamie. She thinks Jamie should be playing small pot and in position, so he doesn't risk doubling anyone. Essentually, it's his tourney to lose.
9 hrs 30 minutes of final table poker played at the WSOP thus far.

5.10 am EDT - 3 handed. Paul raises, Mike, and Jamie. Flop comes 3-3-8. Paul bets, Michael Binger raises and takes the pot. This has been occuring regularly, with Michael coming over top of Paul.

Gold continues to limp UTG. Binger raises from the BB. Gold calls. Qd-6-5. Check/check. 10d turns. 1.5 million bet from Binger. Gold calls. Big pot, and the 9 of spades on the board. Binger checks. Gold bets out 4 million. Binger folds to the big bet. Gold shows 6-4.

Commentary on players raising and not continuing vs. the big stack. Gold seemingly stealing pot after pot due to weakness, and no one playing back at Gold.

Elimination - Binger raises, Gold calls, Cunningham allin.Binger fold, however Gold calls KdJd v Cunningham’s 10-10. Flop comes: A-K-8. Cunningham is in trouble. Turn card is a 7. River is the 3 of spades. Allen Cunningham is eliminated in fourth place.

Chip Count at 5.25am EDT

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka T15.475 million chips M of 20
Seat 3 - Michael Binger T12.35 million chips M of 16
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold T62.325 million chips M of 83

Chris Ferguson joins the commentary.

Wow, Jamie's "Sea" of chips is impressive.

Michael moves allin, folds Jamie up after his 1.2 million raise. Jamie folds.

Chip count

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T15.9 million
Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T12 million
Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T62 million

Binger moves all-in from the BB on Gold's button limp. Gold talks to him asking for him to help him decide, saying it's 50/50. Jamie Gold folds.

Q-9-4 Binger and Gold, SB - BB. Jamie bets, Michael calls. Ad on turn check check. 8s river. 4.15 million pot. Jamie bets and tells Michael he's probably bluffing. Jamie was in fact bluffing, as advertised. Michael folds and Jamie shows the Jack three unsuited, running a stone cold bluff.
Andy Bloch states that Binger has never “called” a bet on the river during this entire final table.
9-5-5 - Paul raises 1.2 million, Gold calls. Check from Paul, still no continuation from Paul. Ace on the turn. Paul bets the turn, Gold calls quickly. 6 on the end. Check/check. Jamie shows pocket tens and takes the pot down.

update: Gold - 66.125 million, Wasicka 13.225 million, Binger 11.25 million

Gold raises and Binger reraises. Binger seems the most willing to play back at Gold of the two.
5.50am EDT - Binger-Gold SB-BB. 6-2d-3d 1 million called by Gold. Qc check check. Kd on the river. 55 v 6d-8d. Gold takes another pot.

The action is relentless in that there are a shitload of flops seen.

Binger raises, Gold reraises, Binger folds.

2 limpers, Binger raises, takes down the pot.

Paul vs Gold Ad-8c-2c. Paul continues, Gold calls. Turn brings Kh. Check by Gold. Paul checks behind. 4c on river A-3 from Gold, Paul mucks.

Gold is doing well in keeping the pots small.

6am - Paul played stop n go and Jamie paid his two pair off.

Elimination - Binger calls Gold's all-in on the flop Binger A10 v 34... flop was 6-10-5. Turn is the 7 of clubs. River is a queen of spades. Binger is eliminated in third place. We're now heads up. This queen would have given Paul the flush.

Chip count for the heads up.

Gold - 78.125 million, Paul Wasicka 12.025 million.

This is a monsterous lead. Paul needs to double through twice to come back.

WSOP Heads up coverage brought to you by CheckRayz. Play free poker tourneys and money added poker tournaments with CheckRayz.

Replay of the Hachem win last year.

SB/Button acts first preflop and last after the flop, in case we're keeping score.

chip count roughly 78 mil to 12 mil, blinds 200k/400k 50k ante - Paul's M is 17.

And we're ready for head's up action. Money is on the table and we're shuffled up n dealin at 6.30am EDT.

6 of the seven final tablers have been eliminated by Gold.

1st pot taken down by Gold on the flop. Wasicka was being weak post flop when there were more players left. Let's see if he plays the same while head's up.

Paul raises preflop, Gold folds.

Gold shows he has standards and folds.

Min raise by paul. Jamie calls. Flop bet by Paul on a js-9s-9h board. Jamie calls cleanly. Turn comes Ks. Jamie fires the turn. Paul calls quickly. River comes 6s, making the board four flushed. 2 million bet by Gold. Paul asks Jamie if he has it. Jamie says he cannot talk anymore and then Jamie tells him either he's got it or he doesn't have a spade. Paul shows A-7s and takes the pot. Wow!

Jamie bets into the river with the board 6-4-3-7-A. Jamie tells him "you go allin, I probably fold." Paul lays the hand down.

Jamie Gold is limping on the button quite often. Paul raises from the BB and auto-calls. Flop comes Qc-8h-5h. 1.5 million by Paul. Jamie moves all-in. Asks if Paul has a Queen, then a pair, then balls and says let's do it. Jamie says he has not a good hand but is gonna win. Call!
10-10 v Q9 of Gold.

Turn: Ad

two outs remaining for Paul, as he must draw a ten
River: is the 4 of clubs.

Jamie Gold is your 2006 world series of poker main event champion, taking down the 12 million dollar first prize and the bracelet.

Mike

All content written in the Poker Pub, http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com is under copyright. Said copyright is displayed on the left bar. Details of such copyright is available in easy to understand language by clicking on the Creative Commons link.

All content written in the Poker Pub, http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com is under copyright. Said copyright is displayed on the left bar. Details of such copyright is available in easy to understand language by clicking on the Creative Commons link.

Thoughts on the World Series of Poker...

In case anyone missed it, I provided Real time coverage to the WSOP Main Event Final Table from Start to Finish last night.

Not to spoil things, but Jamie Gold led coast to coast. I hate to say it, but he played some great poker.

The final table was a bit more aggressive than I am used to remembering. Lots of raising and reraising and/or betting into other players. I think this is going to make for great viewing once it is edited and reaches ESPN, and I'm looking forward to seeing the pocket cams.

The two hands that stand out the most in my mind were Jamie Gold's limp raise against Richard Lee, when they were 1 and 2 in chips. Lee was in the BB, Gold limps. Lee raises, Gold springs his trap and reraises. Lee is hypnotised by his hand, pocket jacks and moves it all-in, only to run into pocket queens. The pattern/play suggested Aces-Jacks and AKs/o. There was really no "need" for Lee to make that move, especially considering there were two short stacks in the house. I think he had that level 0 moment, where he wasn't even aware Gold had two cards.

The second hand that stands out in my mind was Cunningham v. Wasicka v Gold hand. Allen raised, and Paul and Jamie both called. Flop came down Ah-9h-Jh, action checked around. The turn delivered an Ace of clubs. Paul Wasicka led out with a suck bet of sorts on the turn. Cunningham put in a raise, making it 3 million more. Paul moves allin, Gold obviously got the hell out of the way with the initial bet. Allen Cunningham thinks and thinks, before laying his hand down. This was a huge laydown, as he claims he had pocket tens, with the ten of hearts in hand. Paul shows KdQd, revealing his ginormous bluff. Once again, WOW!

I think if we were in a wrestling arena, we'd get the "holy shit" chant going.

These two hands, I believe cemented the outcome of the WSOP Main Event.

Live WSOP Main Event Coverage
Real Time WSOP Main Event

Mike

All content written in the Poker Pub, http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com is under copyright. Said copyright is displayed on the left bar. Details of such copyright is available in easy to understand language by clicking on the Creative Commons link.

All content written in the Poker Pub, http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com is under copyright. Said copyright is displayed on the left bar. Details of such copyright is available in easy to understand language by clicking on the Creative Commons link.

Final Table with chip counts

Seat 1 - Richard Lee - $11,820,000
Seat 2 - Erik Friberg - $9,605,000
Seat 3 - Paul Wasicka - $7,970,000
Seat 4 - Dan Nassif - $2,600,000
Seat 5 - Allen Cunningham - $17,770,000
Seat 6 - Michael Binger - $3,140,000
Seat 7 - Doug Kim - $6,770,000
Seat 8 - Jamie Gold - $26,650,000
Seat 9 - Rhett Butler - $4,815,000

Elimination hand - Jamie Gold calls from early position and Dan Nassif raises from the button. Jamie Gold makes the call. The flop comes 532 and Nassif pushes it allin. Gold immediately makes the call and shows 22 for a set. Nassif turns over AK and is behind. The turn is the A and Nassif needs a four for a chopped pot. However, the river is the 10 and Dan Nassif has been eliminated in 9th place.

Elimination - hand - Friberg eliminated. Allin preflop with Gold... JJ v. QQ - gold set on the river, flop and turn missed everyone. 8th place for Erik Friberg and worth $1,979,189
Elimination - Paul Wasicka raises to from mid position and Doug Kim calls from the button. The flop comes 443 and Wasicka bets out. Kim moves all in and Wasicka calls with a quickness. Kim shows 99 but runs into QQ. Kim is in trouble. The turn is the J and the river is the 7. Doug Kim has been eliminated in 7th place.

Chip Count Update
Jamie Gold $38,000,000
Richard Lee $19,300,000
Paul Wasicka $14,200,000
Allen Cunningham $12,900,000
Rhett Butler $3,100,000
Michael Binger $2,800,000

...break and I now have live feed...

10.15pm EDT - Parade of Champions, Hachem, Fossilman, Jesus, Scotty Nguyen, our first WSOP millionaire Brad Dougherty, Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, Tom McEvoy all introduced...

10.20pm EDT - Discussion of Gold claiming he would rather finish second and may throw the game.

10.25 EDT - Players back from break and action is underway. Six handed...

Blinds 120,000-$240,000 with a $40,000 ante

Chip Count

Jamie Gold T37,400,000
Richard Lee T17,030,000
Allen Cunningham T15,230,000
Paul Wasicka T14,870,000
Rhett Butler T 3,365,000
Michael Binger T 2,280,000

Lee steals pot.

Cunningham-Gold battle. Gold raises, 10-9-8 flop. check check. 8 turn, 1.1 million bet from Cunningham. Gold raises into him and raises 4 million into the 3 million pot. Cunningham folds.

10.30pm EDT Next hand, Allen Cunningham moves allin. Call from Michael Binger. 22 v A6. Binger's Tourney life on the line... Flop comes As-6d-4d. Turn 5 of hearts, giving Allen outs with 3's or 2's. River misses and Michael Binger doubles up, sits around 4.5 million.

10.35pm EDT - Binger moves into 5th in chips

Butler moves allin, sitting with an M of a bit under 10. Butler steals on Gold’s blind.

Rough Count
Gold 40 mil
Lee 17 mil
Cunningham 14 mil
Wasicka 11mil
Binger 4.5 mil
Butler 3.2 mil

Wasica raises to 800,000 UTG. Cunningham flat calls in position. Flop comes AA9. Paul checks, Cunningham bets 1.1 million bet and takes down the pot just as Hellmuth shows up in the booth.

Wasicka call BB on the Cunningham UTG raise. 2-3-4 flop. Check from Wasica, followed with 1 million chip bet. Wasica does in fact lay it down.

Wasicka v Gold 5-5-7 -9-9 check down to the river. Gold takes it down with an Ace.

Butler raises 900K, which is 1/3 of his stack. Binger seemingly has a hand but he throws it in.

Lee limps, Wasicka raises it to 1 million, Lee calls the raise. Qd-9s-6d. Check check. 7s. Lee bets out 2.5 million, and Wasicka folds.

10.52 - Cunningham enters the pot making it 750K preflop, Butler moves allin from the Big Blind. Allen folds the hand.

Cunningham raises to 750K again. Gold calls from the button. Blinds fold. Flop comes 4c-8c-3s. Allen Cunningham bets 1.1 million. Gold, in position lays the hand down, Cunningham rakes it in.

Gold bluffs and shows with 2-3 in position and takes down a pot.

Gold raises in the cutoff Wasicka reraises in the SB. Gold folds.

5 deep limped pot As-Jd-9d. Gold bets 1 million into the pot. 4 folders... Gold takes down the unraised pot uncontested on the flop.

Gold in the BB. Jd-10c-7c check check. Ac. Binger picks up the pot.

11.05pm EDT - Cunningham raises and takes down another pot.

Gold enters pot on the button. Lee enters from the BB. Flop comes 10s-2c-9c. Lee takes the pot down.

Binger takes it down preflop.

Big hand - Gold raises to 800K, Cunningham puts in 560K from the BB to make the call. 8-8-3. Allen checks. Jamie bets 1 million allen calls. 2 clubs on the turn. Cunningham checks, Gold checks. Q comes on the river. Cunningham checks, Gold bets 2 million. Gold is talking around about his hand, straight up taunting Allen, saying he'll show his bluff. Allen Cunningham calls with A-9 and takes down the pot! Wow...

11.20 - Butler moves allin, takes the pot down.

Cunningham raises to 750K. Gold calls. Flop Q-J-5. Gold checks, Cunningham continues with 1.2 million. Gold folds. Cunningham continues to dominate Gold.

11.25pm EDT Cunningham raises. Binger moves overtop and allin. Roughly 3 million is the allin. Cunningham counts out his chips as he ponders the decision. Makes the call. Cunningham QsJs- Binger AQ.

Flop comes all clubs and misses both. Binger has Qc, Cunningham needs one of two jacks. River delivers a blank. Binger doubles through Cunningham to 7 million.

11.30pm EDT - Cunningham raises preflop takes the pot down uncontested.

Cunningham raises to 750K UTG. Gold took a walk, has been autofolded last two hands. Lee calls from the SB. From the BB, Wasicka reraises to 3 million into the 2 million pot. Cunningham folds. Lee folds.

Lee limps from the button, Wasicka completes, Cunningham checks on BB. Ah-2c-9h. Check, check, 900K. Call from Wasicka, fold from Cunningham. Ks Check, check on the turn. River 2d. Check from Paul, check. Paul Wasicka takes the pot down with two pair, after letting Richard Lee bluff some chips off to him. Wasicka moves into third place.

Gold limps UTG. Paul makes it 900K from the button. Gold Calls. A-K-10. Million chip bet from Paul (less than half pot). Gold folds and 3.4 million to Paul Wasicka.

BB Gold vs. Richard Lee (raise mid position preflop) 2h-7h-5d. Lee bets 1.1 million. Jamie Gold checkraised, making it 3 million total (1.9 million checkraise). Richard Lee folds.

Wasicka makes it 800K. Gold calls from the SB. Flop comes 9h-5h-10h. Check from Gold. Paul checks. 3d. Gold pushes 2 million in and takes the pot down.

11.45pmEDT - Gold raises on the button to 800K. Lee lays down the BB and Gold takes three in a row.

All-in :Gold limps from the cutoff. Lee is raising OOP from the SB to 1.2 million. Wasicka in BB folds. Gold re-raises 4 million additional. Gold seemingly has a monster, based on his posture. Richard Lee moves allin, Gold calls.

Gold has QQ v Richard Lee's JJ. Flop comes: x-K-K. Turn and River are blanks and Richard Lee has been eliminated. We're five handed with Jamie Gold having more than 1/2 the total chips. Wow!

Rough Chip Count

Jamie Gold T54 million

Paul Wasicka T14 million

Allen Cunningham T13 million

Michael Binger T7 million

Rhett Butler T3 million

Dinner Break... See you in 90 minutes.

Commentary: Like him or not, Jamie Gold has a presence about him at this final table. I do not find him to be the best player at the table. He seems to lack focus at times. He has made players (i.e. - Lee) make huge, costly mistakes. Allen Cunningham is by far the better player at this table, which is not really a surprise. He's taken his shots at Gold, picking and choosing his spots. I'm liking the way Cunningham has been playing. He and Wasicka are still alive, despite Gold seemingly running away with the chips. Binger and Butler do have the short stacks, but I'm not feeling the whole chip n chair story from them. I do foresee a Gold meltdown on the horizon.

The players return from dinner and we're nearly underway...

This commentary of the WSOP Final Table brought to you by the Shark Powered Network. SPN members CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark bring you the best in freeroll and money added poker tournaments on the net. Sign up at all the SPN sites and get started playing free poker.

Blinds 120,000-$240,000 with a $40,000 ante

Rough Chip Count

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T14 million M of 25

Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T13 million M of 23

Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T7 million M of 12

Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T51 million M of 91

Seat 5 - Rhett Butler - T3 million M of 5 - Red Zone

1.45am EDT - money is on it's way into the room. $12 million allegedly being brought out to the table. Money comes forever.

1.50am EDT play resumes for real this time. 28 minutes left at these blind levels.

First hand after the break Rhett Butler UTG+1 moves allin. Paul Wasicka calls from the button. Blinds fold. Butler A10 v Wasicka 88. And the flop comes... k-q-10, which reall helps Rhett. K on the turn, river is a miss and Rhett Butler doubles through Paul Wasicka.

Binger and Butler are roughly tied for last in chip count now with Binger doubling through.

2am EDT - Gold raises and takes the pot.

Cunningham steals from the cutoff.

Scotty Ngygen joins the commentary.

Gold steals from the button, raises from the cutoff next hand. Cunningham calls from the BB. Cunningham bets out on the turn, call from Gold. Possible straight on the board at the river, check/check. Allen flopped a straight flush draw, takes down the pot.

Gold limp raises after Binger raising initially. Binger lays down the hand, respecting the limp raise move. Gold had done this twice earlier both times with pocket Queens.

Butler raises on Jamie's BB and takes the pot, showing A10 UTG.

Chip Count

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T10.5 million

Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T15 million

Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T7.2 million

Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T50 million

Seat 5 - Rhett Butler - T6.3 million

Cunningham raises to 750K, Binger calls in position Q-10-6. 4d on turn. Cunningham moves at pot with 1.1 million (50% pot) call. J on the river. Check/check. Binger two pairs, Cunningham mucks. Binger takes in roughly 4 million.

Gold raises button Wasicka calls. Ks10s6s. Check check. Gold bets 1 million. Fold from Wasicka.

Gold raises again Qs-8c-3h. Gold bets 1 million again. call this time. 9c on the turn. Gold 2 million. Paul lays down OOP.

Gold is not letting up, staying active and aggressive.

Paul calls on the button. SB completes, BB checks. J-7-5 on the board. Checks through. 5d on the board from the turn. Binger comes out with 600K. Paul calls on the button. 7s on the river. Paul wins the pot with an ace high kicker to Binger's king high.

Big hand alert - Paul raises cutoff to 800K. Gold calls in the BB. KQ2dd. Check from Gold. 1.1 million continuation from Paul. CheckRaise from Jamie Gold of 4 million more. Paul is in all-in or fold mode here and moves. Gold calls with AK vs. K10. Wasicka is in trouble here. 10 comes on the turn, and it's looking good for Paul. AQJ hurts Paul. River is eight of diamonds. Get Paul a towel, as he sucks out on the turn and doubles through Jamie Gold in roughly a 18 million dollar pot.

Jamie Gold is disgusted, saying over and over "I can't play any better than that."

Blinds are up, now at T150K/T300K, ante of 50K as they color up...

2.30am EDT - updated chip counts

This commentary of the WSOP Final Table brought to you by the Shark Powered Network. SPN members CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark bring you the best in freeroll and money added poker tournaments on the net. Sign up at all the SPN sites and get started playing free poker.

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T18 million M of 24

Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T12.8 million M of 17

Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T6.8 million M of 9

Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T46 million M of 61

Seat 5 - Rhett Butler - T6.2 million M of 8

Cunningham enters the pot with a million dollar raise. Butler moves allin from the SB. Alan folds.

Gold takes it down preflop.

Wasicka limps on the button. Cunningham moves and Binger and Wasicka fold.

Paul raises a million, Binger reraises to allin. Paul Wasicka looks at his chippage trying to get a count and determine what he's wanting to do. He folds.

Cunningham raises utg. Gold calls in position. Paul Wasicka calls on the BB. 8c-ah-2s. Allen bets out 1 million Jamie calls, Paul folds. Turn delivers 6d. Check/check. River 2h. Gold takes down the pot with a bet on the end. Chips got spilled from Butler, so they're going through to recalculate the pot.

2.45am EDT - Binger raises. Wasicka moves allin from the blinds. Binger lays down.

Gold raises UTG. Binger calls from the bb. KJ3 is the flop. Gold bets out. Binger moves allin on the CheckRayz. Gold calls with top pair. Binger v Gold, each with K-10, chopped pot.

Wasicka limps on Gold's BB. Flop As-9-4s. Gold checks. Wasicka bets and takes her down.

Wasicka makes it 1 million from the cutoff. Cunningham calls as does Butler calls from the BB. 8-6-2 rainbowed greets the players. Rhett checks, Wasicka continues, Cunningham moves all-in and folds everyone up.

Binger raises 1 million on the cutoff, Gold calls on the button. Wasicka moves 4 million more, squeezing. Binger folds. Gold calls. Paul shows AK and takes the pot down.

We're nearly 8 hrs into this tournament today.

Wasicka limps on the button yet again. AsAdJs. Check Check and Paul takes the pot down.

Wasicka is really pressuring, seemingly active in every pot recently, as he takes another down from the cutoff preflop and yet again from the UTG.

Wasicka in the BB, Gold raises. J-3-4. Gold bets and wins.

Butler raises from the button and wins the pot.

Paul limping button again. 7-3-2, three handed. Cunningham bets out from the SB. Binger raises to allin from the BB. Binger takes down the pot.

Paul moving on the cutoff again. Jamie calls the blind. A-4-7 on the board. Paul continues and wins.

Big hand - Paul raises 1 million UTG Binger moves allin from the button. 5.7 million more to call. Call is made! Paul has KQ vs Binger's KK. Flop comes: Q-7-3. Turn is an ace. River brings the 2 of hearts. Binger has doubled through Paul Wasicka.

This commentary of the WSOP Final Table brought to you by the Shark Powered Network. SPN members CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark bring you the best in freeroll and money added poker tournaments on the net. Sign up at all the SPN sites and get started playing free poker.

Commentators kinda forgot there was a game going on as they talked over and through everyone.

Updated Chip Count

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T13.9 million

Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T9.6 million

Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T13.5 million

Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T46 million

Seat 5 - Rhett Butler - T4.8 million

3.25am EDT - Paul raises small blind, Allen calls from the BB. Flop comes A-10-8 rainbow. Paul leads out on the flop, which is out of character, given his past OOP play. Allen throws his hand away.

Gold raises UTG 1.2 million, Paul calls on the button. A-3-9. Check check. J turns. Gold bets 1 million. Paul calls quickly. River 2h. Check Check. KJo v QJo. Paul takes the pot down.

Paul raises cutoff, Binger reraises, Paul folds yet again.

Note: I'm no longer going to do hand for hand updates, only big hands...

3.37am EDT - Butler All-in from the button Cunningham folds despite the math nearly working out.

All-in 3.44 - Butler allin after limp limp. Cunningham calls. Gold calls. Flop: Jh-6d-5d check/check. 2c. Gold bets, Cunningham folds. Gold's KJo vs Butler's 44. 3 or 4 keeps Butler alive. River is the ten of clubs. Gold takes down the pot and Rhett Butler is eliminated.

We're four handed...

"The Mouth" doin commentary, really critical of the earlier move by Richard Lee. Huge, huge mistake, though Mike is citing fatigue from the marathon as being a factor.

3.50am EDT - Updated Chip Counts

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T14.2 million

Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T10 million

Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T12 million

Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T52 million

3.57 - Gold limps, Binger raises. Gold asks for a chip count and calls. Flop comes A-10-2 rainbowed. 1.5 million into the pot. Gold folds.

Over/under betting going on via ESPN's email on when the WSOP will end. Over/under is 6am. Mattesow is pushing the over.

4am - Binger reraises, knocks Cunningham off a hand.

--- Word from our sponsors at the 4am mark. This commentary of the WSOP Final Table brought to you by the Shark Powered Network. SPN members CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark bring you the best in freeroll and money added poker tournaments on the net. Sign up at all the SPN sites and get started playing free poker.

All-in - Cunningham v Gold. Ac-Jc-3h. Cunningham small bet. Gold raises. Cunningham allin 4.2 million to go. Gold talks at Cunningham, asking if he's ready to go home. Gold folds up shop, Cunningham takes the pot down.

Gold raises from the button. Paul re-raises 2 million more. Gold folds up.

Chip Count through 184 hands

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T13.8 million

Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T12.15 million

Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T12.85 million

Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T51.9 million

4.20 smoke break...

4.25 - 3 way action Allen raises, Paul and Jamie call. AJ9hhh Ac. Paul sends out a small seemingly suck bet on the turn. Cunningham raises it up 3 million more. Paul all-in. Allen folds. Paul shows Kqd for a huge huge bluff. Allen claims to have folded pocket tens, with the ten hearted. Huge huge huge bluff by Paul on Allen. WOW!

4.30am EDT - Cunningham moves allin from the button on Paul’s raise. Paul lays it down.

This commentary of the WSOP Final Table brought to you by the Shark Powered Network. SPN members CheckRayz, Shark Poker Tour, Online Shark bring you the best in freeroll and money added poker tournaments on the net. Sign up at all the SPN sites and get started playing free poker.

As an aside, it's really nice to be watching each and every hand played, as opposed to the soundbite highlights on ESPN, even if we don't get the pocket cams.

Gold vs. Cunningham. Cunningham bets on the turn. Gold raises. Little commentary back n forth between the two. Scratch that, lot's of talk. Gold can't seem to keep his trap shut. I suspect this is going to give Allen enough info to make the correct read. Fold.

Blinds will be 200K/400K 50K ante after the break.

Chip Count at the Break

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T18.7 million

Seat 2 - Allen Cunningham - T7.6 million

Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T15 million

Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T49.35 million

Jennifer Harman has joined the commentary booth. She thinks Gold was worried about Cunningham, however, Paul's been surprising Jamie. She thinks Jamie should be playing small pot and in position, so he doesn't risk doubling anyone. Essentually, it's his tourney to lose.

9 hrs 30 minutes of final table poker played at the WSOP thus far.

5.10 am EDT - 3 handed. Paul raises, Mike, and Jamie. Flop comes 3-3-8. Paul bets, Michael Binger raises and takes the pot. This has been occuring regularly, with Michael coming over top of Paul.

Gold continues to limp UTG. Binger raises from the BB. Gold calls. Qd-6-5. Check/check. 10d turns. 1.5 million bet from Binger. Gold calls. Big pot, and the 9 of spades on the board. Binger checks. Gold bets out 4 million. Binger folds to the big bet. Gold shows 6-4.

Commentary on players raising and not continuing vs. the big stack. Gold seemingly stealing pot after pot due to weakness, and no one playing back at Gold.

Elimination - Binger raises, Gold calls, Cunningham allin.Binger fold, however Gold calls KdJd v Cunningham’s 10-10. Flop comes: A-K-8. Cunningham is in trouble. Turn card is a 7. River is the 3 of spades. Allen Cunningham is eliminated in fourth place.

Chip Count at 5.25am EDT

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka T15.475 million chips M of 20

Seat 3 - Michael Binger T12.35 million chips M of 16

Seat 4 - Jamie Gold T62.325 million chips M of 83

Chris Ferguson joins the commentary.

Wow, Jamie's "Sea" of chips is impressive.

Michael moves allin, folds Jamie up after his 1.2 million raise. Jamie folds.

Chip count

Seat 1 - Paul Wasicka - T15.9 million

Seat 3 - Michael Binger - T12 million

Seat 4 - Jamie Gold - T62 million

Binger moves all-in from the BB on Gold's button limp. Gold talks to him asking for him to help him decide, saying it's 50/50. Jamie Gold folds.

Q-9-4 Binger and Gold, SB - BB. Jamie bets, Michael calls. Ad on turn check check. 8s river. 4.15 million pot. Jamie bets and tells Michael he's probably bluffing. Jamie was in fact bluffing, as advertised. Michael folds and Jamie shows the Jack three unsuited, running a stone cold bluff.

Andy Bloch states that Binger has never “called” a bet on the river during this entire final table.

9-5-5 - Paul raises 1.2 million, Gold calls. Check from Paul, still no continuation from Paul. Ace on the turn. Paul bets the turn, Gold calls quickly. 6 on the end. Check/check. Jamie shows pocket tens and takes the pot down.

update: Gold - 66.125 million, Wasicka 13.225 million, Binger 11.25 million

Gold raises and Binger reraises. Binger seems the most willing to play back at Gold of the two.

5.50am EDT - Binger-Gold SB-BB. 6-2d-3d 1 million called by Gold. Qc check check. Kd on the river. 55 v 6d-8d. Gold takes another pot.

The action is relentless in that there are a shitload of flops seen.

Binger raises, Gold reraises, Binger folds.

2 limpers, Binger raises, takes down the pot.

Paul vs Gold Ad-8c-2c. Paul continues, Gold calls. Turn brings Kh. Check by Gold. Paul checks behind. 4c on river A-3 from Gold, Paul mucks.

Gold is doing well in keeping the pots small.

6am - Paul played stop n go and Jamie paid his two pair off.

Elimination - Binger calls Gold's all-in on the flop Binger A10 v 34... flop was 6-10-5. Turn is the 7 of clubs. River is a queen of spades. Binger is eliminated in third place. We're now heads up. This queen would have given Paul the flush.

Chip count for the heads up. Gold - 78.125 million, Paul Wasicka 12.025 million.

This is a monsterous lead. Paul needs to double through twice to come back.

WSOP Heads up coverage brought to you by CheckRayz. Play free poker tourneys and money added poker tournaments with CheckRayz.

Replay of the Hachem win last year.

SB/Button acts first preflop and last after the flop, in case we're keeping score.

chip count roughly 78 mil to 12 mil, blinds 200k/400k 50k ante - Paul's M is 17.

And we're ready for head's up action. Money is on the table and we're shuffled up n dealin at 6.30am EDT.

6 of the seven final tablers have been eliminated by Gold.

1st pot taken down by Gold on the flop. Wasicka was being weak post flop when there were more players left. Let's see if he plays the same while head's up.

Paul raises preflop, Gold folds.

Gold shows he has standards and folds.

Min raise by paul. Jamie calls. Flop bet by Paul on a js-9s-9h board. Jamie calls cleanly. Turn comes Ks. Jamie fires the turn. Paul calls quickly. River comes 6s, making the board four flushed. 2 million bet by Gold. Paul asks Jamie if he has it. Jamie says he cannot talk anymore and then Jamie tells him either he's got it or he doesn't have a spade. Paul shows A-7s and takes the pot. Wow!

Jamie bets into the river with the board 6-4-3-7-A. Jamie tells him "you go allin, I probably fold." Paul lays the hand down.

Jamie Gold is limping on the button quite often. Paul raises from the BB and auto-calls. Flop comes Qc-8h-5h. 1.5 million by Paul. Jamie moves all-in. Asks if Paul has a Queen, then a pair, then balls and says let's do it. Jamie says he has not a good hand but is gonna win. Call!

10-10 v Q9 of Gold.

Turn: Ad

two outs remaining for Paul, as he must draw a ten

River: is the 4 of clubs.

Jamie Gold is your 2006 world series of poker main event champion, taking down the 12 million dollar first prize and the bracelet.

Mike

All content written in the Poker Pub, http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com is under copyright. Said copyright is displayed on the left bar. Details of such copyright is available in easy to understand language by clicking on the Creative Commons link.

Live WSOP Main Event Coverage
Real Time WSOP Main Event

Today is the day. The biggest prize in poker history will be paid out. $12 million dollars and one kickass bracelet goes to the winner. A player by the name of Jamie Gold sits in the lead. He’s played aggressive and given attitude to players at his tables, making sure they, everyone he encountered, knew his name.

Some time yesterday, ESPN broke a story regarding Mr. Jamie Gold, though I’d have sworn they were quoting someone as "out there" as John Rocker. No, he didn’t say anything racist, but he made a really stupid comment to the media. He tells ESPN “There might be a story,'' Gold said, "if I dump at the end because I don't want to be famous.”

In the interest of fairness and getting the proper contect of this quote, he goes on to say:

"I don't want to be famous,'' Gold said while sitting in the Bodog lounge before Day 6 of the event Monday. "I'm not sure if I want to win. And I'm in control of that.

"I just thought about what would happen if I won,'' Gold said. "Out of the goodness of their heart, a lot of people would feel like they needed to talk to me, they'd want to know what I was doing, cameras would follow me around. I don't want my life on display. I don't have anything to hide. I'm just not that person. I've always been behind other people. I like making other people famous. I'm not comfortable being in the spotlight. I like my private life.

"I also don't want to be responsible for being the ambassador of poker or anything like that. What Greg Raymer does is amazing. Good for him. I'm not looking to quit my job. I like the job I do. I don't need the money. I'm not doing this for the money. I love the competition.''

And they (The WSOP... ESPN) expect me to actually pay to watch the WSOP Final Table live with this hanging over our head?

In MY OPINION

The “right thing to do” would be to set another first. For the first time ever, a person got disqualified from the main event for placing their chips in their pocket while transferring tables, which is something I agree with, by the way. Chips must remain visible. They do provide trays in case anyone did not know. They also discourage cheating, or so we’d think.

Jamie Gold has implied, scratch that, he came out and said he may dump chips, because that allows him to remain in control. Is that not throwing a game? It sounds as if Jamie Gold is wanting to totally control his destiny. It sounds as if he’s wanting to more than that actually, he’s wanting to play God in this 2006 WSOP Main Event. I say banish the sorry SOB. Take his chips out of play from the opening moment. Remember, you cannot guarantee victory… you can guarantee defeat. Point shaving in college basketball is illegal. Chip dumping is virtually the same thing. Get him out of the WSOP Main Event.

WSOP Coverage live on the poker pub

Nuff said,

Mike

Poker News
Thoughts on Poker
Poker

All content written in the Poker Pub, http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com is under copyright. Said copyright is displayed on the left bar. Details of such copyright is available in easy to understand language by clicking on the Creative Commons link.

WSOP Chip Count (in millions)

Courtesy of Cardplayer Magazine…
1. Jamie Gold - 25.65 - Seat 8
2. Allen Cunningham 17.77 - Seat 5
3. Richard Lee 11.82 - Seat 1
4. Eric Friberg 9.605 - Seat 2
5. Paul Wasicka 7.97 - Seat 3
6. Doug Kim 6.77 - Seat 7
7. Rhett Butler 4.815 - Seat 9
8. Michael Binger 3.14 - Seat 6
9. Dan Nassif 2.6 - Seat 4

Final table was formed when Fred Goldberg made a move from the cutoff position with Q3, only to run into Richard Lee’s KK in the SB. Goldberg is rewarded for his 10th place finish with $1,154,527. Wow.

David Einhorn, the player I mentioned yesterday who was donating all his winnings to charity, took down $659,730 finishing 18th place. He was eliminated by Jamie Gold. Blinds T30,000/T60,000 with a T10,000 ante.

David raised to T250,000 from the middle position with Kqoffsuit, and he’s four handed when the flop comes Qdh, Jd, 6c. David bets T1 million (about ½ pot), Jamie Gold raises to T3 million. David Einhorn reraise to allin. Gold calls and shows Q6 suited to David Einhorn’s KQ offsuit. Turn is the three of clubs and the river is the 8 of hearts. No help there as David Einhorn is eliminated in 18th place and Jamie Gold moves up to over 22 million in chips at this time.

It sounds as if Jamie Gold is playing very aggressive and correctly using his chip stack.

CheckRayz Update

Speaking of using one’s chip stack, way to go Bob in taking down the DonkFest, our CheckRayz money added rebuy at Noble Poker last night. If we take a quick look at the Leaderboard, we see that someone needs to be knocked off ~~their high horse~~ the top of the Leaderboard. That dude has an ego, from what I hear and can get real obnoxious from the lead.

The CheckRayz Clash of the Titans is booked. Well, the date is set. Next Tuesday at 10pm EDT, our first quarter champion Clayshooter, fresh off his return from Disney Land will take on our second quarter champion ReelCrazy. A fifty dollar credit is on the line, whether it’s for pokertracker or at the Beer Guy’s Five Star Deal Store. Lot’s of neat stuff at 5 star deal…Poker Chips, Casino Items, Poker Supplies, and Other items.

Do you Study?

Over the weekend, I finished David Sklansky’s NLHE book. Yea yea, I know… I started that thing like seemingly a million months ago, right? Sounds like I do not “study” often. Actually, to believe that, you not could be more incorrect. I am constantly studying to improve my game. I have the drive and the desire to improve constantly. Even if I “made it” and was playing the big circuits and the bigger cash games, I’d still continue to study as one cannot improve or evolve “enough” if they’re striving to be the best. I spend roughly 15 minutes to one hour reviewing my own hand history. Additionally, I spend another hour reviewing the hand history of other players. All of that is done, of course, after I spend an hour or so reading. My attention span is a bit different than most. I’m not disciplined enough with respect to said attention span to read a book several times over. Typically, I am good for a once over. Maybe… maybe I will be good for a second read, but there’s no guarantees. Consequently, I try to read the first time for mastery level. I’m not ever sure if I can pay attention the second time through, as I begin assuming I can complete David’s sentences and roll my eyes in the back of my head while reading the second time around. I’d do this with any book, not just David’s. For that reason, I crawl through at a pace that a snail would snicker over, uttering under his breath “and they think a snail’s pace is slow?”

Anyway, slowly but surely, I move on to Harrington on Hold’em vol III: The Workbook.
I suspect the way this book is written, in problem… question and answer format, keeping score as we go along, I will be able to read this book much quicker. Additionally, I’d be able to go back through and re-read it with no problems. Dan takes several hands, both live and online, and puts them out there offering play by play and awarding points for making decisions. I’m answering the questions as I would be inclined to play, given the online time restraints - not having much time, needing to instantaneously make decisions.

The next time around, I plan to think the answers over. I’ll keep everyone updated on my progress, which reminds me… my point. Ah, my point! Yes, in order to improve, one must study and practice. I spend 1-2 hours a day studying, because I believe that amount of time will get me where I wish to go. How much you study is entirely up to you. There’s no magic formula to this, but one will not improve/evolve in their understanding and mastery of the poker game without incorporating a study routine into their practice.

Off my soapbox. More tomorrow.

Be sure to stop by and check out the live wsop main event coverage here on the poker pub, brought to you by CheckRayz.

Mike

Chip Count

1 Jamie Gold 7.33mil
2 Erik Friberg 5.905mil
3 William Thorsson 3.545 mil
4 Rhett Butler 3.21mil
5 Kevin Aaronson 3.19 mil
6 Ricki Nielsen 3.17 mil
7 Siddharth Jain 3.09 mil
8 Michael Binger 3.045 mil
9 Jeffrey Lisandro 2.995 mil - dude who busted Annie Duke
10 James Routos 2.775 mil
11 Richard Lee 2.35 mil
12 David Einhorn 2.34 mil
13 Robert Betts 2.235 mil
14 Andrew Schreibman 2.2 mil
15 Dan Schmiech 2.155 mil
16 Paul Wasicka 2.055 mil
17 Lee Kort 2.005 mil
18 John Magill 1.955 mil
19 Eric Lynch 1.94 mil
20 Rob Roseman 1.845 mil
21 Mark Garner 1.81 mil
22 Mitch Schock 1.785 mil
23 Kevin O’Donnell 1.6 mil
23 Prahlad Friedman 1.6 mil
25 Mikael Thuritz 1.5 mil
26 Paul Raeburn 1.385 mil
27 Eric Molina 1.36 mil
28 Doug Kim 1.335 mil
29 Marc Friedmann 1.315 mil
30 WeiKai Chang 1.295 mil
31 Allen Cunningham 1.29 mil
32 Brian Hansen 1.23 mil
33 Rob Berryman 1.15 mil
34 Cuong Do 1.115 mil
35 Dustin Holmes 1.1 mil
36 Fred Goldberg 1.08 mil
37 Kyle Bowker 885K
38 Sirous Jamshidi 845K
39 John Lee 805K
40 Richard Wyrick 800K
41 Humberto Brenes 565K
42 Luke Chung 560K
43 Leif Force 510K
44 Dan Nassif 495K
45 Lowell Kim 350K

If I were to have three picks for who I believed would final table the WSOP main event (out of the big names), they've all been eliminated as of yesterday. I believed Daniel Negreanu, after his donkfest in the rebuy, would have been refreshed and focused enough to go all the way. Additionally, I would not have found it surprising to see Joe Hachem at that table again. I also had "Fossilman" hitting up the final table on my unofficial list. Joe and Dan were eliminated yesterday. For "more fuller" coverage of the WSOP, we send you off to Dr. Pauly, who has been providing great coverage throughout the WSOP.

Chip Counts

1. Jamie Gold 3.7 million
2. Max Reele 2.358 million
3. James Routos 2.279 million
4. Kyle Bowker 2.272 million - first player this year to accumulate 1 mil plus.
5. Michael Binger 1.889 million
6. Prahlad Friedman 1.558 million
7. Ricki Nielsen 1.388 million
8. Kevin Aaronson 1.354 million
9. WeiKai Chang 1.343 million
10. Noah Siegel 1.283 million
11. Brian Hansen 1.273 million
12. Dmitri Nobles 1.252 million

26. Annie Duke 919K

Quick sidenote: SuperDonk, his girlfriend, and I went to this party last night, where we met some dude who sold cars and has the last name of Hammer. If that's not plus EV, I'm not sure what is.

Mike

481 People remain at the close of Day 3 of the WSOP. This also suggests the bubble has burst and we’re in the money in the World Series of Poker Main Event. Daniel Negreanu is the player who was on the roller coaster ride today dropping down to nearly 20,000 chips and back over 100K.

Notable WSOP Chip counts

1. David Chiu 650.000
2. Kyle Bowler 600,000
99. Joe Hachem 180,000
109. Hoyt Corkins 163,000
113. Annie Duke 156,000
127. Ted Forrest 138,000
135. Daniel Negreanu 104,000
145. Tom McEvoy 80,000
161. Cyndy Violette 45,000

Dropping the Hammer…

The Promotional CheckRayz-Celeb $500 freeroll is in the record books. The monstrosity of a poker player screen named reelcrazy11 took down the tourney. In case anyone is keeping score, this marks four months straight now that reel has won every CheckRayz event he’s entered. Said another way, the guy’s not losing in CheckRayz events. He went four for four in Q2, went on to take down the Shootout and capture the Q2 crown, and then the $500 freeroll. Wow.

Your’s truly was last in chips. Norman limps UTG, I peak down and see “it“… I know what I must do. Bam, I raise all-in. Reel folds. To my surprise, Norm calls (for some reason I have this belief that my all-in bluff moves never will get called for some reason). Norman turns over pocket threes. I am struggling to get to my paint program to screenshot my busting out with the hammer, when a seven decides to show up on the turn. I forget that I am looking for the paint program as I am both laughing at my luck and feeling bad for Norman who was actually playing while I was being a clown.

Dropping the hammer is an art form though. We’ll take a look at some historical hammer dropping. As you can see, it’s no easy task:

Hammer being dropped in the WSOP Main Event by a poker blogger while April is covering it (this is money),

The 2005 Hammer Photo Challenge run by Bill Rini at Bill’s Poker blog,

Another Bill Hammer Photo.

OK, enough obsession with the hammer.

Norman went on to take third place, and of course, I took second. Sweet cashes for all of us in a really tough field. Reel and I kept joking about the min raise. Occasionally, he’d taunt me with this min raise. Other times, I would throw one in on his BB. Additionally, I’d make it a point to fold and announce I respected his raise when he would do a more “standard” raise, such as 3x.

Overall, great tournament, lots of CheckRayz Tournament Leaderboard points and your’s truly is 2/3 in making a “final table” this quarter, only missing out at the 32 red freeroll, which I was the chip leader for quite some time.

That reminds me, I forgot where I was… and no Buddha , I was not referring to “well, this is Prima” either. Not saying what I am referring to, however, I will say that I forgot for a second that one “may” in fact be likely to play a hand such as queen eight to a seemingly substantial pre-flop raise. I refer to Buddha, because he had suggested that Gary was a transparent player and easy to read. Additionally, cited that Gary’s over betting was going to get him into trouble. I believe it was Gary who eliminated Buddha, however. And I look forward to seeing them show it down later on at a “not prima” tournament site.

Well, that’s enough for now. If I am not mistaking, I’ve written every day this past week. This would be a recent record. That should continue to be the case. I am seemingly over my writer’s block, and back “donking” it up on the virtual felt. I’m trying to teach myself PLO8. It’s a challenge, as I am not a fast learner, I have no respect for my teacher, and honestly, I’m just a horrible student! But, I think I’ll be ready to advance to PLO8 for second graders here in a few short days, where the title of the second grade course is “they really pay a low hand?”

Mike

Poker News
Poker Tournaments
CheckRayz Announcements

Notable WSOP Chip Counts

1. Dmitri Nobles 553,000
2. Daniel Peletier 335,000
3. Daniel Negreanu 331,000
30. Joe Hachem 142,200
40. Ted Forrest 125,000
60. Cyndy Violette 85,000
78. Tom McEvoy 60,000
82. Freddy Deeb 58,000

CheckRayz Stuff

Decent showing last night at the 32 Red Freeroll Poker Tournament. I forgot where I was sometime throughout the tournament. I was setting the pace on the lead lap for the majority of the first three rounds, and dealt Ace - nine of hearts on the button. Early position min. raises. Of course, with position I reraise. She calls cleanly.

The flop comes eight of hearts, six of hearts, three of hearts, giving me the nut flush on the flop. Player min bets, I raise, she calls. Turn comes a queen. Player checks, I bet 1/3 of the pot, she calls. River comes queen of hearts. Player bets, I reraise putting her allin, because while she “could“ be holding a queen, I don‘t think she is. I have her on a pocket pair, but I don’t think she set. She calls and shows me how totally wrong I was. She didn’t have a pocket pair. She definitely didn’t have a flush either. She was holding queen - eight not suited. I forgot this was a freeroll and in freerolls we typically raise and chase with any one face card, any suited, and any pair regardless of the board, and thus I had no valid read. Next time, someone remind me!

I think I like the feel of the 32 Red Software, which means if I like them, we’re likely to keep them. Don’t be surprised to see another poker tournament, probably a money added buyin sometime early next month. I’m also looking to do a PL Omaha Hi/Lo tournament sometime this summer and perhaps a deep stack tourney.

Poker4ever Update

Yesterday, I was working on the Poker4ever story, as there were rumours circulating over their payouts, originally started by the login message that reads as follows:

“Due to the current legal initiatives, payments from and to the USA related to gaming activities cannot be guaranteed. We have therefore decided not to accept US mailing addresses for payment purposes - or payments to and from US bank accounts.”

I wanted to clarify that they would still “allow” Neteller transactions, and other transactions of the sort. They responded to my query with the following:

“Due to the current legal situation in the United States surrounding the operation of online poker casinos, we are unfortunately unable to process bank wire transfers between POKER4EVER and bank accounts located in the United States at this time. Should you wish to make a deposit or cash out, Neteller remains as a viable option to bank wire.

We must inform you, however, that once a player has initiated a cashout from his/her POKER4EVER Player Account via Neteller, POKER4EVER is not responsible for those funds reaching the player once that player's Neteller account has been credited by POKER4EVER.Similarly, should a player wish to make a deposit in to their POKER4EVER Player Account via Neteller, POKER4EVER is responsible for those funds when they have been deposited into that player's POKER4EVER Account by Neteller, and not before.

If you have any additional questions, please to not hesitate to contact us: support@poker4ever.com “

I nearly accepted that answer until I actually submitted a withdrawal request of my own. This is something I have done before. I’ve deposited there, I’ve withdrawn money… all through Neteller, not a big deal. Well, I was shocked when I got an email requesting identification to be placed on file. So, once again, I contacted poker4ever’s customer support to find out why they would now want my identification. Their response:

“Thank you for your email. It is a new requirement from the LGA (Gaming commission) due to the legal issues in the USA. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us 24/7.”

…The only thing is, there are no current legal issues in the US. Now, p4e support could be, perhaps, preparing for such legal issues, but to the best of my knowledge, there are no current legal issues in the United States that would cause them to only now need my identification or anyone else’s. I guess I could understand if they wanted it from the start, but I have a hard time taking them seriously now that they want it after about six months of my playing there. I guess I rank them up there with the bar that suddenly wants to start carding my group and I when we’ve been going there for months on end and they’ve never once cared to see our ID’s. I’ll comply, but I’m not really happy about it and moreso suspicious if anything. I’ve got a funny feeling about this, but not sure I can determine why conclusively yet. I will continue to follow and research this issue. I do advise though that one does not keep a significant portion of their bankroll at a smaller poker room.

Strategy Articly Lead In

Barring any happenings, tomorrow is going to be a total strategy day. I’ll have the chip counts as well, but it’s going to be mostly strategy. I even have the topic picked out. I’m not tipping my hand here, but it’s a topic Judith is rather fond of. And that will be tomorrow on the Poker Pub.

Mike

Poker News
Poker Tournaments

Well, I received a few emails requesting I continue WSOP Talk. My plan was to get back to writing a little bit, so how about splitting the difference? I’ll do a chip count update and then get into whatever it is I wish to say…

Top prize for the WSOP this year is 12 Million dollars… Wow!

Notable Chip Counts

1. Jon Lane 405,000
2. Ken Jacobs 395,000
54. Theo Tran 113,000
92. Annie Duke 73,000
105. Chris Ferguson 60,000
133. Layne Flack 25,000
140. Phil Ivey 20,000

CheckRayz News

1. Private CheckRayz freeroll poker tournament tonight at 32 Red Poker. Password available on the CheckRayz poker tournament schedule and passwords page.

2. Still time to qualify for the private $500 promotional freeroll poker tournament at Celeb Poker. Download Celeb poker through me, rake 50 hands at .50/1 or higher to be eligible. Tourney is slated for Friday at 10pm EDT. Small field expected.

3. Kiwi Poker have scheduled us a satellite freeroll! Top prize for the freeroll poker tournament is a token for the 15K Guaranteed. Second through sixth place will receive a token to the CheckRayz $5+.50 $100 added poker tournament scheduled for this month. This is sure to give the opportunity for our freerollin players to qualify and play with the real money playas.

More tomorrow… rumour has it that there might even be a strategy post in the works.

Mike

This is the last day I’ll be doing highlights (I think). I will, however, have a list of links to get coverage… not that what I was doing is coverage or anything… but, I’m going to get back to “writing” one way or the other… If you’ve stayed with me this far, keep reading, or scroll down as there is CheckRayz news included.

Erik Seidel is sent to the rail early, when his aces get cracked by queens.

Joe Seebok and Gavin Smith showed up around 6.30pm with Joe dressed as Wonder Woman.

Fast forward to the clock striking midnight, and Chris Moneymaker hits the rail when he loses on the river. An hour later, Scott Fischman is railed, as is Isabelle Mercier - went out AK v AJ and a jack fell to the board.

Johnny Chan follows suit and is also eliminated.

Freddy Deeb is on fire, sitting at 56K and playing some phenomenal poker, it would seem. Same would apply to Joe Hachem, who is also sitting around 56K.

Notable Chip Counts

1. Peter Tran 142,000
2. Alex Balandin 120,000
24. Freddy Deeb 57,000
27. Joe Hachem 56,500
52. Huck Seed 29,000
71. Cyndy Violette 21,000

Railed

Isabelle Mercier
Chris Moneymaker
Chip Reese
Erick Lindgren
Vince Van Patten
Lennox Lewis
Erik Seidel
Scott Fischman
Johnny Chan

CheckRayz News

Well, it looks like between Shark’s schedule and the CheckRayz schedule, we are going to be keeping everyone busy. Roughly, I counted about 30 freeroll poker tournaments, satellites poker tourneys, and money added poker tournaments between CheckRayz Poker, OnlineShark Poker, and the Shark Poker Tour. This leaves a lot of time on the virtual felt of the poker tables. Please suggest to your friends that they sign up for our poker tours to help us grow.

There’s a lot of value added to these tournaments, some of which is not visible. Obviously, each tournament we hold has an overlay in the prize pool, with either free prizes or money added and low buyins. Sit back sometime and watch the play, experience the atmosphere at the final tables. To me, that is something one cannot buy. The people associated with the respective tours are great… wonderful even, and they know their stuff, generally speaking. Playing poker with this group can help one learn a lot. Don’t be afraid to discuss a hand with someone on our tours, asking how they played something or why they played it the way they did.

That being said, tomorrow we have the introductory freeroll at 32 Red Poker. This marks the first time CheckRayz have been to 32 Red. Download their 32 Red poker room here. Additionally, the $500 Promo Freeroll at Celeb Poker replays on Friday. Feel free to qualify for it now if you did not qualify for it the first time around. Simply download through me, deposit and play 50 raked hands at .50/1 or above and you’re in!

Next week, we take a trip back to Noble Poker with our first weekly money added buy-in. Noble Poker has been great to us, let’s show them and all our other poker rooms who add value to the prize pools some love!

More tourneys are still in the work, don’t forget the Shark Vet Series on Sundays and Thursdays at AP with Born!

Mike

Thanks once again to cardplayer.com for keeping me updated on the play throughout the day.

Day 3 kicks off with “the Unabomber”, Jennifer Harman, Daniel Negreanu, Sammy Farha and company.

Sammy is ousted from play a bit more… just a bit more than an hour into the tournament. On a heart filled board of 9-6-4, Sammy bets into action. The turn brings another six. River delivers a ten. Sammy moves allin and reveals a full house 9’s over sixes. His opposition shows pocket sixes for the quad sixes. Sammy Farha is eliminated.

Jennifer Tilly folds into a reraise, dropping her chip count to 5,200.

Speaking of 5,200, Greg Raymer goes from 5,200 to 11,100 in chips in the first hour. Two hours later, he’d be at 5,400 chips.

Joe Sebok arrives dressed as Spiderman.

Negreanu, fresh off his donk-fest at the rebuy event, begins working his table showing down 10 high and jack high after taking down the last two hands. He has a chip count of 23,000 4 hours.

Onto the Jennifers. Jennifer Harman sits with 1375 chips on the brink of elimination while Jennifer Tilly gets eliminated AJ v A6 (A6 two paired). Harman joins her on the rail shortly after.

Greg Raymer makes a push and brings his count to 15,200.

The Mouth also makes it busto on day 1c, as his set of sevens gets slapped around by a flush that comes on the river.

Back to Daniel Negreanu, as he takes down a 21K pot when he catches his flush on the table. It seems that his opposition allowed him to set the price of the flop and the turn, thus making him a cheap date to catch either his flush or his straight draws. He now sits at 41.5K.

Raymer back down to 7000 after the dinner break. A bit later he finds himself sitting around 16,000. Then 19K. Then down to 6500 when the clock is put on him. He calls and is beat. Today’s play seems to have been quite the roller coaster ride for Greg, which we find Greg sitting at 50K a bit before the end of the day’s play.

Speaking of roller coasters, Mark Seif dipped down to 4500 chips then chipped up a few hands later to 13K when his twos boated on the flop of 3-3-2.

Negreanu continues to be an opening day monster, when he flips over the nut straight vs. a lower straight, chipping him up to 54K, then 78.5K. It sounds as if his donk-fest has rejuvenated him and he’s playing phenomenal poker.

And at 3am PDT, play for Day 1C comes to an end.

Notable Chip Counts at the end of Day 1C

1. Adam Jones 123,000
2. William Thorsson 115,000
14. Daniel Negreanu 78,500
25. Paul Sexton 63,000
35. Greg Raymer 48,900
56. Tom McEvoy 32,000

Eliminated on Day 1

T.J. Cloutier
Phil Gordon
Mike “the mouth” Matusow
Jennifer Harman
Jennifer Tilly
Sam Farha
Phil Laak

As for our CheckRayz poker tournaments, the calendar of events is beginning to take form for August. As you can clearly see, we're back and have a full schedule of freeroll and money added poker tournaments. It should be noted, I'm not done building out the calendar, so keep checking back!

Mike

Thanks once again to card player.com for the real time updates.

As usual, Phil Hellmuth is being ~~a tool~~ himself and showing up fashionably delayed. His seat empty as Day 1B begins play. It should be noted that someone of Phil’s “obvious status” is never late, only delayed.

Less than an hour into the tourney, a sick hand plays out… Dramatic preflop raising, reraising, and all-in’ing between three players, all rightfully so. AA v KK v QQ. KK put his hand down preflop, leaving AA v QQ to battle it out. The kings would have been the winning hand, however.
Phil arrives roughly two hours into the tournament.

Mike Caro maintains a monstrous run chipping up to $25K within the opening hours of the tourney.

Roughly four hours and forty-five minutes into the tournament, Phil Hellmuth is ousted from the tourney with a battle of AQ v 7-7. The sevens hold up and Phil is sent to the rail,
Shortly after, Gavin Smith, and Shannon Elizabeth find themselves on the rail.

Nearly six grueling hours into Day 1B, Ron Jeremy manages to stick it in while holding big slick. He nails the money shot on the flop with two pair and he doubles the size of his stack, now sitting at 6,600. He busts about an hour or so later playing King five suited vs. A-10s.

Doyle Brunson is eliminated from play on a checked flop of 10-10-6. A five comes on the turn bringing a third club, which Brunson bets into. River is a 7 of spades. Doyle pushes allin (holding pocket nines). His opposition turns over K-10.

Chris Ferguson continues to accumulate chips, as does Phil Ivey. Jesus chips up to 39.2K, while Ivey sits at 46K.

Notables Chip at the end of Day 1B

1. Eric Sonstegard 83,000
2. Theo Tran 82,950
37. Men “The Master” 33,200
48. Annie Duke 26,000
60. Mike Caro 23,000
67. Chris “Jesus” Ferguson 21,000
79. Phil Ivey 16,000

Eliminated

Phil Hellmuth Jr., Howard Lederer, Gavin Smith, Joe Sebok, Ron Jeremy, Shannon Elizabeth, Todd Brunson, Vanessa Rousso, Doyle Brunson, Evelyn Ng

Thanks to CardPlayer Magazine, here are some of the highlights of Day 1A of the WSOP:

Norm MacDonald was chipleader, then got mowed down, then eliminated.

Player named Jack Mahalingam pushes allin with pocket 8's (eight spades, eight clubs). Up against pocket fives. 6s, 5s, 5d hits the board, followed by 9s. The one outer... 7s comes giving the striaght flush over quad fives. Grab the man a towel.

A "call bluff" with high card of eight is made.

Mike Sexton, with QQ, eliminates "Action Dan" holding J7s when the fourth heart hits the board, giving Sexton a higher flush.

"Jennicide" got her dates mixed up and was absent for most of the day, only to fight back for the privledge of having her queens lay down vs pocket twos.

Gus Hansen has his aces cracked and is later eliminated 66 v A7o.

David Sklansky doubles his stack, and then some throughout day 1.

Dutch Boyd gets mowed down by eight six not suited. He builds back up, but is eliminated when his opposition calls his allin with Ace ten, bustin up the pocket queens.

One player had pocket aces nine times during day 1a!

Some notable chip counts

1. Paul McCaffrey 111,800
27. Mike Sexton 42,500
30. Barry Greenstein 34,500
35. (like the name) Victor Hammar 33,000
48. David Sklansky 26,000

Mike

Poker Pub Poker Blog

About Me

Sponsors

Labels

On Tap at the Poker Pub

2007/02/28

WSOP Europe and American Dress Codes

2006/09/27

wsop main event - repost

2006/08/11

WSOP Thoughts and Spoiler Alert

2006/08/10

WSOP Main Event Coverage…

Jamie Gold should be banned from the world series of poker main event final table

2006/08/09

WSOP Final Table Chip Count, Studying

2006/08/07

45 remain at the WSOP Main Event

2006/08/06

WSOP Update - 135 players remain...

2006/08/05

Day 3 WSOP Update and Dropping the Hammer

2006/08/03

WSOP Chip Count, CheckRayz Stuff, News and A Quick Strategy Lead-in

2006/08/02

CheckRayz News and Day 2B Chip counts

2006/08/01

1D Highlights

2006/07/31

Day 1c Highlights…

2006/07/30

2006/07/29

WSOP Day 1A recap...

PPA Widget (90 x 468)

Blog Archive