Wednesday, June 8, 2011 1:51 AM Local Time
It has been one helluva day in the Amazon Room here at the Rio!
The second day of WSOP Event #10 was frenetic, to say the least. Right from the word go, the eliminations came thick and fast and the money was reached within 30 minutes of the first level, with Eric Froelich and 2010 WSOP Main Event November Niner Matt Jarvis sharing the bubble boy "honors".
From there, the carnage continued, with the rate of attrition not letting up for a moment until 10 minutes before the players bagged and tagged. Amongst those to have cashed today include Erica Schoenberg, Mark Flowers, Peter Jetten, Grant Hinkle and Greg Mueller, as well as Argentinian Team PokerStars Pro Jose Ignacio Barbero and Friend of PokerStars, Bill Chen.
And after 12 hours of play, we have our final 15 players. Jeffrey Papola (AKA "The Six-Max King") is definitely the odds-on favorite to take it down. Having already won a bracelet in the $5,000 Six Handed No Limit Hold'em event last year (which came off a runner-up finish in the $2,500 version),Papola's on top of the pops with 1,088,000.
Still, the price is nice for Alexander Wice, who's breathing down Papola's neck with 1,013,000 in chips. George Jalkotzy (849,000), Eddie Blumenthal (808,000) and David Vamplew (698,000) round off the top five.
It's anybody's game though, and there's no doubt that we'll be in for a bloodbath come 2.30pm PST tomorrow, so be sure to log on, sign in and keep your browsers locked onto PokerNews for all the action. Until then, it's ciao for now!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 1:49 AM Local Time
The tournament supervisor has paused the clock with ten minutes to go and has instructed the dealers to do three more hands before calling it a night.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 1:39 AM Local Time
With only 15 minutes to go until play wraps up for the night, the remaining 15 players have eased up on the tables, but we've managed to see what could be the start of a war of attrition between Ravi Raghavan and Bryan Colin.
Earlier, Colin raised to 21,000 from under the gun and the action folded around to Raghavan who called from the small blind to go heads-up to the flop of . Raghavan check-called Colin's bet of 27,000 after the flop, but then check-folded to Colin's bet of 66,000 on the turn of the .
In the next hand, Raghavan was able to win some of those chips back; he raised to 25,000 from the button and again, Colin was his only opponent, calling from the big blind before check-folding to Raghavan's bet of 30,000 on the flop of .
Yay, poker!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 1:26 AM Local Time
We missed the action, but he's gone in 17th.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 1:24 AM Local Time
Luneau lost a big hand leaving him with only 35k. In middle position Alexander Wice raised to 20,000 and Luneau moved in for his last little bit with and was called by Wice with
The board ran and Luneau went to the rail in 18th place.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 1:01 AM Local Time
The action has been a bit frantic over the past few minutes.
Anthony Spinella and Elliott Zaydman ended up all in after a flop of .
Spinella:
Zaydman:
The turn and river brought the and and Spinella doubled up.
While that excitement was going on, Alexander Wilson had gone all in on another table. We were told that the board read and Wilson's was no match for another player's . He was eliminated just shy of the final three tables.
And with that, we've re-drawn for seats and the final three tables are now battling it out!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 12:56 AM Local Time
The cards are back in the air! One more level before we bag and tag for the night.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 12:56 AM Local Time
Level: 20
Blinds: 5000/10000
Ante: 1000
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 12:34 AM Local Time
The players are on their final 20-minute break of the day, while the floor staff color up and race off the 500 denomination chips.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 12:33 AM Local Time
Steven Gross has also just been eliminated in 20th place ($15,552), having moved all in for the last of his chips with preflop; Ragi Raghavan called and showed down .
The board of , giving X two pair and ending Gross' day. Raghavan is now up to 425,000 in chips.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 12:32 AM Local Time
Marvin Rettenmaier has been sent to the rail in 20th place ($15,552).
Rettenmaier moved his last 120,000 all-in with before the flop, only to run into Anthony Spinella's , which paired up on the board of . And that's all she wrote.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 12:20 AM Local Time
Joseph Ebanks' brain fade has cost him dearly, having lost his tournament life to Eddie Blumenthal.
On a board that read ; Ebanks shipped the rest of his stack into the middle after the river; Blumenthal looked puzzled, but called anyway.
Turns out Ebanks had for only two pair, and by the way he reacted, he genuinely hadn't seen the straight draw out there. Blumenthal did - and in fact had it - with , thus Ebanks was sent off to collect $15,552 for his 22nd place finish.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 12:11 AM Local Time
With the board reading , Mauro Stivoli and Bryan Colin got all the chips in the middle and their hands were revealed.
Stivoli:
Colin:
Stivoli was ahead with a pair of kings but the turn gave Colin more outs when it brought the . The on the river completed a flush for Colin and sent Stivoli to the rail.
Stivoli's 23rd place finish nets him a $15,552 payday.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 12:07 AM Local Time
Keith Donovan lost most of his stack holding against Joshua Mullen's on a board reading . After the hand Donovan was down to 78,500 while Mullen's stack grew to 539,000.
On the next hand Donovan put his remaining chips in the pot with the and was called by George Jalkotzy who held the . The board ran out giving both players two pair, but Jalkotzy the win.
Donovan will recieve $15,552 for his efforts.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 11:52 PM Local Time
After a series of back and forth raises Gregory Dyer and Alexander Wice got all the chips in the middle.
Dyer:
Wice:
Dyer's entire body slumped when the flop came leaving him drawing slim to a chop. The turn and river brought the and which were of no help and Dyer was eliminated in 25th place.
After all the chips were stacked and counted, Wice's stack totaled 1,075,000 making him the first place to eclipse the 1,000,000 chip mark.
We're now down to 24 players and the final four tables of the tournament.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 11:51 PM Local Time
On a flop of Sean Grover bet 40,000, Bradley Craig moved all in for 200,000 and Grover made the call. Grover has and Grover had
The turn came and Grover took it down.
At a different table, Shankar Pillai was all in preflop with versus the of Ryan Welch. A hit the turn and that was enough to send Pillai to the rail
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 11:34 PM Local Time
Level: 19
Blinds: 4000/8000
Ante: 1000
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 11:33 PM Local Time
The remaining 27 players have really stepped on the brakes now as we approach the penultimate level of the night, and as a result we've been scraping the bottom of the barrel to find any action. Here's the best of a bad bunch.
On a board of with a 35,000 pot in the middle, Ryan Welch led out for 25,000 from the small blind and Joshua Mullen called from the button before Welch opened for 55,000 on the river of the . Mullen mucked, but Welch was quick to open up his .
A similar thing happened on the secondary feature table; Efren Garcia raised to 13,000 under the gun and the action folded around to Steven Gross who reraised to 31,000. Ravi Raghavan then four-bet-shoved for 170,000 from the big blind, forcing both Garci out of the way, and after some time in the tank, Gross open-folded !
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 11:20 PM Local Time
Jeffrey Papola is continuing to motor along as the field dwindles down.
Papola raised to 12,000 preflop, Anders Taylor re-raised to 30,000, Papola re-raised to 60,000, and Taylor re-raised again, this time to 95,000. Papola decided that the fun and games were over as he declared "all in" and Taylor called.
Papola:
Taylor:
Taylor is no stranger to high pressure situations as he came in 3rd place in last years $1,500 PLO8 WSOP tournament.
Through the turn Taylor was set to double up as the board read but then a devastating hit on the river giving Papola a set and the win. Taylor was visibly crushed and Papola amassed a mountain of chips.
Papola, the "king of six-max" now is sitting pretty as our chip leader with 875,000.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 11:09 PM Local Time
Chase Bianci has just been ousted from this event by Alexandre Luneau after being crippled in an earlier hand by Alexander Wilson.
Earlier, we caught the action on a board that read where Bianci moved all-in; Wilson went deep into the tank and after about three minutes, he made the call, showing down which was good against Bianci, who had gotten his hand caught in the cookie jar with
Down to just 80,000, he moved that in a few hands later with and found himself in a flip for his tournament life against Luneau's , but the dealer spread the board of to send Bianchi to the rail.