Saturday, June 28, 2008 9:00 PM Local Time
For the second year in a row, Ryan Hughes won a tournament he wasn't even supposed to play.
"I was supposed to go home two days ago but someone emailed me and told me to play," said Hughes. It was the same situation last year, with the same result -- a gold bracelet.
Technically, according to Media Director Nolan Dalla, Hughes is not the defending champion in this event. Every year, there is a higher buy-in stud-8 event and a lower buy-in event. Last year, Hughes won the higher buy-in event. This year, he has won the lower buy-in. No matter to Hughes -- he's thrilled to have his second bracelet.
"The second bracelet means a little more because it's a lot tougher crowd to get into," explained Hughes. "A lot of people get the first bracelet, but the second one means it's not quite a fluke."
For his not-quite-a-fluke, Hughes will pocket $183,368 in addition to that second bracelet to match the first. Congratulations once again to Ryan Hughes.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 8:47 PM Local Time
Ryan Hughes brings it in with
; Ron Long just calls with
.
On fourth, Long bets with
and Hughes raises with
. Long reraises and Hughes raises again. Long caps it and Hughes calls.
On fifth, Long is all in with
and Hughes calls with
.
Hughes:
Long:
With a cheer from the audience, Hughes gets the full house and Ron Long takes home an impressive $113,240 in prize money.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 8:34 PM Local Time
Ron Long is starting to slip into the twilight of this tournament. After briefly capturing the chip lead earlier, he is being ground down by the relentless aggression, smart play, and timely draws of Ryan Hughes. Hughes was one club away from severely crippling Long just a little while ago, and continues to chip away at Long's stack. The current chip counts are about 1,380,000 for Hughes to 250,000 for Long.
With the limits at 30,000 and 60,000, and only 1.6 million chips in play, we expect the tournament to end this level.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 8:23 PM Local Time
Just before the level up:
Ron Long brings it in with
and Ryan Hughes raises with
. Long calls.
On fourth, Hughes bets
and Long calls with
.
On fifth, Hughes bets with
and Long calls with
.
On sixth, Hughes bets with
and Long calls with
.
On seventh, Hughes bets and Long calls.
Long shows
and another club and doubles up. He's got about 300,000 to Hughes' 1,332,000.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 8:06 PM Local Time
Ryan Hughes - 1,240,000
Ron Long - 390,000
Ryan Hughes has amped up the aggression in the last 15 minutes to retake the chip lead from Ron Long.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 8:03 PM Local Time
Ryan Hughes brings it in with the
and Ron Long completes with the
.
On fourth, Hughes bets with
and Long calls with
.
On fifth, Hughes bets with
and Long calls with
.
On sixth, Long bets with the
and Hughes raises with
. Long calls.
On seventh, Hughes bets and Long calls.
Hughes: (
)
Long:
(muck)
Long is back down to 500,000 and Hughes has 1,132,000.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 7:54 PM Local Time
Pots on back-to-back hands were played to the river, and Ron Long won both of them. He took a third without a showdown on the river shortly thereafter.
On the first hand, Long completed with the
. Ryan Hughes, who had brought it in with the
, called and then led the betting on every street after pairing
on fourth street. Down the river, showing a board of x-x /
, Long raised Hughes' bet. Hughes called with x-x /
, only to see Long open
in the hole for three sixes. That scooped the pot.
The next hand, Hughes brought it in with the
, then raised after Long completed the
. Again Long called, then Long himself led the betting all the way through the river. His board came x-x /
to Hughes' x-x /
. On the river, Hughes called Long's bet but couldn't beat the pair of aces Long showed when he opened
.
On the third hand, both players started with a jack door card. Long bet all the way as his board developed x-x /
. Hughes showed a board of x-x /
, calling on every street. When Long bet the river, Hughes showed two kings in the hole and mucked.
With these three pots, Long has erased his chip deficit to Hughes and become the chip leader. Updated chip counts will be published shortly.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 7:41 PM Local Time
Ron Long won a nice pot from Ryan Hughes, but then this happened a few hands later:
Hughes brought it in with the
and Long completed.
Long checked the
and Hughes checked the
on fourth.
On fifth, Long checked the
and Hughes bet the
. Long called.
On sixth, Long checked the
and Hughes bet the
. Long called.
On seventh, Hughes bet and Long called.
Hughes showed
and Long mucked.
After these two wild swings up and down, Ron Long settled in at 550,000, leaving 1.082 million for Hughes.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 7:31 PM Local Time
After trading the antes and bring-in for a few hands, Ron Long and Ryan Hughes finally got involved in a pot to the river. Hughes raised fourth street, showing x-x /
, after Long had bet x-x /
. Long called.
Hughes had the betting lead on fifth street and sixth street, catching
to Long's
. Hughes checked the river, then called after Long bet.
"Two pair," said Long, exposing
in the hole for tens and sevens.
"Two pair?" Hughes replied, a little surprised. He took a long look at his own hole cards, then dejectedly threw them into the muck without exposing them.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 7:29 PM Local Time
Ryan Hughes 1,317,000
Ron Long 315,000
Saturday, June 28, 2008 7:27 PM Local Time
Thomas Hunt and Ryan Hughes got it all on on third street.
Hunt: (
)
Hughes: (
)
A pair of deuces is all Hunt can manage, and he is eliminated.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 7:19 PM Local Time
Saturday, June 28, 2008 7:11 PM Local Time
The final three players are on a short break.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 7:05 PM Local Time
Ryan Hughes 1,180,000
Ron Long 340,000
Thomas Hunt 85,000
Saturday, June 28, 2008 7:00 PM Local Time
Ryan Hughes brings it in with the
and Alessio Isaia completes with the
. Hughes raises and Isaia calls.
On fourth, Hughes checks the
and Isaia bets the
.
On fifth, Hughes bets the
and Isaia raises the
. Hughes calls.
On sixth, Hughes bets the
and Isaia raises the
. Hughes calls.
On seventh, Hughes bets and Isaia calls all in.
Hughes: (
)
Isaia: (
)
Hughes has a set of kings and Isaia is eliminated.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 6:48 PM Local Time
Ryan Hughes - 1,010,000
Ron Long - 265,000
Alessio Isaia - 220,000
Thomas Hunt III - 140,000
Saturday, June 28, 2008 6:45 PM Local Time
Ryan Hughes, who remains the chip leader in this event, won a bracelet in stud-8 here a year ago. Confusingly, though, the $1,000 Stud-8 event from a year ago continues this year as this $1,500 event, and Tom Schneider is considered the defending champion. The event that Hughes won a year ago was the $2,000 event, which did not return in 2008. The $3,000 event from a year ago morphed into the $5,000 Championship this year. Clear as mud?
Incidentally, Schneider did not defend his title in this event, as he was still in the $50,000 HORSE event past the registration deadline.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 6:38 PM Local Time
Thomas Hunt escapes with another chop, this time by making an A-4-5-6-7 versus Alessio Isaia.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 6:29 PM Local Time
The players are taking turns as the short stack. Currently, that role is being played by Alessio Isaia. He led the betting all the way to sixth street with chip leader Ryan Hughes, drawing into a board of x-x /
. On sixth street, Hughes raised him with x-x /
. Isaia made the call, then check-called the river.
Hughes turned over a pair of sevens for high, and 8-7-3-2-A for low. Isaia couldn't come up with even a pair, despite a huge draw, and disgustedly threw his 8-7-6-5-3 low away, turning to Max Pescatori on the rail and complaining bitterly in Italian.
Hughes is back up around 950,000, while Isaia slips to about 150,000.
Saturday, June 28, 2008 6:16 PM Local Time
Thomas Hunt III bets on a fourth street of x-x /
and Alessio Isaia calls with x-x /
.
On fifth, Isaia bets
and Hunt raises all in with
. Isaia calls.
Hunt: (
)
Isaia: (
)
Hunt scoops the pot and is still short, but he has 125,000 to work with now.