World Series of Poker - Official Tournament Coverage and Results

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2008 39th Annual World Series of Poker

World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold'em (Event 54)

Thursday, July 03, 2008 to Monday, July 14, 2008
Buy-in: $10,000

Prizepool: $64,431,779

Entries: 6,844

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:39:16

Danzer Eliminated

Action was folded to George Danzer on the button. He raised to 600. Aaron Kanter in the small blind reraised to 2,100. Danzer moved all in for 9,000 and Kanter made the call. Danzer:

Kanter:

The flop came down

giving Kanter top two pair. The turn was the

and the river sealed it up with the

. Danzer was eliminated and Kanter moved up to 72,000.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:39:07

Allen Le Eliminated

On the turn, with a board of

, Allen Le moved all in for 12,500. A middle position opponent called. The middle position player showed

and Le mucked his hand. The river

was irrelevant.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:37:41

Lucky Loeckey

A middle position player raised to 600, Johnny Chan called from late position, Vincent Curry called from the cutoff, the button called, and Tim Loeckey raised to 3,000 from the small blind. Everyone folded to the button, who made the call. The flop was

. Loeckey led out for 5,000, the button moved all in for 12,000 and Loeckey made the call. Loeckey turned up

, well ahead of the button's

. The turn was the

, the river was the

and Loeckey increased his stack to 55,000.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:37:34

Lederer Quietly Treads Water

Howard Lederer has been parked at Blue #1, right by our media table, all day. He has engaged in some muted conversation with several of his opponents but hasn't been involved in too many pots. He recently raised from early position to 750. Only the button called. On a flop of

, Lederer bet 1,000 and was called. The turn fell

. Lederer bet 2,500 and was called again. Finally, on the

river, Lederer's bet of 7,000 was enough to fold his opponent. Lederer has about 24,000 in chips.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:35:58

The Vinny Vinh Show

Vinny Vinh has been out of sorts ever since he turned up. Various antics have included randomly calling the clock on players and washing his head and face over a trash bin with a bottle of water. The final straw was him stealing candy off yours truly! His card playing seemed to be a little all over the place and his stack got lower and lower. Eventually he got the last of his stack in preflop holding

to an opponent's

. The board came

. Vinny failed to hit and he heads off into the warm Las Vegas evening.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:34:48

Double Up for Henrikson

Anders Henriksson moved all in on a flop of

after his opponent had led out. His opponent made the call and showed

while Anders showed pocket tens. The tens held up for Anders and he's back up to 24,000.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:34:05

M-I-C-K-E-Y See You Again Next Year

Mickey "Mouse" Mills was all in preflop and received two callers. Mills held

while his opponents held

and

respectively. Board:

Queens up were enough to eliminate Mills from this event.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:32:49

That's "P-O-K-E-R"

Jim Pittman is here in Buzio's and has 42,500 in chips. Jim is well known for being on the receiving end of one of Phil Hellmuth's legendary putdowns. He once told Jim, "You can't even SPELL poker!" In a recent hand, Jim laid down 6-6 versus two all-in players on a 6-9-x flop. One player turned over 9-6 and the other turned over 9-9.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:31:34

We're Guessing "Any of the Other Eight Players at the Table"

After one player limped in, Dario Minieri limped in on the button and the big blind checked. Three players took a flop of

. Action checked to Minieri, who bet 600. Both opponents called. When the

hit the turn, action again checked to Minieri, who bet 1,700. This time each of his opponents folded, allowing Minieri to collect the pot and chip up his diminished stack to about 10,000. Once all of the cards were in the muck, Minieri looked around the table and joked, "I would like to bust before dinner. Who would like to help?"

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:31:23

Your Fantasy Poker Team Just Took a Hit

Phil Ivey, the man at the top of everyone's list, had trouble getting things going at the ESPN Featured Table, and now he's found himself on the outside looking in. The slide began a few minutes ago when Ivey had made the nut flush on the turn. His lone opponent checked, and Ivey bet and was called. The river put a pair on the board. Ivey was checked to once again, and he bet enough to put his man all in. The bet was quickly called, and Ivey was shown a full house to knock him all the way back to 10,000. Following that, he lost a number of small pots and got chipped down to his last couple thousand chips. On his final hand, he called a preflop raise, went all in on the flop, and was called by a player with

. The board ran out without an ace or a king, but Ivey couldn't beat the high cards, and he headed to the rail shortly before dinner break, concluding his 2008 WSOP.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:31:07

The Jerry Yang Train Rolls On

After two limpers were in the pot preflop, Jerry Yang raised from the small blind making it 1,200 to go. One player made the call and they saw a

flop. Yang led out for 2,700 before his opponent announced "raise", and tossed out a single 5,000 denomination chip. This was ruled a minimum raise and he was required to put another 400 into the middle. It didn't matter as Yang stood, kissed the photo of his family and slid all of his chips into the middle. His opponent called and tabled

but found himself trailing the

of Yang. The turn was the

and river the

and Yang takes it down to the cheers on the rail to move back to higher ground on 36,700 chips.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:28:27

Frandsen Eliminates Two

Two opponents moved all in against Michael Frandsen. One had 7,000 and one had 8,500. Frandsen made the call. Frandsen held

, while his first opponent held

and another player held

. Board:

Frandsen eliminates two players and moved up to 35,500 in chips.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:27:35

Mats Rahm Eliminated

Nothing has been going right for Mats Rahm today. He seen him stack slowly crumble over the first three levels to around 4,000. When he finally found a hand to go with (pocket kings) he had the unfortunate luck to run into an opponent on the big blind holding pocket aces and he's out.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:27:25

Gordon Accelerates

Six players saw a flop. It came down

. The first two players checked and then the third player fired out 1,600. Phil Gordon stayed in cruise control and just called and everyone else folded. The turn came the

. It was checked to Gordon and he decided to just keep coasting and checked behind. The river was the

and it was checked to Gordon. Gordon stepped on the gas and bet out 2,500. The player called. Gordon showed

and his opponent showed

. Gordon's flush was good enough to best his opponent's straight and take the pot. He is now up to 45,000.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:26:59

The Razor's Reads Are Super Sharp

John Phan's opponent moved all in for 16,400 on the turn of a

. As he folded, Phan told his opponent that Phan was letting go of aces because his opponent held a set of sevens. Phan's opponent tabled

, showing Phan that his read was excellent. But that didn't stop Phan's chips from dwindling to 13,000.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:23:58

Won't Be Making a Set

Nigel Jones had limped preflop when John Villanueva made it 1,100 to go. The player on the button made it 4,200 and Nigel moved all in. John called the all-in, as did the player on the button who was covered by Nigel. The player from the button turned over pocket kings to see he was up against a wall - both Nigel and Villanueva turned over pocket aces! The aces held up, which isn't much of a surprise, but it was one heck of a beat story.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:20:13

Bradshaw Dropping Chips

You might remember Andrew Bradshaw as the player that eliminated Jose Canseco from play earlier in the day. He was able to build a nice stack over 75,000, but has since dropped some chips. Bradshaw has doubled up a couple of players at his table and is down to 45,000.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:18:24

Cookie Jar Busto

Fabio Coppola made a raise to 850 from mid position and found callers in Alan Engel, Dominic Kay and the big blind player. The flop came

and all players checked it through. When the turn came

the big blind player led out for 1,625 and only Kay called. The river came

prompting the big blind player to go all in for 7,375. Kay made the call with

for top pair. His opponent had to show

for a complete bluff--a bluff that has just cost him the chance to win $9 million. Kay is up to 31,000 now.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:17:47

Victor Is Out... Meyerhoff That Is

Victor Meyerhoff raised from late position to 800. Another player reraised to 10,000 to put Meyerhoff all in. Meyerhoff made the call. He held

and his opponent had slightly the best of it with

. The board ran out

and that would be the end of the line for Meyerhoff.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:15:16

More Hot Set Over Set Action

On a flop of

, Jeff Weil moved all in with

and was called by his opponent, holding

. "I KNEW it! I KNEW it!" wailed the poor soul with the pocket eights, as most of his stack was shipped across the table to Weil and the ESPN cameras swarmed. "If you knew it, why didn't you fold?" wondered Beth Shak aloud.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:14:35

Hai, Chips

On a flop of

, the small blind bets 300 and Nam Le's brother Hai Le raises to 1,100 in the big blind. A player in late position calls and the small blind folds. The turn is

and Hai bets 2,200. The LP player calls. The river is

and Hai bets 3,500. The LP calls. Hai shows

to the opponent's

and takes it. He has 45,000.