Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:55 PM Local Time
Action folded to Ari "BodogAri" Engel on the button and he made another big raise to 61,000. Joaquin Sosa folded out of the small blind and then Jesse Hale put Engel all in from the big blind. Engel was well committed and made the call.
[u]Showdown:[/u]
Engel:
Hale:
The two gentlemen shook hands and wished each other luck before any of the community cards were laid out.
The first three cards were the
, making things a lot worse for Engel. The turn sealed it up when the
hit the felt and as the
fell on the river, Engel shook hands with his opponents and wished them luck.
Engel takes home over $18,000 for his efforts.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:52 PM Local Time
In a good-natured way, Jesse Hale is getting a little bit frustrated with the pace of play down at the other end of the table. The two internet kids, Evan Panesis and Ari Engel, are both deliberate players who like to take their time considering each action.
Moments ago, it was "MacDaddy34" considering a bet for several minutes. Hale stood from his seat, came over to our table and said, "What the f*ck?! They sure like to stare 'em down!"
When he returned to the table, Panesis was still considering. When he finally let his hand go, Hale couldn't help himself. "Jesus! I thought you internet guys would have auto-fold on. Check/fold any, come on!"
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:48 PM Local Time
Ari "BodogAri" Engel has tried raising a few pots to between two and a half to three times the amount of the big blind, but finds it hard to take down a pot when he does so. Either an opponent will shove over top of him, or take down the pot post flop.
To combat this, Engel's opted to raise a few pots to around ten times the big blind, forcing everyone else to really wake up with a hand. When he's done this, Engel has taken down the blinds and antes preflop.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:43 PM Local Time
John McDonald and Dennis Meierotto limped in from early position before Joaquin Sosa completed out of the small blind. "This is the weakest play I've made all day," commented Jesse Hale as he checked his option in the big blind.
The flop came down
and action checked to Meierotto. He bet 8,000 and Sosa and Hale both folded before McDonald made the call.
The turn came the
and both McDonald and Meierotto checked.
The river was the
and McDonald checked again. Meierotto fired out 20,000 and was quickly called by McDonald. Almost as quickly as McDonald called, Meierotto rolled over
for quads kings.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:36 PM Local Time
After knocking off Jeff Banghart, John McDonald has once again taken the chip lead, sitting with 479,500.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:35 PM Local Time
The table folded around to the button, and Jeff Banghart moved all in for his final 38,000 chips. Jesse Hale quickly folded from the small blind, but John McDonald appeared to be considering a difficult call.
Banghart began to banter with McDonald as he pondered. "Come on, stick it in there. I wanna double up or go home. Come on, let's gamble one time. I want you to call me, I can tell you that right now."
"All right, you're my friend," admitted McDonald. He then obliged Banghart by matching the additional 32,000, putting the pro's tournament life on the line.
[u]Showdown:[/u]
Banghart:
McDonald:
With Banghart standing to await his fate, the dealer ran out the board:
. The at-risk player had plenty of chances, but he could not catch up. After a fine couple weeks here in Council Bluffs, Jeff Banghart's series has come to a close. He'll pick up more than $15,000 for his seventh-place finish here in the Championship.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:19 PM Local Time
After a quick clock adjustment to add 15 minutes to the level, we're back in action. Final table levels were scheduled to be 90 minutes long instead of the previous 75.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:16 PM Local Time
Here's how the remaining seven players stack up in terms of chip counts.
Dennis Meierotto - 433,500
John McDonald - 430,000
Evan "MacDaddy34" Panesis - 138,000
Jesse Hale - 124,500
Joaquin Sosa - 101,000
Ari "BodogAri" Engel - 71,500
Jeff Banghart - 49,500
And here's how they look in terms of their seating assignments.
Seat 1: John McDonald - 430,000
Seat 2: Dennis Meierotto - 433,500
Seat 3: Evan "MacDaddy34" Panesis - 138,000
Seat 4: Ari "BodogAri" Engel - 71,500
Seat 5: Joaquin Sosa - 101,000
Seat 7: Jeff Banghart - 49,500
Seat 8: Jesse Hale - 124,500
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:07 PM Local Time
The clock has been paused while the seven remaining players take their first 10-minute break of the day.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:07 PM Local Time
Evan "MacDaddy34" Panesis raised to 11,000 preflop and Jesse Hale called out of the big blind. The flop came down
and both players checked.
The turn brought the
and both players uneventfully checked again.
The river came the
and Hale fired out 15,000. Panesis tanked for a minute or two. "You thinking about a value bet or a fold?" asked Hale.
"I'm just thinking," responded Panesis. A few moments went by and then he would make the fold.
Hale opted to show and revealed
for trip jacks.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 4:01 PM Local Time
From under the gun, Jeff Banghart raised to 11,000 and was called by chip leader John McDonald from the hijack seat. After the flop came down
, Banghart checked. McDonald elected to fire out 30,000 and quickly got a fold from Banghart.
McDonald showed pocket tens after scooping the pot. "Thanks for the show," responded Banghart.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 3:58 PM Local Time
John McDonald raised to 16,000 from the cutoff seat and Dennis Meierotto called on the button. The two players would see the flop come down
.
McDonald fired a continuation bet of 26,000 after the flop, but folded after Meierotto raised to 76,000.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 3:51 PM Local Time
With the action folded around to him, Jeff Bryan moved all in for his final 6,000 little chips. Jesse Hale called from the button, as did both John McDonald and Dennis Meierotto from the blinds.
The flop of
was checked around, but Meierotto elected bet out when the
hit the turn. His 12,000 chips were enough to fold everyone else, and the cards were turned over.
[u]Showdown:[/u]
Bryan:
Meierotto:
Bryan knew it when he saw it, mumbling, "drawing dead," as he stood from his chair. The
filled out the board and Meierotto's full house, and Jeff Bryan becomes our eighth-place finisher.
The jovial and outgoing Jeff Bryan was one of the crowd favorites here this week. Supported by his wife Donna and a number of other cheerleaders, Bryan ran deep for the fourth time this series. He'll take home more than $12,000 for his hard work over the last three days.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 3:38 PM Local Time
After Evan "MacDaddy34" Panesis raised from the button to 11,000, Joaquin Sosa called out of the big blind. The flop came down
and Sosa immediately moved all in for 48,000. Panesis folded and gave Sosa the pot.
On the next hand, Ari "BodogAri" Engel made a raise from the button to 10,500. Sosa fought back from the small blind and raised to 30,500. Jeff Bryan folded in the big blind, leaving himself with around 12,000 chips and then Engel quickly followed with a fold as well. Sosa showed pocket kings and raked in the pot.
With those back-to-back pots, Sosa now has just under 100,000 chips.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 3:22 PM Local Time
On the first hand of the final table, Jesse Hale announced a raise when action folded to him. Before he could place out the raise amount, Jeff Daubs moved all in from the next position. The dealer called for the floor, but she was currently running to grab all of the payout money from another part of the casino. The poker room manager was on hand and all players at the table understood what the ruling was going to be: that Hale would have to raise at least the minimum to 8,000, but had the option of raising whatever he liked.
After that was confirmed by everyone involved, Hale minraised to 8,000 and Daubs' all-in bet stood. Everyone else folded and Hale made the call.
[u]Showdown:[/u]
Hale:
Daubs:
The first three cards came down
and were not much help for Daubs. The fourth card was paint, but the wrong paint with the
. Daubs needed a jack on the river, but couldn't find it when the
hit the felt.
He was eliminated on the first hand of the final table, earning $9,419 for his efforts.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 3:13 PM Local Time
Tournament announcer Tom Sexton has just finished up introducing the players for the final table and the cards are in the air. The button begins with Dennis Meierotto in seat #2 and there's just over 52 minutes left in level 12.
Along with the prize money up for grabs today, the players will be playing for the coveted World Series of Poker championship ring along with an entry to the 2009 Main Event in Las Vegas!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 3:05 PM Local Time
John McDonald just informed tournament announcer Tom Sexton that he miscounted his chip stack before bagging up last night. Instead of the 525,000 chips listed, McDonald has 439,500. That could change things just a little bit, but he still remains the chip leader.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 2:30 PM Local Time
Jeff Daubs is a part-time poker player originally from Plattsburgh, New York. Now a resident of Omaha, Nebraska, Daubs has the home court working for him as well. When he's not playing cards, Daubs is a software test engineer, but he's been dabbling with this game for about three years now. He'll start the final table with one of the short stacks, but his 34,500 chips are plenty to work with.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 2:23 PM Local Time
Jesse Hale enjoys jumping out of planes. In fact, skydiving is the 35-year old's profession and he's made the leap over 4,000 times. "Outside of jumping, I enjoy water and snow skiing, ATV riding, shooting, and flying," mentioned Hale, who is also an experienced pilot with over 1,000 hours of flying time.
He's admittedly accomplished losses in poker at the hands of the best and the worst players in the game and according to Hale, "I was prohibited from playing blackjack in Council Bluffs because I am the luckiest S.O.B. in the world!"
Hale comes into the final table with 77,000 chips.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 2:23 PM Local Time
Jeff "Mr. Rain" Banghart is one of our local guys from Omaha, Nebraska, and the home-field advantage has been working out well so far. By day, Banghart owns a lawn sprinkler company, but on nights and weekends, he hits the felt hard. At age 47, Banghart says he's already been playing poker for 35 years.
Banghart has excellent results when he crosses the river to come play in Council Bluffs. In 2007, he made the final table here at this same event, taking home $54,000 for his fourth-place showing. Now, he's back at it again in 2009. Banghart took down the first preliminary event of this circuit, pocketing $30,000 right out of the gate. A few days later, he would go deep once again, racking up another final table and a fifth-place score.
"Mr. Rain" knows his way around the online game as well. Each year from 2005 through 2007, Banghart has gone deep in the PokerStars Sunday Million at least once. His best score came in 2006 when he took down the whole thing, good enough to earn him nearly $190,000. All totaled, this grinder has more than $1,000,000 in total online winnings.
Banghart has some work to do today; he will start near the bottom of the pack with 52,000.