The Poker Lab Rat

It was an eventful day four at the World Series of Poker main event - with only a third of the 337 players that started the day surviving until the end.

The new leader is Dag Martin Mikkelson - who was also the leader of Day 1b -  he finished the day with 3.7m chips and a large lead over second placed Charis Anastasiou on 2.6m chips.

There are still several big names left in including Gus Hansen on 1.5m chips, Jeff Banghart, Scotty Nguyen, and former main event winner Huckleberry Seed, as well as the over the top poker personality Humberto Brenes.

Former 2001 main event winner Carlos Mortensen was eliminated when his Jacks ran into Queens, and 2002 winner Robert Varkonyi went out after pushing with A5 into a K,J,10 flop and finding that his opponent was holding AQ.

(Ooops)

Day five is planned to whittle the remaining 112 players down to 27, beginning at noon PDT.

It’s been a busy day on Day 3 with more high profile professional poker players being sent to the rails - internet players getting stronger - and the emergence of Super Dario !

Young Italian star Dario Minieri of PokerStars fame sits atop the chip leaderboard after Day 3 with his huge stack of chips totalling nearly 2.4m significantly ahead of second placed Jeff Weiss on 1.5m and leading the 337 players left in the tournament.

Internet players generally had a good day with as Sorel ‘Imper1um’ Mizzi, Jared ‘Waco Kid’ Hamby, Darrell ‘Gigabet’ Dicken, Hevad ‘Rain’ Khan, Matt ‘Mattster24′ Sterling, and Peter ‘Nordberg’ Feldman all made it through to Day 4.

Former world Champions Robert Varkonyi, Berry Johnston, Huck Seed, Carlos Mortensen and Scotty Nguyen also made it through to keep the fight going for the old-timers.

We also have two players who have already won WSOP bracelets in 2007 still in the running with Alex Kravchenko and Bill Edler showing that their earlier wins were no fluke.

And of course yesterday’s leader Gus Hansen in still well in the running sitting with 1.0m in chips which places him just outside the top 10.

Day 4 continues at noon.

Now we are getting somewhere as there are just 808 players left in the main event after the end of Day 2b and pro player Gus Hansen is on top of the pile.

It was another day where the pro players found that amateur players are more than capable of matching it with the TV stars with several high-profile players departing.

Former world champions Chris Moneymaker and Brad Daugherty were eliminated, as were Daniel Negreanu, Allen Cunningham and Phil Gordon.

Negreanu was eliminated after calling an all-in after the flop needing a 9 to hit a gutshot straight - which never came. While Gordon pushed all-in pre-flop with 65o and never looked likely.

On the flipside there were several well-known internet stars who fared better with Sorel ‘Imper1um’ Mizzi, Darrell ‘Gigabet’ Dicken and Matt ‘SamENole’ Smith all making it through the day.

One star who did perform to his reputation was Gus Hansen who finished day 2b on top with 622,300 chips.

Other players high on the 2B board include Shawn Chaconas, Carl Olson, Matt Keikoan, Francois Safieddine, Dario Minieri, Fabrice Soulier, Chad Brown, Hasan Habib, Peter Feldman, Ted Forrest and Carlos Mortensen.

Action resumes today at Noon PDT as the 808 survivors of Day 2A and 2B are merged and play toward the money bubble, which should burst early on Day Three.

PS: If you want to check out the latest poker tip from Gus Hansen, WSOP Day 2b chip leader, visit our blog post here. Betting out of Position - GUS HANSEN

About Gus: Nicknamed “The Great Dane” he was born in 1974 just outside Copenhagen, Denmark. Gus is the only player to have won 4 WPT Titles and was the 2007 Aussie Millions Main Event Winner. Gus plays online at FullTiltPoker.com.

With over 2,000 players qualifying from Day 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d, the organisers at the Rio decided to have two second days - affectionately known as 2a and 2b.

Day 2a consisted of all the qualifiers from Days 1a and 1b and there were 1,037 player who returned to the Amazon Room at the Rio Casino on Tuesday.

The pace was hot and heavy though and the play finished earlier than expected when the number of players remaining hit 350 - because the floor staff do not want to risk hitting the money bubble of 621st place without having everyone in playing at the same time.

Play on Day 2B will now stop at exactly the same point in the level so that no-one is disadvantaged. Phew the hassles in arranging a world championship eh?

So who went out today ? ** WARNING SPOILER ALERT **

Dan Harrington busted out when his AQ came up against AK - while last years runner-up Paul Wasicka departed after his pocket 8’s could not match AJh wehn a flop of AAQ arrived.

2005 World Champion Joe Hachem is no more, neither is Aussie Tony G after running into pocket Aces, while 2007 player of the year Tom Schneider is also on the rails when his pocket 9’s couldn’t match pocket Kings.

The Day 2A field was ended with Jeff ‘Mr. Rain’ Banghart on top, with Kenny Tran, Alex Melnikow, Conor Tate and Cory Carroll all in the top ten, which is as follows:

Jeff Banghart — 570,100
Jeff Weiss — 550,000
Jon Monves — 549,800
Bradley Ellis — 509,400
Yuan-I Hsieh — 489,900
Kenny Tran — 484,900
Alex Melnikow — 480,100
Conor Tate — 440,000
Cory Carroll — 419,900
Jerry Yang — 415,500

Onto day 2b …

We’ll we’ve just seen the end of the fourth “Day One” - rather boringly titled Day 1d - but there has been plenty of action after the first official “day’s play”.

** SPOILER WARNING ** If you read on then you will find out about some high profile eliminations … you’ve been warned.

Several former World Champions started the day, including 2006 Main Event Champion Jamie Gold and 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. Also falling by the wayside were Phil Hellmuth, Chip Reese, Michael Craig, Dutch Boyd, Freddy Deeb and Cyndy Violette while notable survivors included Daniel Negreanu, Ted Forrest and Gus Hansen.

Jamie Gold was eliminated when he moved all in pre-flop with a rather dodgy Q9s and he was called by an A7o. Neither player improved and Gold was eliminated by the Ace kicker.

All around the world poker fans can rejioce in the knowledge that we will not have to put up with the smug-faced gnome grinning at us during the ESPN WSOP coverage this year.

Our oldest player 94yo Jack “Jeffrey” Ury had some good fortune early in the day When his AQd was helped by a flop of Q4Q and he doubled up to around 21,00 in chips - but by the end of the day it appears that he had been eliminated - at least I cannot find him in the current chip standings.

So onto day 2a then - to be followed by day 2b - as this 6,300+ player marathon continues ..

WSOP Serious About Cell Phone Ban

Poker pro David Singer is distraught over the cellphone controversy surrounding his Day 1 elimination from the tournament.

Apparently Jack Effel wants to investigate whether or not the player in question was using his phone for text messaging purposes; Singer believes that fact is irrelevant.

Here is the official cellphone policy, as stated in the 2007 WSOP rulebook: “82. Cell Phone Rule: A player who wants to use a cellular phone must step away from the table. Any player on the cell phone or texting a messaging when the dealer delivers the first card from the deck will have a dead hand. No cell phones can be placed on a poker table.”

Singer, who of course is a lawyer by profession , has requested a refund from tournament staff and was seeking the opportunity to play in one of the remaining Day 1’s. He apparently intends to speak with the gaming commission about the situation.

Yes - and that includes iPhones

An official announcement was made to the Main Event Day 1d tournament floor yesterday that although the iPhones are “pretty cool devices”, since they can be used as a cell phone they are now officially not allowed. Apparently they were previously OK as long as the earphones were not jacked in.

PS: Have you checked out the Bodog Casino Win an iPhone competition? Play Let ‘em Ride at Bodog to win one of 15 iPhones. See our blog posting here.

With four day 1’s in this Main Event looking at chip counts and player standings across the board is fairly pointless. Many “big name” players have already been eliminated including Steve Brecher, T.J. Cloutier, Kristy Gazes, Rafe Furst, Clonie Gowen…

Just to give you a sense of scale, here are the all-up player numbers:

Day 1A had 1,287 players, Day 1B 1,545 players, Day 1C 1,743, and Day 1D 1,772. That’s a event total of around 6,347 players - more than in 2005, but less than in 2006. Given the crazy constraints imposed on US poker players via UIGEA, that’s an impressive number.

A couple of the media highlights for WSOP Day 1D include:
Jack “Jeffrey’” Ury who is 94 years old, making him the oldest player in the history of the World Series of Poker. And you though poker was turning into a game for whizz kids.

And, as always, getting more attention than he deserves, the Poker Brat Phil Hellmuth shows us once again that he has no shame.

Hellmuth was staged to arrive in an Ultimate Bet racing car. As you do. He apparently crashed the car in the parking lot yesterday so arrived in a limo wearing a racing uniform and carrying a helmet. Eleven women (each supposedly representing one of the eleven bracelets he’s won) greeted him and escorted the him to the Amazon Ballroom on his quest for bracelet #12 and his second overall World Championship.

A frenzy of media and fans chased him down the hallway as he posed for photos and signed autographs. ESPN’s film crew of course capturing his every move. He finally entered the Amazon Ballroom to take up his empty seat, two hours late. Would he be a pain to have at your table, or what?

His tablemates joked that he should wear the racing helmet so he didn’t have to hide his face with his hands. I bet many of them wished he’d done more damage in his carpark prang.

–Mike

In one of the most star-studded final tables of this World Series, Robert Mizrachi outlasted poker legend Doyle Brunson, Patrik Antonius and Rene Mouritsen to secure a gold WSOP bracelet.

As the buy-ins have increased we’ve seen the entry numbers plummet and finally we are getting to see the pros playing at the final tables.

There were just 314 entrants in this field with the $10,000 buy-in obviously having an effect - and that seems to suit the pros just fine.

Poker legend Doyle Brunson finished 6th although in the middle stage of the final table he was poised to take control before twice getting the chips in ahead twice against Antonius… and Brunson took the worst of it both times. 

The final table went three handed for alomst 2 hours before Antonius moved in preflop under blinds pressure with AK82 and Mizrachi called with AA65 which was enough to win.

This gave Mizrachi a 3 to 1 advantage over Mouritsen in heads up play - and the tournament only lasted another 10 hands before the Dane capitulated.

Final Standings and Payouts:
———————————
1. Robert Mizrachi — $768,889
2. Rene Mouritsen — $464,877
3. Patrik Antonius — $311,394
4. Tommy Ly — $209,564
5. Marco Traniello — $156,435
6. Doyle Brunson — $123,967
7. Stephen Ladowsky — $92,975
8. Jonas Flug-Entin — $69,363
9. Steve Sung — $50,177

Harrah’s has just announced that there will be four day ones this year for the Main Event.

There appear to be so many participants willing to pay the $10,000 entry feee in order to say that they’ve participated in the main event at the World Serie Of Poker.

So, players will now have a choice of day 1A (July 6th), 1B (July 7th), 1C (July 8th), and now, 1D (July 9th) - as July 9th was previously marked as a day off for the Main Event.

There will be two Day Twos, and the rest of the event will play down as previously scheduled.

This gives Harrah’s the ability to seat as many as 11,000+ players in the Main Event, though very few of those in the industry believe the actual number will get that high.

We’ll have to wait until July 6th to find out.

WSOP… now I really just can’t be bothered! Bring on the Main Event.

Have you seen the latest update on the much touted “real Main event” ($50K buy-in HORSE)? 

It’s still playing but do YOU recognise anyone with chips left to play with … other than Gabe Kaplan (actor and poker host) and perhaps Barry Greenstein?

We’ve had a good email debate among the PokerLabRat.com team and even this WSOP event has gone from “chocker with pros” to “who dat?” at the final table…