2008 World Series of Poker

Event 49 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em
Day: 2
Event Info

2008 World Series of Poker

Event Info
Buy-in
$1,500
Prize Pool
$3,710,070
Entries
2,718
Players Left
2,718
Level Info
Level
26
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000

Case Ace Race?

Preflop, Kristy Gazes raised all in holding {A-Hearts} {Q-Hearts} against Mitchell Siegel holding pocket eights. Gazes missed the flop completely, and the turn, but found the {A-Clubs} on the river to double her up to 60,000. While the hand was taking place, two players at her table announced that they had folded an ace, making the {A-Clubs} on the river the case ace.

Vive le Vivek

Vivek Rajkumar called a short-stacked player's all in with {5-Hearts}{5-Diamonds}. Unfortunately for him, his opponent held {10-Hearts}{10-Diamonds}. The board brought no third five, and Rajkumar's stack was chopped in half to 19,000.

Two hands later, Rajkumar was all in himself and managed to double back up to 28,000.

Tags: Vivek Rajkumar

Level: 12

Blinds: 1,000/2,000

Ante: 300

Pham Gets Help, Doesn't Need It

David Pham called an opponent's all in preflop holding pocket eights and was up against his opponent's pocket sixes. On a flop of {10-Clubs} {7-Spades} {8-Hearts}, Pham managed to hit a set, though it gave his opponent a straight draw. The {3-Hearts} on the turn and the {Q-Hearts} on the river were of no help and his opponent was eliminated. Pham is up to 67,000 after the hand.

Xiang It

Tingjian Xiang raised to 6,000 from under the gun, and it folded around to Jon Friedberg in the big blind who raised to 21,000. Xiang then shoved for 30,000 total and Friedberg called.

Friedberg showed {A-Clubs}{K-Clubs}, and Xiang {Q-Spades}{10-Spades}. An ace flopped, and Xiang couldn't catch up. Xiang is out, and Friedberg up to 96,000.

Field Thinning Fast

We're a little over an hour into the start of today and we've already lost more than 75 players from today's field. However, we're playing down to the final nine players tonight, which is still quite a ways away.

Not FBT Yet

Though Greg "FBT" Mueller had taken a beat earlier and was down to just 60,000, he just cracked pocket aces and is now back up to 135,000. Greg held pocket tens and the flop ran {J-Diamonds} {9-Hearts} {Q-Spades}, giving Greg an open-ended straight draw, which connected on the turn.

No Tipping

With the board showing {8-Diamonds}{K-Diamonds}{6-Spades}{J-Spades}{7-Diamonds} and 70,000 already in the pot, Tommy Vu stood up from his chair and told his opponent "If you got me, you got me -- I'm all in," pushing his remaining 17,000 in front of him. His opponent called, Vu showed pocket sixes, and his opponent mucked.

An elated Vu then pulled out a $100 bill to hand to the dealer. "No dealer ever treated me this nice," he said. (The dealer, of course, did not accept the money.) Vu was up to 107,000.

As if to prove the dealer treats all the same, on the very next hand Vu lost a Big Slick-vs.-queens confrontation with the same player, and slipped back to 66,000.

Tags: Tommy Vu

Merkow Not Enjoying the Vu

Tommy Vu
Tommy Vu
That was Gregg Merkow who was involved in those hands with Tommy Vu from before. The pair just clashed again, and this time Vu had pocket kings vs. Merkow's pocket queens.

"That's so sick," said Merkow, echoing an oft-uttered poker player's lament. Vu's kings held up, and he's bounced way back up to 145,000. Merkow is down to 28,000.

Pocket Pairs = Action

Jon Friedberg just eliminated a player when his pocket rockets held up against J-J. Friedberg is up 140,000.

Nancy Tyner also won a nice pot when her pocket queens held up against 7-7. She's up to 110,000.