Event 35 - $1,500 Seven Card Stud | 2008 World Series of Poker

06-20-2008 17:36 UTC-7

Sugar Bear Hungry for Chips

[user75032]

Our chip leader, Al "Sugar Bear" Barbieri, shows no slackening in his hunger for chips. He recently took Levon Torosyan all the way to the river. Torosyan brought it in with the {4-Spades}

, then called when Barbieri completed the {K-Diamonds}

. Both players checked fourth street; Barbieri called bets from Torosyan on fifth and sixth streets. Down the river, the boards were:

Torosyan: {4-Spades}

Barbieri:

Barbieri led out for a bet on the river. Torosyan lined up his cards from smallest to biggest, peeked at his hole cards, said, "Nice hand," and folded.

06-20-2008 17:31 UTC-7

Torosyan Making a Move?

[user75032]

Levon Torosyan is the shortest of our three remaining players, but he does not seem willing to go gently into that good night. After Mike Rocco completed a {9-Clubs}

, Torosyan raised {10-Hearts}

. Rocco made the call. He called again when Torosyan caught the {2-Diamonds}

to his

, but folded on the first of the big bet streets, fifth street, when Torosyan caught the {5-Hearts}

to Rocco's {2-Clubs}

.

06-20-2008 17:26 UTC-7

Max Troy Elimnated in 4th Place ($37,184)

[user66118]

Al Barbieri brought it in, showing the {7-Spades}

. Levon Torosyan and Max Troy both called.

Troy: x-x / {A-Spades}

/ x
Torosyan: x-x / {K-Clubs}

/ x

On fourth and fifth streets, Troy led with a bet and Torosyan called. Barbieri ducked out on fourth. On sixth street, Troy bet again, Toroysan raised, and Troy called, putting himself all in and at risk of elimination. The hands were turned over and the dealer dealt out seventh street.

Troy: {K-Diamonds}

/

/ x
Torosyan: {4-Spades}

/

Torosyan was well ahead with his trip fours, and he capped it off by filling up on seventh street. He eliminated Max Troy and chips up to 220,000.

Max Troy put on a good show over the past few days, and was quite friendly and talkative with his tablemates. For his effort, he will pocket more than $37,000.

Tags: Max Troy

06-20-2008 17:24 UTC-7

Giacomo D'Agostino Eliminated in 5th Place ($28,083)

[user75032]

Giacomo D'Agostino was getting short. Five-handed, he caught split tens and put in half of his stack with the completion. Action folded to the bring-in, Mike Rocco, who looked down at buried aces. He raised, and D'Agostino put the rest of his chips in.

On fourth street, D'Agostino drew one of the two remaining aces away from Rocco, but had still yet to improve. Rocco caught the case ace on sixth street to make trip aces and have D'Agostino, who still had only a pair of tens, drawing dead. D'Agostino made trip tens on the river anyway.

He earns $28,083 for his performance in this tournament.

06-20-2008 17:22 UTC-7

Barbieri v. Troy

[user66118]

Al Barbieri completes the bring-in, and Max Troy makes the call.

Barbieri: x-x / {4-Spades}

/ x
Troy: x-x / {8-Spades}

/ x

On fourth street, Troy bet, and Barbieri called. On fifth, Barbieri had the lead, and he check-called another bet. On sixth, "Sugar Bear" picked up the {A-Spades}

, and he put out a bet. Troy called. As the dealer was dealing seventh street, Barbieri put out a bet in the dark. Troy stared at his new card, patted Barbieri on the back and said, "Nice hand," as he flipped his cards into the muck.

Level: 19

Blinds: 0/0

Ante: 0

06-20-2008 17:10 UTC-7

Back in Action

[user66118]

Play has resumed; the cards are in the air once again!

06-20-2008 16:58 UTC-7

Max Troy Talks Stud

[user66118]

We just had a quick chat with Max Troy, as he mixed up a break-time milkshake. A few minutes earlier, during play, he called us over and said, "Hey, I want you to know you're watching the game of the future right here. It's going to be big like when internet poker started. I'm telling you."

During break, he elaborated a little bit. He talked about how much he enjoys playing stud, because he feels that a good player has a much larger edge over a novice than in hold'em. "There's so much information available on the board, if you're observant you can really punish someone who tries to represent a false hand."

He talked about his tough spot at the table, sandwiched between two great players. "If I keep getting rolled up sevens, I'll be fine," he said with a smirk.

06-20-2008 16:51 UTC-7

Break Time

[user66118]

The clock has been paused while the purple T500 chips are colored up, and the players take a 20-minute break.

06-20-2008 16:50 UTC-7

Danny Kalpakis Eliminated in 6th Place ($21,842)

[user75032]

Just before the first break, Danny Kalpakis was eliminated. He raised third street and was called only by Al Barbieri, after Max Troy completed the bring-in showing an ace. Barbieri started with split deuces against Kalpakis' buried sixes. Kalpakis caught an ace on fourth street, which would have gone to Troy if Troy had called the raise, drawing groans from everyone at the table except Kalpakis. It didn't matter; on fifth street Barbieri caught a deuce ("It must be my day!") to make trip deuces. Kalpakis never improved and leaves with $21,842.

After the hand, Barbieri had a long discussion with Troy about why his fold on third street was not a good one.