2008 World Series of Poker

Event 50 - $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship
Day: 2
Event Info

2008 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
kjjq
Prize
$859,549
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Entries
381
Level Info
Level
28
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
0

What a Moran

We pick up the action prior to the flop where Brandon Moran is facing a decision. Karl Mahrenholz has a raise of 32,000 out in front of him, and Moran decides to put in the call and see a flop.

It comes out {3-Diamonds} {4-Spades} {10-Clubs}. Mahrenholz moves all in, and Moran calls.

Mahrenholz: {A-Spades} {Q-Spades} {J-Diamonds} {10-Diamonds}
Moran: {3-Spades} {4-Diamonds} {6-Clubs} {7-Spades}

The turn is the {2-Hearts} and the river brings the {3-Hearts} and a full house for Moran. He grabs the pot, knocks out Kyle Mahrenholz, and chips himself up to 355,000.

Tags: Brandon MoranKyle Mahrenholz

Roland Right Out of Here

Mark Roland fans, prepare to be supremely disappointed. We caught up with Roland as he was taking a three-way flop of {J-Hearts} {K-Diamonds} {4-Diamonds} with chip leader Josh Arieh and [Removed:14]. Arieh checked to Harroch, who bet 15,000. Roland tanked, then raised all in to 59,000. Arieh was the only to make the call, but his check-call of a bet and a raise had to spell bad news for Roland.

Arieh: {K-Spades} {K-Clubs} {4-Clubs} {3-Clubs}
Roland: {A-Spades} {J-Spades} {J-Clubs} {8-Hearts}

It was set-over-set, with Roland on the wrong end. Neither player had a draw to speak of, and so when the turn and river did not produce the case jack, Roland was eliminated.

Arieh continues his impressive dominance of this tournament. He has so many chips, in such a fortress in front of him, that it's difficult to get an accurate count. Our best guss is about 580,000 but we think that's low.

Level: 14

Blinds: 2,000/4,000

Ante: 0

D'Agostino Singing a Happy Tune

David Singer raised under the gun, pushing out 8,000 chips. John D'Agostino made the call from the button, and it was heads up to the flop.

It came down {Q-Hearts} {9-Hearts} {2-Diamonds}. Singer bet out 11,000, D'Agostino raised all in for 40,500, and Singer called. D'Agostino tabled {Q-Diamonds} {Q-Clubs} {A-Spades} {K-Clubs}, and he was playing for his tournament life versus the {A-Hearts} {6-Hearts} {5-Spades} {2-Spades} of Singer.

The turn was the {5-Diamonds}, and the river locked it up for D'Agostino. The {Q-Spades} ripped off, and four of a kind was good enough to double him up to 118,000.

Tags: David SingerJohn D'Agostino

It's Gotta Be the Shoes

Michael Mizrachi is making a run at the chip lead. On a flop of {9-Diamonds} {3-Diamonds} {A-Hearts}, he bet 15,000 and was called by Clonie Gowen. He bet 30,000 when the turn came off {4-Hearts}, and again Gowen called. The river was the ace of spades, because it's always the ace of spades. Both players checked. Arieh showed {A-Diamonds} {9-Hearts} {4-Spades} {3-Hearts} for top full house; all Gowen could come up with was {A-Clubs} {Q-Diamonds} {7-Diamonds} {2-Clubs} for three aces.

"Do you have every full house?" David Williams asked incredulously. (We would have been happier if he said "Eff you and your never-ending string of boats.") Either way, Gowen takes a hit to 110,000, while Mizrachi flirts with 500,000.

Recent Eliminations

Rolf Slotboom, Nathan Hagens and Elie Marciano were all recently eliminated from the tournament. Slotboom couldn't improve on queens in the hole against (guess who?) Josh Arieh, who flopped a partial wrap that filled on the river.

Hagens and Marciano were eliminated on the same hand when they got all in preflop against Stephen Ladowsky. Ladowsky hit top set on the flop with {A-Diamonds} {A-Spades} {8-Spades} {10-Hearts} and never looked back. He now has about 214,000 chips.

Tony G Sings His Last Verse

Tony G
Tony G
David Singer raised from early position, making it 8,000 to play. Action passed around to the small blind, where "Tony G" Guoga reraised it up to 22,500, leaving just 1,000 chips behind. Singer called, and failing to see Tony G's last chip, exposed his hand: {K-Diamonds} {K-Hearts} {Q-Hearts} {J-Diamonds}. The floor was called over to make a ruling, and they determined that Singer would be given a penalty for prematurely turning over his live hand. Tony G, however, insisted that he not be punished, and the floor heeded his request.

The flop came {10-Hearts} {3-Hearts} {8-Clubs}, and Tony G dropped his last lonely chip into the middle, with Singer matching it. Tony G flipped over his hand, and was leading but in a coinflip with {A-Diamonds} {A-Spades} {J-Hearts} {7-Hearts}. The turn brought the troublesome {9-Spades}, and the river {8-Spades} was the last card Tony G will see in this event.

Tags: David SingerGuogaTony G

One Table to the Money

Having eliminated forty players already in three hours and thirty minutes, we're now getting close to the money bubble, with just one table remaining to be broken before the bubble bursts. Expect the inevitable slowdown as the shorties try to eke their way into the money.

Like Counting Jelly Beans in a Jar

Josh Arieh with last night's mountain.  It's bigger today.
Josh Arieh with last night's mountain. It's bigger today.
We're still having difficulty counting Josh Arieh's mountain of chips. Two of us were recently near his table to try to do the count.

"What'd you guys get on the last count?" he asked.

"710."

"I'll take the over for $100," he replied. We didn't take him up on the offer, instead continuing to talk amongst ourselves to try to come up with the best estimate.

"Over 710 for $100," repeated Arieh. "Interested?"

"We can't," I said. "We can't take bets on the floor."

Arieh seemed disappointed with that response, and after we were done with our count, we could see why. Our new estimate of his stack is about 780,000, and that's still probably low. We think he may be over 800,000 at this point. The problem is, Arieh eventually hindered our count.

"Stop sweatin' me," he said, moving his arms in front of his stack and blocking his chips from our prying gaze. "You're making me nervous."

If he does have over 800,000, and we're pretty sure he does, he would single-handedly account for over 10 percent of the 7.62 million chips in play with over 40 players still in the tournament.