39th Annual World Series of Poker Main Event Day 1b | 2008 World Series of Poker

07-04-2008 17:47 UTC-8

Thorson Eliminates Varkonyi

Donnie Peters

Olga Varkonyi (event #15) eliminated from the Main Event

William Thorson raised to 825 and then Olga Varkonyi sitting on his immediate left reraised to 2,500. It folded back around to Thorson and he made the call. Before the flop came down, Thorson checked in the dark.

The flop was {J-Diamonds}

and Varkonyi moved all in for about 24,000. Thorson called in a heartbeat and turned over {J-Hearts}

. Varkonyi rolled over {Q-Hearts}

and she would need some help to stay alive.

The turn was the {9-Clubs}

and the river the {A-Spades}

. Varkonyi missed her outs and was sent to the rail.

The PokerStars pro Thorson, moved up to 54,000 on this hand.

Tags: Olga Varkonyi William Thorson

07-04-2008 17:46 UTC-8

Caught in a Moshe

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T6 pro Julian Powell raises to 800 on the button and Moshe Elezra calls in the big blind. The flop is {7-Hearts}

and Moshe checks. Powell bets 1,100 and Moshe calls.

The turn is {4-Hearts}

and Moshe checks. Powell bets 2,300 and Moshe calls.

The river is {10-Clubs}

. Moshe checks. Powell bets 3,500 and Moshe calls.

Powell shows {Q-Spades}

to the

of Moshe and climbs to 48,000. Moshe has 17,000.

07-04-2008 17:42 UTC-8

Better Than Gold

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No $12 million this year for Jamie Gold.

2006 Main Event winner Jamie Gold is out of the tournament. He moved all in preflop for 2,700 from the small blind with {k-Hearts}

. Pat Pezzin snap-called from the big blind with {Q-Hearts}

. "Look what I ran into," Gold said disbelievingly.

Gold couldn't come up with anything that could beat a pair of queens when the board came out {7-Hearts}

. He shook the hand of every player at the table, wished them all good luck, picked up his bag and headed for the exit from the Amazon Room.

The player in the four-seat turned to Pezzin after the hand and said, "Jamie's mother is over there, you know. She's gonna want to know who you are because you just busted her son."

"I don't care," replied Pezzin, drawing some smiles and laughter from the rest of the table as he stacked up his 51,000 in chips.

07-04-2008 17:42 UTC-8

Two's Company...Four's A Good Time!

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John Duthie was overheard to be discussing dinner plans with his friendly massage therapist, and in-between some flirtatious joking he appeared keen to accept the invitation to join her at dinner. The therapist then commented that she was going to leave early to avoid the dinner rush, but John said he had to play out the final 20 minutes of play. That is until the therapist said that there were going to be two other therapists joining them, which prompted John to jump out of his seat and jokingly run for the exit!

Tags: John Duthie

07-04-2008 17:39 UTC-8

Rare Day 1 Tables of Death

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Lee Watkinson is now sitting on the right of Alex Kravchenko in a little final table reunion from last year. Watkinson finished eighth in the 2007 Main Event while Kravchenko finished fourth.

Also looking deathly are Tables 5 and 8 in the Orange section. David Grey and Steve Zolotow are seated together on Table 5, while Peter "Nordberg" Feldman was recently moved to Erik Seidel's right on Table 8.

07-04-2008 17:33 UTC-8

Chuck Wagon

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An early-position player raises to 750 and a player in late position calls. Chuck Thompson, executive host of the Bay 101 casino, calls out of the big blind.

The flop is {4-Spades}

and Thompson checks. The EP player bets 1,700 and the LP player folds. Thompson check-raises to 6,200 and the EP folds. Thompson is up to 41,000.

07-04-2008 17:32 UTC-8

A Vegas Problem With No Name

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Overhearing a conversation and then embarking on a similar conversation myself didn't come up with the answer. There is a name missing to what seems to be a common Las Vegas problem.

You come to Las Vegas to play poker, to party, to do whatever you want to do. Whatever it may be, you always end up doing to excess and wearing yourself out. Extreme tiredness sets in and the only way to solve this is to go to bed and catch-up on sleep.

The problem is that when you try to sleep, you can't. You go into a half-sleep where you're sort of dreaming but still conscious of the real world. This state can last for hours before you finally drop off. This is bad preparation for what is to many, the biggest tournament of their lives.

A common problem that no one I've spoken to knows the name for.

07-04-2008 17:31 UTC-8

Set Over Set = Busto

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Jerome Ogrodzki goes out with bottom set.

Jerome Ogrodzki must have liked his chances when he got all of his chips in the middle on a {10-Spades}

board holding {5-Clubs}

and Ron Adams called. But Adams had the middle set, with {10-Hearts}

, and the case five was nowhere to be found for Ogrodzki. He is out of the tournament and his chips have padded Adams' stack to 61,000.

07-04-2008 17:29 UTC-8

Rockets Blast Johansson

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Birgitta Johansson got the last of her chips in before the flop with {A-Spades}

, only to run into a player holding {A-Hearts}

.

The board came {A-Diamonds}

, and Johansson is out.

Tags: Birgitta Johansson

07-04-2008 17:29 UTC-8

Gray Picks Off a Bluff He Can't Beat

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On a board of {K-?}

, Jason Gray's opponent bet into him. Gray called and his opponent mucked his hand instantly. Gray showed {10-?}

high and his opponent desperately tried to grab his cards back. It was too late for him as they'd already been mucked. The player shook his head and said, "I had jack high."

Gray will need to pick off a few more bluffs if he is to survive the day. He is currently working with just 7,200 chips.