Event 39 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Day 1 | 2009 World Series of Poker

06-20-2009 18:01 UTC-12

Newhouse Notches a Knockout

The player on the button opened the pot by moving all in for his last 15,000 or so. In the big blind, Mark Newhouse made the call, having his opponent covered.

Newhouse tabled {A-Clubs}

, slightly ahead of the at-risk player's {J-Hearts}

. The flop had an ace in it, and the board would end up reading {A-Spades}

. With nines full, Newhouse eliminates a player, climbing to 53,000 in the process.

Tags: Mark Newhouse

06-20-2009 18:06 UTC-12

Tony Ma Eliminated

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Tony Ma made it all the way to Level 9, but he's now out. He got his chips in with {A-Diamonds}

on a board of {6-Clubs}

. His opponent beat him into the pot with a set, {6-?}

. The board ran out running deuces to send Ma to the rail.

Tags: Tony Ma

06-20-2009 18:18 UTC-12

With the betting folded around to the button, a short-stacked player moved all in for ~8,000. The small blind quickly folded, but Adam "Roothlus" Levy paused for just a minute. After glancing at his cards, he stared at his opponent's chips fanned out in a line toward the center of the table. After he made a mental count, he shrugged and quietly called.

Levy tabled {A-Diamonds}

, and he was indeed ahead of the all-in player's {K-Diamonds}

. An ace on the flop all but locked it up, and the board ended up reading {2-Diamonds}

. Levy adds those 8,000 chips to his stack, and he's up to 34,000 now.

Tags: Adam Levy Roothlus

06-20-2009 18:22 UTC-12

Elbow Room

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With all of the field now sitting in the blue section of the Amazon Room, the tournament is a bit more under control. Now that we have a little more space to spread out, the tables will all be going nine-handed for the first time today. That means that the first player eliminated from each table will have his or her chair taken away, and no new player will fill that seat.

06-20-2009 18:29 UTC-12

Catch Him if You Can

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I'm not going to lie. I've been trying to get a hand on Nam Le all day. Every time I camp out at Blue #5, all Le seems to do is fold. I recently watched another five hands over there and still came away with nothing. The closest I got to a hand was when Le was in the big blind. He declined his option after small blind Brett Parise limped in, then folded to a bet on a flop of {5-Hearts}

.

Le's stealth poker has increased his stack to about 25,000. We're just not sure how.

Tags: Nam Le

06-20-2009 18:30 UTC-12

Yellowsub Stays Afloat

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From middle position, Jeff "yellowsub" Williams moved all in for 9,600. He found action from the button, a player with a big stack who called him down and showed {A-Spades}

. Williams tabled {5-Diamonds}

, racing for his tournament life.

The board ran down favorable for the at-risk player: {7-Diamonds}

. With his tens and fives, he has notched a much needed double up, sitting now with 20,700.

Tags: Jeff Williams yellowsub

06-20-2009 18:40 UTC-12

The Slightest of Slowdowns

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The cries of "Seat Open!" are becoming a bit less frequent now that the whole tournament is in the Blue Section. Still, with 49 tables remaining in play, it seems that not a minute goes by without a dealer calling out those fateful words.

06-20-2009 18:48 UTC-12

Williams Soaring to the Top

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Jeff Williams is now sitting behind 67,00 chips after taking down another pot. Williams, sitting in late position, called a raise from a middle-position player to 2,000. The big blind called as well.

The flop came down {A-Spades}

and brought a 3,000-chip bet from the preflop aggressor. Only Williams called to see the turn {10-Diamonds}

. Both players checked. When the river fell {6-Spades}

, Williams' opponent checked the action. That allowed Williams the room to fire a bet of 6,200. His opponent called and was shown Williams' two pair, {A-Diamonds}

.

Tags: Jeff Williams

Level: 10

Blinds: 500/1,000

Ante: 100

06-20-2009 18:52 UTC-12

Tidbits

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A group of about 10 players from the World Tavern Poker Tour played our event today, and they were easy to spot by their bright purple logo T-shirts. After nine levels, just one of them is still standing. Butch Evans is the guy, still representing his group with the purple tee. Evans is healthy too, sitting on about 55,000 chips.

Mike "GoLeafsGoEh" Leah was just spotted in the blue section for possibly the first time today. Leah spent most of the day locked away safely in the Brasilia Room, but we can keep a good eye on him now that he's with us in the Amazon Room. Leah's short with just under 10,000 chips, and he was contemplating a big decision when we walked up to his table. A player in late position had moved all in for about the same amount of chips as Leah. Mike would take a good soak in the tank before folding and flashing {A-?}

, saving those last chips for a better spot.

And finally, a few chip counts. Jeff "yellowsub" Williams is starting to tighten the screws on his table, and so far it's going well; he's up to 67,000. Al "Sugar Bear" Barbieri has had a big stack all day, but it's been up and down and inconsistent. At last check though, Sugar is pretty healthy with 39,000.