2009 WSOP Main Event Day 4

Day 4 started with 800 players left in the field, by the end of the day that field would be cut in half. It ended up being one of the shortest days WSOP history as play ended at around 7:30 PT. Just over 7 hours of play on Day 4 because the field is shrinking at a rapid pace and tournament directors felt it was appropriate to stay on schedule and give the remaining players a chance to get a good night sleep. With that being said, shuffle up and deal on Day 4.

It was a bad start to Day 4 for Phil Hellmuth, he got caught bluffing in back-to-back hands and lost 250K right off the start, more on him later....
Phil Ivey started the day by doubling up his already big stack. After the double up, Ivey would be sitting on about 800,000 for most of the afternoon. Ivey would increase that stack by knocking out 5-8 guys who had short stacks. The constant accumulation of short stacks worth about 70-80K moved Ivey up to the one million chip mark late in the day!

Back to Mr. Hellmuth, he found himself a little below average chips when the following hand occurred.... Hellmuth and his opponent got most of the money all-in on a board of J-J-3-7-5, Hellmuth had just 100,000 left when he called his opponents river bet. Hellmuth saw he was up against his opponent's A-J. Hellmuth mucked and jumped up from his seat and went into basic Phil mode.
" IM GONNA VOMIT ON THE FLOOR. THERE GOES MY WORLD SERIES TO AN ABSOLUTE MANIAC," said Phil.
He turned his rant towards the dealer for dealing out trip jacks to the other guy.

With just 100,000 left, Phil had to make a move and took his last stand with A-A.

Hellmuth ended up all in against two opponents, Kevin Jenkins and Kenny Hsiung, with the board showing J T 5.

Jenkins showed 8 9, while Hsiung turned over J T, both hideous discoveries for Hellmuth as Hsiung had top two pair and Jenkins an open-ended straight draw.

The 7 hit on the turn, giving Jenkins the straight to all but end Hellmuth’s tournament hopes.

A huge crowd of camera, reporters and spectators had gathered around by the time a 3 hit on the river to watch Hellmuth stand up and stare at the table for several minutes after the best.

Hellmuth stood around for at least five minutes before giving an ESPN interview while still standing in the same spot.

Day 4 has ended but Hellmuth still might be in the Amazon Room staring at the table.

At the end of Day 4, only 407 players remain, ive gone through the chip counts and have pulled out the 9 pros still alive in this thing. Most of them have pretty healthy stacks. (Chip Average: 480,000 going into Day 5)

Phil Ivey- 1,270,000

Dan Harrington- 659,000

Kara Scott- 580,000

Joe Sebok- 502,000

Antonio Esfandiari- 496,000

Joe Hachem- 490,000

Kenny Tran- 415,000

Dennis Phillips- 414,000

Peter Eastgate- 397,000

Cya for Day 5, BASIC KNOWLEDGE.............

2009 WSOP Main Event Day 3

Before we get to the poker, Im gonna update everyone interested in my 7 sports in 7 days tour. So far, so good. Monday was tennis, Tuesday was golf, Wednesday was basketball (and tennis), Thursday was corn hole/bocce, Friday was poker, and i have no idea what im going to do today. As of right now its pouring outside so who knows if im gonna be able to go play home run derby at the baseball fields. Stay tuned.

Now time for the main event. As many of you probably know already im keeping a ''notable chip count'' on my facebook after each day completes. We have many big names still left in heading into day 3, and we would finish day 3 will those big names still in (most of them).

Phil Hellmuth and Josh Arieh spent most of the day at the same table and provided some classic banter. The action started in the afternoon when Arieh moved all-in against Hellmuth on a flop of Q-8-4. Hellmuth thought it over and decided with his huge stack he could afford it, and called. Arieh tabled Q-Q for top set, and Hellmuth rolled over a terrible 8-4 offsuit. No eruption from Hellmuth and he just laughed and said, "I just donked off 100K with 8-4 offsuit."

Hellmuth would then use the tight image he had and bluff 4 more hands in a row to get that 100K back. He would finish the day with a healthy half a million chips. (chip avg 240K after day 3)

Jeff Lisandro was announced as this year's Player of the Year after taking home 3 bracelets in Stud, Stud H/L, and Razz. Becoming the first man ever to win the Stud triple crown. Congrats, Jeff. Lisandro was knocked out later in the day.

Peter Eastgate, who was down to just 8,000 chips on Day 2, has gained a stack of over 300,000 at the end of Day 3. Eastgate will try to become the first defending champ to cash since Joe Hachem in 2006. And maybe if he gets really lucky he can pull off the amazing accomplishment that Greg Raymer did in 2005 when he defended his title with a 25th place finish the next year.

Its with tremendous regret that I inform you Josh Arieh is out of the main event. No word on how he busted, but after having a big stack for 2 days, its an incredible disappointment for him. Not many players survive a tournament when they play at the same table as Phil Hellmuth all day.

At the conclusion of Day 3, Phil Hellmuth sat with 500,000 chips. Phil Ivey had a mediocre day and gained 40,000 to his stack, ending him with 365,000. Both Phil's sit over the chip avg of 240,000. Your over night chip leader is international poker sensation, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier who has an amazing chip stack of 1,380,000. Nearly 400,000 more than the 2nd place person, unreal.

Cards are back in the air for Day 4 at Noon today where 789 players will come back and try to make the money. Top 648 will cash. The tournament director has announced they will play either 4 levels or until 400 people are eliminated. Another blog will be out tomorrow morning recapping Day 4. Until then.....

BASIC KNOWLEDGE.................

2009 WSOP Main Event Days 2A and 2B

Well now that the four Day 1 sessions are over, its time for Day 2 to begin. Day 2 is broken up into two separate days (2A and 2B). If you saw my first blog entry you would be aware that there were 6,494 players in this years main event (what bad economy?). Well at the conclusion of all the Day 2 action there would only be 1,724 players left. Many big names fell on Day 2 including Mike Matusow, Scotty Nguyen, Vanessa Rousso, Howard Lederer, Gus Hansen, Phil Laak, Barry Greenstein, and Jennifer Tilly. However, with all the big names that have fallen there are also many big names who are still alive.

Going back to my first blog entry, I listed my top 10 players I wanted to see win this years main event. From that list only 3 players remain, but it was my # 1, # 2, and # 5 choices. Here is an update on those three players. (Keep in mind the chip avg going into Day 3 will be 113,000)

Phil Hellmuth- started Day 2 with a short stack of just 27,000 chips. However, after an entire day at the ESPN feature table, Hellmuth ran over the table of unknowns and upped his stack all the way to 135,000 by days end. His twitter said he was calm and relaxed for the first time in 6 years at the main event.

Josh Arieh- my personal favorite to win the main event. He was a big stack coming into Day 2 and did nothing to hurt himself during the day. Arieh added over 100K to his stack during the day and finished near the top of the leader board with 225,000

Phil Ivey- due to the huge field that was playing on Day 2B, Ivey's table got pushed in the "Miranda Room" which is an outside poker room full of only a hundred tables or so. Ivey's table may have been pushed aside, but his game was dead on. Ivey won a ton of medium sized pots to start the day and then won his big pot when he got it all in with K-K against his opponent's A-K. No Ace hit the board and Ivey won one of the biggest pots of the tournament thus far. Ivey took down that 200,000+ chip pot and ended the day with a huge stack of 325,000 chips. Its still early, but things look good for Ivey to make a serious run at this thing.

While those are my three biggest names left in the main event, there are still a ton of other top pros still in the main event who are thriving. Some of those names are:

-Kenny Tran
-Paul Wasicka (2006 runner-up)
- Dennis Phillips (3rd place finisher last year)
- Justin Bonomo
- Dan Harrington (3rd place in 2003) (4th place in 2004)
- Jeff Lisandro (3-time bracelet winner this year alone)
- Antonio Esfandiari
- Hevad Khan
- Joe Hachem (2005 champion)
- Jordan Farmer (yes, the Los Angeles Laker)
- Peter Eastgate (defending champ; turned 8K into 100K in final hour)
- Lee Watkinson
- Humberto Brenes
- John Juanda
- Jen Harmen
- David Bach (this year's H.O.R.S.E. world champ)

So as you can see, so many possibilities this year for the pros. The action takes a break on Thursday for media day. Day 3 will start on Friday at noon with another blog update to come out Saturday morning covering Day 3's action.

Po's blog will still give a summary of the action for Day 3, but once Day 4 arrives it becomes moving day for the players, so the blog will pick it up and provide detailed hand descriptions for all the big names (hopefully) still alive by then. And as always, until then....

BASIC KNOWLEDGE.......

2009 WSOP Main Event Days 1A-1D

Welcome back to Po's Annual Poker blog for 2009. This is the first time ive blogged in a while, and I figured what better way to make a return than with the 2009 main event. This is the 5th straight year that I will be covering the main event via blogspot, and it is my favorite time of the year. As a diehard poker fan and player, there is nothing better than the main event. Hopefully one day I will be lucky enough to play in this glorious event, but for now I am happy covering it.

Before I talk about the 4 different Day 1 session id like to comment on other things in the sports world and my life in general. With that being said, how could I start anywhere but with Wimbledon. As a diehard Andy Roddick fan, the Wimbledon Championship was heart-breaking. It was the greatest match I ever watched, and even with the disappointing finish it was a win for America tennis and a time to be proud if you're Andy Roddick. For the last two years, Roddick was irrelevant in the tennis grand slam world. However a new coach, new attitude, and new determination has gotten Roddick 15lbs lighter and back onto the grand slam scene. A semifinals appearance at the Aussie Open, his best ever finish at the French Open, and an instant classic Wimbledon Final after knocking out the hometown kid, Andy Murray, in the semifinals. Hopefully Andy wont let this devastating loss be a negative and will continue his dedication and keep rolling into the US Open on August 31.

Speaking of tennis, I am currently in the middle of my "7 sports in 7 days" tour, and i started it off on Monday with a near 4 hour doubles tennis match. Will Hanlon, Mike Yatsco, Mike Hallock, and myself took to the court at PSHS yesterday and put on a show. Our good friend Brad Cook was in attendance and ended up recording one of our sets, so hopefully we will be youtube sensations pretty soon. Continuing with my 7 sports in 7 days, I hit the links of Mill Creek golf course today (Tuesday) and plan on playing basketball tomorrow morning to make it my 3rd different sport in 3 days. Also, the 4 tennis guys will be hitting the courts again on Wednesday for hopefully more classic tennis action.

Okay now its time to focus on what this blog is all about, the poker. Just so everyone knows this blog as usual will focus on the big name pros and their quest to have a pro make the final table. Here is a list of the top 10 players I would most like to see win the main event this year:

10. Johnny Chan- 10-time bracelet winner and a true legend of the game, his role in the movie "Rounders" was a big reason why so many players have come to the game. That and the Moneymaker effect.

9. Annie Duke- I think it would be cool to see a woman win the main event for the first time ever, Annie Duke has the best chance out of all the females.

8. Gus Hansen- the aggressive Gus Hansen has always been a favorite of mine, his ability to read hands and mix up his play is second to none in the game

7. Any previous main event winner since 2003- this list would include Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Jamie Gold, Jerry Yang, and Peter Eastgate. For anyone to win two main event titles since the poker boom would be one of the greatest accomplishments in wsop history

6. Doyle Brunson- the greatest living legend in poker. Doyle making a deep run in this years main event would easily be the best story of the year. I just think itll be a difficult task for the 70+ year old Brunson. Playing 14 hours a day for that many days in a row is near impossible for a guy that old. Which may be why Doyle hasnt made a run in the main event in quite sometime

***If anyone has proven age is just a number though, its Jack Ury. At age 96, Ury has broken his own record for oldest player ever to play in the main event, and remarkably for the 2nd straight year Ury has made it to Day 2. Stay Tuned.

5. Phil Ivey- what more can be said about this guy? At just 33 years of age Ivey has collected 7 wsop bracelets including two at the '09 series. Ivey is known as the best player in the game today, and a deep run in the main event would solidify that statement even more.

4. Daniel Negreanu- his table talk keeps the game fun, and his cheerful attitude makes him one of the most popular players in the game. Negreanu will never ever turn down an autograph request, even if he just busted out of a tournament. He is one of my favorite poker players in the game today.

3. Mike Matusow- no one has had more success in the main event this decade than Mike Matusow. He has made 4 deep runs in the main event this decade and that includes 2 final tables. His loud personality makes him a must watch every time he is on TV.

2. Phil Hellmuth- he is the greatest no limit hold 'em player ever, just ask him. With an all-time record 11 bracelets (all in hold 'em), Hellmuth is one of the best and most popular players in the game. He made a deep run in last years main event before busting in 45th place. His random whining and ''idiot'' chanting provides me with tremendous humor. There is no one more exciting to follow in a tournament than Phil Hellmuth, i dont care how out-of-line he gets sometimes.

1. Josh Arieh- this may not be the big name everyone knows about. In fact, a lot of you reading this might not even know who Josh Arieh is. Well in 2004, Arieh finished in 3rd in the main event (Greg Raymer's year). That year I discovered Josh and have been following his career ever since. His brash and cocky attitude on the felt reminds me of myself and is truly a joy to watch. His best game is Omaha, but his success in the main event has been well documented. Josh is by far my favorite player in the game and seeing him win the main event would be as satisfying as seeing another Steelers Superbowl win.

Well as for the Day 1 action it was very hard to follow all the top pros with such a sea of people. The numbers for this years wsop are in and it is tremendous. In an absolutely terrible economy, there still turned out to be 6,500 players in this years main event. Top prize will be a cool $8.5 million bucks. The starting stack for each player this year is 30,000 in chips (the highest starting stack in main event history). Heres what else i can report on from the Day 1 sessions....

- Daniel Negreanu is bust after just 3 hours into his Day 1, he had the flu while playing so it was nearly impossible for him to make it to day 2

- Phil Ivey hit a max of 90,000 chips on Day 1 but had a bad hour at the end of the night and ended up with 62,000... still well over the chip average

- Doyle Brunson went busto

- Mike Matusow made it through day 1 but on a short stack of 18,000

- Phil Hellmuth made it to Day 2 as well with 25,000 chips, about 12,000 under avg

- Josh Arieh had by far the most successful day out of any pro as he finished his day 1 with over 120,000 in chips. Hopefully he can build on his big stack in Day 2

Okay, thats it for this entry. As the main event goes on I will be providing more detailed updates on every player. Including how each key hand played out. After having 4 Day 1 sessions, the event moves in Day 2 where there will be 2 Day 2 sessions. Then everyone will combine into one session once Day 3 rolls around. Got that? Good.
My next entry will appear on Thursday to wrap up all the action from days 2A and 2B. Also, there will be an update on my 7 sports in 7 days event. Until then......

BASIC KNOWLEDGE..........................