Gambling
Related Essays and Reports by Andrew W Scott
World
Series of Poker Main Event... Report number 6
Las
Vegas, Nevada, USA
July
14th 2007
Day 4: Friday 13 July
Of the 6,358 starters, only 337 remained at the start
of day 4. They included the following:
1st Dario Minieri Italy 2,398,000
2nd Voidim Triucher Davie, FL 1,533,000
3rd John Kalmar Chortleyville 1,410,000
4th Hevad Khan Poughkeepsie, CA 1,319,000
5th Kenny Tran Arcadia, CA 1,175,000
11th Gus Hansen Monaco 1,044,000
77th Huck Seed Las Vegas, NV 544,000
89th Maria Ho Arcadia, CA 481,000
114th Robert Varkonyi Great Neck, NY 424,000
128th Karim Vegas Brookline, NH 393,000
160th Scotty Nguyen Las Vegas, NV 321,000
191st Takeshi Takii Sacramento, CA 267,000
203rd Gary Benson Sydney, Australia 256,000
205th Adam Noone London, UK 255,000
222nd Kit Manoel Adelaide, Australia 219,000
229th Humberto Brenes Costa Rica 210,000
234th Berry Johnston Bethany, OK 203,000
281st Sully Erna Boston, MA 135,000
287th Tobey Maguire Los Angeles, CA 131,000
295th Roy Vandersluis London, UK 127,000
315th Bill Baxter Las Vegas, NV 105,000
Roy Vandersluis is a long time resident
of Sydney, but was playing under his British passport.
Roy, Kit and Gary were the three remaining Australians
left in the field. Play began at 12:07pm. On the very
first hand two players busted out picking up US$39,445
for their finishing positions. At 12:30pm Simpsons
writer and co-creator Sam Simon was eliminated. At
12:40pm one of the few remaining women, Mimi Tran,
was eliminated when her pocket 9s ran into pocket
Queens. A minute later we lost another woman when
Veronica Dabul’s pocket Queens couldn’t improve against
Greg Huffman’s two black Aces. At 12:58pm, the actor
most famous for playing Spiderman, Tobey Maguire,
called an all-in bet with his pocket Kings. Unfortunately
for him he was up against pocket Aces. The board provided
him with no improvement and Tobey was crippled, down
to approximately 15,000 in chips. He busted out five
minutes later.
After the first hour, during which
about 40 players were eliminated, the players took
a twenty minute break. Overnight chip leader Dario
Minieri from Rome dumped off about 400,000 chips with
5-4 against Ace-Queen and slipped back to about 1,800,000
in chips. Once the number of players reduced to 288,
the prize money increased to US$45,422.
Overnight Australian chip leader Gary
Benson had an unlucky hand in which he lost a substantial
portion of his stack. The next hand he went all-in
with Ace-King but unfortunately ran into pocket Aces.
Gary finished at 1:40pm in 283rd place with $45,422
in prize money.
By 2:15pm, the field was thinned to
261 players. At 2:55pm, Godsmack writer and singer
Sully Erna was eliminated when his King-Queen of spades
lost to Ace-King. The flop had come with two spades
but the flush didn’t hit. When we lost our 226th player,
the prize money increased to US$51,398. Carlos Mortensen,
the 2001 winner, was eliminated in 217th place winning
US$51,398.
At 3:25pm, Dario Minieri slipped back
to 1,300,000 in chips. Stacks over 1,000,000 had become
commonplace by now. At 3:50pm, players returned from
a break and began the seventeenth level, with blinds
of 5,000/10,000 and a 1,000 ante. The 500 denomination
chips had been removed after the fourteenth level.
The yellow 1,000 chips and bright orange 5,000 chips
have been in play since the beginning of the tournament,
but 25,000 chips have now been introduced. The 25,000
chips are actually quite similar to the 5,000 chips,
also orange, but a lighter "salmon" shade.
Initially a little confusing, players soon acclimatized
to the difference.
At 4:42pm Hal Lubarksy was eliminated,
in 197th place picking up his US$51,398. His accomplishment
was all the more remarkable given that he is legally
blind and plays with an assistant who whispers his
cards in his ear. At 5:30pm, Donna Blevins busted
out when her Ace-10 lost to Adam White’s pocket 5s,
with the board helping neither player. White’s win
took him to nearly 3,000,000 in chips. The nine players
on the bubble (finishing just outside of the money
in 622nd to 630th places inclusive) played a one table
freeroll funded by Tournament sponsor Milwaukee Best
Light. The winner was Lee Dryer who picked up a $10,000
entry into the 2008 main event, and a year’s supply
of beer!
At 5:40pm, 2002 winner Robert Varkonyi
was eliminated, when his Ace-5 of clubs was dominated
by Ace-Queen. The flop came K-J-10, and Varkonyi was
out in 177th place picking up his US$51,398. At 5:50pm,
Dario Minieri won an enormous pot, eliminating Deb
Blair and increasing his stack to 2,625,000 at the
same time.
At 5:55pm, 1998 winner Scotty Nguyen
doubled up, his stack now at 820,000. At 6:10pm, Kenny
Rundh was eliminated in 169th place when his pocket
Kings ran into pocket Aces. He picked up US$51,398.
From the 162nd placed player, the
prize money increased to US$58,570, where it will
stay all the way down to the 100th placed player.
At 6:20pm, the eighteenth level began, with blinds
at 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante. Early in the level
Kelly Jo McGlothlin won a hand, becoming the first
woman to crack the 1,000,000 in chips milestone.
At 6:50pm, Maria Ho, the only other
woman in the field, found herself in an awkward situation.
Jason Welch open-raised for 36,000, Maria re-raised,
and then Welch moved all-in and immediately flipped
his cards over showing pocket tens, before Ho had
a chance to act. Ho had a tough decision to make with
her Ace-Jack, but after a few minutes called for her
tournament life. The first card on the flop was an
Ace and she won the hand, doubling up to 175,000.
This was to be the start of a big comeback for Ho.
She has a good temperament and I liked her play. Stay
tuned, I think she may go very deep.
Just before the dinner break, 1996
winner Huck Seed doubled up to 584,000. At 7:10pm,
the players took the dinner break. Play resumed at
8:45pm, with 153 players surviving. It was announced
that play for the day would continue to 12:45am, or
until the field reduced to 99 players, whichever came
first. By 9:35pm, the field was down to 145 players.
At 9:45pm, Mario Ho doubled up again
to increase her stack to 860,000. At 10:08pm, the
nineteenth level began, with blinds of 8,000/16,000
and an ante of 2,000. Shortly into the level there
were 140 players remaining and the average stack was
908,000. Poker legend Bill Baxter was eliminated in
136th place.
At 11:30pm, Gus Hansen put a bad beat
on chip leader Tuan Lam. Lam put Hansen all-in, and
Hansen called with pocket tens, which were in serious
trouble to Lam's pocket Queens. Hansen’s ten came
obligingly on the flop. Hansen doubled up to 1,406,000
and left Lam with 1,880,000. By this stage the atmosphere
was electric. With less than 15 tables left remaining
in the tournament, everyone can see everyone else
except for the feature TV tables. The cry of "all-in
and call" brings excitement throughout the room,
with TV crews coming rushing and fans cheering from
the rails. Hundreds of fans are crammed five deep
around the rails, and sandwiched into the Milwaukee
Best Light Lounge from which there is a great view
of the tournament area. Hitting a board card to outdraw
an opponent brings cheers and hoots of delight and
high fives all around the entourage of the player
in question.
By 11:40pm, only 118 players remained,
with an average chip stack of 1,078,000. At 12:05am,
Dario Minieri, the sole Italian player remaining,
took a big hit and was down to 1,400,000. That is
exactly one million in chips less than he started
the day with. On the last hand of the night, at 12:40am,
we lost Berry Johnston, the 1986 winner, whose 6-5
of diamonds lost out to Ace-Jack. Berry’s elimination
means there are now only two previous winners remaining
in the field, Scotty Nguyen (1998) and Huck Seed (1996).
The 112 players remaining alive bagged
their chips up for the evening and will return at
12 noon Saturday 14 July for day 5, where they will
play down to just 27 players. Those 112 players include
only two women, Maria Ho and Kelly Jo McGlothlin.
The countries of origin of the remaining
players are as follows:
The Americas
Canada 2
Costa Rica 2
United States 85
(89)
Europe
Cyprus 1
Denmark 2
France 1
Germany 3
Holland 2
Italy 1
Monaco 1
Norway 2
Russia 1
Sweden 2
United Kingdom 5
(21)
Africa
South Africa 1
(1)
Asia
South Korea 1
(1)
The remaining players include:
1 Dag Martin Mikkelsen Stavanger,
Norway 3,740,000 Highest Norwegian (of 2)
2 Charis Anastasiou Limassol, Cyprus 2,672,000 Only
Cypriate left
3 Richard Harris Wales 2,662,000 Highest from UK (of
5)
4 Avi Cohen Boston, MA 2,392,000 Highest from USA
(of 85)
5 Jeff Tunkel Naperville, IL 2,323,000 Second highest
from USA
6 Alex Kravchenko Moscow, Russia 2,274,000 Only Russian
left
10 Sven Niklas Heinecker Hamburg,
Germany 1,908,000 Highest German (of 3)
11 Tuan Lam Canada 1,900,000 Highest Canadian (of
2)
13 Nicolas Atlan Paris, France 1,837,000 Only Frenchman
left
19 Philip Yeh Stenungsund, Sweden 1,775,000 Highest
Swede (of 2)
20 Raymond Rahme Johannesburg, South Africa 1,763,000
Only African left
25 Gus Hansen Monaco 1,604,000 Only Monegasque left
28 Ronald Kluber Seoul, South Korea 1,559,000 Only
person from Asia left
48 Humberto Brenes Costa Rica 1,140,000 Highest Costa
Rican (of 2)
56 Ed de Haas Amsterdam, Holland 1,045,000 Highest
Dutchman (of 2)
61 Christian Togsverd Copenhagen, Denmark 978,000
Highest Dane (of 2)
69 Maria Ho Arcadia, CA 885,000 Highest woman (of
2)
71 Kelly Jo McGlothlin Palmdale, CA 871,000 Second
highest woman (of 2)
112 Dario Minieri Rome, Italy count N/A Only Italian
left
My
latest stories on the tournament are available here
©
2007 Andrew W Scott
andrew@andrewscott.com
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