2014 wsop

[toughbuff1]

I know everyone is caught up in World Cup fever, but the Main Event of the 2014 WSOP is underway. The remaining 1864 players (out of 6683 starters) combine today for the first time this afternoon, and there is a very familiar name atop the leaderboard. They should get in the money sometime tomorrow, and they play down to the final 9 on Monday, with the final table returning in November. The winner gets a cool $10,000,000.

http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/updates.asp

[OldPhiKap]

I have a good friend who cashed in the main event last year, and ended up at the feature table with Doyle. Actually hit quad queens in a heads-up televised hand with Texas Dolly.

This year, he survived days 1 & 2 and is still going today last I heard.

Always fun to watch.

[YmoBeThere]

If you were referring to Ivey, he's now a few spots down. Which is fine with me, I've never been a fan.

[OldPhiKap]

If you were referring to Ivey, he's now a few spots down. Which is fine with me, I've never been a fan.

Me, neither.

Didn't he get busted out flopping bottom trip to a bigger set of trips?

[JasonEvans]

Me, neither.

Didn't he get busted out flopping bottom trip to a bigger set of trips?

I think he is still around. Chip counts appear to show him with about 450k in chips right now, good for one of the top 40 stacks in the room (a little more than 1000 players are still in it, out of the 6700 who started).

-Jason

[OldPhiKap]

I think he is still around. Chip counts appear to show him with about 450k in chips right now, good for one of the top 40 stacks in the room (a little more than 1000 players are still in it, out of the 6700 who started).

-Jason

I meant last year. You are right this year, AFAIK. He was close to the top of his entry flight this year (1C) when they bagged their chips.

[toughbuff1]

I've never really been a big Ivey fan either (more of a Hellmuth guy, personally) but him being the chipleader after the end of Day 2 is pretty big news. Ivey is sitting 72nd in chips right now, with t522,500, so he is still in contention. There are 746 people left, and the top 693 people finish in the money, so the bubble should burst fairly early today. Play should be rather tight around the bubble, with the more exploitative pros stealing pots and trying to increase their stack sizes. As soon as the bubble bursts, expect a flurry of bustouts. This should be a very exciting day!

[JasonEvans]

I've never really been a big Ivey fan either (more of a Hellmuth guy, personally) but him being the chipleader after the end of Day 2 is pretty big news. Ivey is sitting 72nd in chips right now, with t522,500, so he is still in contention. There are 746 people left, and the top 693 people finish in the money, so the bubble should burst fairly early today. Play should be rather tight around the bubble, with the more exploitative pros stealing pots and trying to increase their stack sizes. As soon as the bubble bursts, expect a flurry of bustouts. This should be a very exciting day!

It is still too early to get excited about a big-name pro like Ivey making a big run. There is just too much randomness in a long poker tournament, especially one with a field this large. Still, it is exciting to see Ivey poised to perhaps make another big run. Recall that he made the very first November Nine just a few years ago.

Other well-known name pros doing well --

27. Kenny Tran - 728,500
72. Phil Ivey - 522,500
172. Vitaly Lunkin - 372,000
196. Jeff Madsen - 350,000
238. Allen Cunningham - 314,000
277. Rep Porter - 281,500
294. Tony Hachem (Joe's brother) - 265,000
313. Huck Seed (only former champ still alive) - 249,000
337. Michael Binger - 234,500
367. Daniel Alaei - 216,500
486. John Juanda - 154,500
623. Max Pescatori - 97,000
641. Phil Galfond - 92,000

By the way, they probably would have reached the money bubble last night, but ESPN wanted them to hit the money when everyone was in the same room and could celebrate together so they called it a night a bit earlier than usual and will be back at it today. Seems like the bubble should burst in the first hour of play today.

Ivey is at a tough table as there are two other stacks there who can threaten him as they each have over 500k in chips. There are plenty of tables with none or only 1 person over 500k in chips. Kenny Tran is at a table with only 1 other person over 400k in chips. But, the worst table in the house is #350. It has two stacks over 800k (#12 Louis Martin 850k and #16 Trevoy Martin 806k chips) and also includes Allen Cunningham and Jeff Madsen, who are probably two of the top 10 players (in terms of skill and experience) left in the tourney. What a nightmare table!!

By the way, chip leader Andrew Liporace (1.12m chips) is going to absolutely run roughshod over his table! He got the most incredible table draw ever! There isn't a single other player at his table with more than 250k in chips and there are 4 players with less than 125k chips who are probably panicked about trying to make the bubble. Liporace can probably simply make a 3 or 4x the blind bet each time and collect the blinds and antes each round against anything but super-premium hands. On the other hand, he is likely to bust a few players quickly and find his table broken fairly fast, which could send him off to a tougher table fairly quickly.

-Jason "if Ivey, Tran, Cunningham and one or two more big name guys can be in good chip position after today, it could get really exciting" Evans

[toughbuff1]

It all depends on the order in which the tables are broken. If they are going in numerical order, Liporice's table won't be broken any time soon. However, the person replacing the busted player could very well have a healthy chipstack. Regardless, it does appear to be an ideal situation for Liporice to abuse the money bubble.

[JasonEvans]

Wanna know why poker is a gut punch waiting to happen? Hands like this one.

Two guys with fairly modest chip stacks (one with 127k chips, the other with 153k chips) probably both just hoping to make the money bubble. One of the first hands of the day and they find themselves all-in against each other... they flip the cards over and... well... read about this nightmare yourself.

--Jason "even when your hand looks to be safe, you aren't" Evans

[toughbuff1]

How about this hand? http://www.pokernews.com/live-report...hips.99365.htm

In hand-for-hand play, this is just awesome! That's why I love poker!!!

[OldPhiKap]

Wanna know why poker is a gut punch waiting to happen? Hands like this one.

Two guys with fairly modest chip stacks (one with 127k chips, the other with 153k chips) probably both just hoping to make the money bubble. One of the first hands of the day and they find themselves all-in against each other... they flip the cards over and... well... read about this nightmare yourself.

--Jason "even when your hand looks to be safe, you aren't" Evans

Either last year or the one before, that Russian dude who takes for.ev.er ran out a flush with dueling pocket kings. Dirty.

Something phonetically close to yvenny vinnychenko

[JasonEvans]

Either last year or the one before, that Russian dude who takes for.ev.er ran out a flush with dueling pocket kings. Dirty.

Something phonetically close to yvenny vinnychenko

You are talking about Yevgeniy Timoshenko. I don't recall that hand, but this laydown of his late in the Main Event last year was really impressive.



As for those "big names," most of them are busting or close to it. Last I checked, Kenny Tran had lost about half of his stack and was down to about 350k in chips. Cunningham has busted. So has Huck Seed. Juanda is down to about 100k chips and will probably be out soon. But Phil Ivey, he just keeps on getting more chips. He's above 800,000 at this point and is among the top 20 or so stacks in the room. No surprise, but he is at the ESPN featured table today.

-Jason "Jeff Madsen is doing well, at about 450k in chips" Evans

[JasonEvans]

As for those "big names," most of them are busting or close to it. Last I checked, Kenny Tran had lost about half of his stack and was down to about 350k in chips. Cunningham has busted. So has Huck Seed. Juanda is down to about 100k chips and will probably be out soon. But Phil Ivey, he just keeps on getting more chips. He's above 800,000 at this point and is among the top 20 or so stacks in the room. No surprise, but he is at the ESPN featured table today.

-Jason "Jeff Madsen is doing well, at about 450k in chips" Evans

Ivey went out in 450th place or so. He had something like 400k in chips and pushed hard with AK but got called by pocket Jacks. I'm not sure why he went so crazy with AK, but you gotta win the 50-50 races like 75+% of the time to win the tourney and he lost this one.

all the really big name pros are gone now. There are some players left that moderate-serious poker fans will have heard of but this will be yet another year where the Main Event's final days do not include the best-known players in the world. Nothing wrong with that, but it takes away some of the drama of the event.

-Jason "only 291 players left... Jeff Madsen and Rep Porter are the biggest names left, I think" Evans

[OldPhiKap]

You are talking about Yevgeniy Timoshenko.

Yup, thanks.