2015 World Series of Poker

[JasonEvans]

Just thought I would let folks know that Day 4 of the WSOP is in the books and there are only 237 players left out of a starting pool of 6420. The average chip count right now is just over 812,000 chips. As usually happens in a tournament this large, most of the field is unknown players, but there are a few prominent names still very much in contention.

Leading the way is the guy in 32nd place right now, Daniel Negreanu. "Kid Poker" among the 5 best known poker players on the planet (Helmuth, Ivey, Chan, and Brunson are the others). Daniel has 1.335 million chips. He still needs to run good and get lucky (everyone does) to make the final table, but if he does it will be a ratings bonanza for ESPN as Daniel is great fun on TV.

Other notables...

In 4th place with 2.4 million chips is Brian Hastings. He's a 3-time bracelet winner including 2 bracelets this year. If he were to win or ever make the final table, it would be one of the greatest World Series seasons ever.

Justin Bonomo is a fairly well-known player with over $2 mil in career WSOP earnings. He's in 31st place with 1.35 mil chips.

Farzad Bonyadi, winner of 3 bracelets in his career, is in 66th place with over 1 million chips.

Matt Glantz, a well-known pro who plays in almost nothing but high-stakes games is in 98th place with 800,000 chips. Matt has made a slew of final tables at the WSOP -- mostly in big buy-in events, and has more than $2.5 mil in WSOP winnings... but has never won a bracelet. He may be the best player on the planet without a bracelet.

John Racener, who came in 2nd in the Main Event in 2010 when Jonathan Duhammel won it all, is still alive with 777,000 chips, enough for 104th place. He's got close to $7 mil in career WSOP earnings.

Vivek Rajkumar, who won a World Poker Tour title a few years ago, is in 142nd with 580,000 chips.

Vitaly Lunkin, best known for his win at the $40,000 Poker Player Championship at the WSOP a few years ago is in 171st with 430,000.

Men "The Master" Ngyun, a true poker legend with 7 WSOP bracelets and a 4-time winner of Card Player's Player of the Year award, is still alive with 373,000 chips, good for 190th place. He needs to run good to survive the day, I suspect.

And Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari, the man who has won more at the WSOP than any player in history (including $18 mil at the high-roller 1-Drop tourney a couple years ago), is still alive, though he is in some trouble. He's in 222nd place, pretty close to the bottom, with just 195,000 chips. He's going to need a couple double-ups to even get to an average chip stack.

-Jason "All eyes will be on Daniel today. The field will likely be trimmed from 237 down to about 100 or so, maybe less. This year the tourney is moving FAST" Evans

[OldPhiKap]

Negreanu knocked out Phil Helmuth IIRC. A-K outdrew the Poker Brat's Q-Q; Helmuth was short-stacked and shoved after Daniel's four-bet from the big blind.(Phil raised from cutoff +1, button three-bet).

[JasonEvans]

Magic Antonio went out in 169th place. Men the Master, Vitaly Lunkin, and Vivek Rajkumar have also busted today.

But, Kid Poker has maintained his position. Negreanu came into the day in 32nd place and is currently in 34th. Of course it takes a LOT more chips to be in the top 35 now than it did a few hours ago. Daniel is currently up to 2.2 million chips. You have to figure he won't be foolish with them and should stick around. His biggest pot was about an hour ago when he got all his chips in with pocket Ks against an AK (http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/update/W4V/daniel-negreanu-doubles-up-through-sal-dicarlo/). No ace on the board which doubled Daniel to about 2.5 million chips.

Also notable, Justin Bonomo is up to 2nd place with 4.2 million chips and Brian Hastings continues to have one of the best World Series' on record as he is in 4th place with 3.9 million. Impressive!

-Jason "they are on a dinner break. Current payout if you bust is $46k" Evans

[OldPhiKap]

A friend of mine played several NL Holdem events in this year's WSOP (including the main event for the third straight year). One of the days, there was a flash flood in Vegas and one of the rooms in the Rio started taking on water -- causing the house to stop action mid-level and send everyone to dinner early.

My friend's takeaway: poker is clearly a sport. Anything that could have a rain delay MUST be a sport.

Side issue of interest to both of us: a developer has proposed a one billion dollar casino in Atlanta if the casino referendum passes this year. Vote early, vote often. (Tired of going to Jacksonville although I really like Bestbet).

[JasonEvans]

Side issue of interest to both of us: a developer has proposed a one billion dollar casino in Atlanta if the casino referendum passes this year. Vote early, vote often. (Tired of going to Jacksonville although I really like Bestbet).

Not gonna happen. The Governor has promised to veto any effort to legalize gambling in Georgia and most of the GOP legislators are firmly against it. I wish they would listen to the economic reality of what a casino would mean for the city/state, but they won't. Sigh...

-Jason "much like marijuana, we will some day look back on the times when gambling was widely illegal the way we look back on the foolishness of prohibition" Evans

[YmoBeThere]

Not gonna happen. The Governor has promised to veto any effort to legalize gambling in Georgia and most of the GOP legislators are firmly against it. I wish they would listen to the economic reality of what a casino would mean for the city/state, but they won't. Sigh...

Having lived in multiple regions of the US, I think there is a first mover advantage to having casinos. In the gambling wasteland of the Southeast, whomever goes first will do well. By the time the 4th or 5th state has done it, not so much. If I were putting up a casino, I would give strong consideration to Greenville-Spartanburg. 2 hours to Charlotte, 2 hours to Atlanta and no major sports league teams to contend with.

[OldPhiKap]

Having lived in multiple regions of the US, I think there is a first mover advantage to having casinos. In the gambling wasteland of the Southeast, whomever goes first will do well. By the time the 4th or 5th state has done it, not so much. If I were putting up a casino, I would give strong consideration to Greenville-Spartanburg. 2 hours to Charlotte, 2 hours to Atlanta and no major sports league teams to contend with.

Only competition would be Cherokee, NC which has a casino. No live dealers though, or at least not many I am told.

Florida has poker at dog tracks or satellite dog tracks, but that's all AFAIK.

Greenville-Spartenburg would be a great place, but SC is even more conservative than Georgia.

[YmoBeThere]

...but SC is even more conservative than Georgia.

Not to go all PPB on this thread about poker, but look where it's gotten them. I'm a conservative from the Barry Goldwater state. The term conservative doesn't mean the same thing as it did when I was in my youth.

I stayed at the Rio in early June while some of the WSOP events were going on. Played a small tournament downtown(240 or so players) at Binion's and managed to make it past 140 others, but got rivered as I was all in three handed ended my night. My conclusion, no way I'll ever spend the 10K for the Main Event, I'm not that good at poker. I may try a smaller WSOP event($1K-$1.5K entry) just to sort of cross it off the bucket list. Should have done so when I was there in June. As we've gotten further away from the beginning of the Moneymaker era, I've played less poker. When I was in Boston, I was in a monthly game as well as at least monthly trips down to Foxwoods. When I first started going it was an hour or two wait to get a seat. By the time the Great Recession took hold, you could just walk up to a table. I then moved to Ohio and it took a year or two for me to figure out that the casinos in Indiana were a short 30 minute drive away. The last year I was there, they broke ground in downtown Cincinnati on a casino. Just a few blocks away from Great American Ball Park(Reds) and Paul Brown Stadium(Bengals). That's what makes GSP a great site to me, central to Columbia, Charlotte and Atlanta and the potential for sports wagering. They aren't getting a franchise any time soon.

[YmoBeThere]

Not to go all PPB on this thread about poker, but look where it's gotten them. I'm a conservative from the Barry Goldwater state. The term conservative doesn't mean the same thing as it did when I was in my youth.

I stayed at the Rio in early June while some of the WSOP events were going on. Played a small tournament downtown(240 or so players) at Binion's and managed to make it past 140 others, but got rivered as I was all in three handed ended my night. My conclusion, no way I'll ever spend the 10K for the Main Event, I'm not that good at poker. I may try a smaller WSOP event($1K-$1.5K entry) just to sort of cross it off the bucket list. Should have done so when I was there in June. As we've gotten further away from the beginning of the Moneymaker era, I've played less poker. When I was in Boston, I was in a monthly game as well as at least monthly trips down to Foxwoods. When I first started going it was an hour or two wait to get a seat. By the time the Great Recession took hold, you could just walk up to a table. I then moved to Ohio and it took a year or two for me to figure out that the casinos in Indiana were a short 30 minute drive away. The last year I was there, they broke ground in downtown Cincinnati on a casino. Just a few blocks away from Great American Ball Park(Reds) and Paul Brown Stadium(Bengals). That's what makes GSP a great site to me, central to Columbia, Charlotte and Atlanta and the potential for sports wagering. They aren't getting a franchise any time soon.

I know how to shut down a thread, don't I?

Down to 27, Kid Poker in the ninth spot.

[OldPhiKap]

I know how to shut down a thread, don't I?

Down to 27, Kid Poker in the ninth spot.

I have really mixed feelings about Negreanu. His ability (and Antonio's ability) to read hands is wild to watch though.

[JasonEvans]

We are down to 27 total players, only 3 tables left, and today they will play until we have our November Nine. As other noted, the big news is that Daniel Negreanu is still alive and in a very good chip position (http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/chipcounts.asp?rr=5&grid=1136&tid=14268&dayof=). He has 8.45 million chips, good for 9th place. The current chip leader has 14.4 million. But, it is worth noting that the average chip stack when we reach the November 9 will be over 20 million chips. So, everyone -- even the chip leaders -- has a long way to go to make that final table.

Here's something interesting to note, table draw can have a big impact on things. Daniel is at table #1. His 8.4 mil gives him the second biggest stack there. So, that could allow him to put some pressure on opponents. But look at table #2 (http://www.wsop.com/pdfs/reports/14268/Main-Event-Start-of-Day-7-by-Seat.pdf). The 4 biggest stacks in the room and 6 of the 8 biggest stacks are at the same table. If Daniel was there, he'd be 7th in chips. I can tell you this, I bet the chip leader for the November 9 ends up being someone who is at table 2 because so many of the chips in play are all seated next to each other.

-Jason "all the other big names are out... if Kid Poker makes the November 9, ESPN may have a ratings bonanza on their hands!" Evans

[OldPhiKap]

I have found the guy I am rooting for to win it all:

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/19078-72-year-old-belgian-vying-for-world-series-of-poker-main-event-final-table

[JasonEvans]

We are down to 15 and will play until there are 9 left. Daniel currently in 6th place with 12.2 million chips. Still a long way to go. Winning or losing a million chips in one hand is not even remotely uncommon at this point.

-Jason "and as I post this, Daniel just lost 1.3 million on a hand... down to 8th place with 10.7 mil chips" Evans

[YmoBeThere]

I have found the guy I am rooting for to win it all:

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/19078-72-year-old-belgian-vying-for-world-series-of-poker-main-event-final-table

his hair is almost as bad as Donald Trump's.

[OldPhiKap]

his hair is almost as bad as Donald Trump's.

You should hear his views on Mexican immigrants.


(In the spirit of Pedro and the late '80's Chanticleer: "I keed, I keed")

[JasonEvans]

We are down to 15 and will play until there are 9 left. Daniel currently in 6th place with 12.2 million chips. Still a long way to go. Winning or losing a million chips in one hand is not even remotely uncommon at this point.

-Jason "and as I post this, Daniel just lost 1.3 million on a hand... down to 8th place with 10.7 mil chips" Evans

I am the kiss of death. They are on the dinner break and there are 13 players left. Negreanu is in 12th. He was almost out a few hands ago, but his pocket fours won a race (http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/update/ZLU/daniel-negreanu-doubles-through-joe-mckeehen/) against an A-7 and Daniel doubled up to about 6 million chips. The 10th - 13th place players are all between about 5.5 and 6.5 million chips, so it is not like Daniel is horribly short stacked compared to everyone in the rest of the field, but he's only on about 25 big blinds and you can bet that the 4 big stacks (with 18 mil, 22 mil, 25 mil, and 40 mil) are going to really be pushing the short stacks around. Time to catch a hand and run good, right Kid Poker?

-Jason "Payouts are at $411,000 -- but Daniel probably does not care about the money at all compared to the chance to make the Nov 9 and win the Main Event" Evans

[JasonEvans]

Daniel got it all in with about 7 million chips holding an A-4 when an Ace came on the flop. His opponent, Jospeh McKeehan, called with a straight and a flush draw. The turn was a blank but the river brought the straight and Daniel was done. Out in 11th place. Not a bad effort from the Kid...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJ8DDPlUsAEujd1.jpg

McKeehan has had an interesting day. He has run roughshod over his table and now has 60 million chips. He is far and away #1 in the room in chips. They next 5 biggest stacks are at another table while McKeehan is playing with the 4 shortest stacks in the room. Needless to day, McKeehan has been bullying his table for probably 50+ hands. He has to be the favorite to win the whole thing as his chip advantage is huge and he is a fairly experienced pro with several deep runs in World Series events under his belt.

--Jason "this was Daniel's final hand" Evans
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJ8Aa4UUcAAYmZa.jpg

[YmoBeThere]

Daniel got it all in with about 7 million chips holding an A-4 when an Ace came on the flop. His opponent, Jospeh McKeehan, called with a straight and a flush draw. The turn was a blank but the river brought the straight and Daniel was done. Out in 11th place. Not a bad effort from the Kid...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJ8DDPlUsAEujd1.jpg

McKeehan has had an interesting day. He has run roughshod over his table and now has 60 million chips. He is far and away #1 in the room in chips. They next 5 biggest stacks are at another table while McKeehan is playing with the 4 shortest stacks in the room. Needless to day, McKeehan has been bullying his table for probably 50+ hands. He has to be the favorite to win the whole thing as his chip advantage is huge and he is a fairly experienced pro with several deep runs in World Series events under his belt.

--Jason "this was Daniel's final hand" Evans
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJ8Aa4UUcAAYmZa.jpg


Not bad for 4 or 5 days of work.

[YmoBeThere]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJ8DDPlUsAEujd1.jpg




Not bad for 4 or 5 days of work.

[OldPhiKap]

Not bad for 4 or 5 days of work.

Well, when you factor in Vegas taxi rates . . . Although Daniel is probably hip with Uber.

(Actually I assume he lives in Vegas these days but do not know)

[OldPhiKap]

Kid Poker explains two mistakes he made, and the thinking behind his last hand:

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-blogs/2-daniel-negreanu/entries/562086-my-two-mistakes-from-wsop-2015

Also glad to see that the 61-year old made the November Nine, he has the third-largest stack. (Leader has more than double anyone, and about a third of the chips in play).

[YmoBeThere]

Also glad to see that the 61-year old made the November Nine, he has the third-largest stack. (Leader has more than double anyone, and about a third of the chips in play).

And he's not the oldest person in that group.

[OldPhiKap]

And he's not the oldest person in that group.

True. In a game that features a bunch of 20-something's, we have a 61 yo and a 72 yo. Hope they run deeper!

[JasonEvans]

Not sure how many of you were as crazy as I was, but I spent the past few nights watching the Final Table/November 9. Saw some great poker, that's for sure.

Joe McKeehan was amazing. Yeah, he ran great (it was sorta ridiculous how many good cards he got and how often his hole cards would hit the flop) but he also made some amazing lay downs when he was behind. It would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you had a big chip lead and could bully everyone with over-sized bets, but he did the opposite. He played lots of small-ball, keeping pot sizes small enough so he did not have to worry about doubling players up and just winning tons of smaller pots. I bet he won more than half of the hands at the final table, which is just absurd. This was among the most dominating performances I think we have ever seen at the WSOP. Impressive.

-Jason "there were several times where I thought players made somewhat cowardly plays to ensure they could move up the pay ladder, but also ensure that McKeehan would be the winner... hard to fault someone for making a cowardly decision though when their decision was driven by earning an extra $500k or even $1 million" Evans

[OldPhiKap]

Not sure how many of you were as crazy as I was, but I spent the past few nights watching the Final Table/November 9. Saw some great poker, that's for sure.

Joe McKeehan was amazing. Yeah, he ran great (it was sorta ridiculous how many good cards he got and how often his hole cards would hit the flop) but he also made some amazing lay downs when he was behind. It would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you had a big chip lead and could bully everyone with over-sized bets, but he did the opposite. He played lots of small-ball, keeping pot sizes small enough so he did not have to worry about doubling players up and just winning tons of smaller pots. I bet he won more than half of the hands at the final table, which is just absurd. This was among the most dominating performances I think we have ever seen at the WSOP. Impressive.

-Jason "there were several times where I thought players made somewhat cowardly plays to ensure they could move up the pay ladder, but also ensure that McKeehan would be the winner... hard to fault someone for making a cowardly decision though when their decision was driven by earning an extra $500k or even $1 million" Evans

I like the new 9-6-3 format, much easier to watch.

And agree with tweets from RealKidPoke and PhilHelmuth -- need to speed up play.