Greetings once more. We are in the third week of the 2014 WSOP Main Event, ready to wrap up Day 5. Today, we’re focusing on episodes 5 and 6, or as ESPN would label them, episodes 11 and 12.
Episode 5: Going the distance
The story of this week relies heavily on the momentum from last week. Although 139 players remain, by the end of the day we’ll be down to 79, meaning nearly half the pool still needs to be eliminated.
Griffin Benger is leading the new featured table with a hefty 4.16 million. Dan Smith is also in the game, holding nearly three million. However, Tony Ruberto is slightly ahead of Smith by a mere forty thousand.
Until at least he confronts Benger with A-Q against Benger’s J-T.
Ruberto, with a superior flush draw, and Benger, having a few straight prospects, are both in the game without any pairs in their hands. Benger takes initiative to increase the pot, only to face a counter-raise from Ruberto. Benger responds with another raise, unexpectedly escalating the pot to two million chips, still without any pairs.
Two men are wagering over a million chips on the River card, despite having nothing.
Essentially, Ruberto and Benger have just swapped stacks.
Other tables
Meanwhile, Maria Ho is responding to Vincent Maglio’s all-in A-T with a call of Q-Q.
Maglio’s stack was so small that he really had no other option but to bet on KJ885. Ho is just slightly below 2 million chips, which puts her over half a million chips above the average stack.
At a different table, Andrey Zaichenko holds K-3, but he faces a raise from Kyle Keranen, who wields a pair of sixes. Unbeknownst to me, he is still seated next to Curtis Rystadt, who predictably re-raises Keranen with J-T. Casey Stewart, despite having a small stack, goes all-in for 339K with a suited A-K. Both Zaichenko and Keranen fold, but with only 14K needed to match Stewart’s bet, Rystadt finds it imprudent not to call. Rystadt draws 57AQ3, granting Stewart the opportunity to nearly triple his stack.
Rystadt currently holds 1.3 million, which is around the average, however, there’s a sense that his strategic maneuvers are beginning to fall short. I foresee him not making it to the next payout tier.
Maria Ho is a threat to Norman
Norman attempts to dismiss his fear of Ho and her exceptional color commentary abilities. Once again, she faces a competitor with a low stack going all-in, this time it’s Michael Palo with A-6. Ho’s K-K turns into a three-of-a-kind on the flop, leading to her eliminating two of the remaining six players from the tournament. She walks away with her stack increased to 2.7M.
Meanwhile, Mark Newhouse’s earnings have risen to 5.3 million. The wager this time is that if Newhouse makes it back to the final table, Norman will zip-line across the Grand Canyon with Mike Matusow in tow. I can’t help but ponder whether anyone is keeping a tally of these bets and how they’d eventually be settled. Shouldn’t Matusow have a say in this?
Brian Roberts is holding Q-T, and Martin Jacobson is in possession of A-T. The pot is not large. Roberts, having nothing, decides to bluff by going all-in. Jacobson, seeming suspicious, opts for caution and folds. He prefers maintaining a significant stack over taking a risk.
Five pocket pairs
Roberts places another bet with a pair of Jacks. Greg Himmelbrand responds by calling with a pair of sixes. Robert Park, on the button, decides to play along with a pair of fours. Adam Lamphere joins the game with a pair of tens, and Jack Shanbacher also has a pair of tens.
Schanbacher goes all in, staking 764K. Roberts is the only one to call. Unbeknownst to Schanbacher, he has no hope of catching another 10, with his lesser pair only having a 3% chance. The cards show 5K9A3, with no one improving their hand. However, it’s been a successful year for Jack Schanbacher, and Brian Roberts has had a fantastic two hands, increasing his stack to 2.35 million.
Ruberto reckons
Tony Ruberto persuades Tom Midena to go all-in and triumphs over his two pair with three Tens. This victory propels Roberto to fifth place, now boasting 4.7M.
I vowed not to grumble about the Side Action Championship this week, so I’ll simply mention that Phil Laak has a slight advantage after he shuffles some chips.
Dan Smith holds a suited A-Q, while Benger has an unsuited A-Q. Meanwhile, Ben Gold possesses an A-J.
We observed Ryan Fair folding the last Ace pre-flop: 26T. Before his Jack turned up on the turn, Gold folds. Smith is one diamond short of a flush otherwise, he and Benger would go all in. This prompts Smith to place a three hundred thousand bet.
Despite the flush not arriving, Smith places another bet of seven hundred thousand. Benger, unable to justify the risk, pulls back, resulting only in a minor reduction to his stack. Meanwhile, Kane Kalas makes his entrance to the table.
Meanwhile
Nathan Fletcher increases his bet with pocket eights, while Mark Tschirch ups the ante with 6-6. On the bubble, Rystadt responds with a call, holding a pair of Kings.
The cards on the table show a Queen, Ten, and Jack flop. Rystadt could potentially make a straight, but his opposition needs just one club to have a flush. Sensing a slim possibility for a straight flush, Fletcher takes a risk and goes all in, which forces Tschirch to fold his cards. However, Rystadt decides to call Fletcher’s bet.
Neither the Ace turn nor the Queen river are clubs, resulting in Fletcher’s exit at 116th place. Dealing with Rystadt is going to become even more challenging.
Disregard my earlier statement about Kana Kalas joining the highlighted table, as Dan Smith has already eliminated him with a more powerful full house. In this case, Queens over Nines triumphed over Nines over Queens.
This will crown Dan Smith as the “King of the Night” on DraftKings.com.
Click here to view the entire WSOP Main Event Episode 5 on ESPN.
Episode Six: Revenge of the Keranen
Mark Newhouse is almost on par with Bruno Politano, with a stack of 5.9M compared to Politano’s 6.1M. Let’s observe how this favorite subplot of ESPN is developing.
Kyle Keranen, holding A-4, is against Rystadt’s J-9 with 942 displayed. Keranen achieves a second pair on the turn, but he checks. The river does not change much, and a moderate bet of 180K indicates that the pot is decent, but not as substantial as TV portrays.
Newhouse rises
Norman pledges to stroll barefoot along the Las Vegas strip, belting out Twinkle Twinkle, as he continues to criticize Newhouse.
At that moment, Newhouse takes half a million chips from Chris Johnson, who is currently the chip leader for the tournament with 6.6 million.
After defeating Jason Leifer’s pair of Queens with three sixes, his total becomes 7.7 million. Norman, however, is unaware of what dramatic irony is.
Triple All-in hand
This one escalates rapidly. Billy Pappas goes all-in with a pair of fours. Darlene Lee responds with an Ace-Jack.
Nicholas Nardello decides to play with J-J, and Justin Swilling chooses to join in with a suited A-K.
Nardello calls again, the player who is not all-in has the strongest hand.
Main Event newcomer, Pappas, managed to quadruple his money, while Nardello remained relatively unaffected thanks to his side pot. However, Swilling and Lee are now out of the game. Lee’s departure leaves only three female players still in the game.
Newhouse strikes Leifer once more, increasing his stack to 8.3 million.
Goodbye, Curtis
Keranen is holding A-T suited. Once again, Rystadt finds himself unable to resist calling him, this time with K-4 suited.
Keranen drops an Ace-high flush. Rystadt, unable to resist the lure, bets with two pair. Knowing he has Rystadt on the line, Keranen baits him into losing his whole stack.
Curtis Rystadt has been eliminated in the 100th place. Keranen is currently ranking third, with a total of 6.1 million. The entire table will experience a much quieter atmosphere from now on, thanks to Kyle.
Once more, with their focus disrupted, ESPN is forced to overanalyze the subsequent hands before they regain their stability.
Another Double Full House
The next engaging hand involves Vladimir Bozinovic going all-in with K-K against Mark Newhouse’s A-J. With the board showing KJAJ8, one full house triumphs over another for the second time this evening. This allows Bozinovic to double his stack to 3.5 million, while Newhouse’s stack decreases to 6.575 million, causing him to lose his position as the tournament leader.
Benger pushes his entire stack with a pair of Jacks. Chad Eveslage, who has been relatively silent tonight, decides to call with a pair of Queens.
Griffin performed well tonight in KQ5K9, but he ended up in 90th place.
Maria Ho has encountered some difficulties and her stack has decreased to less than half a million.
By not falling for a bluff from Chris Shaw, Pappas earns another million chips.
Mikiyo Aoki gets knocked out when her all-in move with two Tens doesn’t succeed against Eddie Sabat’s pocket Kings.
End of the Night
Maria Ho, now the last woman remaining in the tournament, takes a seat at the table where Mark Newhouse is once again up against Bozinovic. This time, the cards are A-K to K-Q.
Newhouse persuades Bozinovic to make an additional 325K call on the river, propelling Newhouse back to the lead with 7.4 million chips. He earns the title of DraftKings.com King of the Night part 2, previously known as 87K6T.
Kyle Keranen is holding the second position with 6.67M. Meanwhile, Politano is maintaining the 4th place, while Dan Smith is at 7th position.
Finally, Day 5 has come to an end. Let’s welcome Day 6.
Click this link to view Episode 6 of the WSOP Main Event on ESPN.
