Poker Tournament » Live Poker Tournaments » World Series of Poker (WSOP) »
WSOP
Monday, June 2, 2008 | Francis Lee
Event 1 $10,000 PL Hold’em Championship - Final Table Review
Final Table Chip Rankings:
- 1st Andy Bloc $2,115,000
- 2nd Nenad Medic $1,200,000
- 3rd Mike Sexton $1,130,000
- 4th Mike Sowers $675,000
- 5th Amit Makhija $525,000
- 6th Chris Bell $455,000
- 7th Phil Laak $425,000
- 8th Kathy Liebert $285,000
- 9th Patrik Antonius $230,000
The battle for the first WSOP bracelet was decided last night with the winner being crowned Pot Limit Champion of 2008 as well as collecting the massive $794,112 cash prize. Andy Bloch started the day in pole position with over $2 million in chips, almost double the stack of his nearest rival.
Phil Laak was the first player to head for the rail as play started. First of all he doubled Patrik Antonius up, loosing with pocket Jacks even after Flopping a set. Antonius with pocket Kings, caught a King on the River to take down the pot. Just a few hands later Laak was All In with pocket Jacks again but ran into Nenad Medic with pocket Aces.
The table continued to be very aggressive with the next three players going out with in a few rounds. Mike Sexton eliminated Mike Sowers with pocket Queens when up against just 
Andy Bloch with 
took down Antonius with 
as both player hit no piece of the final board showing 
Just a few hands later Medic ended Chris Bell’s tournament as his pocket Jacks held up against 
Play slowed down after the early eliminations until just before the break. Andy Bloch increased his chip lead by eliminating Amit Makhija into 6th place. Bloch dominated Makhija with 
against 
This win gave Bloch a 3-1 chip lead over his three remaining rivals.
After the interval we had to wait for over two hours before the next elimination came about. Kathy Liebert with 
managed to Flop two pair against Mike Sexton’s 
The 
and 
completed the board to send Sexton to the rail to collect $248,160 in 4th place.
Even with this win Liebert was still short stacked and decided to make her move going All In when picking up pocket Sixes. Bloch re raised All In with pocket Nines and Medic called with pocket Queens. Medic Flopped a set as the first three cards down was 
and took down the pot with the coming down on the Turn as the other two players was drawing dead with one card to come.
This win gave Medic the chip lead going into the heads up showdown having $4.9 million to Bloch’s $2.1 million chip stack. The battle for the bracelet took nearly an hour to complete with Medic making his larger chip stack count. The final hand came as Bloch raised with pocket Nines and Medic called with 
The Flop was kind to Medic as the 
gave him numerous outs to win the event. The 
on the Turn completed Medic’s Flush leaving Bloch needing another heart to get a higher flush. This never came as the completed the board and tournament handing Nenad Medic his first ever WSOP bracelet.
Final Standings
- 1st Nenad Medic $794,112
- 2nd Andy Bloch $488,048
- 3rd Kathy Liebert $306,064
- 4th Mike Sexton $248,106
- 5th Amit Makhija $198,528
- 6th Chris Bell $157,168
- 7th Patrik Antonius $124,080
- 8th Mike Sowers $99,264
- 9th Phil Laak $74,448
Event 2 $1,500 NL Hold’em - Day 1b
As predicted the turn out for this event broke all previous records with 1881 players starting out in the second field. This made the total number of entrants up to 3929 all fighting for the $831,462 fist place prize. The total prize pool of $5,363,085 would be paid between the top 378 finishers in this event.
As the day progressed the pro’s in the field seemed to struggle as they dropped out one by one. Last years WSOP Champion Jerry Lang was one of the first out as his opponent caught a straight as Lang was committed to the pot with a set. The 2006 Champion Jamie Gold was also one of the first few to head for the rail.
Phil Hellmuth made his first appearance at this years WSOP arriving at the table late, in his usual fashion. He soon was eliminated as his pocket Queens was busted by his opponent hitting Quad Aces on the River. The other more notable names not to survive this first day’s action was Scotty Nguyen, Carlos Mortensen, Allen Cunningham, John Juanda and rising European star Dario Minieri.
The day ended with just 223 survivors of the 1881 starters, leaving a total of 448 players coming back to decide the final table contenders. David Bach had a good day leading the field with a chip stack of $115,000.
Top 10 Chip Leaders at the end of Day 1b
- 1st David Bach $115,400
- 2nd Alan Puzantyan $111,400
- 3rd Pat White $92,300
- 4th Nadim Shabou $75,500
- 5th Chris Savage $74,000
- 6th Mark Vos $71,600
- 7th Maen Shaddu $63,400
- 8th Motoyuki Mabuchi $62,800
- 9th Sean Ferrer $62,600
- 10th Joe Cutler $58,600
YOUR COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE
Be the first to post a comment on this article.
LEAVE A COMMENT
