2012 World Series of Poker Day 6: Negreanu Falls Short, Williams Leading Final Table
Day 6 of the World Series of Poker is over and one more bracelet has been awarded. Nick Jivkov, from Des Plaines, Illinois, took home the bracelet for Event #5: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em.Event #6: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mix-Maxed played its way down to heads-up play with Warwick Mirzikinian leading the way and Aaron 'aejones' Jones not far behind. David Williams, Andy Bloch, and Barry Greenstein found their way to a final table in Event #7: $1,500 Seven Card Stud. Finally, Event #8: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better kicked off with 967 players and notables like Todd Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, and Dan Shak crawled their way onto the leaderboard.
Event #5: $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em
Nick Jivkov found himself seated at a stacked final table that included Daniel Negreanu, Tommy Vedes, and Jonathan Aguiar on Friday. At the beginning of the day, Jivkov was fourth in chips with 281,000. All eyes were on Daniel Negreanu though, not Jivkov, who attempted to win his fifth World Series of Poker gold bracelet.
Negreanu had a good start to the day and found a couple of crucial double-ups, but in the end, Negreanu's luck ran out when he needed it most. Negreanu was all-in with A♦Q♠ against Nick Jivkov's A♣J♥. Negreanu had got it in good and was in even better shape with the flop fell 10♠Q♣9♥. The turn was a blank 2♥. But Jivkov spiked the river hard with the K♥, which gave him the winning straight to eliminate Negreanu who earned $41,638 for fifth place.
Vedes was next to go when he moved all-in on a J♥10♥4♣ flop with J♦6♦ against Jivkov's 10♠9♦. Jivkov was unstoppable though and binked the 9♠ on the river to eliminate Vedes in fourth place for $55,960.
Going into heads-up play, Jivkov already had a 3-1 chip advantage after eliminating five of the seven other players. In the final hand of the match, Bryan Pellegrino shoved all-in preflop after Jivkov had reraised from the button. Pellegrino showed J♥9♠ and Jivkov held 10♣10♥. The board ran out Q♥K♠8♠7♣2♣ and it was good enough to give Jivkov the win and the bracelet. Pellegrino earned $117,199 for his runner up finish. Jivkov earned $189,818 for first.
To see who else Jivkov eliminated along with action from the first two days be sure to check out our live tournament blog.
Event #6: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mix-Maxed
Day 2 of Event #6 brought players into the money as well as into heads-up play for Day 3. The field is still riddled with young blood as several pros were able to chip up during the six-handed play on Thursday. Among them are Joseph "subiime" Cheong, Marvin Rettenmaier, Eric Froehlich, Victor Ramdin, John Hennigan, Joe Tehan and Brian Rast. Also still alive is Aaron "aejones" Jones who is among the chip leaders with 409,000 in chips.
Among those to hit the rail Friday as the field was reduce from 112 players to 31 were Olivier Busquet, Phil Collins, Will Failla, Daniel Negreanu, Eli Elezra, and Eugene Katchalov.
The play of the day goes to Jones through, for this hand he played with Michael Ferrell. Marvin Rettenmaier opened under the gun for 6,200. Jones called directly behind, as did Tom McCormick on the button. Ferrell decided to pump it up to 19,500 from the small blind, and all but Jones folded, bringing a flop of A♣5♦3♠.
Ferrell fired again — this time 18,000. Jones called and the turn brought the J♠. Ferrell led at the pot again, this time for 34,000 and Jones called once more. The 8♥ fell on the river fell and Ferrell slowed down and checked. Jones thought momentarily before making it 52,000, and Ferrell didn't think long before letting it go. After he folded, Jones showed 4♠4♣ for a bluff. “I had blockers," he said after the hand.
On Saturday, the final 31 players will return for heads-up matches that will begin at 1300 PDT (2100 BST) in the Amazon room. Players will play down to the final eight on Saturday and return on Sunday to crown a winner.
To see all the exciting action and the epic conclusion, be sure to stay tuned to our live updates blog.
Event #7: $1,500 Seven Card Stud
It was in this very same event in 2006 that David Williams won his first bracelet. Now, six years later, he's leading the final table for a chance to do it again. But close behind Williams are pros Barry Greenstein and Andy Bloch.
Players played all the way down from 111, to the final nine on Friday, bursting the money bubble on the way. Players who cashed, but did not make the final table included Artie Cobb, David Singer, Brett Richey, Sam Grizzle, Marco Traniello, Chau Giang, and Fabrice Soulier.
David Tighe was the last player not to receive any money. Greenstein managed to eliminated Tighe on the bubble with two pair. Tighe's elimination secured a spot in the pay charts for the other 40 players.
Shortly after this, players began to drop like flies and Williams began to pick up chips. One notable hand occurred when Williams won a very substantial pot against four other players. At the end of the hand, William's board read (x)(x)/Q♣2♦2♥Q♠/(x). Greenstein bet on fourth street and Williams raised. Scott Abrams called, then William Thompson called. Stephen Su raised, Greenstein folded, Williams called as well as both Abrams and Thompson. On fifth street, Thompson bet out with a pair of fives, Su folded, Williams called, and Abrams folded. On sixth street, Williams picked up his second pair on board and bet, Thompson called. On seventh street, Williams bet again, but this time Thompson folded. This pot pushed Williams to nearly 180,000 in chips, and from there he was on cruise control to the final table.
On Saturday, the final nine will battle it out for the $126,363 first prize and the gold bracelet. Play will reconvene at 1400 PDT (2200 BST).
To make sure you don't miss any action from Saturday's final table, make sure you're keeping a close eye on our live reporting blog.
Event #8: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split Eight-or-Better
On Friday, 967 players walked into the Amazon Room hoping to become the next bracelet holder. All but 220 players' dreams were crushed. Among those who didn't make it to Day 2 were Andrey Zaichenko, Owais Ahmed, Mike Leah, Allen Kessler, David Benyamine, Eric Baldwin, Phil Ivey and Xuan Liu.
Ivey had started to pick up some momentum when he flopped the nuts in a three-way all-in pot. With the board reading 7♦3♦10♦, Ivey and two other opponents capped the action. The 8♣ fell on the turn, and the rest of the money went in. Ivey held the A♦Q♦10♣5♣ and was a lock to win the high pot unless the board paired, which it didn't when the K♣ fell. Sadly for Ivey though, he was eliminated later in the day by Mike Matusow.
Some of the players returning on Saturday to play out past the money bubble and to the final table include Daniel Negreanu fresh off his Event #5 final table, Mike Matusow, Betrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Dan Shak, Todd Brunson, Amnon Filippi, Men Nguyen, and Jeff Madsen.
On Saturday, the final 220 players will try to grind it down to a final table. With just over 100 spots to the money, the action will be fast an furious when it picks up at 1300 PDT (2100 BST).
To make sure you don't miss any of the crazy action from Saturday, make sure you're checking in on the live reporting blog.
On Tap
Saturday, Event #6: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mix-Maxed will play down to the final eight players. Event #7: $1,500 Seven Card Stud will award a gold bracelet and Event #8: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split Eight-or-Better , will play past the money bubble on the way to a final table. Event #9: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry kicks off at 1200 PDT (2000 BST).
To make sure you don't miss any action from the World Series of Poker, make sure to check in to the live reporting blog.
Video of the Day
If you missed Kristy Arnett's interview with Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, you can catch up now. In the video, Mike gives everyone his opinion on the status of online poker and shows why people still call him "The Mouth."
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