39th Annual World Series of Poker Main Event Day 5 | 2008 World Series of Poker

07-12-2008 18:58 UTC-8

Darren Grant, Yde van Deutekom Eliminated

[user75032]

Nicholas Sliwinski has become the executioner of his table. On back-to-back hands, he took out two opponents. First he eliminated Darren Grant by raising all in on a board of {10-Spades}

after Grant bet 300,000. Grant made the call with {J-Hearts}

and was way behind Sliwinski's {9-Spades}

jack-high straight. Grant couldn't fill up when the river came {3-Clubs}

.

Sliwinski needed a bit more help to take out van Deutekom. Sliwinski raised preflop to 60,000, then called when van Deutekom reraised all in for about 300,000. Sliwinski made the call with {Q-Spades}

, only to see van Deutekom show {K-Spades}

. A queen on the river shipped the pot to Sliwinski and sent van Deutekom home.

Sliwinski now has about 2.5 million in chips. His sister is on the rail, and told the female dealer who dealt both hands to Sliwinski, "If my brother doesn't marry you, I will."

07-12-2008 18:57 UTC-8

Loecke Bullies Outhred

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[user67765]

Tim Loecke opened with a raise to 60,000 from early position with Alex Outhred calling in the cutoff and Darus Suharto coming along in the big blind.

They took a flop of {K-Diamonds}

and Loecke led out for 125,000. Outhred then made it 375,000 to go. Suharto stepped aside before Loecke moved all in. Outhred thought for a few moments before letting his hand go to slip to about 700,000. Loecke has now cracked the two million chip mark.

Tags: Alex Outhred Tim Loecke

07-12-2008 18:56 UTC-8

Dwayne Stacey Eliminated

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[user40108]

Dwayne Stacey got the last of his 760,000 chips into the middle with a top three hand. Unfortunately for Stacey, his {Q-Clubs}

was no good against the {A-Spades}

of Matt Matros.

Stacey got no help from the {K-Clubs}

board and was eliminated. Matros cruised up to about 1,650,000 chips on the hand.

07-12-2008 18:56 UTC-8

Parsons Doubles Through Vos

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[user75032]

It was a tough spot for Mark Vos. Lisa Parsons opened the pot with a raise to 70,000. Vos looked down at {J-Hearts}

and reraised. Parsons quickly moved all in for a total of about 550,000. At that point, Vos was practically priced in to make the call, which he did.

Parsons opened up {A-Hearts}

. Her pocket rockets held when the board came {7-Clubs}

. She doubles up to 1.2 million and Vos drops to 1.75 million.

07-12-2008 18:55 UTC-8

Aditya Agarwal Eliminated

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[user67765]

All the chips were in preflop with Sean Davis making the call after Aditya Agarwal had moved all in.

Davis: {A-Hearts}

Agarwal:

Agarwal had survived these dominated situations earlier and looked good to escape again when the flop came {10-Clubs}

as he spiked a pair of tens. However the {J-Spades}

on the turn gave Davis the nut straight and left Agarwal drawing to a queen to chop. The river was the {8-Diamonds}

and Agarwal is eliminated in 96th place for $51,466 in prize money.

Tags: Adi Agarwal Sean Davis

07-12-2008 18:48 UTC-8

Lining Up for the Extra Point

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[user37786]

Tim Taylor raised to 70,000 from early position and Brandon Cantu called on the button. Allen Kennedy reraised to 175,000 from the big blind and when Taylor called, Cantu moved in for over three million. Kennedy called, Taylor got out of the way, and Kennedy's {K-Spades}

put him in good shape to double against Cantu's {A-Hearts}

.

And that's just what Kennedy did, as the board ran out {10-Spades}

. When the dealer put that final card on the felt Kennedy jumped up and yelled "Touchdown Georgia!!" and the man decked out in red and black and wearing a Bulldog baseball cap is now up to 2.78 million. Cantu fell to 2.5 million.

07-12-2008 18:41 UTC-8

Kibler-Melby Out

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Shamus

Cort Kibler-Melby shoved his last 275,000 from the button, and Nikolay Losev called from the small blind. Kibler-Melby showed {K-Hearts}

, and Losev {A-Hearts}

.

The flop came a curious {3-Diamonds}

. The turn was the {Q-Spades}

, giving Losev a boat. And the river was the {8-Hearts}

, sending Kibler-Melby home.

Losev is up to 2.75 million.

Tags: Cort Kibler-Melby Nikolay Losev

07-12-2008 18:41 UTC-8

Michelle Flushes Podell in Dramatic Fashion

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[user67765]

Tiffany Michelle over three million chips

Marc Podell opened with a raise to 60,000 before Tiffany Michelle made it 227,000 to go from the hijack position. The action folded around to Podell who moved all in for 433,000. Michelle made the call.

Podell: {10-Diamonds}

Michelle:

The flop came {7-Diamonds}

to give Michelle a monster -- top pair and nut-flush draw. However the turn fell the {10-Clubs}

to give Podell a two-outer for a set of tens to take the lead as the gallery roared. But in a classic suck-resuck moment, the roof of the Rio was lifted as Michelle hit the {3-Diamonds}

on the river to complete her flush and eliminate Podell in amazing circumstances.

Michelle is now up amongst the chip leaders with three million in chips!

Tags: Tiffany Michelle

07-12-2008 18:41 UTC-8

Down to Double Digits

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[user40108]

With just 99 players left, we're at another "pay jump" in which those still standing are guaranteed a slightly larger payday than they were a few moments ago. Let's have another look at how these players would fare if they all were to split the remaining prize pool right now.

The next nine players eliminated will all take home $51,466, however an even chop between all remaining players would mean that they'd all walk away with $476,265, not bad considering that is a few thousand dollars more than 13th place money.

07-12-2008 18:40 UTC-8

"How Do I Get My Money?"

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[user75032]

The first feeling that many of these players feel upon being eliminated from the Main Event is one of deep disappointment. Maybe they got their chips in good, maybe not, but the stark fact is that the dream of a deep run is over.

It's not all bad news, of course. At this point of the tournament, a player who busts out is guaranteed $51,466. The floor who oversaw the all in radios the bustout to the central podium. A runner is then sent to the table, who directs the busted player to the central podium.

At the podium, the recently departed gives in his or her TotalRewards card and photo ID. As one supervisor enters the information, including place of finish, into the computer, another announces the name and hometown of the busted player over the PA system in the Amazon Room. After this process is completed, the player receives a small slip of paper with his or her name and place of finish on it. The slip is initialled by one of the floor supervisors.

The runner then takes the player out of the Amazon Room, across the hall, and down a side hallway to the payouts room. The payouts room feels like the waiting area inside of an unemployment center, with a front desk, several waiting chairs behind it (in case of a high volume of bustouts) and several computer terminals and printers behind that. The player gives in his "finish slip" and TotalRewards card again at the front desk, is asked for a taxpayer ID number, and then is directed to one of the computer terminals.

Another Harrah's representative is waiting at each terminal. They provide various tax forms that have to be filled out and also create a tournament payout receipt showing the player's name, address, certain personal identifying information and the amount of money the player has won.

Once all of those forms are completed, there's one more stop -- the payout cage, located inside the same room. There, at one of five barred windows, players can elect to receive their winnings in any combination of cash, chips, check, wire transfer and/or front money deposit at the Rio.

It's a long process, but there is a certain comaraderie in the room. Everyone who is in there has arrived in the same condition -- busted out of the largest, richest poker tournament in the world. Once the initial feelings of disappointment evaporate, many swap stories with each other, congratulate each other, and begin the celebration of a five- or six-figure payday.