2011 World Series of Poker
Hoai Pham Makes Quad Queens...And the Whole Room Hears About It
The peaceful hum of chips being shuffled throughout the cavernous Amazon Room was broken suddenly by triumphant cries of joy. Hoai Pham, who won the $500 Casino Employee's event last year, began screaming "I made four queens! Oh my God, four queens, four queens!" while pacing around his table.
We rushed over to see what the commotion was about and saw Pham's laying face up on the felt. His opponent had in front of him, but the board read and he stood in shock while staring vacantly at the cards.
We were informed that after two small bets to begin the action, Pham and his opponent got their nearly equal stacks of 60,000 into the middle. Pham was crushed by the other player's cowboys, but the turn and river provided him with an unbeatable four of a kind. Although Pham is "a champion," as he told us after the hand, his unsportsmanlike outburst following the win was deemed excessive celebration and he was assessed a one-orbit penalty.
The unlikely victory pushed Pham to over 130,000, while his crestfallen opponent had to be ushered to the cashier's cage, still stunned and shaken after the brutal beat.
Giocatore | Chip | Avanzamento |
---|---|---|
Hoai Pham |
130,000
121,100
|
121,100 |
Nacscimento No More
Sam Trickett has just doubled up to more than 60,000 in a massive hand against Rodrigo Nascimento.
As Trickett recalled to us, he raised from late position before Nascimento called from the big blind to go heads-up to a flop that read . Nascimento check-called Trickett's bet of 3,200, then both players checked the turn of the before Nascimento open-shoved on the river of the .
Trickett went deep into the tank - and we mean almost-to-the-center-of-the-earth deep - before making a crying call with .
"Nice call," said Nascimento, who showed for nothing but a busted flush draw. Their table was broken immediately after that, but no sooner had Nascimento had sat down, he was back up and out of the Amazon Room to sign off on his payout.
Giocatore | Chip | Avanzamento |
---|---|---|
Sam Trickett |
62,000
32,000
|
32,000 |
Rodrigo Nascimento
|
Eliminato |
Who's Stacking and Who's Lacking?
Mo' chip counts from the flo-wah.
Giocatore | Chip | Avanzamento |
---|---|---|
David Rounick |
250,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
Aneris Adomkevicius |
240,000
45,000
|
45,000 |
James Kerr |
180,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
Kwinsee Khoa Tran |
178,000
98,000
|
98,000 |
Steven Burkholder
|
130,000
40,400
|
40,400 |
Jonathan Spinks |
130,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
Matthew Waxman |
80,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
Benjamin Fineman
|
72,000
-8,000
|
-8,000 |
Robert Cheung |
72,000
-18,000
|
-18,000 |
|
||
Melanie Weisner |
38,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
Jeff Blenkarn |
36,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
Justin Smith |
35,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
Joshua Mancuso |
30,000
-78,700
|
-78,700 |
Bernard Lee |
22,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
Bryan Devonshire | Eliminato |
Weisner Ships it!
A player on the hi-jack opened for 4,300, the cutoff folded and Melanie Weisner announced, "All in," from the button for 41,000 total. The blinds folded and her opponent squirmed in his seat and muttered, "It would be so sick..."
He tanked for a few minutes and then asked the dealer to call the clock...on himself. A tournament official came over and began the countdown. About half way through, Weisner's opponent mucked a face up and the other face down, which got a chuckle out of Weisner.
"You had pocket fours!?" Weisner inquired. Her opponent remained stoic.
Weisner is back up to 47,000.
Kwinsee Counterfeits
From under the gun, Kwinsee Khoa Tran raised and the action folded around to his opponent in the small blind, who re-raised from the small blind. The big blind folded, but then Tran four-bet it and the small blind flat-called before the dealer spread the flop of .
The small blind checked, Tran bet 18,000 and the small blind then check-raised to 18,000 before Tran snap-shoved. The small blind insta-called.
Tran:
Small Blind:
Despite getting his money in with bullets, the small blind player had hit the full house, but Tran caught lightning in a bottle after the turn and river ran out , - counterfeit!
Giocatore | Chip | Avanzamento |
---|---|---|
Kwinsee Khoa Tran |
180,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
A Look at the Current WSOP Player-of-the-Year Leaderboard
Current 2011 WSOP Player-of-the-Year Leaderboard
Player | Points | Cashes | Final Tables | Bracelets | Winnings |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Phil Hellmuth | 393.75 | 2 | 2 | 0 | $500,140 |
Sam Stein | 385.75 | 3 | 2 | 1 | $690,451 |
John Juanda | 336 | 2 | 1 | 1 | $410,067 |
Amir Lehavot | 330.75 | 2 | 1 | 1 | $578,454 |
Sean Getzwiller | 325 | 2 | 2 | 1 | $647,854 |
Jason Mercier | 323.45 | 4 | 2 | 1 | $670,471 |
Mark Schmid | 317.75 | 3 | 1 | 1 | $499,861 |
Steve Landfish | 317.70 | 2 | 2 | 0 | $330,044 |
Viacheslav Zhukov | 315 | 1 | 1 | 1 | $465,216 |
Jake Cody | 313.13 | 2 | 1 | 1 | $856,427 |
Eric Rodawig | 311.50 | 2 | 1 | 1 | $446,954 |
Daniel Idema | 309.50 | 2 | 1 | 1 | $384,738 |
*Standings through Event #35
Rounick Running Over Table
After Melanie Weisner raised to 4,400 from middle position, chip leader David Rounick defended his small blind.
Flop:
Weisner checked to Rounick and he responded with a bet of 8,000. This forced Weisner to release her hand and Rounick's mountain of chips grew a bit higher.
During the last few rounds through the room, we have seen Rounick dragging a series of small pots his way and he seems to be in full control of both his table and this tournament.
Everybody Gets One
Here's another round of payouts for your viewing pleasure (even more pleasurable at this stage if a name is not in it, because they're on their way to more money!)
Place | Name | Country | Amount |
149 | Dan Carter | United Kingdom | $3,314 |
150 | Luke Staudenmaier | United States | $3,314 |
151 | James Lopushinsky | Canada | $3,314 |
152 | Kenneth Krouner | United States | $3,314 |
153 | Paul Odum | United States | $3,314 |
154 | Dan Lu | United States | $3,314 |
155 | Bryan Devonshire | United States | $3,314 |
156 | Bobby Lanham | United States | $3,314 |
157 | Peter Dawson | United States | $3,314 |
158 | Shawn Busse | United States | $3,314 |
159 | Matthew Modaff | United States | $3,314 |
160 | Greg Ostrander | United States | $3,314 |
161 | Brandon Wong | United States | $3,314 |
162 | Dudley Peters | United States | $3,314 |
163 | Ryan Pochedly | United States | $3,314 |
164 | Ryan Gafford | United States | $3,314 |
165 | Martin Stevens | United States | $3,314 |
166 | Ryan Karp | United States | $3,314 |
167 | Evan Cutler | United States | $3,314 |
168 | Brandon Becker | United States | $3,314 |
169 | Richard Washinsky | United States | $3,314 |
170 | Aliaksei Kastsiushyn | United States | $3,314 |
171 | Robert Bennett | United States | $3,314 |
172 | Michael Holland | United States | $3,018 |
173 | Daniel Burket | United States | $3,018 |
174 | Steve Brecher | United States | $3,018 |
175 | Calvin Anderson | United States | $3,018 |
176 | Nikolai Sears | United States | $3,018 |
Jurgens Surges
The action folded around to Tad Jurgens who raised to 5,000 before the flop; the player in the big blind called, then led out for 15,000 after the flop of . Jurgens raised to 40,000 and the big blind called before checking his option on the turn of the .
Jurgens shoved for 70,000 and the big blind snap-called.
Jurgens:
Big Blind:
The blanked out on the river and as a result, Jurgens is now up to 230,000 with only minutes to go before the break!