Basically in this one you needed to win about 3 sit-n-gos and you would take home the title. This was a feat not easily done, especially because it was limit hold ‘em. Limit hold’ em requires a little bit more patience as some of the premium hands you find in no-limit are not necessarily as strong. Nevertheless, 365 players all came out to try their skills/luck at this one. In the end it was Brian Meinders who would outlast them all.

After the final table was reached 10 players had a chance to win their third sit-n-go and WSOP glory. Play started off considerably slow until Christopher Hartman met his doom. He was out when Matthew Schreiber’s A-J paired the Ace on the river, sending him to the rail in 10th. With the elimination of Hartman, players started to bust out like Pamela Lee Anderson did in her first training bra! Ian Johns was next to go when his A-A was downed by the trip Jacks of Meinders on the river. Meinders got the next one too when his A-Q would hold up against the A-9 of Sean Rice, ousting him in 8th. Schreiber was next to taste defeat just moments later when his A-J was done in by the J-4 of Christopher Vitch. Meinders decided he wanted another one and took out Preston Derden by catching two Aces on the flop, giving him trips. Needless to say Derden didn’t catch up and was gone in 6th. Meinders wasn’t done. He eliminated yet another player when the already crippled, Brock Parker got it all in with Q-5. However, Meinders would turn his pocket 9′s into a full-house by the end of the hand, sending Parker on his way. The rampage of Meinders would continue when he eliminated Victor Ramdin with a middle pair. Vitch would be eliminated next when his K-5 was out run by Darin Thomas’ J-2.

Meinders had a huge chip advantage going into heads up and the match didn’t last long. Thomas put up a valiant effort, but ultimately was no match for Meinders. He finally bowed out when he got it all in with Q-6 up against the 5-3 of Meinders. He was ahead when he paired his 6 on the flop, but the river gave Meinders a straight. It was Meinders first bracelet and one dominant performance at the final table.

More to come at the WSOP.

Mike “Daggum” Krisle – Beat Writer – AGP

In this event last year Austin Scott fell just short of winning after making the final table and finishing 8th. This year was a different story as he would make the final table again, but be victorious.

When the final day began it was Vadzim Kursevich that had the chip lead. He would actually have that lead most of the day until a key hand happened when the table was down to four. Scott and Kursevich got it all in with a pot of over 3.7 million. Kursevich had 10-9-9-5 and Scott had K-10-10-8. The flop brought 9-5-4, giving Kursevich a set of 9′s and the lead. The turn changed all that when a 10 hit, giving Scott the higher set of 10′s! The river was a 5, securing the hand and an enormous chip lead to Scott. Kursevich would later bust in 3rd.

When Scott got to heads up he had over a 4 to 1 chip advantage against Brett Richey. Richey tried to hang tough, but it was just too much for him to overcome. Richey was sent packing when his K-Q-7-2 was all in after the turn. The board delivered 8-6-2-Q, giving Richey two pair and the lead. However, Scott had a gut-shot straight draw with his 10-7-6-4. The river would be a 5 and complete his straight, giving him the tournament title. This was Scott’s first WSOP bracelet and he would also capture the $361,797 first place prize money to go along with it.

Still more to come at the WSOP.

Mike “Daggum” Krisle – Beat Writer – AGP

There were 256 players that came out for this one and they were all looking for the elusive gold bracelet along with a place in WSOP history. However, in the end there can only be one. This time it was Joe Cassidy.

Many names had made it far in the event, but all would bow out eventually. One of the biggest stories of the WSOP thus far is Phil Ivey. He entered the day with the chip lead and kept it most of the day, eventually making his third final table this year. Also in the hunt was 1998 Main Event champ, Scotty Nguyen. Mike “the mouth” Matusow also made the final table, but would be eliminated in 8th. After Gregory Jamison was eliminated in 5th place, there was a long battle with the remaining 4 players.

The final four consisted of:

• Meng La
• Phil Ivey
• Joe Cassidy
• Scotty Nguyen

La would be railed next and the final three continued the battle. Ivey seemed to be pulling away from his opponents and was looking for his 9th career bracelet. However, after the break he lost all his momentum and was beginning to let his stack slip away. Ivey was down several times to about nothing, but managed to build it back up with miracle hands. Although it was not to be as he was finally taken out by Cassidy when his two pair of Queens and 8′s was beaten by Cassidy’s Kings and Jacks.

Nguyen and Cassidy would return the next day to finish the battle. Going into heads up play Cassidy had a good sized chip lead. At one point Cassidy must have been frustrated as he believed he had the tournament wrapped up, but couldn’t vanquish the chip straved Nguyen. Nguyen would counter however and build his stack up to nearly even with Cassidy’s. From there Cassidy would cripple Nguyen again and the 5 time champ would be out when his two pair was beaten by Cassidy’s straight on the river. Sorry “baby,” no bracelet this time! This was Cassidy’s first WSOP win and he took home $294,777 in prize money.

So much more to come at the 2012 WSOP stay tuned.

Mike “Daggum” Krisle – Beat Writer – AGP

Over 924 players came out for this short-handed event. Short-handed hold ‘em events are unique as they do not feature a full ring of players on each table. In this event only 6 players are on each table at a time. Playing with fewer players on a table brings in a bigger range of hands that can and will be played. In the end it was Simon Charette who would take the event and the WSOP gold bracelet.

When the field narrowed to 18 many notable players were still alive such as Freddy Deeb, Elky Grospellier and Andrew Lichtenberger. Deeb finished 10th and Lichtenberger would finish 8th, just two away from the final table. Grospellier played very well all tournament long, but he was the first to go when the final table was reached. He was gone when his pocket 7′s could not out run the A-K of Luis Cruz. After that elimination the pace would begin to slow down with no one gaining a significant chip lead except Charette, who quietly built up his stack. Foster Hays was next to hit the rail when his 4-5 was no match against the A-8 of Artem Metalidi. Eddie Blumenthal would see the payout desk next. He was feeling good about his all-in because he had A-Q. That is until Charette flipped over pocket Aces! Needless to say, he couldn’t improve and was gone in 4th. Cruz fought hard 3-handed, but eventually lost it all when his pocket 6′s fell to the “dead man’s hand” of Charette.

Heads up play didn’t last very long at all. In fact, it only lasted a few hands. Metalidi met his doom when he went all-in pre-flop with A-2 offsuit. Charette had pocket 6′s and they held to give him the title and the bracelet. It is the first bracelet for Charette and after finishing second last year in an event, this no doubt feels great. He also took home $567,624 for his efforts.

Still more results to come at this year’s WSOP.

Mike “Daggum” Krisle – Beat Writer – AGP

On the final day of play 9 players would return to the Rio and try to become this year’s first lowball winner. Among those were former bracelet winners, Josh Arieh and Layne Flack, although they would bow out in 9th and 8th respectively. Their hunt for another bracelet would have to wait. Other notable pros and those that most were watching were David Baker and Shawn Buchanan. They were both seeking their first bracelets. Von Altizer would be eliminated in 7th place when she couldn’t draw to the better 8-5 low of Benjamin Lazer and the final table was officially set.

There was a lot of chip movement and action when the final table began, but Buchanan’s bid for his first bracelet would end when he paired on his final draw and was eliminated by Lazer in 6th. Lazer wasn’t done railing players as he got the next one as well. Jason Lavalle was done when his 10-low was destroyed by the 7-low of Lazer and then there were 4. It was the battle of the short stacks to see who was going to get third as Lazer and Randy Ohel had most of the chips. It was David Baker who would get the best of Farzad Bonyadi when his 8-5 low beat out the 8-6 low of Bonyadi, sending him home in 4th. Baker wouldn’t last much longer as his 7-4-3-2 would pair up on the final draw and Ohel’s 7-6-5-2-3 would end the first bracelet run attempt by Baker.

The two remaining players would battle for almost 6 1/2 hours before a champion would be crowned. Ohel and Lazer would trade the chip lead so many times it was difficult to see who had the upper hand most of the time. The reason for that is that both players at one point had nearly all the chips. only to see the other battle back to even. Finally, Ohel had gotten Lazer down to one big blind. Lazer had 8-6-5-3 going into the final draw as Ohel already revealed his 9-6-4-3-2 low to the board. Lazer needed to be better than that to keep him afloat. It was not to be as he paired his 5 on the final draw and Ohel was crowned the winner at nearly 2:00 am. It was Ohel’s first bracelet and he would take home $145,247 in prize money. It was the 2nd longest match for a limit event in the history of the WSOP.

Stay tuned for more from this year’s WSOP.

Mike “Daggum” Krisle – Beat Writer – AGP

It took almost 27 hours of play, including several small raises from Benjamin Scholl to take home this one on the final day of play. Limit hold ‘em is such a grind as most hands that you see in no-limit do not carry the same weight in limit hold ‘em. Once the final table was set, all eyes would be on Jeff Shulman as he and his father, Barry Shulman were playing the final table simultaneously.

The first player to exit the final table was Ayman Qutami and closely behind him was Nicholas Derke. Both players were eliminated by Andrew Prock, who at that point would take over the chip lead. Jeff Shulman would snatch the lead back soon after. After the dinner break 3 more players were eliminated; Matthew Woodward (7th), Matt Glantz (6th), and Raymond Dehkharghani (5th).

Jeff Shulman wouldn’t hold his chip lead long and would continue to see his chip stack dwindle as the day grew on. Jesse Martin was eliminated in 4th when his Q-9 could not catch up to a flopped pair of 2′s by Prock. The final three battled for a few hours until finally Jeff Shulman was eliminated when his A-K paired on the turn, only to see Scholl’s 9-8 make two pair on the river. With that knockout Scholl would take a 4 to 1 chip lead heading into heads-up. Scholl would eliminate Prock in a short time when his A-10 would pair and Prock was left needing a 3 on the river to save himself. He didn’t and Scholl was the event winner, taking home his first bracelet and $206,760 in prize money.

Stay tuned for more at this year’s WSOP.

Mike “Daggum” Krisle – Beat Writer – AGP

Nearly 2,800 players packed in for this year’s first $1,000 buy-in. The first day eliminated all but 227 and by day three we were down to 17. After a few hours of play in day 3 the final table was set.

The first hand of the final table would be the last for Joshua Field. He made his move with K-J, but could not pair and the pocket 9′s of Jamie Armstrong sent him to the rail. Jason Manngunio was next out as his A-7 was out-kicked by the A-8 of Eric Baldwin. Jean-Louis Santoni would go bye-bye in 7th when his pair of Jacks was outdone by the turned flush of Noah Vaillancourt.

John Esposito would eliminate the next player when he made a flush on the turn, sending Eric Davis to the payout desk in 6th. After that Vailliancourt would take out Baldwin when his A-4 would make trips take demolish the pocket Queens of Baldwin. A little over an hour later Esposito would finally succumb when he was outkicked by Armstrong’s A-8 to his A-6. They both paired their kicker cards and Esposito couldn’t improve, exiting in 4th. Vailliancourt’s wild up and down ride all day would finally come to an end when Armstrong’s A-Q outlasted his Q-10. For his efforts Vailliancourt collected nearly $200,000.

Heads-up lasted a little over two levels of play. The two players, Armstrong and Michael Gathy had been quiet most of the day, especially Gathy.
He had built a stack slowly all day and did it under the radar. They would exchange the chip lead throughout most of their match until finally Gathy took Armstrong out when his pocket 10′s held against pocket 9′s, giving him the victory. Gathy won his first bracelet and seemingly without anyone knowing. He also took home $440,820 in prize money.

More event results to come at the 2012 WSOP.

Mike “Daggum” Krisle – Beat Writer – AGP

The field was over 2,300 players in this one, creating a $3 million prize pool, even though the buy-in was only $1,500. By day 3 the field was narrowed to just 17 players. A few hours in and we had our final table. The pace was relatively quick all day and it didn’t slow down when the final table was reached either.

Gary Burks came into the final table as the chip leader, yet he was first to go within a few hands. Cliff Goldkind got him all-in with A-K. Goldkind had pocket Aces though. The flop yielded K-9-4 all diamonds. Burks was still behind even though he had paired his King. The turn was a King giving the edge back to Burks with trips! However, the river was another diamond, giving the Goldkind the nut flush and sending Burks home wondering what happened. From there the eliminations seem to come one right after another. Barry Shulman would fall at the hands of Goldkind as well when his flush draw would not come and the trip Aces of Goldkind prevailed. A few minutes later David Peters was out when his K-4 couldn’t catch up to Patrick Smith’s A-J. More eliminations would follow until eventually we would be down to just Goldkind and Kennii Nguyen.

You would’ve thought it was a circus from the hat Nguyen was wearing. It wouldn’t give him any special powers though. Goldkind had a commanding chip lead going into the heads-up battle. The battle lasted but just one hand after the dinner break when Goldkind’s pocket 6′s held against the K-J of Nguyen. Goldkind would win his first bracelet and take home a whopping $559,514 in prize money.

Stay tuned for more event results at the WSOP.

Mike “Daggum” Krisle – Beat Writer – AGP