Hellmuth busts from Five Diamond WPT with.....

Pulled from Cardplayer's live updates:

Phil Hellmuth Eliminated

A player raised in early position to 11,000 and Phil Hellmuth called from the big blind. The flop came Ad Ah 9d with and both players checked. The turn was the 6d and Hellmuth checked. His opponent bet 18,000 and Hellmuth moved in for a total of 60,000. His opponent called and showed A8 for trip aces. Hellmuth showed 7d 4d for a flush but the river was the 9h double pairing the board and giving his opponent a full house, eliminating Hellmuth.


He even had my favorite suit!

74 wins huge pot in WSOP heads up battle

Taken from PokerNews:

Play slowed down for a bit as Demidov picked his spots carefully to try and grab chips where he could in the face of Eastgate's lead. Finally, the dam burst and the two players collided in another massive confrontation. Demidov opened with a raise to two million from the button, and Eastgate called. Eastgate checked the Kd Td 7c flop, and Demidov checked behind. Eastgate fired out 2.5 million when the Jd hit the turn, and Demidov raised to eight million. Eastgate called, and then checked the river when the 3s came down. Demidov thought for a moment before betting out 12 million, and Eastgate made the call in the biggest pot yet in the heads-up match. Demidov showed Ac 9s for ace-high, but Eastgate tabled 74d for the diamond flush and dragged a pot worth over 44 million.

I sucessfully dodged all spoilers for two days and that made me happy. Before the final table was even decided I really felt this would be the year for the young internet pro, and I was hoping Hellmuths record would be broken and it was! There are just too many of these amazing young kids now for one to not clinch the big one you know?

Moreso I'm happy that a very capable competent player won this year and not a half decent amateur riding a once in a lifetime wave of luck like the last two champs Jerry Yang and Jamie Gold. It's not to detract from their skill, but only to pump up Peter Eastgate's abilities. His win may not bring a slew of new players to the game like a Dennis Phillips win would have, but to me that's ok. Poker's still going strong for now and ultimately I think the defeat of the UIGEA will help usher in a new online boom more than any WSOP champ at this point.

I think the 4 month delay wasn't as bad or as good as everyone thought it would be. I did like the change of venue and having it be in the Penn and Teller theatre, I think that should stay. But as a poker fan I'm still extremely unsatisfied that a 4 hour heads up match can be boiled down to 2 hands. I wish there was a way we could still get ratings and advertising dollars but at the same time show some more actual POKER and not just all-in hands and bustouts you know? People on 2+2 had mentioned doing it Poker After Dark style and chopping it up into multiple episodes and I don't see why it couldn't be done? If it's a matter of scheduling, then don't televise so many prelims, I dunno.

I just think there's so much potential to make it better than it is now. Someone just needs some balls to take a risk and keep experimenting with the format.

I love my 74

Bruce had his 30th bday party last night. We broke out a cash game with the regulars and a few fish who jumped in to blow through 20 bucks quickly. One of his good friends Ernie did it on the very first hand with A9 against KK. Ernie hit 2nd pair and that was good enough! :)

I was able to bluff 74 2/2 last night which was nice. First time is the one I remember most. I bring it in for 80 cents in early position. Eric calls me in the big blind. Flop is K 5 3, all clubs. He leads out for like $1.20 and I pop him up another $3.50. I did not have a club in my hand, but this move is something I picked up watching Cardrunners training vidoes. On a flop of all one suit and someone has a pair it's very hard for them to call without one of that suit in their hand. Eric had KQ and had to lay it down subsequently and because I had position and control of the hand, I took it DOWN BABY! :)

If memory serves me the 2nd time I won was against Pat where he had JJ. Once again I'm first in the pot preflop so I raise to 80 cents. Pat called and I think Eric did too. Flop comes Q x x. I lead out for $2 and Pat calls. The turn is another blank low card, I just have 7 high. I decide to bet $3 so that it looks like I want a call and I'm milking him with a hand like KQ AQ, etc. It worked and he folded and I showed it to him. Hehehe.

I was behind most of the night after I 3bet Eric with AJ for 4.20 and got called in two spots. I pushed my last $7 something after him and the other newbie checked to me on a flop I completely missed. Eric looked me up with 55 and it held for the next 2 streets.

The night got hazy after that but just like last time as the game got more shorthanded I was able to chip up, bluff and do a lot of things I can't always do at a full table of regulars.

Oh yeah the only other memorable hand I played was raising 2.5x to 50 cents with 24c under the gun. Flop comes one club it gets checked around. Turn's another club and I semibluff, get called by Eric. Hit my 3rd club on the river and value bet him, get called. Fun to turn over 24 for the winning hand hehe. Can you tell I was feeling confident and cocky last night?

Are you smoking yet?

The title above is a family guy reference from the episode where the a tobacco company takes over Peter's company. They have a clip of old school subliminal advertising in a Lassie episode where the guy comes in and says "Smoke" 2 times and then the final one he asks the title question. Hilarious..

The reason I bring it up was I decided to play the smoke/fire game with Bruce this past Sunday in our cash game and I started out well. But then that f-in luckbox started hitting fire (flop is all red) over and over again. And not only that but he kept hitting the bonuses when entire board was red. After he hit that like 3 times in 15 hands I finally opted out.

Obviously I haven't been inspired to write much at all. What can I say? I'm a fickle blogger. But honestly there hasn't been all THAT much to report. I'm down about $100 right now. However, I've been racking up the points as of late. I took down a 600 point 2 table SNG for 10K points last weekend. That put me up to 18K points.

That prompted me to buy a new flexfit hat with stitching. :) And now that I just got an IPOD for my birthday (thanks mom!). My new game plan is to get up to 25K points and order a customized baseball jersey. On the back I'm going to have Dray and the numbers 74, which is my favorite hand. It's going to be sooo sick. That way when I go out and public and say I have my favorite hand and someone asks what's that, I'll just stand up and turnaround. :) It's in the same spirit of the Fucking River shirt.

I played Water Tank last night and made 5th the first session which was cool. I was able to shove over and over to build a stack and stay in. Always love that. Didn't last long in the 2nd session. Came home and took down a 400 Point SNG for 3500 points bringing me back up to 18K points. Then put in some cash time. Here's a few hands where I bought it on the river:

Full Tilt Poker Game #8133481856: Table Gordo (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:02:45 ET - 2008/09/19
Seat 1: Blue1101 ($4)
Seat 2: Burro86 ($3.75)
Seat 3: jlmk ($15.40)
Seat 4: Dray ($9.25)
Seat 5: Phil Studman ($10)
Seat 6: tonytv6 ($6.15)
jlmk posts the small blind of $0.05
Dray posts the big blind of $0.10
5 seconds left to act
Blue1101 posts $0.10
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [Ad 2c]****
tonytv6 calls $0.10
Blue1101 checks
Burro86 raises to $0.20
jlmk folds
Dray calls $0.10
tonytv6 has 15 seconds left to act
tonytv6 raises to $0.30
Blue1101 folds
Burro86 calls $0.10
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray calls $0.10
*** FLOP *** [5d Kh 3h]
Dray checks
tonytv6 bets $0.20
Burro86 folds
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray calls $0.20
*** TURN *** [5d Kh 3h] [5c]
Dray checks
tonytv6 checks
*** RIVER *** [5d Kh 3h 5c] [6h]
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray bets $1.45
tonytv6 has 15 seconds left to act
tonytv6 folds
Uncalled bet of $1.45 returned to Dray
Dray mucks
Dray wins the pot ($1.35)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1.45 | Rake $0.10
Board: [5d Kh 3h 5c 6h]
Seat 1: Blue1101 folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Burro86 (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: jlmk (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Dray (big blind) collected ($1.35), mucked
Seat 5: Phil Studman is sitting out
Seat 6: tonytv6 folded on the River


Full Tilt Poker Game #8133632728: Table Gordo (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:17:46 ET - 2008/09/19
Seat 1: Blue1101 ($6.75)
Seat 3: iching64 ($10.25)
Seat 4: Dray ($10.45)
Seat 5: Phil Studman ($8.30)
Seat 6: tonytv6 ($6.30)
Phil Studman posts the small blind of $0.05
tonytv6 posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [4c 5s]****
Blue1101 folds
iching64 folds
Dray raises to $0.40
Phil Studman folds
tonytv6 calls $0.30
*** FLOP *** [Ks 6h As]
tonytv6 has 15 seconds left to act
tonytv6 checks
Dray bets $0.60
tonytv6 calls $0.60
*** TURN *** [Ks 6h As] [2h]
reno9one1 sits down
tonytv6 has 15 seconds left to act
tonytv6 checks
reno9one1 adds $3.40
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray checks
*** RIVER *** [Ks 6h As 2h] [7s]
tonytv6 has 15 seconds left to act
tonytv6 checks
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray bets $1.50
tonytv6 folds
Uncalled bet of $1.50 returned to Dray
Dray mucks
Dray wins the pot ($1.85)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $2.05 | Rake $0.20
Board: [Ks 6h As 2h 7s]
Seat 1: Blue1101 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: iching64 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Dray (button) collected ($1.85), mucked
Seat 5: Phil Studman (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: tonytv6 (big blind) folded on the River

Way behind or way ahead hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #8133887268: Table Gordo (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:45:29 ET - 2008/09/19
Seat 1: snark8199 ($14.20)
Seat 2: jAyEoNe ($8.45)
Seat 3: iching64 ($11.20)
Seat 4: Dray ($10.15)
Seat 5: Phil Studman ($8.30)
Seat 6: shigehito77 ($7.30)
snark8199 posts the small blind of $0.05
jAyEoNe posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [Qs Js]****
iching64 folds
Dray calls $0.10
Phil Studman folds
shigehito77 folds
snark8199 folds
jAyEoNe checks
*** FLOP *** [4d 9s Qh]
jAyEoNe bets $0.25
Dray calls $0.25
*** TURN *** [4d 9s Qh] [5s]
jAyEoNe bets $0.75
Dray calls $0.75
*** RIVER *** [4d 9s Qh 5s] [6h]
jAyEoNe checks
Dray checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jAyEoNe shows [9c 8h] a pair of Nines
Dray shows [Qs Js] a pair of Queens
Dray wins the pot ($2.05) with a pair of Queens
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $2.25 | Rake $0.20
Board: [4d 9s Qh 5s 6h]
Seat 1: snark8199 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: jAyEoNe (big blind) showed [9c 8h] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 3: iching64 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Dray showed [Qs Js] and won ($2.05) with a pair of Queens
Seat 5: Phil Studman didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: shigehito77 (button) didn't bet (folded)

Big big hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #8133941984: Table Gordo (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:51:40 ET - 2008/09/19
Seat 1: snark8199 ($14.25)
Seat 2: jAyEoNe ($7.40)
Seat 3: iching64 ($11.25)
Seat 4: Dray ($11.10)
Seat 5: Phil Studman ($8.20)
Seat 6: gingernation ($9.90)
iching64 posts the small blind of $0.05
Dray posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Dray [Ks 9c]
Phil Studman folds
gingernation calls $0.10
snark8199 calls $0.10
jAyEoNe folds
iching64 folds
Dray checks
*** FLOP *** [9s 8s 9h]****
Dray checks
gingernation bets $0.10
snark8199 has 15 seconds left to act
snark8199 calls $0.10
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray raises to $0.60
gingernation calls $0.50
snark8199 has 15 seconds left to act
snark8199 calls $0.50
*** TURN *** [9s 8s 9h] [8c]
Dray checks
gingernation checks
snark8199 has 15 seconds left to act
snark8199 bets $2
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray calls $2
gingernation folds
*** RIVER *** [9s 8s 9h 8c] [7d]
Dray has 15 seconds left to act
Dray bets $2.50
snark8199 has 15 seconds left to act
snark8199 calls $2.50
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Dray shows [Ks 9c] a full house, Nines full of Eights
snark8199 mucks
Dray wins the pot ($10.05) with a full house, Nines full of Eights
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $11.15 | Rake $1.10
Board: [9s 8s 9h 8c 7d]
Seat 1: snark8199 mucked [8h 7h] - a full house, Eights full of Nines
Seat 2: jAyEoNe (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: iching64 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Dray (big blind) showed [Ks 9c] and won ($10.05) with a full house, Nines full of Eights
Seat 5: Phil Studman didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: gingernation folded on the Turn

Playing Craig's deep stack tourney tonight. I want to take this down for around $150-200 if I can and then take it to Alan's and run it up further in the cash game. We'll see!