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While our attention shifts slightly once the last Team PokerRoom.com member has exited the main tournament (focusing a bit more on the fun around town the team is having), we'll still be keeping you updated on the action at the WPT Championships as it unwinds here at the Bellagio.
188 players survived to Day 3, with Robert Mizrachi leading the way with 523,200 chips. Other well known pros lurking near the top include Carlos Mortensen (looking to pull off an amazing feat of back-to-back wins after his win in the 2007 WPT Championships), Kenny Tran, and Michael Gracz. Here are the current top ten in chips:
1. Robert Mizrachi - 523,200
2. Jayde Tran - 406,700
3. Eric Richards - 399,500
4. Bryan Devonshire - 393,400
5. Cory Carroll - 384,700
6. John Celii - 376,800
7. Carlos Mortensen - 371,600
8. Kenny Tran - 367,400
9. Michael Gracz - 364,800
10. Jonathan Kalmar - 333,900
With the field trimmed down to less than 200 players, action for the remainder of the tournament will occur solely in th Fontana Room, instead of being split between there and the main poker room as it's been for the last few days.
Andy Black is still in the hunt at the WPT Championships.
Dario Minieri is in 51st place after Day 2, planning on buying many, many scarves if he wins the tournament.
Yesterday saw much of the team descending in force on the poker tables, with blair fitz in action on Day 2 at the WPT Championships and the rest of the team hitting up tournaments at Caesar's Palace's WSOP circuit tournaments that started at noon.
Backing up a bit, though, the team scored some victories in the early hours yesterday. That action junkie blair fitz didn't get his fill of poker on Day 1b of the WPT Championships, as he ran over to Treasure Island and signed up for their late tournament after finishing up play in the WPT Championships! Even better is the fact that he managed to win the 26 person tournament, taking home a bit over $500 for his victory!
The team also represented well in Caesar's 11 PM tournament that finished in the early hours on Monday, taking down both 1st place (which paid out over $3,000) and 9th place. The team had also notched cashes in various tournaments earlier in the week in the Venetian's Deep Stack event as well as the Venetian noon tournament.
monze1 had high hopes yesterday as he was down to the final 19 in Event #1 of Caesar's WSOP circuit series, but he was the first to hit the rails when his 77 ran into a donkey call from A 3, with an ace on the flop bouncing monze1 from the tournament. Guzz06 went very deep in Event #2 but came up just short of the money, bowing out after about ten hours of play.
Many of the players still have some of their allotted $2,000 to use towards tournament entries to spend, so hopefully we'll have tales of big scores to share with you throughout the week.
Guzz06 in action during Event #2 at Caesar's.
retypeNick doesn't seem to like the action in Event #2.
whassup x and gabrielsan69 seated beside one another in Event #2.
Time definitely flies when you're having fun, and it's hard to believe that the team has been in Vegas for a week now, soaking up the best the amazing city has to offer. Caught up in the whirlwind of the moment, it's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture of what's been an incredible, incredible week which has included:
* Staying in the Bellagio, one of the world's finest hotels.
* Excellent dinners in some of the world's best restaurants.
* Sightseeing at the top of the Stratosphere and the gondolas of the Venetian.
* A private poker tournament with $30,000 in prizes held in a luxurious private suite at Red Rocks Casino.
* Poker, poker, and more poker, with players getting $2,000 to enter any tournaments they want around town.
* blair fitz making it to Day 2 of the 2008 WPT Championships and more than holding his own with the likes of Gus Hansen, Marcel Luske, and Antonio Esfandiari.
* Amazing seats at the Bernard Hopkins/Joe Calzaghe boxing match.
* Amazing seats at the Mary J Blige/Jay Z concert.
* Shopping galore, made even better by the dollar/euro exchange rate.
* Relaxing poolside at the Bellagio with all the rich, beautiful people.
* Limo rides around town
* Late nights on the town in some of the world's best nightclubs.
* And much, much, much more.
As if that's not enough, the adventure isn't over yet. While some team members are heading home the next few days, others are here for the rest of the week, with plans of possible trips to the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and, of course, poker poker and more poker, as well as excellent dinners, shows, shopping, and more.
If this doesn't serve as the perfect sales pitch to encourage you to take your own shot at winning a spot on Team PokerRoom.com for the 2008 WSOP (with finals running four days a week now), well, there simply must be something wrong with you, as we're talking about a dream vacation with the perfect mixture of poker, fun, and sun, in one of the world's most dynamic, exciting cities that never sleeps.
The gardens by the Bellagio pool.
With fish like this at every table, it's easy to make a big profit at the poker tables in Vegas.
Amazing seats at an amazing boxing match.
Bubble baths in luxurious private suites.
It's always a sunny, beautiful afternoon inside the Venetian.
Enjoying the view from the top of the Stratosphere.
5:26 PM
He battled on the best he could with a short stack and no love from the poker gods, but blair fitz's run is done midway through Day 2 of the WPT Championships. In what was a recurring story in today's action, he found a good hand in pocket 10s and finally made his stand with his short stack, only to run into a bigger pair in the form of QQ.
Not only did he acquit himself quite well at the tables and did a great job representing Team PokerRoom in the tournament, but he more than held his own for a full day of play with the likes of Gus Hansen, Antonio Esfandiari, and Marcel Luske. Our winner of the "best Bluffer" award also didn't just sit on his hands and wait for huge pairs to play, either, as he got in there and mixed it up with them, bluffing and raising with some of the best players in the world of poker.
So hold your head high, blair fitz, and continue to crush the cash games, tournaments, and Wheel of Fortune slot machines here in Vegas for the rest of the time on your trip.
blair fitz and gabrielsan69 sharing bad beat stories by the pool about their respective exits from tournaments today.
3:54 PM
He'd definitely like to have more chips, but blair fitz is still alive and kicking with 26,000 chips at the second break of the day. He said the last level was "Up and down and up and down and up and down...", as he kept chipping up to 30-32K, getting knocked back down to 18-20K, chipping back up, etc.
His new table isn't quite as scary as the last two but he's got two huge, active stacks to his left (including Tom "Durrrr" Dwan who's wearing a stylish pink rilly hat today after losing a prop bet), so he's having to carefully pick his spots to commit chips as, more likely than not, he'll face and re-raise and be playing for his entire stack.
Blinds are now 600/1200 with a 200 ante.
blair fitz sitting next to a very stylish hat.
Now THAT'S a stylish hat!
2:46 PM
blair fitz had previously been at a table right next to the rail in the main poker room at the Bellagio so we could keep close tabs on him but he's now been moved to a table much farther back in the room. The good news is that he had about 25,000 chips when he as moved, so he's picked up a few chips since the last update.
There's likely not an "easy" table in the joint at this stage, but here's to hoping that for once he's sitting at a table where more than half of his opponents are very well known pros.
Approximately 350 players are still alive and in action at the moment.
The ever-dapper Marcel Luske in action on Day 2.
2:41 PM
Mixed blessings at the $1,000 Caesar's WSOP circuit event this morning that the rest of Team PokerRoom.com is playing in. Guzz06 got a big double-up in very early actions when he was on the good end of a set vs. set confrontation, but gabrielsan69's day came to an early end when his pocket aces were cracked by KQh.
His opponent raised to 150, gabrielsan69 re-raised to 500, and his opponent called. Two hearts came on the flop and gabrielsan69 bet 1,000, his opponent moved all-in, and gabrielsan69 made the call, finding himself facing a flush draw in the form of KQh. A heart came on the turn, giving his opponent the flush but gabrielsan69 had some outs as he held the Ah, but alas, no help for him on the river and he was done, with a few choice words for his opponent in Italian. I'm guessing "donkey" was one of them.
whassup x and Guzz06 are both well above average in the Caesar's tournament at the moment with about 12,000 chips each, and retypeNick is sitting on about 6,000.
monze1 was the first out of his tournament that resumed with 19 players returning from last night. He shoved all-in over the top of a 15,000 raise in front of him and, despite nearly being covered, his opponent made the call and tabled the monster hand of A3o. monze1's 77 was looking good until, of course, his opponent flopped an ace to knock monze1 out in 19th.
The team relaxing before action at Caesar's today.
2:02 PM
Not the best first level for blair fitz on Day 2, as he's down to about 18,000 chips at the first break. In his own words: "I'm getting good enough cards to get into trouble but not good enough to win pots".
Pocket kings cost him 20,000 in early action. Facing a raise of 2,400, he bumped it up to 5,000, and his opponent called. The flop came A x x, all diamonds )one of blair fitz's kings was the Kd), and blair fitz bet 15,000 when the action was checked to him, which his opponent called. The turn was a heart, and his opponent lead out for 20,000. blair fitz was forced to muck his pocket kings and his opponent showed As Jc. (Make your own judgment about his opponent's play in that hand.)
He also lost decent sized pots with QQ and 10 10, each time facing a flop with overcards and an opponent betting into him heavily.
Not the best start of the day but he's still got chips, and anything can happen at the tables. His table isn't a cakewalk, with Antonio Esfandiari at his table again along with Dewey Tomko and Greg "FTB" Mueller, but he's still got some chips and blinds are 500/1000, with a 100 ante. He'll have to make a move soon but he can afford to folds through a few orbits before he's desperately short. Keep your fingers crossed that his luck turns this level and that we have lots of double-ups to report at the next break.
blair fitz at yet another tough starting table.
We'll have lots of poker action to report today, with Team PokerRoom hopefully taking down big pots all around town.
First and foremost, blair fitz is back in action on Day 2 of the 2008 WPT Championships. He's one of 421 players that survived the first day of action who'll be returning today to the Fontana Room at noon, when play begins. His 51,875 chips are slightly below average of 64,000 (and well off the 211,575 stack of chip leader Jeff King), but he'll have plenty of chips to work with as blinds are still just 400/800 with a 100 ante.
monze1 and whassup x played in a WSOP Circuit event at Caesar's yesterday, and monze1 was still in the hunt when play was halted last night with 18 players, sitting on an average stack. He's guaranteed a payout of at least $1,200 but if we know the "sick, sick Austrian player" he's gunning for the top prize of $70,000 and won't be happy with anything less.
The rest of the team (Guzz06, retypeNick, whassup x, and gabrielsan69 decided to play in the $1,000 Caesar's tournament starting today at noon, so Team PokerRoom will be in full force today, with five of the guys playing at Caesar's (inlucing monze1 when his tournament resumes) and blair fitz representing the team here at the WPT Championships.
Considering he was sitting at such a tough table and playing in the biggest tournament of his life, it wasn't a bad day at all for blair fitz, who ended the day with 51,875 chips.
While every poker player would prefer to move on to Day 2 with a huge stack, given how tough his table was it'd have been a success just to survive to Day 2, much less to end the day with more chips than you started with. So blair fitz was more than happy to bag up his 51,875 and head on to Day 2 (and hopefully an easier table, after a job very well done of holding his own with some of the greats of the poker world.
Cards are in the air tomorrow at noon for Day 2 action, with 427 players returning for action. We'll be updating you on the action and keep thinking good thoughts for blair fitz as he continues his tournament run here at the 2008 WT Championships.
blair fitz grabbing a well-deserved smoke after a long day at the tables.
