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Monday, June 16, 2008

2008 WSOP Day 18: Tran, Greenstein dominate

Kenny Tran scored big in Sunday's WSOP action.

By Miguel Strother

It's new babies, big winners and bye-bye McDonald's as the chips continue to fall and the cards continue to turn at the 2008 World Series of Poker.

Event 25

In the $10k Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em World Championship, 256 started but only one survived. Kenny Tran navigated the star-studded field to take home the coveted World Series of Poker bracelet.

Tran defeated some tough opponents along the way, including WSOP Player of the Year points leader Erick Lindgren, before running over 21-year-old Alec Torelli 2-0 in the best-of-three final.

This is Tran's first WSOP bracelet despite 11 previous cashes, and he wins a whopping $529,056 for the first-place finish. Of his keys to victory, Tran says boredom is one of his best weapons.

"I like to grind people out and make them feel bored," said Tran. "I just torture them and let them finally make a mistake."

The former McDonald's worker from Vietnam and current high-stakes cash-game monster says the victory is especially sweet considering the day he won.

"It means a lot to me to win, especially on Father's Day," said the father of three. "The first time you win this is really great and it's just a great, great feeling. I have never really had this kind of feeling before."

Previous high-profile finishes for Tran include 16th in the 2007 WSOP Main Event, fifth in the 2007 $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. Championship and 16th in the inaugural WSOP Europe championship.

The event attracted 256 entries and registration had to be closed early to keep it limited to that number. The prize pool was $2,406,400, with the top 64 finishers collecting cash. Below is a list of the top-16 finishers:

Kenny Tran	$539,056	Arcadia	Calif.
Alec Torelli	$336,896	Orange County	Calif.
Vanessa Selbst	$108,288	Brooklyn	N.Y.
Jonathan Jaffe	$108,288	Longmeadow	Mass.
Lyle Berman	$54,144	Minneapolis	Minn.
Gavin Griffin	$54,144	Fullerton	Calif.
Brandon Adams	$54,144	Pensacola	Fla.
Robert Mizrachi	$54,144	Sunny Isles Beach	Fla.
David Williams	$36,096	Las Vegas	Nevada
Michael McNeil	$36,096	Wheeling	W. Va.
Michael Mizrachi	$36,096	Hollywood	Fla.
Roman Paradiso	$36,096	Downey	Calif.
John Patgorski	$36,096	Chesapeake	Va.
Emil Patel	$36,096	East Hanover	N.J.
Jonas Entin	$36,096	Granada Hills	Calif.
Scott Montgomery	$36,096	Perth	Ontario, Canada

Event 26

Pro poker player Barry Greenstein took down a field of 452 in the $1,500 Razz championship to earn his third WSOP bracelet on Sunday. The 53-year-old pro from Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif. defeated Chris Klodnicki of Voorhees, N.J. heads-up to earn $158,659 in his 34th WSOP cash.

Greenstein: Joins an illustrious list of Razz champions.

Razz is a variant of lowball dealt out in Seven-Card Stud format. The objective is to make the lowest five-card poker hand, with ace-to-five being the best possible hand.

The game has been played in all but one WSOP since 1973 and the winners include some of the most colourful characters in poker history, including Billy Baxter, Doyle Brunson, Eskimo Clark, T.J. Cloutier, Ted Forrest, Linda Johnson, Berry Johnston, O'Neil Longson, Lakewood Louie, Tom McEvoy and Huck Seed.

Greenstein will fit in well with the group considering he's one of the best-known faces currently playing poker, due at least in part to the fact that he gives a great deal of his winnings to charity.

The top-10 finishers were as follows:

1	Barry Greenstein	$157,643	Rancho Palos Verdes	Calif.
2	Chris Klodnicki	$97,389	Voorhees	N.J.
3	Chris Viox	$58,742	Glen Carbon	Ill.
4	Mark Tenner	$43,284	Henderson	Nevada
5	Brandon Leeds	$33,081	Phoenix	Ariz.
6	Joseph Michael	$25,661	Austin	Texas
7	Anargyros Karabourniotis	$19,477	Las Vegas	Nevada
8	Mike Wattel	$16,386	Phoenix	Ariz.
9	Frank Kassela	$13,294	Rossville	Tenn.
10	Phillip Luong	$13,294	Fountain Valley	Calif.

Event 27

Day 2 of the WSOP $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em tournament saw the 2,706-player field cut down to just 17 Sunday, with Russia's Vitaly Lunkin holding a slight chip lead over Kenneth Terrell.

The remaining players are tightly packed in terms of chip counts with Barry Schultz, Philip Yeh and Jordan Smith within 125,000 chips of Lunkin's 912,000 lead.

Play will restart at 2 p.m. Monday after a long second day saw the massive field trimmed but unable to get down to a final table. The $628,417 first-place prize will likely be determined by late Monday.

Stay tuned to Event 27 live updates for all the latest action.

Event 28

The WSOP $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em w/Rebuys tournament leaderboard reads like a who's who of professional poker after two days and 483 rebuys.

John Juanda, Johnny Chan, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth are all within a shot of chip leader Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond for the bracelet and the huge $817,781 first-place prize.

Phil Galfond: Poised to kick some PLHE ass.

Several interesting stories surround the table, including the fact that Hellmuth snuck in for what will be his record 40th WSOP cash. Chan currently sits in the middle of the pack and could tie Hellmuth for most all-time WSOP bracelets with a win.

The total prize pool currently sits at $3,085,930.

Follow all the star-studded action from the final table of the $5,000 Pot Limit Hold'em w/Rebuys with live updates.

Event 29

At the end of Day 1 in the WSOP $3k No-Limit Hold'em, decorated pros John "Razor" Phan, Kathy Liebert and David Singer are well within striking distance of 23-year-old chip leader Matt Vengrin.

Phan joined the chip leaders after he took down a huge pot late yesterday by getting all his money in pre-flop holding pocket aces against big slick.

Singer is back in the WSOP mix just days after his partner gave birth to the couple's first baby. Just before that, Singer won his first WSOP bracelet in Event 3, the Pot-Limit Hold'em championship.

Play will resume at 2 p.m. and of the 81 players remaining, only 72 will cash.

Stay tuned to Event 29 live updates for all the action.

Event 30

After the first day of play the $10k Limit Hold'em Championship cut the 218-person field by more than half, with just 107 players remaining in the championship.

Alex Kravchenko currently holds a 5,000-chip lead over Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi. Others among the leaders include Erick Lindgren, Andy Bloch, Howard Lederer, Hoyt Corkins, Huck Seed and Todd Brunson.

Day 2 will start at 3 p.m. and you can follow all the Event 30 developments with live updates.