Caesars Atlantic City - Live Updates

Eric Haber bets $180,000 and Dan Hicks calls. The flop comes J♣ 9♠ 5♥ and Hicks announces he is all-in. Haber calls immediately and flips over J♦ J♠ for a set of jacks. Hicks is disgusted when he turns over 10♠ 9♦ for a pair of nines.

Hicks would need a lot of help to survive as we head to the turn. It comes 7♠ and the river is a meaningless A♣.

Haber is our WSOPC Caesars Atlantic City Champ!

Hicks will receive $237,124 for his second place finish while Haber will take home the whole first place package which includes a WSOPC ring, a seat in the 2008 main event and, of course, $431,136.

Eric Haber just won an epic hand against Dan Hicks. Hicks bet $200,000 preflop and Haber called instantly. The flop came 5♣ 3♠ 3♦ and Haber bets $300,000 but Hicks re-raises all-in. Haber thinks for a couple minutes but then makes the call and flips over:

Eric Haber: 6♦ 5♥

Dan Hicks: A♠ J♥

The board finishes 8♠ and then 2♥ and Haber won what might be the most important hand fo the tournament.

Haber is now close to $4 million while Hicks has a little over $1 million.

Eric Haber and Dan Hicks see a flop of 10♣ 7♦ 3♠ and both players check. The turn comes 4♣ and Haber bets $100,000. Hicks calls and the river comes K♣ and Haber fires again this time $200,000. Hicks calls and flips over 8♦ 4♥ but Haber has him beat with 10♠ 8♥ for the pair of tens.

We're down to heads-up play with Eric Haber vs. Dan Hicks. They start with similar stacks.

1. Dan Hicks	$2.9 million
2. Eric Haber	$2.5 million

 

After becoming somewhat passive for the early part of three-handed play Dan Hicks just struck back in a big way.

Eric Haber bet $180,000 from the button and Hicks called from the big blind. The flop came 10♣ 7♦ 6♥ and Hicks checked but Haber bet $250,000. Hicks called and the turn comes 10♠. Hicks checks again but this time Haber bets $500,000. Hicks calls and the river falls J♦. Hicks announces he is all-in for approximately $1.3 million.

It's a huge pot up for grabs and Haber goes deep into thought. He has approximately $1 million left so if he calls this hand will likely decide his tournament life.

"The question is what would Bax [Cliff Josephy] do?" Haber said. "He probably would have folded this a long time ago. This is either the worst call or the worst fold. I haven't decided which, yet."

Eventually Haber folds and Hicks rakes the pot.

"Nice hand," says Josephy.

It seems as if the shorter stacks like the idea of facing each other instead of Dan Hicks. Batra and Haber just played three consecutive hands against each other with Haber winning one and Batra winning two. None of the hands went to showdown.

Dan Hicks just hit a full house to win a substantial pot off Eric Haber. Dan Hicks once again has control of the chip lead.

Eric Haber bets $120,000 from the small blind and Sumeet Batra raises to $320,000 from the big blind. Haber responds by going all-in and Batra eventually makes the call.

Eric Haber: A♦ 8♣

Sumeet Batra: A♣ Q♠

The board comes 9♦ 8♠ 7♣ K♣ 5♦ and with a spiked eight Haber rakes the pot. All of a sudden Haber is in great shape with around $2 million. The chips are literally flying back and forth between the player.

Here's a look at the player's stacks as we head into three-handed play (these counts are approximate):

1. Dan Hicks	$2.5 million
2. Sumeet Batra	$2.2 million
3. Eric Haber	$900,000

 

In a surprising turn of events Soheil Shamseddin, one of today's chip leaders, has been eliminated.

Shamseddin was first to act and bet $120,000 but Sumeet Batra pushed all-in from the small blind. Everybody else got out of the way and Shamseddin made the call.

Soheil Shamseddin: K♣ J♦

Sumeet Batra: 8♠ 8♦

The flop came 9♣ 7♦ 8♣. Eight ball, baby! With his set of eights Batra is in dominate position. The board finishes K♦ and A♠ and Shamseddin was eliminated.

Shamseddin will receive $94,311 for his fourth place finish.

Sumeet Batra bets $120,000 from the cutoff and Steven Greenberg goes all-in from the button. Action is folded to Batra who thinks for a couple minutes, in the midst of which Greenberg offers, "I'll show you my hand if you fold," but eventually Batra opts to call.

Sumeet Batra: A♥ 8♠

Steven Greenberg: K♠ Q♠

The board comes A♣ 10♠ 6♥ 2♥ 9♥ and Greenberg is our fifth place finisher. Considering he was one of the short stacks entering the day he did well to get this far. He will receive $80,838 in consolation.

Sumeet Batra raises to $120,000 from UTG and Dan Hicks re-raised to $400,000 from the small blind but Eric Haber shoves all-in from the big blind. Batra gets out of the way and Hicks is basically priced into calling. The players reveal their hands:

Dan Hicks: A♣ J♥

Eric Haber: Q♦ Q♣

The flop comes A♦ Q♥ 5♣ which gives Hicks a pair of aces but it also gives Haber a set of queens. The turn comes J♦ which gives Hicks some outs but the 8♦ on the river douse any hope of eliminating Haber in the hand.

Hicks just took a massive hit.

Chip Leaders Dan Hicks and Soheil Shamseddin are not afraid to battle with each other. In a recent hand Shamseddin raised $120,000 pre-flop from UTG+1 and Hicks called from the big blind. The flop came A♦ 9♣ 4♦ and both players checked. The turn comes K♥ and Shamseddin checks but Hicks bets $185,000. The river falls J♥ and Shamseddin bets $200,000. Hicks mucks and Shamseddin rakes the pot.

Hicks took a pretty big hit on that hand.

Steven Greenberg moved all-in for $230,000 from UTG and Sumeet Batra calls from the big blind. Greenberg flips over 8♥ 8♣ and is up against Batra's K♣ Q♣. It's a classic race with two overs versus a pair.

The board comes J♦ 5♦ 5♣ A♦ 2♠ and the pair triumphs this time around.

Greenberg is suddenly up to $500,000 and can breath a little easier.

Nick Binger has been battling as the short-stack for some time now and finally succumbed to no-chip disease.

Binger decided shove for his last from the button and Dan Hicks looked him up from the big blind. Binger shows A♠ 2♠ while Hicks has K♣ J♦

The flop comes Q♥ J♠ 9♥ 6♣ 4♣ and the biggest name remaining in this tournament has been eliminated.

Binger will receive $67,365 for his sixth place finish. Although Binger has plenty of cashes on his poker resume this is the highest he has placed in a $5,000+ event.

The blinds are now $20,000/$40,000 with a $5,000 ante. As tournaments announced earlier we will play for 90 minute levels from here on out. Here's a look at the chip stacks as the cards go into the air:

Soheil Shamseddin	$1.8 million
Sumeet Batra	$1.6 million
Dan Hicks	$1.3 million
Eric Haber	$800,000
Steven Greenberg	$250,000
Nick Binger	$225,000

 

Rochester, New York, native Scott Blackman has been eliminated from the final table. Blackman bet $100,000 from late position and Soheil Shamseddin re-raised an extra $300,000 from the button.

Blackman only has about $500,000 total so if he calls he's likely pot-committed. Blackman thinks it over for a few minutes and then calls.

"You have a pair?" asks Blackman.

Shamseddin responds by flipping over Q♥ Q♦. Blackman sighs and shows A♣ K♦. The board comes 9♣ 7♥ 5♥ 4♦ 10♠ and Blackman is eliminated.

Blackman will receive $53,892 for coming in seventh and bests his last big buy-in poker tournament place which was coming ninth at the 2008 WPT Borgata Poker Classic

Short-stack Steven Greenberg just moved all-in from the small blind but no one felt like making the call. Greenberg takes the blind and is attempting to chip himself up out of the danger zone.

Steve Merrifield has had an amazing journey at this year's WSOPC Caesars Atlantic City but his wild ride is over.

Sumeet Batra raised all-in from the small blind and Merrifield called from the big blind. Merrifield is well covered by Batra and the players reveal their hands.

Merrifield: K♥ 2♦

Batra: 8♥ 8♠

The board comes 10♣ 6♥ 3♣ 6♦ Q♣ and Merrifield is no more. He will receive $40,419 for finishing 8th. Not bad for his first big buy-in tournament.

Sumeet Batra is raising a lot of pots and he's starting to gain some control of this final table.

Scott Blackman gets it all-in pre-flop from the small blind and Eric Haber makes the call from the big blind. The players reveal their hands:

Eric Haber: A♥ 5♦

Scott Blackman: Q♦ Q♥

The board comes Q♠ 9♣ 7♥ 10♦ Q♣ to give Scott Blackman the uneccessary quad queens and the checkmark

Blackman is up to approximately $500,000. Yeah Scott!

The chip-stack titans just clashed in an epic pot. Eric Haber bets $100,000 from mid-position and Dan Hicks calls from the small blind. The flop comes A♦ Q♥ 8♠ and Hicks bet $150,000. Haber flat-calls and the turn comes 3♦ and Hicks once again bets, this time $200,000. Haber insta-calls and and the river comes 5♠.

Both players check and Haber flips over J♠ J♣ while Hicks mucks. With that giant pot Haber is our new chip leader with approximately $1.5 million.

Soheil Shamseddin just bluffed Dan Hicks out of a big pot on a A♥ 8♦ 3♠. Shamseddin bet $229,000 and Hicks folded. Shamseddin showed 9-2 for absolutely nothing.

It didn't take long but we already have our first elimination at the final table of the WSOPC Caesars Atlantic City.

The severely short-stacked Marc Morris shoved all-in from the button and Sumeet Batra made the call. The players revealed:

Marc Morris: A♥ 5♦

Sumeet Batra: 9♥ 9♦

The board comes K♥ J♦ 6♠ 8♦ 6♥ and Morris' luck has finally run out. He will be our ninth place finisher and will receive $26,946.

In the first hand of the day Nick Binger bet $70,000 from late position and Soheil Shamseddin called from the small blind. The flop came J-4-3 and Shamseddin checked but Binger bet $100,000. That was enough to get Shamseddin to fold and Binger is off to a good start.