tilted behaviour

My final day of work for the Summer would also be the penultimate day, with Day 7 of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event kicking in with me at the Feature/TV table again.

Unlike yesterday – since the size of the field had been reduced to 78 – I wouldn’t have to cover the secondary feature table as Heath was located there, while all I had to worry about was my starting eight players.

Seat 1: Duy Le – 4,100,000 (in chips)
Seat 2: Damien Luis – 1,850,000
Seat 3: John Racener – 720,0000
Seat 4: Jeff Banghart – 645,000
Seat 5: Tony Dunst – 1,550,000
Seat 6: Sergey Rybachenko – 1,010,000
Seat 7: Jean-Robert Bellande – 700,000
Seat 8: Matt Harris – 965,000
Seat 9: empty

Jean-Robert Bellande made an oops of a three-bet shove with Q♦ 10♦ and was four-bet by Duy Le with A♥ Q♣. Once the original raiser – Jeff Banghart – folded his Jacks, Bellande was unable to improve and hit the rail in 78th place for a $94,942 payday much to the disappointment of the media and his many fans.

Arguably the best dressed man in poker; Tony ‘Bond18′ Dunst was unable to gather any momentum on his appearance at the final table. At one point he found himself all in holding Queens against Hasan Habib’s Ace-King. A King spiked on the flop, but a Queen on the river saw Dunst double through in a hand that will surely make the ESPN broadcast.

Unfortunately from then onwards, Dunst was unable to pick up any chips, and eventually committed his last 1,075,000 with a Jerry Yang-esque inspired “one mirrion” raise over William Thorson’s usually light open. Thorson made the call holding a dominating A♠ K♥ against Dunst’s A♣ Q♥. A chop draw fell on the turn, but a King on the river would see Dunst eliminated in 50th collecting $168,556 for his efforts.

Although play stalled around dinner time, we still managed to reach the final twenty-seven in reasonable time as Joseph Cheong would take the chip lead into the final day with an amassed 24,490,000 of the 219,570,000 in play as Matt Affleck, John Racener, Scott Clements, David Baker, Michael Mizrachi, Adam Levy, William Thorson, Johnny Lodden and Hasan Habib all remained with a glimmer of hope of making the 2010 November Nine!

I have witnessed a handful of final tables both here in Melbourne and abroad, but the one that I’m fortunate to blog today stands above them all.

We have hit day 8 of the Aussie Millions, and since my last post we have seen Mel Judah take out the Omaha Hi/Lo title in a marathon final table, Zach Gruneberg capture the limit hold’em and Jarred Solomon grind Van Marcus down to win the H.O.R.S.E. Yesterday saw a highpoint on any tournament schedule with Event #6:$1,150 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys event attracting 126 runners which resulted in 457 rebuys and a prizepool of over half a million dollars!

Rebuy Madness!

With so much poker talent in the Crown Poker Room it was no surprise to see a final table form with such a strong assembly of raw poker talent. It was no surprise either when you look at who else cashed; Grant Levy (16th), Nic Lackovic (15th), Michael Guttman (12th) and Steve ‘stevoL’ Leonard (10th).

Today’s final table has the following line-up in seating order:
Sorel ‘Imper1um’ Mizzi – 131,200
Clark Hamagami – 95,700
Tony ‘Bond18’ Dunst – 120,900
Mark Kassis – 124,200
Rayan ‘rkruok’ Nathan – 38,700
Larry Karambis – 79,900
Jonathan ‘xMONSTERxDONG’ Karamalikis – 153,000
Richard ‘Chufty’ Ashby – 83,400
Peter Rho – 49,400

Now Sorel Mizzi, Tony Dunst, Rayan Nathan, Jonathan Karamalikis and Richard Ashby all have a record anyone would be proud of; but let’s take a look at some of the others. Clark Hamagami is a young Canadian poker player who has a few tournament cashes, but supposedly he beats 25-50 NLH regularly. Mark Kassis has three previous Aussie Millions cashes including a 13th placing in last year’s Main Event for $100,000. Larry Karambis finished a gallant third in this same event last year behind Michael Pedley and Robert Wang for over $50,000. Finally Peter Rho is in the travelling entourage with Kelly Kim out here from California and has a bunch of cashes including five WSOP and two WPT cashes.

Will this be touted as the greatest Aussie Millions final table ever? Will an Aussie such as Dunst, Karamalikis or Nathan be able to cement their live play? Or will Betfair and Full Tilt Pro Sorel Mizzi and Richard Ashby and yet another notch on their belt?

Only time will tell, so make sure to log on to PokerNews to catch all the action of what I believe will be the best No Limit Hold’em final table for years to come!