Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic

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Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic
WPT Season 7

Bellagio Hotel and Casino
December 13 - 19, 2008

Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic

Day 1A
By the time Day 1A of the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic began at noon, a total of 203 players were in todays field. With a $15,000 buyin, this money brings out the top talent. Names like Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Steve Billirakis, Devin Porter, John Phan, John Juanda, Toto Leonidas, Greg Raymer, Martin DeKnijff, Jennifer Tilly, David Williams, Josh Arieh, Brandon Cantu, Joe Sebok, Ivan Demidov who finished as runner up to the Main Event at the 2008 WSOP and last years defending champion Eugene Katchalov. And of course the one we all aspire to be like one day, Doyle Brunson. All players began with a generous 45,000 in chips and will try to survive five 90 minute levels of play.

And with this level of players, trying to survive is not an easy feat. Among the eliminated were Josh Arieh, John Juanda who lost to the two pair of Kevin Saul (K's and 3's), Barry Shulman, David Williams, Shannon Shorr, Peter Feldman, Jeff Madsen courtesy of Luke Staudenmaier and Theo Tran who has his pocket A's cracked by Phil Hellmuth after making a straight. By the end of the day, there were 150 who will move on to Day 2.

  1. Phil Hellmuth -- 200,000 chips
  2. Ryan Young -- 155,000 chips
  3. Nenad Medic -- 150,000 chips
  4. Luke Staudenmaier -- 145,000 chips
  5. Brent Hanks -- 125,000 chips
  6. Mike Matusow -- 115,000 chips
Day 1B
On Day 1B, an additional 294 entered this event making a total of 497 players. Seen in the field were Patrick Bueno, Carlos Mortensen, David Chiu, David Sklansky, Johnny Chan, Michael Mizrachi, David "Chino" Rheem, Alan Goehring, Kathy Liebert and Allen Cunningham. The prize pool of $7,231,350 will go to the top 100 finishers in the event. Here is the Payout Structure for the televised final table:
  1. $1,538,730
  2. $936,760
  3. $540,440
  4. $396,205
  5. $288,235
  6. $216,175
Some who did not make the cut include Hevad Khan, J.C. Tran, Sammy Farha, Allen Kessler, Scotty Nguyen, Mark Seif, Joanne J.J. Liu and Gavin Smith. By the end of the day there were 230 left to see Day 2. Here are the top 6 with chip counts for Day 1B:
  1. Paul Niemela -- 250,000 chips
  2. Carlos Mortensen -- 160,000 chips
  3. Lex Veldhuis -- 150,000 chips
  4. Mark Teltscher -- 133,000 chips
  5. Scott Bohlman -- 129,000 chips
  6. Liz Lieu -- 123,000 chips
Day 2

The 380 players that made the Day 2 cut began play at 12:15, which was a little past the official start time, at level 6 play with blinds at 400/800 and ante of 100. Some of the busted in todays list include Alan Goehring, Daniel Negreanu who was crippled by the set of Queens held by Jon Turner and then later eliminated, Phil Ivey losing to pocket K's held by another player, Jennifer Harman, Scott Seiver, Paul Wasicka, Amir Vahedi, John Phan, Evelyn Ng, David Singer, Phil Laak, Erick Lindgren, Kelly Kim and Jimmy Fricke.

But there were still a lot of powerhouse players who did well. Joe Hachem doubled up in a hand with Abe Mosseri, Clonie Gowan hit a nice pot of 45,000 with pocket 9's that held up for her, Allen Cunningham who busted Greg Raymer out of the tourney with pocket Q's, Phil Hellmuth who amassed about 350,000 chips in his stack at one point and Antonio Esfandiari who ended the evening on the plus side. Day 3 will see 149 players back at the tables.
  1. Justin Young -- 550,000
  2. Evan McNiff -- 430,000
  3. Chuck Kelly -- 418,000
  4. Clonie Gowan -- 405,000
  5. Thang "Kido" Pham -- 400,000
  6. Tuan Le/Scott Bohlman -- 310,000
Day 3

Just a little after noon, the play continued at level 11 with blinds at 1,200/2,400 and a 300 ante. Bustouts continued with Kevin Saul having his pocket Q's sent to the rail after another player holding pocket J's got the 3rd Jack on the river. Phil Hellmuth went to the sidelines when his diamond flush met with the full house of his opponent. Jason Dewitt became the bubble boy losing to David Rheem who made a full house (A's/10's). Following them were Nenad Medic, Eli Elezra, Layne Flack, Thor Hansen, Burt Boutin, Howard Lederer, Sorel Mizzi, Jon Friedberg, Humberto Brenes, Annie Duke and Johnny Chan. Also Doyle Brunson was eliminated close to the end of the day. So tomorrow we will look forward to 55 players moving on to Day 4 for another 5 levels of action.
  1. Evan McNiff -- 1,035,000 chips
  2. David Rheem -- 905,000 chips
  3. Jack Wu -- 847,000 chips
  4. Steve Sung -- 787,000 chips
  5. Nick Schulman -- 720,000 chips
  6. Arthur Azen -- 700,000 chips
Day 4

With snow on the strip in Las Vegas, those who made the cut for Day 4 were in their seats. Blinds were at 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 ante. The concentration of talent made it tough on anyone who was here. And of course players were busted out of the tournament. Making their way to the rail were Nam Le (47th), Allen Cunningham (48th) who went in with pocket K's only to become bested by another player with pocket A's, Tommy Vu in 44th, Thang "Kido" Pham in 42nd, Abe Mosseri (37th) who met the pocket A's of Robert Mizrachi, Barry Greenstein (36th) after his pocket 7's ran into the pocket Q's of John Hennigan, David Oppenheim and Luke Staudenmaier.

By the end of the day there were 18 to come back to compete for a seat at the final table. It is still tough by any standard as names like Robert Mizrachi with 1,266,000 chips, Hoyt Corkins with 1,251,000 chips and Clonie Gowan with 1,049,000 chips are in this group. Plus Nick Shulman, Ammon Filippi and Martin DeKnijff still have chips so you have to watch out for them. Come back and see who makes the final table!
  1. Ben Straate -- 3,197,000 chips
  2. Brett Richey -- 2,164,000 chips
  3. Justin Young -- 1,807,000 chips
  4. Evan McNiff -- 1,532,000 chips
  5. Mike Matusow -- 1,435,000 chips
  6. Jack Wu -- 1,412,000 chips
Day 5

The 18 players making the cut came back at 12 noon to begin with blinds at 15,000/30/000 and a 4,000 ante. And the busts came almost on the first hand at a number of tables. In fact, tournament officials had to figure out who got what prize money when the hands that busted Martin DeKnijff, Tom Pniak and Jack Wu started at the same time. Nick Shulman went out in 13th place after his pocket Jacks were put down by the two paid (A's and K's) of Justin Young. Following him were Robert Mizrachi in 11th, Clonie Gowan in 10th, Mike Matusow in 9th and Joe McGowan in 7th. Here are the final table players with chip counts:
  1. Steve Sung -- 5,885,000 chips
  2. Evan McNiff -- 4,805,000 chips
  3. David "Chino" Rheem -- 4,240,000 chips
  4. Amnon Filippi -- 2,750,000 chips
  5. Justin Young -- 2,410,000 chips
  6. Hoyt Corkins -- 2,295,000 chips
Final Table

Details will come later!
  1. David "Chino" Rheem -- $1,538,730
  2. Justin Young -- $936,760
  3. Evan McNiff -- $540,440
  4. Steve Sung -- $396,205
  5. Amnon Filippi -- $288,235
  6. Hoyt Corkins -- $216,175

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