May 8, 2005

After Week #8, we have solid standings, since everyone would have played 2 matches. Let's see who starts up Round 3...

Elimination Match 9 -

Freddie Deeb - 15 points - looking good.

Ted Forrest - 13 points - also looking good

Cyndy Violette - 12 points - the all ladies three some earlier on this season was a boost for her.

Dewey Tomko - 6 points - not wonderful shape, but not awful. He has some work to do.

Scotty Nguyen - 4 points - this is starting to border on awful. He needs to get some points here.

Bobby Hoff - 1 point - Yikes. I don't knoe eho he is, but he is looking very overmatched here.

Hand #1 - Deeb raises to $40,000 with a K ? 8 ? . Hoff with a 9 and 10 ?, calls. We see a flop of Q ? A? 4 ?. Deep bets $60,000 and Hoff gets out of the way, giving Deeb the first pot.

Hand #2 - Deeb bets more money - but he has a A? Q ? , so he can back it up. Tomko goes all in with K ? K ?, and all-in is $250,000. Deeb thinks about it, and lays it down.

Hand #3 - We hear from Ted Forrest, and with a K ? Q ?, and he calls. Deeb, however, has an A ? K? and raises. a J ?, 7 ?, Q ? gives help to both people, but Forrest, with a pair of queens and a flush draw, bets it. Deeb counters and goes All-In, and Forrest calls. The flop - A ?, which gives Deeb the high hand. Forrest can still win with a heart, but a 8 ? shows up, which allows Deeb to double up and take the early lead with $465,000. Forrest is severely crippled with only $17,500 left.

Hand #4 - He hear from Violette now too, but her hand is only a Q? J ? . Deeb, with an A ? 4 ?, goes all in and attempts to punch around VIolette. He does so successfully as she folds her cards.

Hand #5 - With he blinds up to $20,000, Forrest, with his $17,500 is forced to go all in with a K? 3?. Nguyen has 10 s 10 h' and calls, while Tomko, with A ? and Q? raises. Violette has both red queens (? and ?) and goes all in. Tomko and Nguyen both lay out as we see a flop...10 ? 8 ? 8?, The flop (4?) gives Forrest a flush draw, but an 8 d' gives Violette a boat and Forrest leaves the table and takes no points.

Hand #6 - Hoff tries it again with a K ? 8 ? and raises. Everyone else lays out and Hoff wins a rare hand. Deeb lays out and tells Hoff that he has a tell. Is this psychology or does Deeb know something?

Hand #7 - VIolette start is up with a A? 6? . Tomko has an A ? 7 ? and just calls - but as the person with a shirt stack, he may be going in soon. a 5 ? , 10 ? j ? does nothing to help either person, and a 2 ? on the turn and a 9 ? on the river doesn't tempt either person to bet. With that, Tomko wins a pot, but he's still the short stack...

Hand #8 - ...and with blinds up to $20,000 and $40,000, people have to start making moves. Nguyen has an A? 10? and does so. Hoff has an A ? 8 ?, and knows he also has to make a move. He goes all in on Nguyen, who calls. Hoff needs diamonds, but a j ? 9 ? 8 ? gives Hoff the lead with a pair. A 10 ? on the turn gives Nguyen the lead back and a 10 ? gives Nguyen trips. Hoff trips out of the room with only 2 points in three matches. He better start winning tournaments for the second three matches he is in, or he's going to be very irrelevant on match #6.

Hand #9 - Nguyen folds with an Ace, and Violette has a 6? 3?, but balks quickly when Deeb goes all in. Deeb tells Nguyen that he owes him $90,000, while Nguyen, who may have felt something, just smiles.

Hand #10 - Maybe Nguyen was waiting for this one - A? K ? Now it's Deeb's turn to fold and they both share a laugh over it. Nguyen talks about how an honor it is to play with all of those people.

Hand #11 - Violette, with a Q ? Q ? , raises a little, hoping for a call. She gets it - but it forces her all-in from Nguyen's A ? K ?. The flop is...2 ?, A? 2? , which gives Nguyen Aces. The turn...8 ?. Cindy needs a queen on the river, which is..A ?. It's now Violette who's on the outside looking in. She does get 3 points, which will help her with the 12 she already had.

Hand #12 - Tomko goes in with an A ? 4 ?, but Nguyen has the lead with aan A ? 6 ?. Tomko gets a 4 on the flop with a 4? K ?, 9 ? for the lead, but the turn... a 6?, which gives Nguyen the lead back. The river (6 ?) does nothing for Forrest, and for the second straight all-in, the turn gives Nguyen the lead and an eliminated opponent - this one being Forrest.

We are down to Nguyen Vs. Deeb for 10 points, and Nguyen with his little 4 points, needs it much more than Deeb, who has 15 going into this. We start Hand #13 with a A ? K ? for Deeb, and he raises it. Nguyen has a Q? 6 ? and lays it down. Hand #14 comes, and Nguyen takes a blind steal back his way.

We see Deeb limp in with a 4 ? 3 ? and Nguyen calling with a A? 6 ? . The flop is an A ? , J ? 9 d, and Nguyen pairs up Aces. It's Deeb who bets, however, and Nguyen raises. A scared Deeb folds and Nguyen takes another pot. A few more hands gives him a 1,165,000 lead to Deeb's 335,000.

And with Hand #15, an A? K? by Nguyen looks like he's going to make more money. Deeb folds out and Nguyen takes more blinds. We get a bio from Deeb about how his dad found out that he was playing poker for a living, but at Hand #16, Nguyen picks up more blinds and is not up $1,245,000 to $255,000 for Deeb.

Deeb FINALLY goes all in with a K? 7 ?, and Nguyen, with a Q ? 9 ? , calls. The flop is 7?, 2 ? , J ?, the turn usually helps out Nguyen, and a 10 ? gives him a straight draw...which he gets when the Q ? shows up on the River. Nguyen wins the all-important 10 points, but a second 7 points from Deeb almost guarantees that he will make the round of 16 - even only 3 matches in.

And on everyone else, let's see the totals -

22 - Freddie Deeb
20 - David Sklansky, Kathy Liebert
17 - David Grey
15 - Cyndy Violette
14 - Scotty Nguyen
13 - Ted Forrest
12 - Mike Sexton
11 - Dewey Tomko
10 - Johnny Chan, Tommy Wang, Carlos Mortenson
8 - Mimi Tran, Barry Greenstein
7 - Eli Elezra, Todd Brunson, Huck Seed
6 - John Myung
5 - Doyle Brunson
4 - Antonio Esfandari
3 - Mike Caro
2 - Chau Giang, Bobby Hoff
1 - Chris Moneymaker

With that, we will be back for Elimination Match #10. Join us in 7 days to see if the bottom can move to the top.