June 12, 2005

Now I preface the start of Elimination Match #14 to say that the draw of people are ALL RANDOM. Now lets meet the people and explain why I am saying this...

Kathy Liebert - Look - it's Kathy! She has the second most number of points with 27 and is cruising right now.

Cyndy Violette - Well, she should look familiar. She was with Kathy - and Mimi Tran was there too. You don't think that...nah...

Mimi Tran - ...yeah. The three women, who were the final three when they all played together, are all back. This could mean trouble for their male counterparts, who are...

Dewey Tomko - He's on the bubble with 11 points.

Tommy Wang - Also on the bubble with 11 points

Chau Giang - On the bursting side of the bubble with only 7 points. He better do something here...

We start the show with Giang raising with an A ? 6 ?. Liebert knows that he has nothing - but she has worse and she folds. She keeps yapping even after she folds - and she can, because she's sitting pretty with 27 points.

Liebert gets into it with Violette, while Giang tries it again with an A ? 4 ?. Tran has an A ? 6 ? and calls. A Q ? A ? 4 ? gives Giang 2 pairs, but it's Tran who bets first with $60,000. Giang goes over the top with an all-in bet and Tran, who knows that she's been foiled, folds out.

Wang has Black Jacks - literally. Giang has a J ? 10 ? and calls. He likes the flop of 10 ? K ? 8 ?, but Wang still has the lead - Jacks over 10's. The turn of 3 ? and the river of 6 ? does nothing for either of them, so they check out. Wang's win gives him the early chip lead.

Violette plays with J ? 4 ?. Liebert goes all-in with a pair of 8's, but Wang, behind her, has a pair of 9's. Amazingly, he folds, but he thinks that he does have the best hand. Oops.

Now it's Liebert with pocket 9's (? and ?) and she raises them up. Tran has an A ? 10 ? and goes all-in. Liebert, who can afford to be aggressive with her 27 points, calls and makes a mess of her chips. The flop is a 9 ? 7 ? 3 ?. That gives Liebert trip 9's, and a 4 ? on the turn spells the end of the night for Tran, who gets 0 points. She can afford a goof though, she's still in the Top Ten with points.

Tomko has a Q ? and a 8 p, and Giang, with the pair of 9's (black this time), goes over the top and all-in. Everyone backs off, and Giang picks up a pot.

Violette has red queens. Wang, with a Q ? and a 10 ?, calls from the big blind. a 2 ? 2 ?, 1- ? gives Wang 10's and 2's, but Violette has Q's and 2's and goes all-in. Wang calls, and he doesn't like what he sees. A J ? on the Turn and a 9 ? on the river is what Violette likes to see, as she doubles up on Wang's expense.

We haven't seen much of Tomko. We'll see him now with a A ? and a A ?. He goes all in and Wang, with a 3 ?, 2 ?, calls. Wha? The flop is a 6 ?, 4 ?, 6 ?, and the women are wondering what Wang is doing. A J ? and a 3 ? seals the deal for Tomko, who doubles up. The women are rightfully irked at Wang, as both of them ask him to just give them the money instead. Heh.

We hear MORE chatting...but this is from Giang, who tells the players to play faster. Liebert says that she will not be told how to play. Wang quickly goes all in with a K ? 9 ?, and Violette calls with a Q ? 4 ?. Wang is on top, but a 10 ?, Q ? and 5 ?, gives Violette the leading pair of queens. Tommy needs a king...but nether a 7 ? on the turn nor a 6 ? on the river is a king, and Tommy stays on the bubble with a measly 1 point earned.

Tomko has 7 ? 7 ? and raises it up. Violette has a A ? and a Q ? and puts Tomko at all-in. an A J ? 3 ? J ? gives Tomko the lead, while a 3 ? doesn't help Violette. Neither does a 7 ? on the river as Tomko doubles up.

VIolette goes All-In again - this time with a A ? K ? Liebert calls with a Q ? 8 ?. Wha? Well, maybe Liebert knew what she was doing - an 8 ? 10 ? J ? gives her the lead. Violette can be bailed out with a spade, a queen or an Ace, but a 2 ? on the turn and an 8 ? on the river is neither. VIolette gets knocked out in 4th place, as she adds 3 points to her total. VIolette talks about how she always gets knocked out with a suited Big Slick - so I guess this is natural for her.

A 4 ? A ? 8 ? is the flop for the next hand. Tomko, with nothing makes a play at it and Giang folds. That's a huge win for Tomko, who is inching at the top.

Liebert has red 6's, while Giang has a K ? and a 10 ?. She keeps pressing the action and Giang, who just doesn't have the cards this hand to go against her, folds. Liebert, as the stack leader, can afford to be aggressive, and she is doing so to perfection.

Tomko has a nice A ? 10 ? and raises to $200,000. Giang goes all -in with more clubs - a K ? and a Q ?. Giang needs letters, and a K ?, K ?, K ? has QUAD KINGS! Tomko gets an Ace out of it but 4 Kings ends the hand and drops Tomko to the short stack.

Giang has black 7's and goes all-in again. Everyone else goes away and Giang picks up $90,000 blinds.

Now it's Tomko's turn to go All-in with a J ? 8 ?. Giang and Liebert retreat and Tomko gets the blinds - but Liebert still has the chip lead.

Tomko goes all-in again with some black 8's. Giang calls with a K ? 10 ?. Liebert has...oh boy...a Q ?, Q ?. She can bust both of them right here and end the match, which is similar to what she did to Violette and Tran a few weeks ago. The flop is...Q ? 2 ? J ?. Giang has an open ended straight draw and calls, not knowing that Liebert now has trip queens. The turn...ANOTHER QUEEN (Q c) for FOUR QUEENS!!!! Liebert is the second person of the evening to get quads. The river is academic - Liebert wins everything. She gets 10 for first, Giang gets 7 for second and Tomko gets 5 for third.

Liebert has 37 out of a possible 40 points. Wow. What did everyone else do?

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

* - Have played in 4 matches

Next up - Elimination Match #15. As you can see, a lot of bubble people have yet to play their 4th match. Join us in 7 days to see who is closer to bursting.