The field was stacked for the first ever No Limit 2-7 Single Draw event at the World Championship of Online Poker, with Daniel Negreanu, Lee Nelson and Gavin Griffin all cashing, and Team PokerStars Pro Bill Chen barely missing the final table. The final table players were no slouches either, with Schneider, newhizzle and Mills23, who made the final table of Event #4 – 2-7 Triple Draw at this year’s WCOOP all among the competitors. Finally, after a tough final table, Schneider took down the title and his first WCOOP bracelet.

Schneider started playing poker professionally when the company he was working for began struggling. “I decided to try poker and then go back to business if it didn’t work out. My wife told me that I could always find a job with a struggling company.” With over $1.5 million in lifetime winnings, it looks like Schneider will be able to avoid picking up a day job anytime soon!

Schneider’s success on the live tournament circuit is well-documented, but the 2007 WSOP Player of the Year and author of Oops! I won too much Money: Winning Wisdom from the Boardroom to the Poker Table logged his largest online cash with his $42,000 win in Event #24. Although he admits to not playing too many online tournaments prior to the 2008 WCOOP, he did cash for $14,000 in last year’s WCOOP HORSE event, and plans to play the WCOOP Main Event this year as well.

Predominantly a live tournament player, Schneider characterizes the online players as “pretty tough. Playing online points out your weakness very quickly. It is a great learning tool. No limit online players are fearless.” Like many players, Schneider enjoys the convenience of online play, having been on PokerStars for about 3 years now. “Playing online is so convenient. I like to be able to multi-task, which may not always be good for my bankroll.” With his success in the WCOOP this year, we don’t have too much fear for Schneider’s bankroll! Joining Brent Carter, Mark Gregorich and Shaun Deeb, Schneider adds his name to the growing list of top pros that have claimed WCOOP gold this summer!

The No Limit 2-7 drew one of the smallest field of WCOOP so far (as well as the first overlay) and not surprisingly one of the toughest. The field was full of recognizable names, some with 2-7 experience, some without. I recognized nearly everyone at my starting table, though we quickly found out that most of us had never played a hand of the game.

That said, I can safely say that I'll be looking to play a lot more NL 2-7 in the future. It's a fast paced game that encourages a lot of aggression and bluffing, both pre and post draw. My tournament never quite got off the ground. I hovered between 5000 and 7000 before finally hitting a little rush and getting to 17000. Unfortunately, I immediately lost several pots and ended up busting when I drew to 2345 after moving in predraw and came up with a straight.

Other Team Pokerstars Pros Bill Chen and Gavin Griffin narrowly missed the final table. Heads up came down to luvgamble and Mike "Sirwatts" Watson, recent WPT Bellagio Cup winner and fellow graduate of the University of Waterloo. The match was back and forth, with luvgamble eventually winning $42,000 and the WCOOP bracelet after nearly 13 hours of play.

Congrats to luvgamble, Mike, and all other final table participants!

Steve Paul-Ambrose is a member of Team PokerStars Pro

Enough about getting a read on your opponents. You also have to get down to the business of making a hand. Pairs, straights and flushes all count against you in this game, so bricks are often unavoidable. With only one chance to make a low hand, players are often forced into tough decisions with made jack-high or ten-high hands against opponents who are drawing cards. But let me tell you something about the game from having played it. Once you get the hang of it, it's scarily addictive. The room for gamesmanship is higher than in any other poker arena. If you have the guts to make it through a game of no-limit 2-7 single draw, you'll probably do just fine in any other game.

This year, PokerStars added no-limit 2-7 single draw to the list of events in the WCOOP. 308 players ponied up the $530 buy-in for a chance to share in the $200,000 prize pool. Team PokerStars Pros were out in full force for this event, with Bill Chen, Gavin Griffin, Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu, Marcin “Goral” Horecki and Lee “LeeNelsonP*” Nelson all making the money.

Mills23, who finished 5th in Event #4 2-7 Triple Draw of the 2008 WCOOP, exited the tournament in eight place. He took his last stand with a pat ten against newhizzle's one-card draw. newhizzle picked up 9-8-5-4-3 to eliminate him, and our final table was set.

Seat 1: newhizzle (337,260 in chips)
Seat 2: luvgamble (199,844 in chips)
Seat 3: Aftret (98,648 in chips)
Seat 4: borisbäck (141,557 in chips)
Seat 5: SirWatts (320,385 in chips)
Seat 6: thevoice72 (235,376 in chips)
Seat 7: Blute (206,930 in chips)

After dropping from 141,557 in chips to 82,057 early into the final table, borisbäck pushed all in from the small blind after luvgamble made it 15,000 to go from late position. luvgamble called and stood pat after borisbäck stood pat. It was the correct decision for luvgamble -- borisbäck had J-T-7-5-3 to luvgamble's 9-8-7-6-2. borisbäck was eliminated in 7th place, earning $5,000.

Aftret, who was the shortest stack heading into the final table, raised all in to 73,648 over the 10,000-chip raise from thevoice72. thevoice72 made the call and drew one card. Aftret stood pat and showed T-8-7-4-3. thevoice72 had a live draw with 9-7-6-2, but he paired his six to lose the hand. That started a run for Aftret where he picked up two more pots in a row -- both times at the expense of thevoice72. Aftret finished that hot streak with 234,496 in chips while thevoice72 dropped to 42,528.

thevoice72 held on for another ten minutes, but he finally gave up the ghost. His open shove of 66,306 was called by luvgamble from the button before SirWatts, the deepest stack, announced a made hand with a re-raise from the big blind to 285,000. That re-raise was enough to put luvgamble all in as well. luvgamble didn't snap-fold, but he did eventually fold. On the draw, SirWatts stood pat and thevoice72 took one. Little did he know, but he was drawing dead with T-8-6-5-x against SirWatts' 8-7-5-3-2. thevoice72 took home $7,000 for sixth place. He can add that cash to his third-place finish in Event #4 2-7 Triple Draw for $13,579.

luvgamble was the next player to make a big move. He raised to 15,000 from the cut-off, which brought a re-raise to 60,000 from Sir Watts. With only 115,567 in chips to start the hand, luvgamble decided to get it all in pre-draw. SirWatts made the call. Both players stood pat, but the chips moved to luvgamble’s side of the table when he showed 9-8-7-6-4. SirWatts held J-T-8-7-3 and dropped to 493,930 in chips after the hand. That started a hot streak for luvgamble.

After the break, play started back at level 21 with blinds of 3,000/6,000 and a 1,500 ante. luvgamble had only 177,384 in chips, but picked up four six-figure pots in short succession. In the first hand, luvgamble stood pat with a rough nine. How rough it was didn't matter because Blute had drawn an ace to make A-9. Then, luvgamble drew one card to make 9-8-6-5-3 and got newhizzle to call with a worse hand. On the very next hand, luvgamble drew into a smooth nine and bet it for 42,000. Aftret called with a hand that was second-best. Finally, Blute started off the action with a raise to 18,000 from under the gun. newhizzle, luvgamble and SirWatts all made the call. Each player drew one card. SirWatts and Blute checked, opening the door for a bet of 54,000 from newhizzle. luvgamble made the call with an 8-7-4-3-2, which bested newhizzle’s 9-7-6-5-2. luvgamble jumped to 495,284 in chips, and newhizzle dropped to 315,860.

Those pots allowed luvgamble to open up his game quite a bit. In no time at all, he seemed to take control over the table. He displayed a willingness to open raise an impressive number of pots and also showed, true to his moniker, a willingness to gamble it up.

luvgamble raised another pot, this time to 18,000. SirWatts, in second chip position and sitting in the small blind, decided to play back with a raise to 60,000. luvgamble made the call. Both players were pat on the draw. SirWatts bet 78,000 after thinking for almost twenty seconds and luvgamble quickly called. The hands?

SirWatts: T-8-7-6-2
luvgamble: T-8-7-4-3

It went to the third kicker, but luvgamble won again. He moved into a commanding chip lead, with almost three times as many chips as his next-closest opponent.

Meanwhile, Aftret’s chip stack started to move in the opposite direction. With a super-stack of chips in his arsenal, luvgamble raised to 18,000 from the button. Aftret, who only had 66,846 in chips to start the hand, shipped all of them in from the small blind. Both players drew one card, but a pair for Aftret spelled disaster when luvgamble made a king. Aftret was sent to the rail in fifth place with $9,000.

Blute got lucky once with a pair (6-6-J-T-4), which looked to be disastrous at first. He was saved, however, when newhizzle tabled 7-6-5-4-3 for a straight. Blute survived elimination while newhizzle became the table’s short stack at 163,500. Blute was still a short-stack, however, and open shoved all in to 160,720 after action folded to him in the small blind. newhizzle, who had just picked up a 223,000-chip pot after pushing all in with a 9-8, decided to make the call. Blute took one card whiled newhizzle stood pat. Unfortunately for Blute, his paired hand 9-9-7-6-4 could not beat newhizzle this time. newhizzle showed J-8-6-5-3. Blute exited the tournament in 4th place for a $13,000 cash, which will go along nicely with his $10,528 cash for seventh place in WCOOP Event #9 No-Limit Hold’em 4-Max.

When three-handed play started, luvgamble continued his aggressive ways. He started raising almost three out of every four pots, bringing the attack to SirWatts and newhizzle. And why not? With 1.1 million in chips, luvgamble had more than four times as many chips as newhizzle and six times as many chips as SirWatts.
This meant that the other players needed to chip up quickly in order to remain in contention. newhizzle was the first to take a stand. newhizzle raised all in to 165,720 over the top of SirWatts’ button raise to 20,000. luvgamble, in the big blind, re-raised to 311,440, folding SirWatts. Then came the big decision. newhizzle went into the tank before deciding whether (or how many) cards to draw. He settled on taking one, while luvgamble stood pat. newhizzle was drawing dead with a 9-8-7-5-x and hit a pair of sevens against luvgamble's pat 9-8-6-5-3. newhizzle’s third-place finish was worth $21,000.

luvgamble started heads-up play with a sizeable chip advantage over SirWatts -- 1,355,500 to 184,500. Although you might have thought that play would end quickly, heads-up play lasted more than 40 minutes. SirWatts was able to pick up a couple of pots to pull within a 4/1 chip disadvantage, but each time he started to gain some ground, luvgamble found a way to get the chip counts back to where they started at heads-up play.

As was typical for the match, luvgamble raised to 25,000. This time, however, he was called. After SirWatts drew one card, luvgamble took two. Perhaps as a result, SirWatts bet 40,000. luvgamble raised it up to 110,000 and after some thought, SirWatts called. luvgamble showed a 9-7-6-4-3, the second time he showed down a nine at the final table after drawing two. For the third time, the chip counts were reset to where they were when heads-up play began.

As heads-up play continued to wear on, luvgamble complained to SirWatts, "ur a tough sob". It seemed as if it was going to take some big hands to end what was turning into a marathon heads-up match. In the end, it only required one big hand and one big bluff. SirWatts started the pre-daw action with a minimum-raise to 24,000 that luvgamble re-raised to 60,000. SirWatts called. Both players drew one card. luvgamble then led out for 84,000. After some consideration, SirWatts moved all in for 303,000. luvgamble snap-called. He had Number Three, 7-6-5-3-2, but ace-high would have been enough as SirWatts tabled a stone bluff, 8-8-T-6-3.

SirWatts earned $30,000 for second place.

Congratulations to luvgamble, the champion of Event #24! He earned first-place prize money of $42,000 and a WCOOP bracelet.

WCOOP Event #24 Final Table Results

1. luvgamble (Scottsdale) $42,000
2. SirWatts (Toronto) $30,000
3. newhizzle (Chapel Hill) $21,000
4. Blute (Goteborg) $13,000
5. Aftret (Trondheim) $9,000
6. thevoice72 (Frankfurt) $7,000
7. borisbäck (Staffanstorp) $5,000

For more details about the tournament from start to finish, check out the Event #24 2-7 Single Draw Live Blog.

There are still many events left to be played in the 2008 WCOOP. The WCOOP Homepage has information about the remaining events, as well as satellites. For those of you who are more of the observer type, PokerStars.tv will continue to have live streaming coverage, and the blogging team will be posting live reports on the PokerStars Blog.

Have a story? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information.

5:27am--SirWatts eliminated in second place; luvgamble is the champion of Event #24!

It seemed like it was going to take some big hands to end what was turning into a marathon heads-up match. In the end, it only required one big hand and one big bluff. SirWatts started the pre-daw action with a minimum-raise to 24,000 that luvgamble reraised to 60,000. SirWatts called.

Both players drew one card. luvgamble then led out for 84,000. After some consideration, SirWatts moved all in for 303,000. luvgamble snap-called. He had Number Three, 7-6-5-3-2, but ace-high would have been enough as SirWatts tabled a stone bluff, 8-8-T-6-3. SirWatts will get $30,000 for second place.

Congratulations to luvgamble, the champion of Event #24! He has earned first-place prize money of $42,000 and a WCOOP bracelet.

5:20am--SirWatts doubles again!

The "tough sob" just used one of his nine lives. He moved all in for 237,000 after luvgamble completed the small blind and this time luvgamble went with the gamble and called. SirWatts discarded first, taking one card. luvgamble then did the same. SirWatts drew a king to finish K-9-8-5-4, but got saved when luvgamble drew an ace to finish A-7-6-5-2. SirWatts doubled up to 480,000, allowing the heads-up match to continue.

luvgamble proceeded to win five of the next six pots, including picking off a bluff by SirWatts, to push SirWatts back down to 300,000.

5:14am--Reset number three

For the third time, the chip counts have been reset to where they were when we started heads-up play. luvgamble raised to 25,000 and was called. After SirWatts drew one card, luvgamble took two. Perhaps as a result, SirWatts bet 40,000. luvgamble raised it up to 110,000 and after some thought, SirWatts called. luvgamble showed a 9-7-6-4-3, the second time he showed down a nine at the final table after drawing two.

Shortly thereafter, SirWatts got some of those chips back. The current chip counts are about 1.2 million for luvgamble and about 300,000 for SirWatts. luvgamble complained to SirWatts, "ur a tough sob".

5:13am--SirWatts keeps hanging on

Although luvgamble started heads-up play with a significant chip lead, SirWatts has been taking a patient approach thus far. He has managed to pick up a couple of pots to pull to 330,500 in chips. It's still a far cry from luvgamble's 1,209.500, but he hasn't given up yet. There have been very few showdowns recently, with most pots won on a pre-draw raise.

5:01am--SirWatts doubles again

From our vantage in virtual media row, it seems like luvgamble has been doing his best to keep the match at a stalemate (perhaps even chipping SirWatts down a little) until he could find a hand where SirWatts moved in and luvgamble felt comfortable drawing one or standing pat. He found it when SirWatts moved in from the button and luvgamble called. Both players stood pat, and for the second time SirWatts won. His T-8-4-3-2 beat out luvgamble's J-9-7-6-2 and doubled SirWatts up to 258,000.

4:52am--luvgamble strikes back

luvgamble has been "pwning" this final table, so don't expect him to stop now. Both he and SirWatts were in for 50,000 before the draw and drew one card. luvgamble checked to SirWatts after the draw, who fired out 80,000. luvgamble tanked briefly before calling with J-T-9 and winning the hand when SirWatts turned over A-J. That pot reset the chip counts to where they started at the beginning of heads-up play.

4:48am--SirWatts not quite dead

SirWatts has doubled up. After luvgamble made it 30,000 to go, SirWatts moved all in for about 200,000. luvgamble made the call. Both players stood pat with tens, but SirWatts was the winner with T-7-5-4-2 as luvgamble had T-9-5-3-2. luvgamble still has a roughly three-to-one chip advantage.

4:41am--Break time, probably the last one

Just after newhizzle's elimination, the tournament paused for a five-minute break. What a perfect time to give you a full snapshot of the start of heads-up play between SirWatts and luvgamble.

Level 23
Blinds 5,000/10,000, ante 2,500
Average Chip Count: 770,000
Player Remaining: 2
First Prize: $42,000.00

1. luvgamble 1,355,500
2. SirWatts 184,500

4:40am--To break or not to break?

newhizzle raised all in to 165,720 over the top of SirWatts’ button raise to 20,000. luvgamble, in the big blind, re-raised to 311,440, folding SirWatts. Then came the big decision. newhizzle went into the tank before deciding whether (or how many) cards to draw. He settled on taking one, while luvgamble stood pat. newhizzle paired his hand for a 7-7-9-8-5, and luvgamble won with a 9-8-6-5-3. newhizzle’s third-place finish is worth $21,000.

4:34am--luvgamble doesn't stop firing

The man is a machine. luvgamble is raising three out of every four pots, bringing the attack to SirWatts and newhizzle. And why not? With 1.1 million in chips, luvgamble has more than four times as many chips as newhizzle and six times as many chips as SirWatts.

4:28am--One miiiiiillllllllion dollars!

We have our first player to cross the seven-figure mark in chips. luvgamble now has 1,053,780 in his stack after chipping up in a few small pots. He has a comanding lead over newhizzle (about 320,000) and SirWatts (about 164,000).

And if you're keeping track, that's our second Austin Powers reference tonight.

4:27am--This time, a pair is no good for Blute

Blute open shoved all in to 160,720 after action folded to him in the small blind. newhizzle, who had just picked up a 223,000-chip pot after pushing all in with a 9-8, decided to make the call. Blute took one card whiled newhizzle stood pat. Unfortunately for Blute, his paired hand 9-9-7-6-4 could not beat newhizzle’s J-8-6-5-3. Blute exits the tournament in 4th place for a $13,000 cash. That will go along nicely with his $10,528 cash for seventh place in WCOOP Event #9 No-Limit Hold’em 4-Max.

4:22am--newhizzle caught again

newhizzle hasn't been shy about committing chips on a bluff. He called a raise by luvgamble to 24,000 out of the big blind after SirWatts made the call in front of him. newhizzle drew two cards; each of the other players drew one. Once the draw was complete, newhizzle led out for 56,000. That bet folded luvgamble, but SirWatts wasn't going anywhere with his 8-7. newhizzle had a bunch of low cards in his hand, but two of them were sevens. He is still the shortest stack with less than 100,000.

4:20am--Blute gets lucky with a pair

newhizzle opened the action with a raise to 20,000, but Blute decided to get all of his chips in pre-draw with a re-raise to 87,360. newhizzle made the call, and each player took one card. Blute opened 6-6-J-T-4, which looked to be disastrous. He was saved, however, when newhizzle tabled 7-6-5-4-3 -- a straight. Blute survived elimination while newhizzle became the table’s short stack at 163,500.

4:11am--luvgamble sends Aftret to the rail

With a super-stack of chips at his arsenal, luvgamble raised to 18,000 from the button. Aftret, who only had 66,846 to start the hand, shipped all of his chips in from the small blind. Both players drew one card, but a pair for Aftret spelled disaster when luvgamble made a king. Aftret was sent to the rail in fifth place with $9,000.

4:08am--luvgamble isn't on fire; he's gone radioactive!

When things are going your way, they're going your way. luvgamble can do no wrong. He raised another pot, this time to 18,000. SirWatts, in second chip position and sitting in the small blind, decided to play back with a raise to 60,000. luvgamble made the call.

Both players were pat on the draw. We expected the action to therefore go check, check, and were surprised when SirWatts bet 78,000 after about twenty seconds. luvgamble quickly called and the hands were opened.

SirWatts: T-8-7-6-2
luvgamble: T-8-7-4-3

It went to the third kicker, but luvgamble won again. He now has a commanding chip lead, with almost three times his next-closest opponent.

4:05am--luvgamble keeps firing away

It's not even close now -- luvgamble has taken over the chip lead by taking total control over the final table. He has shown over the last twenty minutes a willingness to open-raise an impressive number of pots and has also shown, true to his moniker, a willingness to gamble it up. We imagine this tendency will only increase the more he accumulates chips. Right now he's sitting behind 572,084. His next closest competitor, SirWatts, has 422,680.

4:01am--Have we mentioned luvgamble lately?

luvgamble has been taking down all of the big pots in the last couple of minutes. Add one more six-figure pot to his chip stack. Blute started it off with a raise to 18,000 from under the gun. newhizzle, luvgamble and SirWatts all made the call. Each player drew one card. SirWatts and Blute checked, opening the door for a bet of 54,000 from newhizzle. luvgamble made the call with an 8-7-4-3-2, which bested newhizzle’s 9-7-6-5-2. luvgamble jumped to 495,284 in chips, and newhizzle dropped to 315,860.

3:54am--Here comes luvgamble

Two more six-figue pots have slid luvgamble's way. He is close to the chip lead after beating newhizzle out of one pot and Aftret out of another. Both he and newhizzle drew one card. After the draw, luvgamble bet 36,000 with a 9-8-6-5-3 and got newhizzle to call with a worse hand.

On the very next hand, luvgamble, newhizzle and Aftret all drew one card. luvgamble drew into a smooth nine and bet it for 42,000 chips. Aftret called with a hand that was second-best.

3:47am--luvgamble's nine holds up

At this stage of the tournament, taking 42,000 chips off of an opponent might not seem like a lot. But all those small- and medium-sized pots add up. Blute tried to control the pot first with a raise to 18,000. He was reraised in position to 42,000 by luvgamble and made the call. Blute discarded one card, then checked after luvgamble stood pat. luvgamble checked behind with a very rough 9-8-7-6-2. How rough it was didn't matter; Blute had drawn an ace for A-9-7-4-3. The 100,000-chip pot belonged to luvgamble.

3:40am--Five players left after 20 levels of play

Level 21
Blinds 3,000/6,000, ante 1,500
Average Chip Count: 308,000
Player Remaining: 5
First Prize: $42,000.00

1. SirWatts 505,180
2. newhizzle 409,260
3. Aftret 249,496
4. Blute 198,680
5. luvgamble 177,384

3:34am--luvgamble doubles through SirWatts

luvgamble raised to 15,000 from the cut-off, which brought a re-raise to 60,000 from Sir Watts. With only 115,567 to start the hand, luvgamble decided to get it all in pre-draw. SirWatts made the call. Both players stood pat, but the chips moved to luvgamble’s side of the table when he showed 9-8-7-6-4. SirWatts held J-T-8-7-3 and dropped to 493,930 in chips after the hand.

3:32am--SirWatts' made hand takes out thevoice72

thevoice72 held on for about ten minutes after being crippled by Aftret, but he finally gave up the ghost. His open shove of 66,306 was called by luvgamble from the button before SirWatts, the deepest stack, announced a made hand with a reraise from the big blind to 285,000, enough to put luvgamble all in. luvgamble didn't snap-fold, but he did eventually fold. On the draw, SirWatts naturally stood pat. thevoice72 drew one card, but was drawing dead with T-8-6-5-x against SirWatts' 8-7-5-3-2. He was eliminated in sixth place, earning $7,000 in the process.

3:29am--You try making that call with a king

Action folded around to luvgamble in the small blind, who popped it to 20,000. Aftret made the call for another 15,000 and decided to draw one after luvgamble stood pat. luvgamble led out for 30,000, and Aftret made a tough call, showing K-9-6-5-2. Although it was a tough call, it was the correct one. luvgamble had 3-3-A-J-7. Aftret moved to 286,996 in chips after being all in for his tournament life less than ten minutes ago.

3:24am--Aftert takes third pot in a row from thevoice72

If thevoice72 goes out of this tournament sometime soon, he'll have Aftret to blame. After doubling up at thevoice72's expense, Aftret took another two pots back-to-back off of thevoice 72. First Aftret stood pat on a T-9 and thevoice72 couldn't draw into a better hand. The next pot, both players drew one card. thevoice72 bet the minimum after the draw, 5,000. Aftret raised it to 25,000 and thevoice72 quickly called, but once again he was on the wrong side of the equation. He couldn't beat 9-8-6-5-3 and so the pot was shipped to Aftret.

thevoice72 is now very short, with roughly 35,000 chips.

3:22am--Aftret survives all in with a ten

Aftret raised all in to 73,648 over the 10,000-chip raise from thevoice72. thevoice72 made the call and elected to draw one card when Aftret stood pat. Aftret showed T-8-7-4-3. thevoice72 had a live draw with 9-7-6-2, but he paired his six to lose the hand.

3:16am--borisbäck is first out at the final table

Somebody always has to be first. Tonight it was borisbäck, who came into the final table as one of the shortest stacks. He pushed all in from the small blind for 82,057 after luvgamble made it 15,000 to go from late position. luvgamble called with the luxury of position and stood pat after borisbäck stood pat. It was the correct decision -- borisbäck had J-T-7-5-3 and was eliminated in 7th place by luvgamble's 9-8-7-6-2. borisback earned $5,000 as a result.

3:07am--A final table snapshot

The Event #24 final table is set with some notable names in the running for a WCOOP bracelet.

Seat 1: newhizzle (337,260 in chips)
Seat 2: luvgamble (199,844 in chips)
Seat 3: Aftret (98,648 in chips)
Seat 4: borisbäck (141,557 in chips)
Seat 5: SirWatts (320,385 in chips)
Seat 6: thevoice72 (235,376 in chips)
Seat 7: Blute (206,930 in chips)

3:06am--Mills23 bubbles the final table

Mills23 needed chips and newhizzle has shown the most gamble. Naturally, the two were involved in the hand that set our final table. luvgamble opened the pot from the button to 15,000. newhizzle, as had become his m.o. for the last thirty minutes, reraised to 35,000 from the small blind. Mills23 came over the top of both of them for 93,090 total, folding luvgamble.

Calling off another 60,000 chips represented a not insignificant portion of newhizzle's stack. He gave it some thought before making the call and drawing one. Mills23 stood pat with T-9-7-4-3 and was eliminated in 8th place when newhizzle drew into 9-8-5-4-3. We're now down to a final table of seven.

2:58am--No final table yet as Mills23 doubles through newhizzle

newhizzle is now second in chips. His willingness to throw chips around benefitted him as the tables began to play short-handed and his opponents tightened up, looking to make the final table.

It hasn't been without bumps in the road. He opened a pot for 10,000, then the short stack, Mills23, moved all in for 43,170 from the blinds. Action folded around to newhizzle, who called. Mills23 stood pat, with newhizzle drawing one card. Mills23 showed J-6-5-4-3, a winner after newhizzle drew an ace. Mills23 doubled to 94,340; the final table bubble goes on.

2:54am--Blute is a brute

borisbäck re-raised Blute pre-draw to 32,000 after Blute opened for a raise to 12,000. In a blind-on-blind battle, Blute drew one card, while borisbäck stood pat. After Blute checked, borisbäck fired 45,000. Blute made the call and tabled 9-8-5-3-2. borisbäck flipped over 9-9-K-T-2 for an attempted bluff gone wrong.

2:46am--Ask and ye shall receive

Raidan909 recently fell victim to SirWatts, sending the tournament into hand-for-hand play. SirWatts opened the action with a raise to 10,000. After Raidan909 re-raised to 36,000, SirWatts came back over the top to the tune of 104,000. This had Raidan909 covered. Raidan909 made the call and drew one card. SirWatts stood pat. Raidan909 was able to make a J-7-6-5-3, but SirWatts’ T-9-8-7-2 had him beat. Raidan909’s ninth-place finish is good for $3,800.

2:43am--Who does Number Two work for?

Yes, a bit of Austin Powers humor to lighten the blog as we approach 3am on the east coast of the U.S. Aftret reraised all in to 65,549 from the blinds after Mills23 opened the pot with a raise to 12,000. Aftret drew one card, and a good one it was. He drew into Number Two, 7-6-4-3-2. Mills23 had tried his luck with T-6-5-3-2 but it was no good. Aftret doubled, and so we remain just short of the final table.

2:41am--Thank you sir, may I have another?

A short-stacked Bill Chen open-shoved from middle position for his last 37,834 in chips. SirWatts, who was in the small blind, was the only caller. Both players drew one card. SirWatts picked up K-8-6-3-2, which was good enough to eliminate the Team PokerStars Pro in tenth place. Chen’s hand? A-9-5-4-3. He will earn $3,800 for his efforts today.

2:29am--Another break is upon us

Level 19
Blinds 2,000/4,000, ante 1,000
Average Chip Count: 154,000
Player Remaining: 10
First Prize: $42,000.00

1. luvgamble 286,094
2. thevoice72 222,626
3. borisback 214,807
4. SirWatts 183,532
5. Blute 138,090
6. Mills23 133,409
7. Team PokerStars Pro Bill Chen 104,834
8. Raidan909 101,269
9. Aftret 94,749
10. newhizzle 60,590

2:25am--The voice has spoken!

A pre-draw raising war broke out between borisbäck (in the cut-off) and thevoice72 (in the small blind). First, it was borisbäck’s raise to 9,000. thevoice72 countered with a min-raise to 18,000. borisbäck re-popped it to 45,000, and thevoice72 made the call. Here’s where things get interesting. thevoice72 stood pat, while borisbäck drew two cards. thevoice72 led out for 9,000 after the draw, which borisbäck called. thevoice72 showed 9-7-4-3-2, and borisbäck mucked. That was a 114,750-chip pot, putting thevoice72 at 233,876.

2:19am--We're stuck

The tournament has been stuck at ten players remaining for forty minutes now. Most of the chips are evenly distributed, making stacks deep in relation to the blinds. Also, deuce-to-seven just doesn't lend itself to as much action as pot-limit omaha or no-limit hold'em. That hasn't stopped newhizzle from giving plenty of action to Table 17. It hasn't worked out to his liking, however, as he now finds himself the shortest stack with just 49,000 chips.

2:15am--2-7 connoisseurs in our midst

It's worth noting that both thevoice72 and Mills23 final tabled the other deuce-to-seven event of this year's WCOOP -- Event #4 $215 2-7 Triple Draw. Mills23 finished fifth for an $8,074 cash, and thevoice72 finished third for a $13,579 cash. thevoice72 is the current chip leader with 217,376. Mills23 is still hanging strong with 129,659 in chips, which puts him in sixth position on the leaderboard.

2:08am--newhizzle's bluff called (again)

Deuce-to-seven draw is a "feel" game as much as a skill game. Sometimes there's no way to really know what the correct play is and you just have to trust your instinct. newhizzle's opponents' instincts are apparently telling him that he bluffs frequently. Another of his bluffs was called down by Blute in a recent pot. Blute had raised to 9,000 before the draw, with newhizzle calling from the big blind. newhizzle drew one card; Blute stood pat. After the draw newhizzle fired 15,000 and was quickly called. He turned over a pair of sevens, a stone bluff. Blute had made the correct decision with J-T-9-4-2 to take down the pot.

2:05am--Deep thoughts by Bill Chen

For those of you still hanging with us through our live coverage of Event #24, we thought we would bring you this philosophical gem from Team PokerStars Pro Bill Chen.

Watch WSOP: Bill Chen on Acceptance on PokerStars.tv

Chen is still alive in the tournament but has one of the shortest stacks of the ten remaining players.

1:57am--Pressure poker

With the average stack of the eleven remaining players equal to roughly sixty big blinds, there's plenty of play to go around. A raise or reraise before the draw is generally enough to take down the pot. Reraises out of the blinds are especially garnering some serious respect.

That's not to say hands aren't going to showdown. Blute and luvgamble just took one to showdown. Blute had drawn one card while luvgamble stood pat. After the draw luvgamble made it 15,000 to go and got a call. He showed Number Three, 7-6-5-3-2. Not a bad starting hand.

1:56am--9-7-5 what?

Using position to his advantage, borisbäck raised to 7,500 from the button. SirWatts elected to defend from the small blind and drew one card. borisbäck stood pat. SirWatts led out for 15,000, which borisbäck called. Both players showed 9-7-5 as their highest three cards, but borisbäck’s 3-2 was lower than SirWatts’ 4-3. That 50,625-chip pot moved borisbäck into the chip lead with 242,432.

1:51am--Settling in for a long night?

Now that all of the short stacks have been eliminated, play seems to have slowed down quite a bit. Even the shortest stack in the tournament -- Bill Chen with 71,709 -- has enough room to move with blinds at 1,250/2,500 and antes of 625. Right now, the average stack is 154,000.

1:41am--NDGrinder59 sent to the rail by Number Two

Having covered more than our share of deuce-to-seven tournaments (two), we thought we'd seen most plays. But Aftret just made a play we haven't seen before. After Blute limped into the pot, Aftret limped in as well. newhizzle was the third limper before NDGrinder59 raised the button to 11,405. That folded Blute, but Aftret curiously re-raised to 30,000, folding Newhizzle.

NDGrinder59 tanked for over a minute. We imagine he was thinking something along the lines of, "Limp-reraise? Does that mean the same thing in this game as it might mean in no-limit hold'em?" He eventually shoved all in for 71,405 and was snap-called by Aftret, who stood pat on the draw. NDGrinder59 then tanked for his remaining time bank (about thirty seconds) before standing pat with 9-7-6-5-4. It wouldn't have mattered if he had broken his hand; he was drawing dead to Aftert's Number Two, 7-6-4-3-2. NDGrinder59 was eliminated in 11th place.

1:31am--luckykarma crippled, then eliminated by SirWatts

luckykarma is the 12th-place finisher in today's event. He was crippled after reraising Raidan909 from 7,500 to 25,000. SirWatts moved all in from the small blind for 71,663, folding Raidan909. luckykarma tanked over whether to call for about thirty seconds before deciding to go with it. SirWatts stood pat and after some thought, so did lucky karma. It was the wrong choice; SirWatts was dealt 9-8-5-3-2, much better than lucky karma's J-7-4-3-2.

That hand crippled lucky karma to just 8,478 chips. They went into the middle on the next hand. He was called by borisback and SirWatts. Each player drew one card. After the draw, SirWatts folded borisback by betting 12,500. SirWatts had made 9-8-5-3-2 for the second hand in a row, and again it was a winner over lucky karma's K-7.

1:24am--Twelve players left after the break

Level 17
Blinds 1,250/2,500, ante 625
Average Chip Count: 128,333
Player Remaining: 12
First Prize: $42,000.00

1. thevoice72 288,751
2. Blute 189,310
3. Raidan909 182,644
4. borisbäck 130,285
5. luvgamble 126,684
6. newhizzle 115,820
7. Mills23 110,344
8. Aftret 106,274
9. lucky karma 80,766
10. Team PokerStars Pro Bill Chen 72,334
11. SirWatts 72,288
12. NDGrinder59 64,500

1:22am--Another ten-eight loses to another nine-eight

Standing pat with a ten-eight is a move that has not been working for the last fifteen minutes or so. newhizzle started the action with a raise to 5,000 that was ccalled by Mills23 before bbbbb33 raised to 44,444 from the button, leaving himeslf 10,056 behind. newhizzle folded, but Mills23 made the call and drew one card. bbbbb33 stood pat, then called all in when Mills23 shoved after the draw. Mills23 made 9-8-5-3-2, good enough to beat bbbbb33's T-8-7-4-2. bbbbb33 was eliminated in 13th place, earning $2,800 for his play in today's event.

1:18am--The rich get richer

thevoice72 picked up a 52,490-chip pot and scored another elimination when he took out ramco. thevoice72 was the initial aggressor, raising from middle position to 6,000, but ramco re-raised to 12,000. thevoice72 re-raised one last time to get ramco’s final 10,995 chips in the middle pre-draw. Both players stood pat. thevoice72’s 9-7-6-4-2 was better than ramco’s 9-8-4-3-2, and just like that, thevoice72 moved to 289,251 in chips. ramco collected $2,800 for finishing in 14th place.

1:14am--thevoice72 draws to a chop

Team PokerStars Pro Bill Chen raised under the gun to 8,000, folding the rest of the table except thevoice72 -- the current tournament chip leader. thevoice72 drew one card, but Chen liked his hand good enough to stay pat. thevoice72 check-called Chen’s 10,000 bet only to find out that each of them had the same hand -- 8-7-5-4-2.

1:08am--Chen takes care of Jorj95

The tournament is over for Jorj95. He moved all in from the blinds for almost 18,000 over the top of a raise by Team PokerStars Pro Bill Chen to 8,000. Chen made the call. It was a good effort by Jorj95, standing pat with T-8-6-4-2 and hoping Chen would break a better hand, but it didn't happen. Chen stood pat with 9-8-6-5-2 to knock Jorj95 out in 15th place.

1:07am--The voice says walk toward the light

After thevoice72 raised from the button to 8,000, david_abl re-raised all in to 10,115. david_abl drew one card, while thevoice72 stood pat. david_abl was only able to make a J-9-5-4-2, which was no match for thevoice72’s T-8-5-4-2. david_abl’s 16th-place finish netted him $2,000.

1:03am--An ace finishes off Griffin

Action folded around to Team PokerStars Pro Gavin Griffin, who decided to shove all in for 22,335. borisbäck made the call, and both players drew a card. borisbäck made a Q-J-7-5-3. Although not the prettiest of hands, it outdid Griffin’s A-T-9-4-2. Griffin will collect $2,000 for his 17th-place finish.

1:00am--Bedtime for KidPoker

A very sleepy Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu can head off to bed. He raised all in for his last 16,090 from the blinds after Aftret had opened the pot to 5,220. Aftret called and stood pat after Negreanu drew one card. KidPoker paired, 6-6-7-4-2 and lost to Aftret's 9-8-5-4-3. He finished the tournament in 18th place, earning $2,000 and some well-earned sleep.

12:57am--Number Two works for lucky karma

We've lost another player from the field. lucky karma raised to 4,000 pre-draw and was raised to 14,000 by DazzleO from the blinds. He made the call. DazzleO stood pat, prompting lucky karma to draw one card. After the draw was completed, DazzleO checked, perhaps hoping for a free showdown. lucky karma did not comply, instead betting 36,000, enough to put DazzleO all in. DazzleO called with 9-8-6-5-2; he lost to lucky karma, who had drawn into Number Two, 7-6-4-3-2. That sent DazzleO to the rail in 19th place.

12:55am--Blute finishes off My Brim Low

It was a quick and brutal finish for My Brim Low. After losing a big pot to Blute five minutes ago, My Brim Low raised all in from the small blind for almost 52,000 after newhizzle opened the pot to 4,200. Blute reraised over My Brim Low's raise, enough to put newhizzle all in if he called (he didn't).

On the draw, My Brim Low, perhaps sensing danger, drew two cards and made a T-9-5-4-2. Blute showed 8-5-4-3-2, eliminating My Brim Low in 20th place. His prize money is $2,000.

12:53am--Double cash in five-card events for wedlowjones

wedlowjones tried to top his second-place finish in WCOOP Event #2 Pot-Limit 5-Card Draw but fell short in today’s event. SirWatts opened the action by raising to 4,000 from the cut-off. david_abl called out of the small blind. wedlowjones took this opportunity to re-raise to 11,938 all-in from the small blind. SirWatts re-raised to 56,000 in attempt to isolate against one player, which forced a fold from david_abl. Both players stood pat. wedlowjones was dealt a T-8-6-5-4, but that was no good against the 9-5-4-3-2 of SirWatts. wedlowjones was eliminated in 21st place for a $2,000 payday.

12:48am--Ouch

It was a battle of the blinds between My Brim Low and Blute. My Brim Low started the pyrotechnics by raising to 4,800. Blute fired back with a raise to 12,800, so My Brim Low simply shoved all in for 142,707. Blute had a playable stack of 52,000 behind his original re-raise but decided to put it all on the line and called. My Brim Low had to act first on the draw and discarded one card. Blute stood pat.

It devolved into a battle of kickers when both players turned over a nine. Blute's 9-6-5 was just slightly better than My Brim Low's 9-7-5, so the two switched spots in the chip counts.

12:44am--That's what coffee's for

Daniel Negreanu has apparently been tired all tournament and keeps falling asleep at his computer.

KidPoker: dang fell asleep again
KidPoker: how long did I sleep for?

If he wants to win this event, he's going to need to stay awake for longer than fifteen minutes at a stretch!

12:41am--Poker is easy when your opponent is drawing dead

luvgamble started things off with a raise to 4,800 from the cut-off and got a call from thevoice72. luvgamble drew one card while thevoice72 stood pat. luvgamble bet 12,800 after the draw and thevoice72 made the call. thevoice72 was dealt a pat 9-6-5-3-2. luvgamble showed a J-T-6-2-3, which meant that he was already drawing dead to thevoice72’s made nine. thevoice72 is now up to 131,425 in chips.

12:38am--End of the road for Saul

Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul has been eliminated from the tournament in 24th place. Sitting in the small blind, he shoved all in for 25,100 after My Brim Low opened the pot to 4,800 and was called by Blute. My Brim Low shoved for 153,011 over the top of Saul, making sure to fold Blute. On the draw, Saul tanked for about thirty seconds, clearly trying to decide whether to break his hand or stand pat. In the end he stood pat with J-6-5-4-3; My Brim Low also stood pat with 9-8-6-5-4 and won the hand.

12:32am--KidPoker offers some sage advice

What does Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu think about tournament end game strategy? Check out the following video on PokerStars.tv.

Watch Daniel Negreanu's top 5 tournament tips on PokerStars.tv

We're still a bit of a ways away from the final table in Event #24, but perhaps we'll see some of these strategies at work from the man himself. Negreanu is currently at Table 26 and has 57,770 in chips.

12:30am--Saul survives all in; Horecki does not

Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul open-shoved all in for his last 15,565. Mills23, the big blind, decided to take a shot at knocking him out. He called and stood pat. That left Saul with a decision, one he made by drawing one card. He drew into 9-8-5-4-3, the winning hand against Mills23's J-T-5-4-3.

Marcin Horecki was not so lucky. He shoved for 22,170 over a raise to 4,500 by chip leader Raidan909. Raidan909 called and drew one. Seeing that, Horecki decided to stand on J-8-5-4-2 and hope that Raidan909 had drawn bad. It wasn't the case; Raidan909 made 9-7-6-5-3 to send Horecki to the rail in 26th place, where he collected $1,600.

12:25am--The danger zone

Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul is getting dangerously low on chips. He called a reraise to 14,000 made by My Brim Low from the small blind, then drew one card after My Brim Low stood pat. My Brim Low made a small bet after the draw, only 6,400, that Saul eventually called. My Brim Low had been dealt 8-6-5-4-3, a winning hand.

After the hand, Saul admitted he felt like My Brim Low had made a value bet, but that he had also made the minimum hand with which to call an all-in bet. That was disappointing news to My Brim Low:

My Brim Low: gah i thought after i bet i shouldnt let him get off
My Brim Low: w/e saved ya some :)

12:19am--Important break information

Level 15
Blinds 800/1,600, ante 400
Average Chip Count: 57,037
Player Remaining: 27
First Prize: $42,000.00

1. Raidan909 173,606
2. My Brim Low 143,721
3. thevoice72 127,517
4. Blute 124,495
5. SirWatts 105,483
6. luvgamble 76,686
7. bbbbb33 64,602
8. lucky karma 63,207
9. Team PokerStars Pro Gavin "GavinGriffin" Griffin 58,935
10. Aftret 53,770

Other remaining Team PokerStars Pros:

Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu 41,370 (15th)
Bill Chen 25,107 (21st)
Marcin “Goral” Horecki 20,170 (25th)

12:13am--From below the chip count average to above

Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul is on the rise again. He's been splashing lots of chips around on Table 17, eliminating blurtyj by calling a pre-draw raise, drawing two, and then calling blurtyj's all-in bet of almost 12,000. blurtyj had drawn one card and made T-9-7-6-2; Saul showed down T-5-4-3-2 to take down the pot and send blurtyj out of the tournament.

He then took down two more small hands, including a made 8 against newhizzle, to climb above 80,000 in chips before playing a big pot against Blute. Saul reraised Blute from 3,600 to 9,600 before the draw, then stood pat. Blute also stood pat and quickly called Saul's bet of 21,148 after the draw. Saul was on a stone bluff with a pair of jacks and couldn't come anywhere close to beating Blute's 8-7-6-3-2.

After all that action, Saul has about 50,000 in chips.

12:11am--Chen stands pat on a loser

Disaster for Bill Chen. He called a raise to 3,000 from Marcin Horecki before the player on the button, bbbbb33, reraised to 25,250, more than half his stack. Horecki folded, but Chen asked for time as he tanked over whether to call. After forty-five seconds, Chen finally talked himself into a call and stood pat. bbbbb33 also stood pat, prompting both players to check after the draw. Chen had been dealt T-8-7-6-3 and couldn't beat bbbbb33's 9-8-6-5-3. His decision to stand pat on the draw in the hopess that bbbbb33 would have to break his hand cost him any shot at the pot.

12:09am--Wrong game for a straight

pittrounder started things off by raising to 3,600 from the cut-off. Team PokerStars Pro Gavin Griffin called from the small blind and discarded one card. pittrounder stood pat. Both players then checked it down. Unfortunately for Gavin Griffin, straights are no good in this game. He drew into a 7-6-5-4-3. pittrounder took down the hand with 9-7-6-5-3.

12:05am--Goral can't beat an eight, part 2

Marcin "Goral" Horecki found himself in a familiar spot. He raised before the draw from the small blind and was called by Bill Chen. Both players drew one card. Horecki found himself with a nine for the second time in under ten minutes and fired out for 7,450. Chen had made 8-7-5-4-3 and made a quick call to win the hand.

Horecki's recent misfortunes have pushed his stack down to under 30,000.

12:00am--The luck of the Irish

Action folded around to Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu in the cut-off. He raised to 3,600, folding pittrounder on the button. NDGrinder59 re-raised from the small blind to 26,300 and was all in. After LUFCBas folded his big blind, Negreanu made the call. NDGrinder59 drew one card, and Negreanu stood pat. The luck of the Fightin’ Irish was on NDGrinder59’s side when he drew into an 8-5-4-3-2. Negreanu showed J-7-5-3-2. With that hand, Negreanu slipped to 82,270 in chips.

11:57pm--Goral can't beat an eight

Kansas City lowball is a tough game. Players are repeatedly forced to make very marginal decisions about whether a hand is playable before the draw and any good after the draw. Marcin "Goral" Horecki found himself in one such spot after he, wedlowjones and Jorj95 all drew one card in a pot that Jorj95 had raised to 3,000 before the draw. Once the draw was completed, wedlowjones, as the first player to act, moved all in for just shy of 13,000 chips. Horecki had made 9-8-4-3-2 and decided to look up wedlowjones. It was the wrong move; wedlowjones had made 8-7-6-4-2 and doubled up at Horecki's expense.

11:55pm--Not in any book

It was a limped pot, with Blute coming in on the button and blurtyj and Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul along in the blinds. blurtyj and Saul both drew two cards; Blute drew one. After the draw, Saul was first to take a stab at the pot with a bet of 2,400. Blute called with Q-T-9-8-5, a hand that was just slightly better than Saul's K-T-8-6-4.

11:50pm--In the pits

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu raised under the gun from 1,200 to 3,600. pittrounder, just to his left, made the call. Negreanu stood pat and waited as pittrounder drew one card. After Negreanu’s check, pittrounder fired 9,600. Negreanu made the call with a 9-7-6-3-2. pittrounder had the worst of it with A-9-8-6-4 and dropped to 27,017 in chips.

11:41pm--Chips to burn

With the largest stack at his table and chips to burn, Marcin "Goral" Horecki has been very active at Table 16. He has been liberally raising and calling raises, although this game being what it is, he's won about as many pots as he's lost doing so. For the moment, his stack remains at about 62,000 chips.

11:37pm--scarface_79 gets taken out with a pair

scarface_79 raised in middle position to 3,000 and Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu re-raised out of the small blind to 9,000. scarface_79 then re-raised all-in to 34,192. Negreanu called and elected to stand pat while scarface_79 drew one card. At showdown, Negreanu showed 9-8-6-5-3. scarface_79, who started with 8-7-4-3, paired his four and was eliminated. Negreanu moved up to 108,070 in chips after the hand.

11:34pm--Easy game

Action folded to Marcin "Goral" Horecki in the small blind, who raised to 3,000. Bill Chen, a fellow Team PokerStars Pro, was the big blind and made the call. Horecki stood pat against Chen's single-card draw. After the draw was completed, Horecki fired out for 3,000, enough to win the pot.

11:31pm--Tough decision with a nine

SirWatts opened the action by raising under the gun from 1,000 to 2,600. Aftret then made the call. From the button, Team PokerStars Pro Gavin Griffin re-raised to 9,500. That prompted the small blind, eppy12588, to re-raise to 12,306 all-in. After eppy12588 decided to stand pat, Griffin went into the tank.

GavinGriffin: ugg, gross decision

Griffin eventually elected to stand pat as well, showing 9-7-6-5-2. Tough decision, but the correct one. Griffin’s hand was better than eppy12588’s 9-8-7-4-2.

11:26pm--A game of subtle psychology and a bit of guesswork

Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul raised to 2,500 and was called only by the button, My Brim Low. Saul elected to stand pat; his opponent drew one card. Both players checked after the draw, where Saul's T-9-8-3-2 was the winner. Being out of position, Saul decided to stick with his T-9 and hope for the best, and it turned out to be the correct play.

11:25pm--How does your portfolio look?

Team PokerStars Pros are often asked questions from railbirds and tablemates. Stepping away from poker strategy for a moment, the following exchange just went down at Daniel Negreanu’s table:

rex2732 [observer]: Daniel do you think now is a good time to invest in crude oil?
vhalaw [observer]: he's a professional poker player not a financial consultant
KidPoker: i would go with polite oil not crude

And there you have it folks. Polite oil is the hot commodity these days. Well, other than a wealth of poker chips in Event #24.

11:22pm--And the moon is made of cheese

The tournament has progressed through twelve levels of play now, which is why we found this table chat at Table 17 so curious:

thechemist83: these guys won't answer my questions
thechemist83: is ace high or low
kajunkenny [observer]: Ace is high jeremey
thechemist83: and is a straight high
kajunkenny [observer]: u serious?
thechemist83: yes
kajunkenny [observer]: u cashed in this and u don't know that?
thechemist83: yes first time i've played this
thechemist83: i just bluff alot

11:07pm--Team PokerStars Pros dominate the top five chip stacks, hour seven chip counts

With Daniel Negreanu, Marcin Horecki, and Gavin Griffin in the top three, Team PokerStars Pros are looking to claim their first WCOOP bracelet of the 2008 series for the home team.

Level 13
Blinds 500/1000, ante 250
Average Chip Count: 35,813
Player Remaining: 43
First Prize: $42,000.00

1. KidPoker 77,316
2. Goral 74,546
3. Aftret 62,996
4. GavinGriffin 59,299
5. biurtyj 52,708
6. pittrounder 51,767
7. pustelblume 51,039
8. bbbbb33 50,872
9. My Brim Low 50,683
10. Mills23 49,289

Team PokerStars Pros:

Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu 77,316 (1st)
Marcin “Goral” Horecki 74,346 (2nd)
Gavin Griffin 56,899 (4th)
Bill Chen 38,557 (21st)
Lee Nelson OUT (44th)

10:56pm--POP!

It seemed like the bubble might go on longer than some of our final tables have in this year’s WCOOP, but finally we have had the satisfying burst and all remaining players in today’s event at least double their buyin and cash $1,000.

They can thank thechemist83 for taking out HundoFight with… a pair of 4s? Wait, what game is this?

HundoFight was all-in when he posted the big-blind and thechemist83 raised to 1850 to isolate. No one wanted to try to tangle with the two and it was left to thechemist83 to try and burst the bubble. Both he and HundoFight drew one card, and at showdown HundoFight was out with a pair of 9s.

10:50pm--Strong bubble

Might be an oxymoron, but the bubble has lasted nearly 25 minutes now as the short stacks are surviving their all-ins.

10:46pm---Nelson Survives

Lee Nelson with an extreme short stack at 3,500 chips, survived an all-in versus fellow Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu when both stood pat. A jack for Negreanu, and a ten for Nelson has given him new life on the bubble.

10:40pm--Nono, after you

As we near the bubble, players are making full use of their allotted time bank to see if anyone will bust out before they have to make a crucial decision.

All-ins may be called but don't expect that the decision of standing pat or drawing will be made with any promptness. That's gonna time some real time to mull over!

Anyone out yet? No? Well okay...

10:35pm--Last blind level until the 15 minute dinner break, bubble looms

Down to 51 players, two more to the bubble. 49th gets $1,000.00, 50th will receive the chance to refill his play chip balance.

The blinds are now at 400/800, ante 200, with Mills23 slightly ahead of KidPoker for the chip lead at 69,489.

10:33pm--No trouble multi-tabling for Supernova Elite Jorj95

As mentioned before, Jorj95 has amassed Supernova Elite status last year and this year as was asked about the new ability to show your VIP status at PokerStars and ability to multi-table while going after a WCOOP bracelet:

RonWR [observer]: jorj, if you show your vip status are there stars all around your name?
PlayaAAK8: lol
RonWR [observer]: he's probably playing 18sng's
RonWR [observer]: only 10
RonWR [observer]: really focusing
bj2207 [observer]: lol
Jorj95: hehe
Jorj95: 10 tables is boring actually
RonWR [observer]: show us your elite jorj
defjux41 [observer]: roarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Jorj95: nah
RonWR [observer]: if you got it, flaunt it

10:28pm--shaniac rebuilding

Since having his stack halved about an hour ago Shane Schleger hasn’t been able to mount much of a comeback. A moment ago he was able to take down a 12,300 pot with a made ten but that only got him up to 27,000.

He’s now feeling the pressure of the rising blinds and antes and as a result he’s putting that pressure on his tablemates, pushing his stack around early and forcing his opponents to commit for all their chips. So far they’re breaking, shipping all those blinds and antes his way.

That’s gotten him back up to over 30,000 and on the road to recovery.

10:23pm--Ramdin’s all-in shove finds no respect, eliminated in 59th

Four callers from Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin’s UTG all-in short stack shove for 1,953.

arbianight, awmc1, and wedlowjones all called to draw while Ramdin stood pat.

wedlowjones took 3, arbianight 2, and awmc1 took 1 as all of them checked it down for the 9,162 chip pot and the smooth ten of awmc1 (T-5-4-3-2) took the pot as Ramdin flipped up J-9-8-7-2 and he was eliminated in 59th place.

10:17pm--Kid Poker not in it for the money

When asked by the rail what the $42,000 first place prize meant to Team PokerStars Pro Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu tonight…

CHADWICK12 [observer]: daniel wats the 42k mean to u?
KidPoker: what 42k?
chwplayer09 [observer]: if you win
KidPoker: thats all it pays?? lol oh well
lefty_21 [observer]: he's rather see 78, 79 anyday
oliversarmy [observer]: youre a sick man

10:13pm--Ramdin on hard times

After having a sizable chip stack throughout the tournament, Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin is down to his last 4,000 in chips after losing 9,260 chips to the all-in pre draw against arbianight.

arbianight stood pat, while Ramdin was forced to draw one and couldn’t connect on his 8-6-5-4-X draw as he paired his four and with blinds at 300/600, ante 150 he’ll need to pick a spot soon.

10:07pm--No repeat tonight

With two very impressive finishes already in this year’s WCOOP, making the final tables in Event #3 and Event #5, #1PEN looked to be well on his way to making another today in Event #24.

When BeL0WaB0Ve raised him to 4,400 #1PEN raised back all-in for his stack of 14,745. BeL0WaB0Ve called and stood pat. #1PEN then had his own decision to make – stand pat or draw? Draw? Or stand pat? He went in to the tank for the massive 30,740 chip pot.

#1PEN said, "oh boy"
#1PEN said, "hmmmmmm"
#1PEN said, "if i only knew how to play this game"

Decision made, #1PEN opted to stand pat and accept what fate had dealt. He had a nine, though so did BeL0WaB0Ve.

9-6-5-4-3 for BeL0WaB0Ve versus 9-8-6-3-2 for #1PEN.

While there will be no final table for #1PEN tonight, somehow we imagine he’s got a few thousand ways to comfort himself.

10:02pm--Hour six chip counts, KidPoker soars to 3rd

Level 11
Blinds 300/600, ante 150
Average Chip Count: 24,062
Player Remaining: 64 (15 to the money)
First Prize: $42,000.00

1. Pusteblume 67,039
2. My Brim Low 60,835
3. KidPoker 56,940
4. Wedlowjones 54,579
5. Biurtyj 49,886
6. Aftret 49,486
7. Buckeye119 47,752
8. BeL0WaB0Ve 43,100
9. Gavin Griffin 42,474
10. Newhizzle 42,050

Team PokerStars Pros Remaining:

Daniel Negreanu 56,940 3rd
Gavin Griffin 42,474 9th
Marcin Horecki 32,811 15th
Victor Ramdin 20,063 31st
Bill Chen 14,339 47th
Lee Nelson 14,058 48th

9:54pm-- And…. out, the downward spiral for Chad Brown is over, eliminated in 67th

With the last of his 11,477 chips, Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown shoved pre draw into pustelblume’s re-raise to 7500 after Brown had called a raise to 1500 on the button.

pustelblume stood pat with a rough ten (T-9-8-3-2) as Brown drew one from 9-8-7-4-X and couldn’t hit his 2,3,5, or 6 and caught a paired nine instead.

The hand eliminated the Team PokerStars Pro in 67th place. As we are now on a break.

9:47pm--Giving praise and chips

After congratulating Aftret on a previous hand, Team PokerStars Pro lost nearly 10,000 chips to him as both players drew one and Brown lead out for 2,500 and Aftret raised to 7,820. Brown made the call and mucked after seeing Aftret’s 8-7-5-3-2.

Aftret is now sitting on 52,000 chips, while Brown has slipped under the average with 12,000.

9:41pm--Praise from a pro

Aftret received some praise from Team PokerStars Pro Chad Brown after making a tough decision to stand pat after Riverloser popped Aftret's 1250 raise to 6937 all-in and Aftret made the call.

The decision came after Riverloser stood pat and Aftret had to decide whether to break his T-7-6-5-3 low. After a little spot off his time bank, he correctly stood pat and Riverloser turned over J-9-7-5-4. The 15,999 was pushed to Aftret giving him a total of 27,676 for the tourney.

9:37pm--shaniac stumbles

After calling an all-in from eppy12588 and drawing one, shaniac failed to beat eppy12588’s made T-9-8-7-5 with his Q-8-7-4-2 and lost nearly half his stack.

He’s now down to 26,254 and 21st place.

9:34pm--Shh…. don’t wake up the sleeping giant

After using his 240 second time bank while doozing off, in a matter 20 hands Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu has almost tripled his stack to 52,000 chips and only trail fellow Team PokerStars Pro Gavin Griffin in the chip count.

9:22pm--shaniac moves up the leaderboard

Shane “shaniac” Schleger has been on a rush of cards, pushing him to the top of the leaderboard in landing him in 3rd position.

He eliminated two players with one hand when both Dolcetrix and SSHIP_IT got their stacks in, with shaniac being the lone other caller. Shaniac and Dolcetrix both drew one card while SSHIP_IT stood pat. Dolcetrix made a pair of deuces to SSSHIP_IT’s nine, and shaniac made an eight to knock them both out and take 10,064 from the pot.

The hand that pushed him over the 40,000 mark didn’t even require him to showdown. After raising from under-the-gun and getting a call from UTG+1, the button, and the big blind, all players stood pat but UTG+1 and the button. Shaniac then bet 2,400 and everyone folded, awarding him a 5,600 pot.

9:17pm--Winning while dreams of bracelets pass over him

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu is currently eighth in chips as the rail notices that Negreanu should be a bit tired that's it is 2:19am currently in London. Negreanu is there currently awaiting the start of the WSOPE but still managed to click the right buttons for this pot.

KidPoker: sorry sleeping
Dealer: KidPoker stands pat
Dealer: hooley_11 stands pat
Dealer: KidPoker has Lo: 8,5,4,3,2
Dealer: Game #20464881560: KidPoker wins pot (7700) with Lo: 8,5,4,3,2
hooley_11: nh
cathmary1 [observer]: vnh
Me Mans [observer]: you can sleep whenever you want Daniel
Me Mans [observer]: you'd still kick 99% of everyone's ***

9:11pm--Despite the ultra tough table, the Team PokerStars trio continues to rise

The trio of Lee Nelson, Bill Chen, and Victor Ramdin on Table 16 hasn’t hindered their escalation to the top chip counts as all three are above 20,000 in chips with the average at 18,780 and blinds currently holding at 200/400, ante 100.

There are 82 players remaining in the hunt for the $42,000.00 first prize and 43 more eliminations to the $1,000 bottom pay tonight.

9:05pm--Griffin keeps rising

Gavin Griffin has just made it to the #2 spot on the leaderboard, knocking out vectile in 97th place.

First to act, Griffin raised to 1,200 and got a call from #1PEN and hansou. From the big blind, vectile defended by raising all-in to 6,850. Griffin then responded by raising for all his chips, a total of 28,559. #1PEN and hansou dropped out.

Both vectile and Griffin stood pat, vectile willing to risk it all with a made ten. Griffin had an eight and took the 17,000 pot.

9:01pm-- Big stack Brown take seat vacated by McEvoy

Sitting in fourth place Chad “ChadBrownPRO” Brown with 33,847 slid into the Table 17 seat of Tom McEvoy. He’ll have to contend with the equally large stack of biurtyj who is sitting with 33,486 and in fifth place.

8:54pm--Team PokerStars Pros pepper the leader, hour five chip counts

Level 9
Blinds 200/400, ante 100
Average Chip Count: 15,714
Player Remaining: 98
First Prize: $42,000.00

1. newhizzle 45,875
2. Blute 37,277
3. ChadBrownPRO 34,267
4. biurtyj 31,285
5. Buckeye 119 30,505
6. shaniac 29,819
7. villepn 29,063
8. VictorRamdin 29,043
9. GavinGriffin 28,859
10. KidPoker 28,365

Team PokerStars Pros Remaining:

Chad Brown       34,267                  3rd
Victor Ramdin    29,043                   8th
Gavin Griffin      28,859                  9th
Daniel Negreanu 28,365   10th
Lee Nelson         26,860                 11th
Marcin Horecki     22,775                 22nd
Bill Chen               21,700                 26th
Hevad Khan        9,790                     69th

8:45pm-- Four way pot involving Team PokerStars Pro Tom McEvoy, eliminated in 104th

With his chip dwindling as we near the break, McEvoy was down to 810 chip pre draw after calling a raise to 670 and Riverloser, supernova9, and Aftret all followed along.

All players took one card except Aftret who took 2.

McEvoy shoved his remaining 810 chips into the middle against and was called by Riverloser and Aftret:

McEvoy: T-8-5-4-2
Aftret: 9-8-5-3-2
Riverloser: 9-6-5-3-2

With the 9-6, Riverloser took the 6,235 chip pot and eliminated McEvoy in 104th.

8:38pm-- Marcin “Goral” Horecki comes out clean after a three-way pot doubles him up

Slipping below average with 7,755 chips, Horecki just snagged a 17,675 pot when his pat 9-8 was all-in pre draw and managed to edge out the pat T-8 of SlippyJacks and the short stack all-in of croftgolf bricked an ace on his 8-5-4-3-X draw.

8:33pm – Adios Humberto

Humberto Brenes barely had time to settle in to his new table before being bounced out of it in 118th place.
With his stack down to just over 4,000 chips he had little choice but to get them all-in as soon as he could, and did so before the draw, getting a fold from everyone but SixthSenSe19.

Brenes stood pat while SixthSenSe19, perhaps with a feeling for how it would all turn out, drew one.

Brenes lost the hand with Q-8-7-3-2 to SixthSenSe19’s J-9-8-5-2.

8:30pm-- Team PokerStars Pros UNITE!!

Not sure if there’s a cheer before tournaments, but we’re sure the other four players at Table 16 are not cheering for their table draw. Team PokerStars Pros Lee Nelson, Bill Chen, and Victor Ramdin all have above average stacks as we’re three minutes away from another blind increase.

8:24pm-- Yes Sir, I believe we call that the best one

Steve "stevejpa" Paul-Ambrose is on a roll. After opening to 600 and getting a call from patax, stevejpa drew 2 while patax took 1. Patax then bet 1,200 and stevejpa raised him to 4,975 – the last of Paul-Ambrose’s chips.

Patax called with 8-6-5-3-2 only to find that Paul-Ambrose had in fact drawn a wheel 7-5-4-3-2. As he collected the 11,700 pot he typed "not a bad draw.”

The very next hand stevejpa took another 11,500 off the table when he drew a solid 8 versus My Brim Low’s A-J-T-9-6. My Brim Low stood pat in the hand, raising stevejpa before the draw and leading the betting afterwards.

Immediately following the hand Paul-Ambrose was asked to share his 2-7 draw secrets with the rail:

Tîmex [observer]: how do you play so good?
stevejpa: the key is to draw the best cards possible
kibbleNbeats [observer]: hang on . .let me write this down

8:18pm-- Nothing left to hang on to, Katja Thater out

Short stacked for much of this hour, Katja Thater tossed her remaining 970 chips into the middle pre draw versus biurtyj who re-raised to flush out the original raiser timber and stood pat.

Thater drew two but could not improve on her three low cards as she paired her 6, ending up with 6-6-5-4-2, far behind the rough 8 of biurtyj (8-7-6-5-3) and the Team PokerStars Pro is out in 134th.

8:14pm-- Victor Ramdin marks the spot for a 10K chip pot

After Victor Ramdin raised to 600 from UTG with the blinds at 100/200, bbbbb33 called in the cutoff, while markkx in the big blind decided to run with his remaining 4481 in chips. Ramdin made the call and bbbbb33 folded.

Both players drew one and Ramdin managed the lower face card as he flipped up J-7-6-5-2 to markkx’s K-7-5-4-2 as both were drawing to sevens and Ramdin collected the 10,012 chip pot.

8:08pm – Time is on his side

Humberto Brenes finds himself with a stack roughly the same size as when he started the day. As such, the time had come for him to make his move and get all his chips in the pot. When Lee Nelson raised it to 500 Brenes popped it back to 1,800 and Nelson began to think.

The clock began to tick on Nelson, and eventually he timed out, automatically folding his hand and shipping the pot to Brenes.

Easy money, right?

8:04pm-- Ever wondered how what Hevad "RaiNKhaN" Khan house looks like?

Take stroll how his place as this video was shot during this summer's WSOP madness as Hevad is currently just below average with 8,220 chips.

Watch WSOP 08: Hevad Khan's House Part 2 on PokerStars.tv

7:58pm-- Negreanu hits 20K, joined by SnG crusher Jorj95 at Table 34

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu is currently one of two 20,000 chip stack out on Table 34 as the other belongs to massive SnG player Jorj95.

Jorj95 once made Supernova Elite on a dare by a friend and will be one of first players to hit 2 million VPPs this year. Maybe he’ll have enough Frequent Players Points for a few stress balls after going through this field tonight.

7:46pm-- Hour three brings newhizzle to the top, while Team PokerStars Pro Gavin Griffin stays near the top

Level 7
Blinds 100/200, ante 50
Average Chip Count: 9,506
Players Remaining: 162
First Prize: $42,000.00

1. newhizzle 38,160
2. Blute 36,423
3. GavinGriffin 27,604
4. hooley_11 22,466
5. pusteblume 22,125
6. wedlowjones 21,374
7. Jorj95 21,217
8. patax 20,453
9. DazzleO 20,403
10. astarisborn 19,585

Team PokerStars Pros in top 100
Gavin Griffin      27,604   3rd
Victor Ramdin    19,162   12th
Chad Brown       19,070   14th
Daniel Negreanu  17,430   20th
Bill Chen              15,325   27th
Lee Nelson         14,455   32nd
Hevad Khan        9,210     65th
Marcin Horecki  7,705     84TH
Humberto Brenes   7,690     86TH
Tom McEvoy      7,395     89th
Steve Paul-Ambrose  6,825     96th

Team PokerStars Pros eliminated this hour:

Andre "allingomes" Gomes (168th)
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (170th)
Isabelle "NoMercy" Mercier (174th)
Alexandre "aakkari" Akkari (182nd)
Noah "Exclusive" Boeken (215th)
Dario Minieri (218th)
Luca Pagano (231st)

7:41pm – ElkY out

After a big loss to patax when he failed to best his 8-6-5-4-3 lo, Elky was left with just 372 in chips.

He was able to hold on for two hands before deciding to push them all-in on the opening raise. The only caller would be pittrounder, and both players would draw one card.

It wouldn’t be the right one for ElkY, giving him a final hand of Q-9-8-6-4 to pittrounder’s 8-5-4-3-2.

ElkY finished today’s event in 170th place.

7:36pm-- NoMercy no more, eliminated in 174th

The lovely Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mericer has been eliminated in 174th place.

7:31pm-- Andre “aakkari” Akkari hizzled in 182nd

Put to the test for the rest of his chips by big stacked newhizzle, Team PokerStars Pro Andre “aakkari” Akkari put in his remaining 2180 chips and drew two cards as newhizzle requested only one.

Akkari flipped up a pair of fours (7-5-4-4-2) for the wheel draw that didn’t get there as newhizzle turned over a smooth 8 (8-5-4-3-2) and collected the 4,800 chip pot sending Akkari home in 182nd.

7:22pm-- Hint to the PokerStars Card Room Manager

Players are liking the format tonight and are showing it in chat as they chat it up about the upcoming WSOPE in London where Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu is currently playing from.

neverwin: tourney is fun i dont want it to end lol
neverwin: never get to play these
Buxx: how about you, you going to london?
Buxx: there should be at least a weekly $200, this is a fun tourney

7:17pm-- Big hand between Gomes and Griffin

fausty197 started the betting UTG+2 by raising to 240, Gavin Griffin next to him, re-popped to 750, then Alexandre “allingomes” 4-bet to 2,999 from the big blind, which was enough to get fausty197 out, and Griffin called the extra 2299.

Gomes stood pat, while Griffin drew one. Gomes then bet half his stack, with Griffin then putting him to the test for the remainder, immediately raising back. Gomes went in the tank and thought long and hard, then typed "sick" into the chat box as he folded.

After a couple blinks and some of his time box used, Gomes folded shipping the huge pot to his fellow Team PokerStars teammate. Gomes was left with 3,971 after the hand while Griffin shot up to 26,294.

As Griffin collected the 15,398 pot and took his spot in #3 on the leaderboard, tablemate SSSHIP_IT commented in awe “Superman wears Gavin Grifffin's underwear.”

7:09pm-- Come for the poker, stay for the geography lessons

More excellent classroom chat from Team PokerStars Pro Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu’s table:

pitouse [observer]: coming TO london daniel?
verysolvent [observer]: ty
pitouse [observer]: lol
KidPoker: i just said I was in europe...
pitouse [observer]: france?
Buxx: when will you be leaving europe and going to london?
KidPoker: lololololol
KingTutu [observer]: errr good geography...
verysolvent [observer]: lmao like UK 's not Europe - thats so coool

7:04pm – stevejpa steps up

He’s been nursing a short stack for most of the day, just recently able to get above the starting chip count of 5,000. Now finally Steve “stevejpa” Paul-Ambrose has a chip count that puts him in league with the player on this right – fellow Team PokerStars Pro member Betrand “ElkY” Grospellier.

Stevejpa opened to 360 and zangbezan24 called, along with ElkY. ElkY drew 2, stevejpa 1, and zangbezan24 1. Action checked around to zangbezan24 who bet out 950, eliciting a fold from ElkY and a call from stevejpa.

Zangbezan24 had drawn a deuce to six straight, no good in this game; making stevejpa’s T-8-7-6-3 lo the winner and shipping him the 3,220 pot. His stack is now 7,825 putting him much more in line with ElkY’s 9,572.

7:00pm-- Some poker dreams cost more than others

There’s playing in the WSOP Main Event, hitting up your first EPT event, or in some cases just being a railbird at an event.

The rule at PokerStars is you can only chat on the tables if you can afford the buy-in, player “pitouse” has been saving up to the $530 buy-in tonight and read below…

pitouse [observer]: i finally get enough bankroll to speak with poker stars team lol
KidPoker: yo
pitouse [observer]: thank you so much for making poker so fun
pitouse [observer]: you change poker for ever man
pitouse [observer]: respect

Daniel "Kid Poker" Negreanu has continued to chip up, currently sitting at 17,455 chips, good enough for 6th place

6:45pm – Good draw…

…but not quite good enough.

If you have to discard all five of your cards, chances are this is not going to be your hand.
It must have raised an eyebrow from the table when Greg “FossilMan” Raymer did just that, discarding his entire hand then raising SlpyWhenWett and DirtyBird2 to 2,000 after they had just drawn 2 and 1 respectively.

DirtyBird2 responded by folding. SlpyWhnWett chose to see what Raymer had up his sleeve and raised all-in, forcing the FossilMan to call for his tournament life.

Call he did and that second draw was actually a good one for Raymer, giving him a solid 8 with 8-7-6-5-3. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to best SlpyWhnWett’s better one – he had drawn 8-5-4-3-2 and took down the 13,930 pot.

Raymer finishes today’s event in 256th place.

6:56pm-- Looking for more WCOOP action tonight?

Check out the Event #23 $530 NLHE 1-rebuy 1-add-on tourney live blog. (follow the link here) Or there’s past 2008 WCOOP highlight videos courtesy of PokerStars.TV along with videos of WSOP and EPT events featuring Team PokerStars Pros.

6:51pm-- Chip leader at the break Griffin still at the same table with “allingomes”

Team PokerStars Pros Gavin Griffin has been hooked since the start with Alexandre “allingomes” Gomes at Table 2 as astarisborn made a huge jump in chips right after the break to 27,000 in chips to take the chip lead away from Griffin momentarily.

6:45pm-- Griffin dances on top of the leaderboard for hour two

Level 5
Blinds 60/120, ante 30
Average Chip Count: 6,111
Players Remaining: 252
First Prize: $42,000.00

1. GavinGriffin 19,630
2. Itelopepe88 18,690
3. rkruok 17,695
4. SlpyWhnWett 16,838
5. Blute 15,595
6. astarisborn 15,300
7. AA’s ROLLIN 15,268
8. villepn 15,130
9. redgrape 14,920
10. HittingRiver 14,655

Team PokerStars Pros in the top 100

Gavin Griffin 19,630 1st
Victor Ramdin 14,502 11th
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier 10,202 26th
Lee Nelson 9,045 41st
Alexandre “allingomes” Gomes 8,900 44th
Chad Brown 8,405 49th
Tom McEvoy 8,215 51st

Team PokerStars Pro Eliminated this hour:

Chris "Money800" Moneymaker (247th)
Raymond Rahme (254th)
Greg "FossilMan" Raymer (256th)
Vanessa "Lady Maverick" Rousso (267th)
John Duthie (280th)

6:39pm – Not so ducky
Vanessa “LadyMaverick” Rousso may be having duck-filled nightmares this evening. Thanks to a flock of them, she’s been eliminated from today’s tournament.

Nagyy88 opened the action with a raise to 240 and Rousso and Chris “Money800” Moneymaker called. Rousso and Moneymaker both drew 2 cards while nagyy88 stood pat.

Despite having drawn horribly – two more deuces to give her 3h-2s-7s-2h-2c, for a three of a kind, Rousso pushed all-in with her last 1,305; representing a monster. Moneymaker believed her and folded while nagyy88 called her bluff with J-8-6-4-3 and took down the pot and knocked LadyMaverick out of the action.

6:35pm-- Being put to the test

With just a single draw, many decisions in this game are taking place pre-draw with well-placed re-raises and shoves.

As Team PokerStars Pro Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu got the message loud and clear that caprioli wasn’t kidding around when he raised UTG to 240 and KidPoker re-popped to 880. caprioli then shoved his remaining 4,635 testing Negreanu for over half his remaining stack of 8,985 chips.

After a few blinks, KidPoker folded and caprioli took down the 2,020 chip pot

6:25pm-- After one double up, Ramdin wheels for more

A nice value check-raise shove after the draw by Victor Ramdin caught Vinnie Verse as Ramdin flipped over a wheel to capture Verse’s remaining 3698 chips as Verse rolled over 8-7-5-4-2.

The pot was worth 11,992 and propelled the Team PokerStars pro into 6th place.

6:15pm-- Usually a pair of threes will send you home in 2-7, Ramdin doubles up

Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin who was holding a wheel draw 7-4-3-2-X got most of his remaining 3,965 chips into the middle before the draw against ACESEDAI who was holding 8-6-5-2-X.

Ramdin paired the better card as he received a 3, and ACESEDAI unfortunately caught a six for a 8-6-6-5-2 to Ramdin’s 7-4-3-3-2.

The pair of threes sent home the supernova ACESEDAI in 277th place while Ramdin is near 8,000 in chips.

6:07pm-- The wheel is a favorable hand in this game, Duthie eliminated five hands later

AA’s ROLLIN would rather see some seven’s and fives today instead of bullets and found both a seven and a five in a 4,425 chip pot with Team PokerStars Pros John Duthie and Victor Ramdin. After drawing three, AA’s ROLLIN raised a 540 chip bet by Victor Ramdin which was called by Duthie, to 1500 and got a call by Ramdin turning over a wheel 7-5-4-3-2 and getting the pot.

Five hands later Duthie tried a little squeeze play shoving for 4,195 after a raise by AA’s ROLLIN UTG+2 to 180, call by Victor Ramdin, re-raise by Hikkespett to 840. But, AA’s ROLLIN called the squeeze and Duthie unfortunately drew horribly getting two kings which were easily defeated by AA’s ROLLIN’s 8-6-5-4-2 and Duthie was eliminated in 280th.

6:02pm – Absolutely!

You think poker is dead? Witness the following –

pittrounder opens the action and it’s folded to our pal Betrand “ElkY” Grospellier. ElkY calls and discards 1. pittrounder discards 2. ElkY bets 660 and pittrounder calls.

The hands are not quite what you’d hope for in a game of 2-7 – Elky with A-9-7-5-4 and pittrounder with Q-8-5-3-2. Pittrounder takes the 2,235 pot and the table moves on to the next hand. Nothing to see here.

But if you’ve just taken a pot from one of the bigger names in professional poker with a less than ideal hand, what might cross your mind?

pittrounder said, "i should become a professional 2-7 player"

You can try and kill ‘em folks. We’ll just keep making more.

5:57pm-- Team PokerStars Pro Tom McEvoy sporting a double stack early

The 1983 WSOP main event champ joins fellow Team PokerStars Pro Gavin Griffin in the top 20 of the leaderboard with 9,710 chips as there are nine minutes left before the blinds increase to 40/80, ante 20.

So far 26 players have been eliminated

5:52pm-- Duthie doubles almost back to even at ACESEDAI’s expense

Supernova ACESEDAI raised from UTG to 240, Victor Ramdin called right next to him, and John Duthie sitting on only 1400 chips decided to shove all-in. Back to ACESEDAI he shoved for 4,380 chips to block out Ramdin and did as Ramdin folded.

ACESEDAI stood pat as Duthie drew two and rolled over 7-6-5-4-2 for a 7-6 low and ACESEDAI showed a J-8 and the 3225 chip pot got Duthie out of a deep hole and back to solvent.

5:46pm – Griffin breaks to the top

Team PokerStars Pro Gavin Griffin has just taken his stack to the double digits thanks to his decision to break a 9 after getting all of his chips in the pot.

The two had raised each other back and forth until finally Griffin committed his entire stack to the hand. blazinazn called Griffin’s all-in and then stood pat while Griffin drew one card.

Griffin then showed 8-7-5-3-2 for the 10,305 pot to blazinazn’s 9-7-6-4-3.

5:42pm-- He wrote the book on it

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu is currently out on Table 34 with an above average stack at 7,500 as we start level 3. Some of his tablemates may have learned how to play 2-7 lowball from his section in the famed poker book “Super/System 2”.

We’ll see if the author can parlay his teachings into a WCOOP bracelet today.

5:35pm-- Hour one chip counts

Level 3
Blinds 30/60, ante 15
Average Chip Count: 5,167
Players Remaining: 298
First Prize: $42,000.00

1. villepn 12,320
2. HittingRiver 12,065
3. DellP0ker 10,370
4. redgrape 9,760
5. Allingomes 9,520
6. Moorman1 9,375
7. F4ITH+1 9,240
8. DirtyBird2 9,135
9. newhizzle 8,930
10. SM4RTASS 8,860

Team PokerStars Pros in the top 100:

Alexandre Gomes           9,520     5th
Chad Brown                    8,300     16th
Daniel Negreanu             7,645     27th
Tom McEvoy                   7,160     38th
Noah Boeken                  6,875     47th
Victor Ramdin                  5,775     88th
Steve Paul-Ambrose      5,610     98th

Team PokerStars Pro eliminations this hour:

Barry Greenstein (306th)

5:26pm-- Its lonely at the top

villepn first to a double stack and currently leads with 12,300 chips as the first hour comes to a close with only eight eliminations and 300 players still in.

5:24pm – There is no doctor in the house

Team PokerStars Pro Alexandre "allingomes" Gomes is making his tablemates a little ill apparently. In a recent hand he opened to 160 and got 2 callers before CharismA3 raised it to 840. Action folded back to Gomes who called, then drew one card along with CharismA3.

Gomes then checked to his opponent, and CharismA3 bet out 1640. Gomes then put CharismA3 to the test for all his stack, raising him to 5,005. CharismA3 went in to the tank as the clock began to count down the minutes while he pondered the bet.

Finally he released the hand and typed “this is sick. what did you make?”

Gomes wouldn’t offer it up and CharismA3 isn’t happy to state what he folded either. For Gomes, the hand propelled him to 4th place on the leaderboard.

5:22pm-- People bluff in poker?

Yes, even the pros think about bluffing!

As shown by Team PokerStars Pro Bill Chen as he pondered on slinging some chips at his pair of fours in a hand against fellow Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa “Lady Maverick” Rousso.

Dealer: Bill Chen has Lo: a pair of Fours
Dealer: LadyMaverick has Lo: J,7,6,5,2
Dealer: Game #20459487578: LadyMaverick wins pot (210) with Lo: J,7,6,5,2
Smirkinbaby [observer]: gotta love this game wooo
LadyMaverick: bill u thgt about the bluff that hand eh? ;)
Bill Chen: heh

Rousso is currently sitting on 3,000 chips and Chen is near the starting chip stack at 4,900.

5:14pm-- Ramdin and Duthie clash

John Duthie started the betting by raising before the before the draw UTG to 120, Vinnie Verse next to act called, folded around to Victor Ramdin who 3-bet to 480. Both Duthie and Vinnie Verse called and everyone took one card

Duthie checked, like-wise for Vinnie Verse as Ramdin lead out for 1280 chips and Duthie made the call while Vinnie Verse went back to reading something else and folded.

Ramdin turned over a rough 8 (8c-7s-6c-5h-2c) which was the winner for the 4,130 chips pot as Duthie mucked.

Duthie is at 3,645 chips after the hand and Ramdin moved up to 7,265.

5:05pm – Barry Greenstein eliminated

Thanks to a crippling loss with a seven that he was unable to come back from, Barry Greenstein has seen a very early exit from today’s event. After discarding one card along with Greg Raymer, DirtyBird2, and mahoney3, Greenstein checked to FossilMan who bet out 200. DirtyBird2 raised and mahoney3 folded his hand. Greenstein raised to 2,300 and FossilMan got out of the way, leaving it up to DirtyBird2 who raised all-in to 4,600. Greenstein called with what he thought was a made hand – 7-6-5-3-2.

Unfortunately, he found that DirtyBird2 had him beat with a wheel, 7-5-4-3-2.

Greenstein commented “"i've never had that hand beaten before in this game. and i've played it for years”

Just a few hands after a raise from tuomastok Greenstein would come over the top all-in, drawing one card while tuomastok would stand pat. Greenstein would lose the hand with K-9-8-7-4 to tuomastok’s T-9-7-6-5 and be eliminated from today’s event.  

5:00pm-- More people needing easier tables

Team PokerStars Pros Victor Ramdin and John Duthie are currently seated at Table 7 with Supernova “ACESEDAI”. We’re now in level two with blinds going up to 20/40, ante 10.

4:55pm – Raymer starts betting big

Greg “FossilMan” Raymer immediately took note of the potential overlay in today’s event, and seated with Barry Greenstein, the two began discussion of the possibility of enough players buying in to make the $200,000 prize guarantee.

At $500 a pop, it would take 400 players to buy in to today’s event to meet the prize pool payout, and sitting at just over 300, Raymer took the bold step of announcing to the table that he was willing to “bet anybody, any price” that it wouldn’t happen. In fact, he’d even give “you 100:1 if you bet enough.”

While the players at his table took a moment to ponder if Raymer was really serious about his offer, registration came to a quick close and final payouts were announced.

Raymer explained that for him it was a sucker bet, as in his role as a member of Team PokerStars Pro he spends enough time at the tourney tables to be familiar with the process of registration to know when the doors were about to close. Once all the spots on open tables were filled, he was comfortable in making his offer.

4:53pm-- Didn’t feel like grinding today

The Grinder is the second player out just 24 minutes into the tournament. Blinds will be increasing every 30 minutes today.

4:49pm-- PokerStars footing the bill today

There will be a bit of an overlay for the 308 entries today as the $200,000 guarantee was not reached so the 49 players that make the money today can thank PokerStars for the extra cash.

Here are the payouts:

1. $42,000.00
2. $30,000.00
3. $21,000.00
4. $13,000.00
5. $9,000.00
6. $7,000.00
7. $5,000.00
8th to 10th $3,800.00
11th to 14th $2,800.00
15th to 21st $2,000.00
22nd to 28th $1,600.00
29th to 35th $1,400.00
36th to 42nd $1,200.00
43rd to 49th $1,000.00

4:39pm-- All Team PokerStars Pros report to Table 8

Stacked at Table 8 today are Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa “Lady Maverick” Rousso, Chris “Money800” Moneymaker, and Bill Chen. With blinds starting off at 10/20 , ante 5 we’ve already had several thousand chip pots but no bust outs/rebuys in the first level.

4:30pm-- Team PokerStars Pros in the field today

The lineup of Team PokerStars Pros and a sprinkling of notables for this No Limit Single Draw 2-7 Event #24.

Andre “aakari” Akkari
Alexandre “allingomes” Gomes
Barry “barryg1” Greenstein
Bill Chen
Chad Brown
Dario Minieri
Bertand “ElkY” Grospellier
Noah “Exclusive” Boeken
Greg “FossilMan” Raymer
Gavin Griffin
Humberto Brenes
John Duthie
Marcin “Goral” Horecki
Katja Thater
Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu
Vanessa “Lady Maverick” Rousso
Luca Pagano
Chris “Money800” Moneymaker
Isabelle “NoMercy” Mercier
Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan
Lee “LeeNelsonP*” Nelson
Raymond Rahme
Steve “stevejpa” Paul-Ambrose
Tom McEvoy
Victory Ramdin

Other notables:

#1PEN
Andy McLEOD
BigRiskky
BeL0WaB0Ve
Kongsgaard
Jorj95
mig.com
playitsafe
Sowerss
The Grinder
zangbezan24

WCOOP Event #24 to begin at 4:30pm ET

The 24th event of the 2008 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker begins at 4:30pm ET. The $530 2-7 Single Draw tournament will allow for one rebuy and one add-on. Players are guaranteed a $200,000 prize pool.