Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic

Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Final Table
Dec. 20th 2009

Not surprisingly one of the toughest tournament of the year turned out a final table laden with top pros.  While tournament namesake Doyle Brunson and his team of emerging online pros didn’t have a representative at the final table the cast of the final 6 was still filled with top notch players covering a wide array of styles and backgrounds.
The tournament ended up going to the young but seemingly much older than his years Danny Alaei.  Danny is in his mid-twenties but his demeanor and confidence give the feel of someone much older and more mature.  He has the feel of a battle hardened veteran at the tables even at a relatively young age.  Alaei was able to sang the $1.4 million top prize after he defeated the other veteran at the final table, Josh Arieh.

Arieh came into the final table as one of the short stacks but a single double up and some impressive play took him from the bottom of the pile to a dominating chip leader.  Arieh was all in for and well covered by Scotty Nguyen but the pocket sevens of Arieh held up against the AJ suited for Nguyen to give Josh a double up that started him on a run that left the other players stunned.  From as low as 1 million chips Arieh quickly and steadily built a stack of over 10 million and continued to chip up to over 13 million, which he took into heads up play against Alaei.

Danny started heads up play with around 7 million and Arieh had a coinflip for the title when the two were all in with Josh’s AK against the pocket queens of Alaei.  The pair held and after that the stacks were more balanced and Alaei was able to battle on to the victory, leaving Arieh in the runner up spot but with a still very hefty payout of over $950,000.

The young gun at the table was Faraz Jaka, known as “The-Toilet” online which came from his propensity to play any two suited cards when he first started playing, leading him to make his fair share of flushes.  Jaka came in as the chip leader and held steady through much of the final table play but was ultimately eliminated by Alaei in 3rd for $571,374.  Back in July Jaka had a runner up finish at the Bellagio Cup World Poker Tour main event for $775,000.

Shawn Buchanan (4th for $333,202), Scotty Nguyen (5th for $249,976) and Steve O’Dwyer(6th for $202,362) rounded out the final table finishes with Joe Cassidy coming up just short of making the TV table with a 7th place finish.

Brunson 10 member Amit “Amak316″ Makhija finished in the money with a 26th place finish for $28,569.

The tournament circuit comes to a halt around the holidays but kicks back off in early January.  Check back often to see what is going on in the live tournament world and to follow the progress of the Brunson 10.

Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic

Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Day 4

Dec. 17th 2009

The Doyle’s Room family of players was down to only one representative by the time day 4 started at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio.  Amit “Amak316″ Makhija came into the day 22nd of the remaining 36 players and was able to make his way inside the money but lost a coinflip soon after and was eliminated from the tournament short of a final table appearance.
The top 27 players made the money and after Hasan Habib was eliminated in 28th place it wasn’t long before Amit had his chips in the middle.  After the money bubble he only had 280k chips with the blinds at 6,000 / 12,000 and a 1k ante and when he picked up AJ suited and was faced with a raise to 30k he moved all in.  Matt Waxman called with his pocket sevens and in a standard race situation the smaller pair held up to eliminate Makhija in 26th place for a payout of $28,569.

Even with all of Doyle’s group of players eliminated play rolled on in the tournament named after Brunson.  A full five levels of play brought the field down to the final 16 players, led by Curt Kohlberg who is coming off a recent WPT final table at Foxwoods where he finished in 5th place.  Going into the playdown day of the Five Diamond Kohlberg has 2,856,000 chips and leads the charge towards a second consecutive WPT main event final table.  Play will continue tomorrow until the 16 are trimmed to only 6 who will then return the next day to play it out for the title and nearly $1.5 million first prize on the WPT TV set.

Final 16 Chip Counts:
1.) Curt Kohlberg – 2,856,000
2.) Faraz Jaka – 2,768,000
3.) Danny Alaei – 2,422,000
4.) John Juanda – 1,851,000
5.) Chad Batista – 1,550,000
6.) Joe Cassidy – 1,445,000
7.) Josh Arieh – 1,067,000
8.) Shawn Buchanan – 1,007,000
9.) Steve O’Dwyer – 826,000
10.) Carter King – 805,000
11.) Eric Hershler – 796,000
12.) Mike Sowers – 661,000
13.) Matt Waxman – 641,000
14.) Joe Elpayaa – 446,000
15.) Scotty Nguyen – 339,000
16.) Lee Salem – 275,000

Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Day 3 Dec 16th 2009

Everywhere he goes Doyle Brunson is a fan favorite and has the poker world rooting for him to do well, but that sentiment is only amplified at the Bellagio in December when the poker world comes together for the last major tournament of the year, named after the Godfather of poker. The Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic saw its namesake make a strong run on day 2 putting himself near the top of the chip counts going into day 3, but the run ended when Doyle was eliminated midway through the third day of play in the 6 day tournament.

Of the 130 players that started the day only 36 made it through to day 4, and Doyle wasn’t the only Brunson or member of the Doyle’s Room family to fall during day 3 play. Todd Brunson came into the day as the third shortest stack and after an early rally his fate went south again and he was eliminated from the tournament. The newest member of the Brunson 10 also saw his tournament run end during the days play. Dani Stern was all in on the turn with a pair of queens against an opponent that had KQ on a jack high board. The other player had a gutshot straight draw and the overcard king that would help him on the river and his 7 outer got there with a king to bust Stern from the tournament. Hoyt Corkins was also ousted from the tournament late in the day.

Fellow Brunson 10 member Amit Makhija was short stacked for a lot of the tournament but rallied later in the day to build up to 900k in chips and put himself among the chipleaders. The day ended on a down note for Makhija as he dropped to 423,500 by the end of play, but he is still in 22nd place of the 36 remaining players and could easily make a final table run. The first order of business when play starts back tomorrow at noon will be getting into the money and from there play will continue for a full five levels or until the field is reduced to 10 players. The next day of play will bring the field down to the final 6, who will then return the next day to play it out for the title under the lights and cameras of the World Poker Tour’s TV set.

For now Danny Alaei holds the top spot with 1,664,500 with Steven Landfish and Josh Arieh both also over the 1 million chip mark. Here are how the top 10 stack up going into day 4 play:

1.) Danny Alaie – 1,664,500
2.) Steven Landfish – 1,172,500
3.) Josh Arieh – 1,112,000
4.) Scotty Nguyen – 981,500
5.) Matt Waxman – 951,500
6.) Joe Elpayaa – 921,000
7.) Jamie Rosen – 803,000
8.) Mike Sowers – 801,000
9.) Matt Stout – 700,500
10.) Joe Cassidy – 689,500

Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic

Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Day 3
Dec. 16th 2009

Everywhere he goes Doyle Brunson is a fan favorite and has the poker world rooting for him to do well, but that sentiment is only amplified at the Bellagio in December when the poker world comes together for the last major tournament of the year, named after the Godfather of poker.  The Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic saw its namesake make a strong run on day 2 putting himself near the top of the chip counts going into day 3, but the run ended when Doyle was eliminated midway through the third day of play in the 6 day tournament.

Of the 130 players that started the day only 36 made it through to day 4, and Doyle wasn’t the only Brunson or member of the Doyle’s Room family to fall during day 3 play.  Todd Brunson came into the day as the third shortest stack and after an early rally his fate went south again and he was eliminated from the tournament.  The newest member of the Brunson 10 also saw his tournament run end during the days play.  Dani Stern was all in on the turn with a pair of queens against an opponent that had KQ on a jack high board.  The other player had a gutshot straight draw and the overcard king that would help him on the river and his 7 outer got there with a king to bust Stern from the tournament.  Hoyt Corkins was also ousted from the tournament late in the day.

Fellow Brunson 10 member Amit Makhija was short stacked for a lot of the tournament but rallied later in the day to build up to 900k in chips and put himself among the chipleaders.  The day ended on a down note for Makhija as he dropped to 423,500 by the end of play, but he is still in 22nd place of the 36 remaining players and could easily make a final table run.  The first order of business when play starts back tomorrow at noon will be getting into the money and from there play will continue for a full five levels or until the field is reduced to 10 players.  The next day of play will bring the field down to the final 6, who will then return the next day to play it out for the title under the lights and cameras of the World Poker Tour’s TV set.

For now Danny Alaei holds the top spot with 1,664,500 with Steven Landfish and Josh Arieh both also over the 1 million chip mark.  Here are how the top 10 stack up going into day 4 play:

1.) Danny Alaie – 1,664,500
2.) Steven Landfish – 1,172,500
3.) Josh Arieh – 1,112,000
4.) Scotty Nguyen – 981,500
5.) Matt Waxman – 951,500
6.) Joe Elpayaa – 921,000
7.) Jamie Rosen – 803,000
8.) Mike Sowers – 801,000
9.) Matt Stout – 700,500
10.) Joe Cassidy – 689,500

Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic

Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Day 2
Dec. 15th 2009

Doyle Brunson took advantage of the registration policy and entered the tournament named after him part way through day 2 play.  Once at the tables it didn’t take long for Doyle to put his name up towards the top of the chip counts along with on the title of the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

Doyle was able to bust his friend and fellow big game player Eli Elezra to quickly build a stack and finished the day with a solid 283,000 chips putting him in 15th place in the chip counts.  The final number of entrants came in at 329 players and 130 are left after 10 levels and 2 full days of play.  The top 27 will make the money.

Alec Torelli also chose to enter the tournament during day 2 play, but for him the strategy didn’t work out.  Alec was eliminated with about an hour left in day 2 play when he flopped a pair of aces with his A4.  His opponent also flopped a pair of aces with A6.  Alec picked up a flush draw on the turn and had most of the deck to chop the pot but a six hit on the river giving his opponent two pair and eliminating Alec from the tournament.  Other day 2 entrants included Hoyt Corkins and Todd Brunson.  Both finished the day short of the 60k chips they started with.  Hoyt finished up with 41,700 and in 120th place while Todd is almost at the very bottom of the chip counts in 128th place with only 24,600.

Amit Makhija, Dani Stern and Zach Clark all started play during day 1 and at the end of the second day Amit is in 59th place with 142,000 and Dani has 120,200 putting him in 70th place.  For Zach Clark day 2 marked the end of his tournament run.

Players will return on Wednesday at noon to play another five levels.  Doyle has Hoyt at his table along with Steve Zolotow, Carter King, Jamie Rosen, and Glen Chorny.

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