Poker News

Greg ‘Fossilman’ Raymer seeks back to back championships.

[Visit the Photo Gallery, 2005 World Series of Poker Results and the WSOP Top Money Finishers. Our WSOP writer is live blogging the WSOP on his poker blog, Tao of Poker]

Mike Matusow ended the day as the chipleader at the World Series of Poker as the field was thinned from 56 to 27 players. Matusow started the day second in chips in his quest to complete his comeback. It seems that only Mike Matusow can now stop Mike Matusow. Ralbirds carefully watched his table and camera crews followed his every move in hopes that they record all of his colorful banter, as well as catch a glimpse of a possible “Mike Matusow Meltdown.” That never happened and Matusow maintained his composure once again as he cruised into the chip lead with over $5.14 million.

Greg “Fossilman” Raymer was one of the biggest movers of the day. He stack went from $700K to over $3.5M and survived a few big hits. He’s still trying to win back-to-back championships which would prove that last year’s win was not a fluke. Raymer won one of the most important pots of the tournament against Tiffany Williamsen. He reraised all in preflop against Williamsen with pocket Kings. She sat and waited for nearly ten minutes before she made the decisionto call Raymer’s all in bet. She had more chips and had him covered, but her A-J was way behind. Raymer’s hand held up and he doubled up against Williamsen while the crowd erupted in jubilation.

The biggest shark lurking in the WSOP waters is six-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey. He’s plays in the “Big Game” with poker legends such as Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese, Johnny Chan, Barry Greenstien, and Bobby Baldwin. His stellar competition is one of the reasons why he’s considered one of the most skilled players in the world. Doyle Brunson said that Phil Ivey has the potential to be one of the best players of all time. If Ivey can win a World Championship, it appears that Brunson’s prediction might become true.

The Buzz

Tiffany Williamsen is the only female remaining at the WSOP. She was born in America and the Columbia Law School graduate currently lives and works in London, England. She’s fluent in Mandarin Chinese and outlasted almost 5,600 players to make it to the last three tables. Although she’s a newcomer to poker, she’s chasing history and trying to become only the second female (behind Barbara Enright) to make a final table at the WSOP main event.

Back Story

The Rio Casino will no longer be the place to watch the 2005 World Series of Poker. The last three tables will be played over the next two days at the Binion’s Horseshoe, which is the birthplace to the World Series of Poker. This was the first year that the WSOP was held outside of the Horseshoe and will return for one last time.

Sight of the Day

Andy Black from Dublin, Ireland silently wept at the poker table. One of the players at his table misunderstood an announcement that dinner break was canceled and replaced with a twenty minute break instead. When the player did not come back to the table, action resumed without him. Andy Black didn’t think it was fair and he lobbied his other tablemates to postpone the action until the absent player returned. The other players disagreed and even called “the clock” on Andy when he attempted to stall to buy the other player some time to return.

Quote of the Day

“Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oy, Oy, Oy! Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oy, Oy, Oy!” was loudly chanted continuously by the numerous railbirds for Joe Hachem, a Melbourne native whenever he won a pot.

Top 10 Chips

1. Mike Matusow (Las Vegas, NV) $5.14M

2. Phil Ivey (Las Vegas, NV) $4.635M

3. Steven Dannenmann (Severn, MD) $4.3M

4. Tex Barch (McKinney, TX) $3.9M

5. Greg “Fossil Man” Raymer (Stonington, CT) $3.84

6. Brad Koudrachi (Kingston, PA) $3.16M

7. Joseph Hachem (Melbourne, Australia $3.125M

8. Scott Lazar (Studio City, CA) $3.025M

9. Michael Kessler (Spotsylvania, VA) $2.7M

10. Daniel Bergsdorf (Umea, Sweden) $2.55M

Other Notable Chip Counts

Andrew Black (Dublin, Ireland) $2.09M

Minh Ly (Las Vegas, NV) $2.050M

Tiffany Williamsen (London, UK) $1.125M

Notable Bustouts

John Juanda

Lee Watkinson

Farzad Bonyadi

Kenna James

Hung La

Russel “The Muscle” Salazar

Filed under: Poker News