Event 12
Randy “Randers” Haddox vanquishes tough field in Event #12!
Event #12 came down to a clash of the titans, as Randy “Randers” Haddox squared off heads-up against Aaron “011180” Kanter for the bracelet and the top cash prize of $66,000 in the Mixed Hold’em Event. It took well past sunrise ET for the final table to finish, but finally Haddox put away Kanter after nearly thirty minutes of heads-up battle. We caught up with Haddox a few days after his victory.
Like many players, Haddox played poker as a child but got interested in online poker when Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event at the 2003 World Series of Poker. He began playing seriously about four years ago, and switched to mostly tournament poker in 2005. His victory in Event #12 was the latest in a long string of deep finishes and tournament success on PokerStars, where he has logged several wins and final tables in $109 rebuy tournaments.
A successful tournament pro for several years, Haddox admitted to relief at winning the WCOOP title. “Relief in a lot of ways. The relief that I didn’t have to go to sleep thinking ‘what if?’” Well Haddox certainly didn’t have a lot of what-ifs in his head after the marathon Event #12, especially after taking down a field that contained many of the top players in the world.
While the cash in Event #12 isn’t his biggest cash, Haddox names the WCOOP title as his highest-profile victory. He posted a blog early this year that he wanted to make $1 million profit from July 2008 to July 2009, and the $66,000 from Event #12 is certainly a step in the right direction.
Haddox, whose screen name of Randers came from a familiarization of his first name Randy, gives credit to the internet forums and players for a lot of his success. “I don’t think I was very good until I started using the internet resources (i.e. forums, other players). There are a lot of great players that I have mimicked to get better.” And no doubt a number of players that have mimicked him to improve their game. Haddox has thousands of posts of his own on internet strategy forums where he shares his strategies and is a highly ranked player. Congratulations to Randy “Randers” Haddox for his win in Event #12!
WCOOP Event #12 Mixed hold’em highlight show
You missed the end of WCOOP Event #12? How could you?
Oh, sure, you were sleeping. We’re not sure that’s a great excuse to miss yet another great final table in the World Championship of Online Poker. That said, we don’t hold grudges and we’re here to serve.
PokerStars.tv has once again put together a great highlights show. This time, we get to see Event #12’s final table play out with the hole cards exposed.
Have a look below.
Watch WCOOP Highlights: Event 12 - $320 Mixed Hold’em on PokerStars.tv
For more news on Event #12, visit the WCOOP Event #12 Live Blog or the final table wrap-up.
WCOOP Event 12: Steve Paul Ambrose applauds structure
by Steve Paul-Ambrose
Mixed holdem has quickly gone from an experiment at the 2007 WSOP, to a very popular format for tournament poker. In Event 12, nearly 1,500 players put up the $320 buyin to compete for a first prize of more than $73,000. My tournament came to an early end. After losing several big limit holdem pots, I pushed over a raise with A7s. My opponent called with K9s but unfortunately caught a 9 and I was sent to the rail.
The tournament had a phenomenal structure though, with deep stacks right through until the end. In what can only be described as a marathon final 15, Randers went from chip leader to final table short stack to champion, beating 011180 heads up after over 17 hours of play. As is often the case in mixed holdem tournaments, the limit holdem rounds drove much of the action in the later stages of the tournament, as players fought hard for the larger blinds.
This morning though, the two key hands heads up came during the no limit rounds. The first was Randers getting a huge double up when he pushed over a reraise with AT but was called by 011180’s JJ. The ace on the flop gave him the chip lead and 25 hands later when his A6 held up against A5, Randers was a WCOOP champion.
Congrats to Randers and all final table participants!
Steve Paul-Ambrose is a member of Team PokerStars Pro. You can find him under the screen name stevejpa.
WCOOP Event #12 Mixed Hold’em Live Blog
Live blog coverage of WCOOP Event #11 Mixed Hold’em is brought to you by bloggers April Kyle, Jason Kirk, Jennifer Newell, and Jordan Raanan. Have a story for us? E-mail to blog@pokerstars.com. Click refresh to see the latest information.
6:07 pm - Goral and Humberto time
With two of our pros out, it’s time to find more pros to watch. We’re going to follow Team PokerStars Pros Marcin “Goral” Horecki on Table 124 and Humberto “Humberto B.” Brenes on Table 89. Horecki has 3,215 as we move up to 100/200 limit hold’em, while Brenes’ stack is worth 4,580.
6:02 pm - Boeken up, out
In the space of two hands, Noah “Exclusive” Boeken went from below-average to average to out.
In the first hand iecavniex opened the pot in the cutoff for 120. Boeken raised to 480 on the button and both the blinds folded, putting the action back on iecavniex. He considered his move for a few seconds before shoving all-in for a total of 1,415. Boeken didn’t take long to call with 3c-3s.
He was on the right side of the coin flip against iecavniex’s As-Qd going in to the flop, but 8c-3h-2c was all it took to nail the pot down for Exclusive.
On the very next hand, Boeken opened the pot in the cutoff for 120 and Perumov, with a stack of 6,135 that more than covered the Team PokerStars Pro, made the bet 440 on the button. The blinds got out of the way and Boeken made it 1,600 to go. Perumov paused for a moment before shoving all-in, and Boeken called quickly.
The bad news came when Boeken flipped up his 9s-9h and saw Perumov’s Kd-Ks.
No help was coming and Boeken finished in 1225th.
5:56pm - Thater right at home
After the run of bricks she had in yesterday’s Razz event, no doubt Katja Thater was hoping a little bit of that luck would carry over to today’s Mixed Hold’em event. You know, to a place where cards like that would be appreciated and actually do her some good.
From the looks of things that may just be the case. Thater has been sitting with a cozy stack all day and currently has 4,585.
5:55 pm - Nice pots for Noah
Noah Boeken is faring much better than fellow Team PokerStars Pro Joe Hachem right now. Boeken picked up two pots worth 1,680 apiece before the end of the limit hold’em round - one with 9s-6s for two pair against iecavniex, and the other against the same opponent without a showdown on the river.
Boeken begins the no-limit round with 3,860 in his stack, and there are three players at the table capable of doubling him up.
5:50 pm - No dough for Joe
Joe Hachem had to take a stand sometime soon, and with 80 already in the pot for his big blind he decided to make J-2 the hand on which he placed his tournament life. Tobia$ Bluth’s K-7 fell bhind on the Qd-5s-2c flop, but the Kd on the turn was good enough to knock Hachem out.
Hachem finished today’s event in 1274th place.
5:49 pm - Hachem down, almost out
With stakes at 80/160 in limit hold’em, a stack of 1,000 means you need the deck on your side to have a chance at sticking around. So far, former WSOP Main Event champ Joe Hachem hasn’t been able to get a hand to go his way. He’s down to just 360 after seeing the flop in one hand and the turn in another with three bets going in preflop on each.
Hachem’s blinds are about to hit so we’ll see if he survives.
5:43 pm - Featured pros
This hour we pick up coverage of Team PokerStars Pros Joe “JoeHachem” Hachem and Noah “Exclusive” Boeken. Hachem right now looks like he’s in need of some help, with only 1,000 in his stack. Boeken, meanwhile, is a little better off at 2,500 but still looking for spots to chip up.
5:35pm–Chip counts at one-hour break
Level 5
Blinds 80/160
Average chip count: 4,578
Players remaining: 1,307
First prize: $73,603
1. GambleAB 16,460
2. CERN2008 15,965
3. krrmm 14,035
4. FrinkX 13,155
5. mlagoo 12,765
6. olligol123 12,615
7. i am only 17 12,465
8. ChodeZilla 12,385
9. OPardonJunge 12,060
10. pearljam1012 12,010
Recent eliminations:
Dario Minieri - 1450
Steve Paul-Ambrose - 1381
Isabelle Mercier - 1308
5:28pm - Getting to know Greenstein
Barry Greenstein has been proving over the past few days that his charm and sense of humor is on par with his poker skills. If you’re not already familar with his background, here’s an interview from PokerStars.tv that will give you more insight into this Team PokerStars Pro:
Watch Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein on PokerStars.tv
5:19 pm - Pedal to the metal
Hevad Khan is still down half his starting stack, but that doesn’t mean he’s changing his game plan at all. He’s continuing to stay aggressive, opening pots in position when the action folds to him and especially raising on his button. He’s still putting out continuation bets when he gets a call, too, which has been keeping his head above water so far.
5:13 pm - Rendevous in Uruguay?
Barry Greenstein has run into BinaryFinary at the tables already once this WCOOP. It seems there might be a bit more to the story than random table draws:
BinaryFinary: damn barry u had to come to both of my wcoop tables huh
barryg1: i requested you
BinaryFinary: thats cool, i’m up for a challenge
barryg1: i heard you were good and I wanted to see for myself
BinaryFinary: hahaha i bet you did
barryg1: I heard it from you
BinaryFinary: this is a funny coincidence, you met my sister in urugay like a month ago
barryg1: I wasn’t going to tell you that!
5:17pm - Final numbers in
With registration for today’s event closed, we can report that a total of 1,496 hold’em junkies ponied cash, FPP points or satellied their way in to today’s event for a total prize pool of $448,800. After fighting through hours of play, 216 of today’s players will cash in today’s event, with first place walking away with a grand prize of $73, 603.
Among the tables today are TeamPokerStars Pros Victor Ramdin, Tom McEvoy, Steve Paul-Ambrose, Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan, Isabelle “NoMercy” Mercier, Chris “Money800” Moneymaker, Luca Pagano, Katja Thater, Joe Hachem, Marcin Horecki, Humberto Brenes, Gavin Griffin, Noah Boeken, Dario Minieri, Barry Greenstein, and Alexandre Gomes.
5:08 pm - Rough times for Khan
Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan is under 2,000 now. He dropped several hundred in raise-re-raise-fold situations, but then a limit hold’em hand came along to drop him further.
vui-qua-di opened the action preflop under the gun, making the bet 120. mumtum23 raised to 180, and Khan made it 240 from the small blind. Both players called and the flop came down 7h-5c-4s. Khan bet out and both opponents called the 60.
When the 9h came, Khan again led out but only vui-qua-di called. The 2c on the river got Khan to slow down; he check-called the 120 bet from vui-qua-di, and mucked when he was shown Ac-3c for the wheel.
4:58 pm - No, not flushing
Barry Greenstein is back down again after dropping about a quarter of his stack on this hand.
Action folded to R0GEREL, who opened for 60 in the cutoff. loroppon and Greenstein came along from the small and big blind, respectively, to see a flop of Ad-8h-6d. Both blinds checked, R0GEREL bet 135, and only Greenstein made the call.
The 5s came on the turn, and Greenstein check-called a bet of 380. When the Qd came on the river, though, he led out for 660. R0GEREL made the call and saw Grrenstein’s Ac-5c; his own Ah-Qs made the higher two pair and claimed the 2,530 pot.
After the hand, R0GEREL typed this in the chat box: “couldnt believe u would be flushing but still couldnt raise….hm”
4:54 pm - Khan drops a bit
Hevad Khan currently has 2,940, making the short stack at the table. That can mostly be chalked up to a single pot during no-limit.
The action folded to Khan on the button and he opened for 60. Timewalker rised the bet to 100 and Khan called to see the flop come Ks-9c-8c. Timewalker led out for 180 and Khan made the call.
Timewalker slowed down when the Qh came on the turn, checking and then calling Khan’s 380 bet. Both players checked when the 6c made a flush possible, and Timewalker’s Qc-Jh was good enough to take down a pot worth 1,340.
4:53pm – Money800 takes a fall
Having a WSOP Main Event bracelet winner at your table might be intimidating to some, but the players at Chris Moneymaker’s table don’t seem to be the least bit bothered. Moneymaker’s stack suffered up against lteopepe88 when on the turn, Moneymaker checked the heart flush draw on the board. You can guess of course what floated in on the river… and when Moneymaker’s bet was raised by iteopepe88 he knew he was beat and folded. In the chat he immediately kicked himself for letting the card get there.
4:48 pm - Barry down, up again
Barry Greenstein was down to 3,300 as the no-limit round begins, after losing several hands during the limit round. One of those, a hand against BinaryFinary, was the biggest pot at this table so far; BinaryFinary flopped a set of sevens and rivered a full house to claim the 940 pot.
Once the game got to no-limit, though, he got back to even pretty quickly.
Greenstein opened for 60 on the button and scags23 called from the big blind. The flop came 6d-5h-3h; scags23 check-raised to 240 after Greenstein bet 80, and the team PokerStars Pro made the call.
The Qs fell on the turn, prompting a bet of 365 from scags23 and a call from Greenstein. When the 4d fell on the river, scags23 backed off; he checked and then folded, shipping the 1,320 pot to Greenstein.
4:42 pm - Running g00t
Hevad Khan might be the Team PokerStars Pro on the table right now at Table 143, but vui-qua-di is the player who’s running the game. In the early going of the first limit hold’em round, he’s up to 5,800 - and everyone else has less than where they started. If you want to make that kind of run, it helps to pick up A-A twice and kings once - and have them all hold up.
4:34 pm - No book for you!
Barry Greenstein is well known for giving away a copy of Ace On The River, his guide to professional level poker, to anyone who busts him in a live tournament. Apparently there’s no such luck for his online competitors today, though, if they can take him down:
cags23: can u get my mailing address and send me an autograph book if I bust u barryg?
barryg1: nope
barryg1: too lazy to do that
4:32 pm - It’s raining pros
We’ve got our eyes on Team PokerStars Pros Barry “barryg1″ Greenstein (Table 7) and Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan (Table 183) for the first hour today. We’ve followed both of these guys a pretty good bit so far and there’s two things we know: they’ve both been pretty chatty with the railbirds so far during the WCOOP, and they’ve both both been playing solid poker.
4:30pm - We’re off!
Action is underway in today’s Mixed Hold’em tournament. 1397 players have signed up to try their hand at this exciting variant which alternates levels of limit hold’em with no-limit hold’em. The prize pool is currently over $414,000 and growing as registration is still open. It’s not too late to sign up and take your chance at making WCOOP history!
8:57am-Event #12 begins at 4:30ET
Event #12 of the 2008 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker will begin at 4:30ET. The $320 Mixed Hold’em event has a $300,000 Guarantee. Coverage will begin here once the event is underway.