2008 WSOP Event #15 $1,000 Ladies Day 2: Gromenkova Leads into Final
The Ladies NLHE World Championship event started with 1,190 players, but after two days of play the field is down to nine. New York City's Svetlana Gromenkova will head into the final table as chip leader with 553,000. And although Anh Le will be carrying one of the shorter stacks into the field of play, she will also be bringing valuable WSOP final-table experience. Le was a final tablist in the 2005 WSOP Ladies event, finishing second to Jennifer Tilly. The final-table seating assignments and chip counts follow:
Seat 1: Patty Till 312,000
Seat 2: Roslyn Quarto 73,000
Seat 3: Marla Crumpler 163,000
Seat 4: Svetlana Gromenkova 553,000
Seat 5: Sue Porter 211,000
Seat 6: Debbie Mitchell 224,000
Seat 7: Christine Priday 448,000
Seat 8: Vesenia Garcia 210,000
Seat 9: Anh Le 191,000
Day 2 action started with 62 players, all of them safely in the money. It would be WPT Ladies Champion Nancy Todd Tyner that would have the dubious honor as the first elimination of the day. Tyner pushed all in on a flop of 10-3-2, holding 9-10 for top pair. Unfortunately for Tyner, Sue Porter was holding pocket kings for the overpair. No relief came for Tyner and she was eliminated in 62nd place.
Evelyn Ng navigated Day 1 with relative ease, but Day 2 was a far bumpier ride. Ng made a reluctant river call in one hand, only to watch Gromenkova drag the pot with a full house. Minutes later she took her A-Q against Donna Delfin's pocket sevens. When an ace hit the flop, it looked like Ng might finally find some traction in her day. But the turn produced a fortune reversing seven, giving Delfin the set. A few hands later, Julia Rea eliminated Evelyn Ng in 48th place.
On Day 1, Kathy Liebert claimed that her table in the Ladies event was the toughest she had run across in the 2008 WSOP thus far. Considering she had already made the final table in the Pot Limit Hold'em Championship event (finishing third), this was high praise. Liebert locked in her second cash of the 2008 WSOP when her K-J couldn't overcome the odds to beat Marla Crumpler's pocket kings. Liebert finished in 47th place. Only minutes later, PokerNews' Amanda Leatherman would see her great run pan out for a 45th-place finish.
Svetlana Gromenkova took over the chip lead for the first time in the event when she eliminated Olga Varkonyi. Varkonyi's pocket queens had the advantage over Gromenkova's A-J, but both an ace and a jack on the flop left Varkonyi drawing thin. Help never arrived and Olga Varkonyi was eliminated in 37th place.
WSOP bracelet winner Linda Johnson started the day in the middle of the pack, but took a hit early when Vesenia Garcia's A-Q found an ace on the turn to take down Johnson's pocket kings. But Johnson doubled back up quickly and subsequently stole a heartbreaker from Xiu Men Song. Johnson's A-T eventually made a Broadway straight to wrest the pot from Song's A-K. In her final hand, Johnson's A-9 couldn't overcome Vesenia Garcia's pocket tens. Linda Johnson was eliminated in 23rd place. This was Johnson's second money finish in the 2008 WSOP; earlier she finished 25th in the $1,500 Omaha hi/lo event.
Van Nguyen spent much of the day being sweat by her husband, Men "The Master" Nguyen. Earlier this year, Van Nguyen won the WPT Invitational at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles for a $125,000 payday. But Nguyen had to settle for a slightly smaller amount on Day 2 when her K-Q was bested by Anh Le's A-K. Van Nguyen finished in 14th place.
The final table was determined on a hand between Tina Dubowy and Patty Till. They both checked down the 9-5-5 flop. Dubowy bet out when a six hit on the turn and Till raised to put Dubowy all in. Dubowy called with 6-7 for two pair while Till showed A-5 for trips. An ace came on the river, giving the boat to Till and eliminating Tina Dubowy in tenth place.
Check back for all the final table action with the PokerNews Live Reporting Team.
