Stacked Final Table at WPT Foxwoods

Level 23: 20,000-40,000, 4,000 ante

WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals, Day 5 Recap

By BJ Nemeth

It took less than five hours to play down from ten players to six at WPT Foxwoods, which is about what we expected. The three players who started the day with the most chips made it through, which isn't that surprising. That group includes Matt Stout, former WPT winner Cornel Andrew Cimpan, and Soheil Shamseddin. The surprise is that short stack (and former WPT winner) Lee Markholt also survived the day, though he is still extremely short heading to the televised final table. 

The unfortunate bubble boy was Kenna James, who started the day fourth in chips but took two hits to his stack in Hands #38 and #44. Kenna was never able to bounce back, and his stack steadily dwindled until Hand #87 he moved all in with 66 and Soheil Shamseddin called with J10. The board comes AKJQJ, and Soheil took the pot with trip jacks. Kenna James earned $132,855, but missed out on the TV final table. 

Recent WPT winner Steve Brecher busted in eighth place, when he moved all in with A3 on a short stack and ran into Soheil's KK. Adam "Roothlus" Levy was also short when he moved all in with A9 and ran into Soheil's QQ. As further proof that Kenna, Brecher, and Roothlus were short stacks, Soheil busted all three of them and still isn't the chipleader.

The chipleader likely would have been Matt Stout, if his pocket aces had held up in Hand #21. Soheil raised, Stout called, Curt Kohlberg called, and Tom Dobrilovic moved all in from the big blind. Soheil moved all in over the top, and then Stout (chipleader at the time) moved all in over the top of them both. Kohlberg folded to make it a three-way all-in situation. 

Stout said, "I got what I'm s'posed to got," as he showed AA. Dobrilovic had KK, and Soheil had 99. If Stout's aces held up, he would have busted two players and had 4 million in chips -- far more than twice as much as anyone else. As it happened, Soheil flopped an open-ended straight draw, and hit it on the turn to knock Stout out of the chip lead and knock Dobrilovic out of the tournament.

Here are the seating and chip counts for the six players who advance to tomorrow's WPT Final Table: 

1.  Lee Markholt  -  264,000
2.  Curt Kohlberg  -  1,086,000
3.  Eric "Efro" Froehlich  -  1,014,000
4.  Cornel Andrew Cimpan  -  3,691,000
5.  Soheil Shamseddin  -  2,954,000
6.  Matt "Allinat420" Stout  -  1,579,000

This is one of the best final table lineups the WPT has seen in a long time. Markholt (2008 WPT Reno) and Cimpan (2009 WPT Commerce) are both former WPT winners, and both Kohlberg and Shamseddin have made WPT final tables before. Froehlich became the youngest player in history to win a WSOP bracelet in 2005 (that record has since been broken -- twice), and became the youngest player to win two WSOP bracelets in 2006. Stout is a popular online pro with nine cashes at the WSOP and three here on the World Poker Tour.
More complete bios on all six final tablists will be posted later this evening.

The WPT Final Table begins tomorrow (Tuesday) at 4:00 pm ET. Return to WorldPokerTour.com for complete live coverage of every check, bet, call, raise, and fold, along with chip counts after every hand.

Hands #70-73: Steve Brecher Eliminated in 8th Place ($99,641)

Level 22: 15,000-30,000, 4,000 ante

Hand #70  -  Cornel Cimpan raises from the cutoff to 70,000, winning the blinds and antes. 

Hand #71  -  Matt Stout moves all in from the small blind, and Lee Markholt (~400,000 in chips) tanks for a while from the big blind before he folds. Stout takes the blinds and antes. 

Hand #72  -  Soheil Shamseddin raises from the cutoff to 90,000, winning the blinds and antes. 

Hand #73  -  Steve Brecher moves all in from early position for 572,000, and Soheil Shamseddin moves all in over the top. Everyone else folds. 

Brecher shows A3, but he'll need to improve against Soheil's KK. The board comes Q9744, and Soheil Shamseddin wins the pot with his pocket kings. 

Steve Brecher is eliminated in eighth place, earning $99,641. 

Soheil Shamseddin  -  4,000,000
Steve Brecher  -  Out in 8th Place ($99,641)