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Upcoming on ClubWPT: WPT Borgata Poker Open Satellite (Sunday, July 7 @ 4:00PM ET)
| Earnings | $1,457,499 |
| Cashes | 24 |
| Final Tables | 3 |
| Titles | 1 |
| Tournaments Played | 103 |
Est. Current Chipcount
Est. Average Chipcount
10,590,000
Current Chipleader
-
Day 1
51,475
Day 2
75,500
Day 3
812,000
Day 4
480,000
Day 5
264,000
Day 6
6th
Level 29: 100,000-200,000, 20,000 ante
Foxwoods Final Table Recap
Even with over $900,000 and WPT bragging rights on the line, all the players at the final table could think about were almonds. The delicious snack has been a hot topic of conversation around Foxwoods all week not because of its nutritional value, but because players were vying to be the next Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player of the Day. Debates raged between players about who was more deserving and the almond-themed razzing continued on through to the televised final table.
Midway through play, Season VII LAPC Champion Cornel Andrew Cimpan turned to Soheil Shamseddin and asked him, "How did you con Amanda Leatherman into giving you the almonds again?" Cimpan was referring to the previous day, where Cimpan ended the day chip leader, but it was Shamseddin, who knocked out every player on Day 5, who received the Bold Player Award. Cimpan may have missed out on the snack food Monday, but by the end of the night, he would have his just desserts.
Cimpan and Shamseddin were not the only talkers at this Foxwoods final table either. All six of the players spent their evening cracking jokes and talking smack as if they were goofing off in a home game and not competing to be the latest WPT winner. Granted, these players are used to high pressure poker situations. The remarkably accomplished group of six featured past WPT winners Cimpan and Lee Markholt, past WPT final tablists Shamseddin and Curt Kohlberg and two pros from the online set in the form of Eric Froehlich and Matt "AllInAt420" Stout. The combined list of accomplishments of these men is impressive to say the least and their poker skills were on display as they duked it out for the $910,058 first place prize.
The evening began with a bang as a short-stacked Markholt was eliminated on the second hand of play when his A
K
failed to hold up against Stout's A6, which rivered a flush to eliminate the Season VI Reno Champion in 6th place. Not too long after Markholt's exit, Kohlberg found himself headed for the rail after a climactic coin flip against Shamseddin. It appeared as though Kohlberg was on the verge of doubling up. He moved all-in preflop with AQ and Shamseddin looked him up with 22
. The A
Q5 heavily favored Kohlberg, but Shamseddin rivered a deuce to eliminate Kohlberg in 5th place.
With the two short stacks gone, the final four opened up their game even more, tangling in big pots and making big bluffs. Thanks to a big pot against Shamseddin that failed to make it to showdown, Stout held a commanding chip lead over the other three players. Shamseddin would recover from the hit and make up some ground in the chip counts at the expense of Froehlich. Once again, Shamseddin made a big call with a small pocket pair after Froehlich reraised all-in. Shamseddin's pocket fours were racing against Froehlich's A-K and a board full of baby cards added up to Froehlich's elimination in 4th place.
Once play got down to the final three, Cimpan got in a rhythm and began to pick up small pot after small pot to slowly build his stack. As Cimpan trended upward, Shamseddin simply tread water until a nearly 3 million chip pot against Cimpan pushed him past the 4 million chip mark. Stout would claim half of those chips just two hands later, but it would not be long before Shamseddin got his revenge on the young online pro.
The two players would later get it all-in on a KK43 board with Stout holding 56 for a flush against Shamseddin's K9 for trip kings. Stout only had one card to fade in order to eliminate his aggressive but affable opponent, but it was not to be as the 9 on the river made a full house for Shamseddin and left Stout with just a handful of chips. Stout would rally, doubling up and building his chips up to nearly 2 million, but his revival would be cut short when he ran his KJ into Cimpan's pocket queens to finish in 3rd place.
And so it came down to Shamseddin and Cimpan and even they conceded that the heads-up battle was a bit like looking in the mirror. Both players hail from Houston and have reputations for being table talkers with a loose, aggressive style that many would describe as "maniacal." Shamseddin held a nearly 4-1 chip advantage over Cimpan at the outset of heads-up play, but Cimpan was not ready to throw in the towel just yet. Cimpan doubled through Shamseddin in a classic race situation of queens vs. A-K and overtook the chip lead just four hands later. The chip lead would change hands two more times before the two men got it all-in one last time with Shamseddin's KJ in trouble against Cimpan's AJ. Cimpan's ace high would prevail to eliminate Shamseddin in second place and earn Cimpan his second WPT victory of 2009.
Shamseddin may have won the battle of the almonds, but it was Cimpan who won the Foxwoods World Poker Finals war, netting himself $910,058 and moving up to 19th on the all-time money winners list with $2,609,913 in career WPT earnings. With this win he also becomes the 12th player with more than one WPT win to his credit.
Here are the results from the final table of the Foxwoods World Poker Finals:
1st: Cornel Andrew Cimpan - $910,058
2nd: Soheil Shamseddin - $463,332
3rd: Matt Stout - $265,710
4th: Eric Froehlich - $232,496
5th: Curt Kohlberg - $199,283
6th: Lee Markholt - $166,069
Level 23: 20,000-40,000, 4,000 ante
Matt Stout raises from the cutoff to 100,000, Lee Markholt moves all in from the button for 236,000, and Stout calls with A6. Markholt shows AK, and he's a dominant favorite to double up here.
The flop comes Q54, and Stout picks up a spade flush draw. The turn card pairs the board with the 5, and Markholt needs to avoid a six or a spade to stay alive.
The river card is the 3, and Matt Stout completes his flush to win the pot. Lee Markholt is eliminated in sixth place, earning $166,069.
As Markholt visits his friends in the stands, he says, "Well, that was short, huh?"
Pot Size - 792,000
Seat 1. Lee Markholt - Out in 6th Place ($166,069)
Seat 2. Curt Kohlberg - 1,018,000
Seat 3. Eric "Efro" Froehlich - 966,000
Seat 4. Cornel Andrew Cimpan - 3,767,000
Seat 5. Soheil Shamseddin - 2,946,000
Seat 6. Matt "Allinat420" Stout - 1,891,000
Level 23: 20,000-40,000, 4,000 ante
Seat 1
Lee Markholt
264,000 (6th in chips)
One of the two former WPT champions amongst our final six, Markholt, known amongst the poker community as "Seattle Set," logged his 20th career WPT cash here at Foxwoods, giving him the record for most in the money finishes by an individual. Prior to Foxwoods, Markholt was tied for the record with Barry Greenstein at 19 cashes each. Markholt once held the dubious distinction of having the most WPT cashes without a final table, but he broke that streak with a victory at the World Poker Challenge in Season VI.
His WPT winnings are in excess of $1.1 million and he has a Professional Poker Tour win worth $225,000 to his credit as well. His total career winnings exceed $2.2 million and he has a whopping 60+ career cashes to his credit. He is based out of Eatonville, Washington where he lives with his wife and kids.
Biggest Live Tournament Cash: $468,315
Career Earnings in Live Tournaments: $2,252,591
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.
Level 21: 12,000-24,000, 3,000 ante
Hand #35 - Lee Markholt moves all in from early position for 210,000, and Curt Kohlberg calls with AK. Markholt shows QJ, and he'll need to improve to stay alive.
The board comes 8428Q, and Lee Markholt pairs his queen on the river to win the pot and double up.
Lee Markholt - 473,000
Curt Kohlberg - 978,000
Level 21: 12,000-24,000, 3,000 ante
Hand #25 - Matt Stout raises under the gun to 60,000, and Lee Markholt calls from middle position. The flop comes J73, Stout bets 90,000, and Markholt calls. The turn card pairs the board with the 3, and both players check.
The river card is the 2, Stout bets 165,000, and Markholt tanks with about 445,000 left in his stack. Markholt asks, "Are you a little rattled from that last hand, Matt?"
Markholt calls, and Stout shows AA for two pair, aces and threes. Markholt mucks, and Matt Stout takes the pot.
Matt Stout - 1,460,000
Lee Markholt - 280,000
Level 20: 10,000-20,000, 3,000 ante
Foxwoods World Poker Finals Day 4 Recap
While the poker community has been focused on the glitz and glamour of the WSOP Main Event final table this weekend, the World Poker Finals here at Foxwoods has been delivering its fair share of excitement as the field trimmed down from 27 players to the final ten.
Half of the top ten players on the leaderboard were eliminated by day's end on this slightly shortened Day 4. Terrence Chan began the day second in the chip counts, but lost his stack 100,000 chips at a time as he doubled up shorter stacks like Curt Kohlberg and Kenna James and clashing in big pots with Todd Terry. Halfway through the day, Chan made his exit in 18th place after his A-Q got unlucky against James A-8. Other big stacks from Day 3 who failed to make it on to Day 5 included Christian Harder (17th), Frank Calo (13th) and two-time WPT winner Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, whose elimination in 11th place brought the day to a close around 30 minutes ahead of schedule.
Lee Markholt came into the day third in chips and is still alive heading into Day 5, though he is the shortest stack of the ten. Markholt has experience on his side though. His finish here is his 20th WPT cash, which is a new WPT record for most in the money finishes by a single individual. Unfortunately for Markholt, only one of those cashes resulted in a final table, but with only ten players remaining and a workable 24 big blind stack he has a chance to make final table #2 here at Foxwoods.
Another player with a good chance of racking up their second career final table is Soheil Shamseddin who started and finished the day with one of the biggest stacks in the room. Shamseddin steamrolled a tough table that featured the likes of Christian Harder, Jason Mercier, reigning LAPC Champion Cornel Andrew Cimpan and Adam "Roothlus" Levy just to name a few. Shamseddin's loose aggressive style paid off in spades and he ended the day third in chips with just over 1.2 million.
The players ahead of Shamseddin on the chip counts are Matt Stout and Cimpan. Stout is the only player amongst the final ten with more than 2 million chips thanks to some big pots won without showdown, including a huge hand against Kenna James in which he got James to fold pocket tens on a 993 flop. Tomorrow's unofficial final table is going to be a reunion of sorts for Stout. He shared a Day 1 starting table with both Levy and Kohlberg and the trio will be reunited once again when the top finishers reassemble at 12pm tomorrow.
Joining those three at the table will be three former WPT winners--Season VII LAPC Cornel Andrew Cimpan, Season VII Bay 101 Steve Brecher, and Season VI World Poker Challenge Lee Markholt. Shamseddin, Levy and James also have WPT final table appearances under their belt, so it will be a highly experienced group of players vying for one of the six seats at Tuesday's final table.
In the meantime head over to ClubWPT.com where you can win your seat in this year's exclusive WPT Celebrity Invitational.
Level 20: 10,000-20,000, 3,000 ante
Soheil Shamseddin moves all in from the small blind, and Lee Markholt calls all in for 234,000 from the big blind with 33. Soheil shows K9, and it's a race situation.
The board comes AJ9K3 -- Soheil flops a pair, turns two pair, but loses when Markholt spikes a set of threes on the river to double up in chips.
Lee Markholt - 486,000
Soheil Shamseddin - 1,370,000
Level 18: 6,000-12,000, 2,000 ante
Lee Markholt raises to 30,000, Christian Harder moves all in for 125,000, and Markholt calls with 1010. Harder shows AQ, and he'll need to improve to stay alive.
The board comes 54265, and Markholt wins the pot with his pocket tens. Christian Harder is eliminated in 17th place, earning $31,533.
Lee Markholt - 365,000
Christian "CHarder" Harder - Out in 17th Place ($31,533)
Level 18: 6,000-12,000, 2,000 ante
Lee Markholt raises from late position to 30,000, Michael Mizrachi reraises from the button to 70,000, and Markholt calls. The flop comes J63, Markholt checks, Mizrachi bets 100,000, and Markholt calls.
The turn card is the K, Markholt checks, Mizrachi bets 150,000, and Markholt folds. Michael Mizrachi takes the pot.
Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi - 925,000
Lee Markholt - 390,000
