Day Four at the World Poker Finals

Level 31: 200,000-400,000, 40,000 ante

By Ryan Lucchesi Freddy Deeb’s Fight - Matt Graham’s Fall - Tom Dwan’s Wild Ride Fifty-one players entered the Sunset Ballroom at Foxwoods Resort and Casino for Day 4 of the 2007 World Poker Tour World Poker Finals, and all but one would make the money. Play had ended right on the money bubble the night before and thus, action started hand-for-hand at noon. It took less than 15 minutes for the unfortunate individual to bust out in 51st place: Mike Meskin moved all in with pocket jacks, but he ran straight into the pocket queens of Kyle Orvis. No help came on the board and Meskin was the last player to walk away empty handed. The elimination of Meskin at the beginning of the day meant two things. One was that everyone remaining in the field would walk away with at least $13,510 for their troubles. The second was less obvious, but much more impressive. Two brothers (Zvi Shiff and Daniel Shiff) remained in play at that point, meaning that both brothers cashed. Table #1 quickly emerged as…well…the #1 table of the day on Day 4. Here was the lineup when things got started: Seat 1: Michael Binger Seat 3: Ray "exit only" Coburn Seat 4: Freddy Deeb Seat 5: Tom "Durrrr" Dwan Seat 6: TJ Cloutier Seat 7: Jimmy Tran Seat 8: Ken Weiner Seat 9: "Miami" John Cernuto Michael Binger (47th place) and Ray “exit only” Coburn (37th place) would exit this table in the early parts of the day, but Nenad Medic was added for a large chunk of time to keep things interesting. Note: Medic was later moved to a table with Nick Schulman, which placed the 2005 and 2006 WPF defending champion’s right in each other’s path to a second title. Stacked tables aside, there was a lot of poker to be played, and a lot of players that busted during Day 4 action. Internet Phenom, Hevad "Rain" Khan, was the first of the notables to exit when he was eliminated in 50th Place ($13,510). The 2006 WPT Festa al Lago champion, Andreas Walnum, followed Khan to the rail in 46th place ($13,510). An hour of slow action transpired between these eliminations, which created a reverse money-bubble effect. One table where the chips did continue to move around with reckless abandon was Table #1. Freddy Deeb was riding high when he took the chip lead away from Matt 'mattg1983' Graham early in Day 4. Deeb held 1,130,000 to Graham’s 1,034,000, but he was about to be tested: Tilt Test #1: Jimmy Tran raised 25,000 preflop from middle position and Ken Weiner called from late position. "Miami" John Cernuto also called on the button and Deeb said, "I got a discount, I call." He then tossed his chips in from the big blind and the flop rolled out Q85. Deeb and Tran both checked and then Weiner bet 75,000. Cernuto mucked and Deeb then moved all in, which was more than enough to cover both Tran and Weiner. Tran mucked and Weiner made the all-in call. They then turned up their hands: Deeb: 55 Weiner: KQ Deeb had the lead with a set of fives, which was ahead of the top pair that Weiner held. That was until the turn and river hit the table... Turn and River: 88 Weiner hit a runner-runner full house to survive and he said, "There is a God." Tom "Durrrr" Dwan replied, "That's not what Freddy's going to say." Deeb followed that up with, "That was a sick beat...sick beat." The amount of Weiner's all-in call was counted out and it came out to 179,000. "Can I owe you 179," said Deeb as he counted out the chips from his stack. Tilt Test #2: Cernuto moved all in from middle position preflop for 203,500 and Deeb made the call on the button. Deeb was in line for a cooler when he flipped up pocket queens, only to discover that Cernuto held pocket aces. The board added insult to injury, and made a wheel for Cernuto. Deeb was knocked down to 810,000 after the hand. Deeb was battered, but not beaten in the face of two unfortunate situations. He knows the value of controlling your emotions at the poker table. Deeb kept his emotions in check and eventually climbed back over the one million mark. Deeb had gone through a dog fight to reclaim his millionaire status, while Mike Vela (1,800,000), Matthew Ehrlich (1,700,000), and Mike White (1,446,000) took advantage of their softer surroundings to claim a stake at the top. One player who was surprisingly absent from this list was Matt Graham. He started Day 4 as the chip leader, (1,161,000) but by this point of the day he wasn’t even in the top ten. A number of notable players busted during this stretch as well: Frankie Flowers in 42nd Place ($13,510), Tony Cousineau in 38th Place ($13,510), and Matt "hazards21" Giannetti in 36th Place ($18,914). Zvi Shiff also fell in 39th Place ($13,510) during this period, which insured that the bragging rights in the family belonged to his brother Daniel. Five hours into the day Kevin Song busted in 28th place ($18,914) and play was paused for a table re-draw. Players took their seats at the final three tables and action was slated to continue until end of Level 5, or until 18 remained, whichever came first. The ball started rolling towards this inevitable conclusion when Steve Brecher was eliminated in 27th place ($24,318) and he was followed by Cernuto, who busted in 26th Place ($24,318). There was a violent restructuring of the chip stacks during the final stages of Day 4, and no one’s stacked was shuffled more violently than Tom Dwan’s. At one point of the day he held just 335,000, but he began his climb by doubling up through Matthew Ehrlich with pocket jacks. This catapulted Dwan’s stack to 1,516,000, and he continued his march to the top by finishing off Ehrlich for good. Dwan stole over 450,000 from Ehrlich when he picked off a river bluff, and this took Dwan up to 1,780,000. Dwan followed that up by calling Ehrlich down with A-J in the hole on a J-7-3 board. Ehrlich showed down K-J, and the turn and river brought two fives to eliminate him in 23rd Place ($29,722). Dwan now had 2.4 million and he towered over the competition, he was almost a million ahead of the player in second place at the time, Mike White. Dwan’s day was far from over though. He was doubled up through by both John Myung and Robert Legendre during the final half hour of play, and this wild ride left him with just 1,160,000 at the end of the night. The end of the day was also a bitter experience for the Day 3 chipleader, Matt Graham. His early freefall continued and he ultimately met his demise near the end of play: Graham raised to 53,000 and Anthony Casagrande reraised to 200,000. Graham said "I can't fold, I'm all in." Casagrande instantly called all in (293,000 more) and flipped up pocket kings. Graham showed down pocket jacks. The board brought 1043910, giving Casagrande a huge double up to 1,035,000. Graham was knocked down to 55,000 and the end was near. His last gasp for air was quickly stomped out by Medic on the very next hand, when he made a king-high straight to eliminate Graham. Graham’s fall from grace was complete, and he took home ($35,126) for his 21st-place finish. This left an opening at the top for whoever wanted to fight for it, and like he had so many times throughout the day, Freddy Deeb rose to the occasion: Deeb limped under the gun, Billy Pilossoph also limped, and Mike Vela raised to 50,000 on the button. Both Deeb and Pilossoph called. The three players saw a flop of 543. Deeb checked, Pilossoph checked, and Vela bet 200,000. Deeb reraised to 500,000 and Vela quickly called. The turn was the 10. Deeb asked Vela "How much do you have left?" to which Vela replied "about 900,000". Deeb moved all in for 756,000, and the pot now had more than 1,800,000. Vela went into the tank and Deeb asked "Can you beat two sixes?" Vela said "Ok, I fold" and mucked A5 faceup on the table. This left Deeb with 1,865,000, and he finished the day with chip lead. At the end of the fifth level 19 players remained and here is how the top ten chip counts looked at the end of the day: 1: Freddy Deeb – 1,865,000 2: TJ Cloutier – 1,614,000 3: Mike White – 1,488,000 4: John Myung – 1,272,000 5: Tom Dwan – 1,160,000 6: Nick Schulman – 1,100,000 7: Billy Pilossoph – 978,000 8: Rodney Legendre – 951,000 9: Mark Weitzman – 901,000 10: Michael Vela – 884,000 The final 19 will start play at noon tomorrow to play down to a final television table of six. Tune in to CardPlayer.com and WorldPokerTour.com to catch all the action in live updates, chip counts, photos, and videos.

Chip Movers

Level 31: 200,000-400,000, 40,000 ante

Nineteen players remain heading into Day 5 with an average chip stack of 907,895. 1) Freddy Deeb - 1,865,000 2) TJ Cloutier - 1,614,000 3) Mike White - 1,488,000 4) John Myung - 1,272,000 5) Tom Dwan 1,160,000 6) Nick Schulman - 1,100,000 7) Billy Philossoph - 978,000 8) Rodney Legendre - 951,000 9) Mark Weitzman - 901,000 10) Michael Vela - 884,000 11) Anthony Casagrande - 825,000 12) Victor Cianelli - 753,000 13) Darren Nelson - 640,000 14) Robert Williams - 603,000 15) Nenad Medic - 522,000 16) Jonathan Aguiar - 515,000 17) Danny Shiff - 482,000 18) Young Phan - 401,000 19) Jimmy Tran - 286,000 Recent Eliminations include… 21st - Matt Graham ($35,126) 20th - Ken Weiner ($35,126)

Kimberly Digs Deebs

Level 31: 200,000-400,000, 40,000 ante

Day 4 Ends With 19 Players

Level 31: 200,000-400,000, 40,000 ante

Day 4 comes to an end one shy of the target, so 19 players will return tomorrow to play down to six. The final six will play at the WPT Final Table on Tuesday evening at 5:00 pm Eastern time. Here are the top six chipleaders: 1. Freddy Deeb - 1,865,000 2. T.J. Cloutier - 1,614,000 3. Mike White - 1,488,000 4. John Myung - 1,272,000 5. Tom "Durrr" Dwan - 1,160,000 6. Nick Schulman - 1,100,000 Why list the top six, rather than the top five? Because Season IV Foxwoods champion Nick Schulman is still in the running. Last year's champion Nenad Medic is also still alive, but further back, in 15th place with 522,000. Return to WorldPokerTour.com at 12:00 noon for complete live coverage, with hand updates, chip counts, photos, and video interviews with Kimberly Lansing.

Tom Dwan Takes Another Hit

Level 31: 200,000-400,000, 40,000 ante

|:img:4461,L:|Robert Legendre moves all in for 447,000 preflop and Tom Dwan moves all in over the top of him. They then turn up their cards: Dwan: AQ Legendre: 77 Board: JJ5K2 Legendre doubles up through Dwan and his freefall continues. Dwan now has only 975,000 after holding as much as 2.4 million.

Freddy Takes Huge Pot from Vela

Level 31: 200,000-400,000, 40,000 ante

|:img:4467,L:|Freddy Deeb limps from under the gun, Billy Pilossoph limps, and Mike Vela raises to 50,000 on the button. Both Deeb and Pilossoph call. The three players see a flop of 543. Deeb checks, Pilossoph checks, Vela bets 200,000. Deeb re-raises to 500,000 and Vela quickly calls. The turn is the 10. Deeb asks, "How much do you have left?" Vela says, "About 900,000." With more than 1.1 million already in the pot, Deeb moves all in for 756,000. |:img:4465,L:||:img:4466,R:|Vela goes into the tank for several minutes, carefully thinking through the hand. He asks Deeb whether or not he raised preflop, but Deeb remains silent. Vela then asks if he will show if he folds, but Deeb just smiles. Eventually, Deeb asks, "Can you beat two sixes?" Vela thinks for a moment and says, "That would be a great flop for pocket sixes." Vela eventually folds, showing A5 for top pair with a gut-shot straight draw. He asks, "Aren't you gonna show, Freddy?" Deeb reminds Vela that he never agreed to show, saying, "I said I had pocket sixes, but I won't show them." Was Freddy telling the truth? We'll never know. At different times, he claimed to have three different hands.

Ken Weiner Eliminated in 20th Place ($35,126)

Level 31: 200,000-400,000, 40,000 ante

|:img:4453,L:|Ken Weiner raises to 90,000 and TJ Cloutier reraises to 260,000. Weiner calls all in and shows A7 but he is dominated by Cloutier's AQ. The board comes K65910 and Weiner is eliminated.

John Myung Doubles Through Chip Leader Tom Dwan

Level 31: 200,000-400,000, 40,000 ante

John Myung comes in for a raise with QQ and Tom Dwan comes over the top and moves all-in. Myung thinks for several minutes, deciding if he wants to race for his tournament life as he verbally puts Dwan on Ace-King, ultimately making the call. Dwan turns over AK and the board comes 94392. Myung's queens hold up and he doubles through the current chip leader.

Darren "DaBadestChic" Nelson Doubles Through Nick Schulman

Level 31: 200,000-400,000, 40,000 ante

|:img:4452,L:|Nick Schulman raises to 60,000 and Darren Nelson moves all in for 225,000 more. Schulman calls and shows pocket sevens. Nelson is behind with the A5 but the board comes A3354 to double him up to just under 500,000.

Matt Graham Eliminated in 21st Place ($35,126)

Level 31: 200,000-400,000, 40,000 ante

Crippled on the previous hand, Matt Graham moves all in under the gun for 54,000. Defending WPT Foxwoods champion Nenad Medic calls from middle position, and Victor Cianelli calls from the small blind. Medic and Cianelli check to the river on a board of K936J. Cianelli checks, Medic bets 70,000, and Cianelli folds 5-5 face up. Medic shows Q10 for a king-high straight, and Graham tosses down his AQ -- ace high. Medic takes the pot, increasing his stack to about 535,000. Matt Graham, who was the chipleader the past two days, is eliminated in 21st place, earning $35,126.