Live Tournament Updates
World Poker Tour Championship Day 4
Level 28: 200,000-400,000, 25,000 ante
A Strong Field Whittles Down to 17 Quickly (Until the End) at Bellagio
By Ryan Lucchesi
On the fourth day of the 2008 World Poker Tour Championship, 55 players remained, and the plan was to play five levels, or down to the final 18. The five levels were not needed as a steady pace of play busted many of the best players in the game. There was no weak table to hide at and action was accordingly aggressive. Despite a two-and-a-half hour hiccup on the end-of-day money bubble, everything went according to plan.
On the first hand of the day, Zvi Shiff got things moving quickly when he busted in 55th place, and the players redrew for seats at the final six tables. Mats Rahmn was the next name to fall in 53rd place, when his A-Q ran into the pocket kings of Mark Newhouse. The rundown to the next redraw at 45 saw the exits of Tom Schneider (50th), Tim Phan (49th), Joe Sebok (48th), and J.C. Tran (46th) in succession. Jayde Tran (45th) was the first player to leave the final four tables, and she was joined a few hands later by the last female remaining in the field, Isabelle Mercier, who fell in 41st place.
Men “The Master” Nguyen caused the biggest ruckus of the day when he had all of his chips committed on a flop of 10
6
3 with Q10 in the hole. Tom McCormick held A2 and the turn brought the A
and McCormick took the lead with a pair of aces. The river card was the Q, which caused Nguyen to yell, "Queen, baby!" And he followed that up with this golden nugget, "Suck and re-suck, baby!"
Former WPT champion (Season II), Martin de Knijff, then went on a fantastic voyage to the rail when David Tran doubled up through him, which left him crippled with 10,000, he did manage to triple up on the very next hand, but the short stack ultimately led to his elimination in 39th place. Another former WPT Champion, actually the defending champion, Carlos Mortensen, was the next player to fall in 38th place. His elimination came at the hands of Jeff “Happy” Shulman when The Matador’s pocket jacks ran into Happy’s pocket aces. Two off the younger players in the field tangled next when Noah Schwartz got all of his chips into the middle with K-Q against Tom “Durrrr” Dwan’s pocket sevens. The pocket pair held and Schwartz was out in 37th place.
The field then went on a break and it felt like things might slow down after the players returned. But, the tournament continued to power through to the final two tables. Two young guns tangled again when Mat Giannetti moved all in on a board of 10943. Newhouse made the call and flipped up 109. Giannetti winced before flipping up AQ. The river brought the 8, and Newhouse won the pot to build his stack up over a million. Giannetti hit the rail in 35th place, and he was followed by another lineup of top flight professionals, who were sent to the rail next, as John Hoang (33rd), Tom McCormick (32nd), Steve Wong (31st), and Danny Wong (30th). With the elimination of Wong, Jonathan Little clinched WPT Player of the Year honors for Season VI.
Men The Master ended his deep tournament run in 26th place. Nguyen was followed to the rail by the youngest bracelet winner in World Series of Poker history Steve Billirakis, who took his leave in 23rd place. On his final hand, Billirakis moved all of his chips into the middle with A-9, against David Tran’s pocket tens. No help came on the board for Billirakis, and he was sent to the rail. David Grey followed Billirakis out of contention, although it took a cooler to eliminate him in 22nd place. Grey was strong preflop with aces against the pocket nines of Dwan, but a third 9 hit on the flop and Grey’s hopes for survival were crushed.
Up to this point, the day rattled off 35 eliminations like clock work. The final player to leave the field was the most stubborn player of the day. The only slowdown of the day took place at the final-two-table bubble. During this “bubble” play, Amir Vahedi won a huge pot off of Robert Mizrachi, while Gus Hansen doubled up Jeff King. These two opposing forces brought Vahedi and Hansen just about even for the chip lead at 3.3 million.
This long final stretch came to an end with a flurry of action, which had been proceeded by small stacks doubling up numerous times. The final player to double up on day 5 was Michael Gracz. On a board of 87659, Gracz had moved all in and Hansen made the call. Gracz turned up J10, and he won the pot to survive. At roughly the same time, both Newhouse, and Scott Epstein got all of their chips into the middle. Newhouse needed an ace, but it never came, while Epstein ran into a pair of aces that sent him to the rail. In the end Newhouse was eliminated in 19th place, and Epstein finished in 18th place to produce a double bubble.
The final 17 players will return at noon PDT tomorrow, and they will play down to the final WPT television table of six. Here is a look at the final chip counts, and seating chart for tomorrow:
TABLE 53
1. Kenny Tran - 1,442,000
2. Amir Vahedi - 3,907,000
3. Bryan Devonshire - 984,000
4. Jeff King - 1,903,000
5. Tommy Le - 1,950,000
6. Cory Carroll - 1,346,000
7. John Roveto - 556,000
8. Jeff Shulman - 473,000
9.
TABLE 54
1. Karga Holt - 1,500,000
2. David Chiu - 1,742,000
3. Tom "Durrrr" Dwan - 2,874,000
4. Andrew Black - 411,000
5. Gus Hansen - 2,929,000
6. David Tran - 2,543,000
7. Nick Binger - 701,000
8. Robert Mizrachi - 1,079,000
9. Michael Gracz - 1,674,000
09:38 PM, 04/23/08
Official Seating & Chip Counts
Level 28: 200,000-400,000, 25,000 ante
Here are the official chip counts and seating assignments for Day 5, which starts tomorrow (Thursday) at 12:00 noon PT. The average stack is roughly 1.6 million in chips. TABLE 53 1. Kenny Tran - 1,442,000 2. Amir Vahedi - 3,907,000 3. Bryan Devonshire - 984,000 4. Jeff King - 1,903,000 5. Tommy Le - 1,950,000 6. Cory Carroll - 1,346,000 7. John Roveto - 556,000 8. Jeff Shulman - 473,000 9. TABLE 54 1. Karga Holt - 1,500,000 2. David Chiu - 1,742,000 3. Tom "Durrrr" Dwan - 2,874,000 4. Andrew Black - 411,000 5. Gus Hansen - 2,929,000 6. David Tran - 2,543,000 7. Nick Binger - 701,000 8. Robert Mizrachi - 1,079,000 9. Michael Gracz - 1,674,000 Amir Vahedi leads the pack with about 3.9 million, followed by Gus Hansen (2.93 million) and Tom Dwan (2.87 million). Come back tomorrow for complete live coverage of all the action, including chip counts, photos, and video interviews with Kimberly Lansing.
Sorted In: WPT World Championship, Bellagio, Season VI08:55 PM, 04/23/08
Day 4 Ends
Level 28: 200,000-400,000, 25,000 ante
Day 4 comes to an end with 17 players, as Mark Newhouse and Scott Epstein busted at different tables. The chip counts tab has already been updated with the official counts, and a table map for tomorrow will be posted soon.
Sorted In: WPT World Championship, Bellagio, Season VI08:38 PM, 04/23/08
Scott Epstein Eliminated in 18th Place ($105,525)
Level 28: 200,000-400,000, 25,000 ante
Jeff King raises under the gun, Scott Epstein moves all in from the big blind for about 350,000, and King immediately says, "I call," showing AA. Epstein lowers his head in defeat, and begrudgingly turns over KQ
. Epstein needs to improve to stay alive.
The board comes 85410K, and King's pocket aces hold up to win the pot.
Scott Epstein is eliminated in 18th place, earning $105,525.
08:31 PM, 04/23/08
Michael Gracz Doubles Through Gus Hansen
Level 28: 200,000-400,000, 25,000 ante
With the final board showing 87659 (a nine-high straight on the board with three spades), Gus Hansen bets 250,000 from the big blind, and Michael Gracz moves all in for about 755,000 from under the gun.
Hansen tanks for about five minutes, considering the situation, and a crowd gathers around the table to sweat the action. Gus talks himself through the hand a bit, but not really loud enough for the crowd to hear.
Hansen finally calls, and Gracz says, "Jack of hearts, ten of spades," and turns over exactly that -- J10. He rivered a jack-high straight to beat the board.
Hansen mucks, and Gracz takes the pot, doubling his stack to about 1.7 million.
08:27 PM, 04/23/08
Mark Newhouse Eliminated in 19th Place ($105,525)
Level 28: 200,000-400,000, 25,000 ante
Amir Vahedi raises to 90,000 from the cutoff and Mark Newhouse reraises all in for 267,000 from the small blind. Vahedi makes the call and the players turn up their hands.
Vahedi: 22
Newhouse: A10
The board comes Q83Q5 Vahedi's pocket deuces hold up to win the pot, padding his chip lead at the end of the day.
Mark Newhouse is eliminated in 19th place, earning $105,525.
08:26 PM, 04/23/08
Gus Hansen Stays Aggressive
Level 28: 200,000-400,000, 25,000 ante
Gus Hansen has taken some hits to his stack, but it hasn't slowed down his aggression. Hansen has been raising most of the pots preflop all night, putting pressure on the short stacks and the big stacks. Hansen currently has about 3.46 million, battling for the chip lead once again.
Sorted In: WPT World Championship, Bellagio, Season VI08:05 PM, 04/23/08
Tommy Le Doubles Up
Level 28: 200,000-400,000, 25,000 ante
Tommy Le moves all in for 565,000 and Cory Carroll moves all in from the button to isolate.
Le: 1010
Carroll: AK
The flop comes KJ8 and Carroll takes the lead, but the turn is the 10 giving Le a set. The river is the A and Le's set of tens give him the 1.2 million pot.
08:04 PM, 04/23/08
John Roveto Doubles Through Mark Newhouse
Level 28: 200,000-400,000, 25,000 ante
Robert Mizrachi raises to 84,000 from under the gun and John Roveto moves all in for 176,000. Mark Newhouse re-shoves behind him and after a minute in the tank, Mizrachi folds.
Roveto: AQ
Newhouse: AJ
Board: AQQ5K
Roveto hits a full house on the flop and Newhouse is all but drawing dead to the case ace. Roveto more than doubles up to 430,000 while Newhouse falls to 300,000 in chips.
08:02 PM, 04/23/08
Robert Mizrachi Doubles Up
Level 28: 200,000-400,000, 25,000 ante
Nick Binger raises to 85,000 and Robert Mizrachi reraises to 195,000 on the button. Binger calls and the flop comes 1052.
Binger moves all in, and Mizrachi calls all in for 286,000. Binger shows 99 and Mizrachi shows AA.
The turn and river come 28 and Mizrachi doubles up to 1,005,000. Binger is left with 1,001,000.
07:51 PM, 04/23/08
