Live Tournament Updates
Tom Schneider
Level 27: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante
Video description: Chip Count - 3,495,000
Sorted In: Legends of Poker, The Bicycle Casino, Season VI
11:40 PM, 08/29/07
Dan Harrington
Level 27: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante
Video description: Chip Count - 2,230,000
Sorted In: Legends of Poker, The Bicycle Casino, Season VI
11:38 PM, 08/29/07
Thu Nguyen
Level 27: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante
Video description: Chip Count - 1,475,000
Sorted In: Legends of Poker, The Bicycle Casino, Season VI
11:37 PM, 08/29/07
Shi jia Liu aka Jack
Level 27: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante
Video description: Chip Count - 1,305,000
Sorted In: Legends of Poker, The Bicycle Casino, Season VI
11:36 PM, 08/29/07
Mike McClain
Level 27: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante
Video description: Chip Count - 725,000
Sorted In: Legends of Poker, The Bicycle Casino, Season VI
11:34 PM, 08/29/07
David 'The Dragon' Pham
Level 27: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante
Video description: Chip Count - 470,000
Sorted In: Legends of Poker, The Bicycle Casino, Season VI
11:32 PM, 08/29/07
Day Four Recap
Level 27: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante
Eighteen players were vying for six spots at day four of the 2007 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker. The theme of the day was survival, and whoever had the correct combination of skill and well-timed luck would persevere. Aggression was in the air as the shorts stacks tried to double up and the large stacks continued to press their advantage. Wayne Chang fell in the first 15 minutes of the day when his pocket nines ran into the pocket kings of Dan Harrington.
Mike Jung fell in 17th place and Franco Brunetti
exited in 16th place. Joe Sebok was riding high at the start of the day with over $1 million. He further increased his chip lead to as high as $1.7 million before falling back to earth. He was doubled up through twice during the second level of the day, first by Thu Nguyen to take him down to 1 million, and then by Shi Jia Liu, to take him down to 530,000. What had looked like a surefire WPT final table appearance for the young star was now going to be a fight to the finish.
Robert Goldfarb and Don Zewin were sent to the rail in 15th place and 14th place respectively. That was when, for the second time of the day, a solid professional won hue a pot against Feldman to jump to the top of the leader board. This time the results were fatal for Feldman, who was eliminated in 13th place.
After disposing of Feldman, Schneider was up to 1,950,000 and had claimed the chip lead. Sean McCabe was the next to fall in 12th place. He was fighting on a short stack all day and was surprised he even made it to the fourth day of the tournament. “I'm obviously disappointed I didn't go deeper, but I have to be happy with my performance. I never really had any monster hands or situations where I could really play my game, so to last this long is quite the accomplishment,” said McCabe. His elimination was followed in quick succession by the departures of Brian Powell in 11th place and Raymond Davis in 10th place. Davis had not only been the life of the party on day four of the event, but the whole time with his witty comments and the prop-bet-palooza he had ongoing with many competitors. With the comedic relief of the event gone, the final nine players grabbed their chips and united at the final table to focus on the task at hand.
Seat 1: William Pilossoph - 885,000
Seat 2: Shi Jia Liu - 476,000
Seat 3: Dan Harrington - 863,000
Seat 4: Tom Schneider - 1,920,000
Seat 5: Lee Markholt - 673,000
Seat 6: Thu Nguyen - 1,780,000
Seat 7: David Pham - 1,394,000
Seat 8: Mike McClain - 1,195,000
Seat 9: Joe Sebok - 520,000
This is the point of the day where action hit the wall. Chips were obtained and lost through pre-flop positioning for the blinds. Action was far and few between as play tightened up with the final prize so close to realization. Almost three hours after the elimination of Davis, another professional’s tournament was over:
Markholt raised to 70,000 from middle position and Mike McClain reraised to 250,000. Markholt moved all in, and McClain insta-called. Markholt said, "This is the best hand I've seen all day," and turned over pocket queens. McClain quietly showed down pocket aces and had Markholt dominated. Any suspense was eliminated on the flop when it came A
3
3
, giving McClain aces full. Markholt turned the Q
, giving him a one outer draw to the Q
, but the river brought the 4
to sending Markholt to the rail in ninth place.
Action chugged along for another large block of time, with many players doubling up along the way, and the chips made the rounds from one stack to another around the table. Then the action kicked into high gear, and the Dragon was the master of ceremonies. He got knocked down to 335,000, but Pham doubled up to climb back to respectability. He then let the fireworks fly on a hand, where he took down a 1.2 million pot, despite not one player moving all in. On the very next hand after that, Pham found himself in the mix with Schneider:
Nguyen bet 120,000 (UTG+1). Pham raised to 300,000 total (UTG+2) and Schneider moved all in for exactly 1 million under the gun. Nguyen folded after a few minutes of pondering and action was now on Pham, who was still stacking his chips from the massive pot he won on the prior hand. He had more than enough chips to call, and even pulled out an additional $10 bill to cover the $7 Schneider had out on the table. "I'll lay you odds," said Pham. The two players then went back and forth in a running dialogue:
Pham: "Two aces?"
Schneider: "Do I need two aces?"
Pham: "Yes."
Schneider: "Then I better have a beer then."
Pham eventually folded his hand and left two red jacks face up on the table. He then offered Schneider the $10 from their side bet to see his cards.
While all of this madness was going on, Dan Harrington doubled up and quietly built his stack to take the chip lead. The calculating, methodical, unnoticed way that he accomplished this feat was an ample reflection of his personal demeanor. After scoring the large pot off of Pham, Schneider joined Harrington atop the leader board in the 2 million dollar club. That was when Billy Pilossoph’s day ended when he was eliminated in eighth place by Nguyen. His A-6 was dominated by the A-K of Nguyen, and the board provided no assistance. A few more hands ensued and then the final hand of the night brought an abrupt end to the evening.
Sebok raised to 120,000 from middle position and was reraised by Schneider out of the small blind. Sebok moved all in, and Schneider called. Sebok tabled pocket queens, and Schneider showed A
J
. Sebok retained the lead on the flop when it came 6
5
2
. However the turn brought a crushing A
, and Sebok was drawing to two outs. The river was a brick when it came 10
, and Sebok was sent to the rail in seventh place. A sick silence spread throughout the room and disappointment was written across Sebok’s face as he left the room. Many may remember that Sebok was also the television bubble boy at the 2006 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star and the sting of this repeat effect hung heavy in the room. After this development on the bubble, the final six were set and play ended for the night. They will return tomorrow at 5 p.m. to play for the $1,634,865 and the title of Legends of Poker champion.
Here is how things will look tomorrow evening:
Seat 1 - Shi Jia Liu - 1,305,000
Seat 2 - Dan Harrington - 2,230,000
Seat 3 - Tom Schneider - 3,495,000
Seat 4 - Thu Nguyen - 1,475,000
Seat 5 - David “The Dragon” Pham - 470,000
Seat 6 - Mike McClain - 725,000
Tune in to catch all the action from the final table at CardPlayer.com and WorldPokerTour.com tomorrow at 5 p.m.
11:16 PM, 08/29/07
Final Table Seating & Chip Counts
Level 27: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante
Here are the official chip counts for tomorrow's WPT Final Table: Seat 1 - Shi jia Liu - 1,305,000 Seat 2 - Dan Harrington - 2,230,000 Seat 3 - Tom Schneider - 3,495,000 Seat 4 - Thu Nguyen - 1,475,000 Seat 5 - David 'The Dragon' Pham - 470,000 Seat 6 - Mike McClain - 725,000 Play is scheduled to begin at 5:00 pm PST, and we'll have live hand-by-hand coverage of all the action. Stay tuned for a recap of today's action, which took more than 7 1/2 hours to shrink the field from 18 players to 6. By the morning, we will have full bios on all six WPT final tablists.
Sorted In: Legends of Poker, The Bicycle Casino, Season VI11:00 PM, 08/29/07
Joe Sebok Eliminated 7th ($114,310)
Level 27: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante
|:img:3545,R:|Joe Sebok raises to 120,000 from middle position and is reraised by Tom Schneider out of the small blind. Sebok moves all in, and Schneider calls. Sebok tables Q
Q
, and Schneider A
J
. Sebok retains the lead on the flop when it comes 6
5
2
. However the turn brings a crushing A
, and Sebok is drawing to two outs. The river is a brick when it comes 10
, and Sebok is sent to the rail in 7th place.
A sick silence speads through the room and disappointment was written on Sebok's face as he collected his chips and left the room. Sebok twice lost key 70%-30% match-ups, and was unable to overcome the downswing.
10:56 PM, 08/29/07
Schneider Wins Nguyen
Level 27: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante
On a flop of 8
5
2
, Tom Schneider bets 60,000. Thu Nguyen raises to 170,000 and Schneider makes the call. The turn is the 9
and both players check. The river is the K
and Schneider bets 230,000. Nguyen quickly calls but mucks his hand when Schneider shows 5
5
. Nguyen is knocked down to 1,000,000.
10:36 PM, 08/29/07


