Day Five of the World Poker Finals

"One more player," has been the recurring theme at this year's World Poker Finals. On Sunday, the players returned and they were just one player away from reaching the money. Today, the remaining 19 players came back and they were just one player away from the final two tables.

Eventually, Young Phan was eliminated by John Myung's pocket queens, and the last 18 players re-drew for seats at the final two tables. With every position promising a pay jump, the action was surprisingly quick, and in short succession Bob Williams (18th), Jonathan "fatal error" Aguiar (17th), and Jimmy Tran (16th) were eliminated.

Darren Nelson eliminated Williams to boost his stack to near 1 million when disaster struck in the form of 2005 WPF champion Nick Schulman. Nelson raised to 75,000 and Schulman made the call. The flop came 7 6 3, and Nelson bet 150,000. Schulman moved all in, and Nelson made the call, showing 7 6. Schulman turned over 10 7. The turn was the 5 giving Schulman his flush and Nelson was down to his last four outs. The river was the 4, which eliminated Nelson in 15th place and brought Schulman's stack close to 3 million.

After Vic Cianelli (14th) and Anthony Casagrande (13th) were eliminated, Schulman went back to work by eliminating T.J. Cloutier in 12th place. Schulman raised to 80,000 from under the gun, and Cloutier reraised to 190,000 from the big blind. Schulman reraised to 490,000, and Cloutier moved all in. Schulman called, showing A A, and Cloutier was behind with J J. The board came 8 5 3 8 A and Cloutier made a jack-high flush, but it wasn't enough to best Schulman's aces full. After adding Cloutier's stack to his own, Schulman had taken a massive chip lead, with roughly 4,500,000.

With just one more player to go until the final table, last year's champion Nenad Medic wasn't having the same success as his counterpart, and he was struggling at the short stack. After getting down to his last 300,000, he received a timely double up from Daniel Shiff. Shiff raised to 115,000 and Medic moved all in for 296,000. Shiff called and showed 3 3. Medic showed A K and the two players were racing. The board ran out 9 9 9 K Q and Medic doubled up to just over 600,000 to keep his repeat hopes alive. After losing half of his stack to Medic, Shiff was eliminated in 11th place a short time later when his Q 10 was no match for Mike Vela's A K.

Here were the chip counts heading into the final table:

Seat 1: Nenad Medic -- 664,000
Seat 2: William Pilossoph -- 693,000
Seat 3: Mike Vela -- 2,494,000
Seat 4: Mark Weitzman -- 895,000
Seat 5: Rodney Legendre -- 823,000
Seat 6: Mike White -- 1,235,000
Seat 7: Freddy Deeb -- 1,091,000
Seat 8: John Myung -- 2,289,000
Seat 9: Nick Schulman -- 4,693,000
Seat 10: Tom "durrr" Dwan -- 2,291,000

William Pilossoph has been to a WPT final table before when he finished eighth in the 2007 Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to improve on that finish here, and he was the first to go at the final table. Tom "durrrr" Dwan raised from middle position to 110,000, and Pilossoph moved all in behind him for 389,000. Dwan made the call with 7 7, and Pilossoph showed A K for a race situation. The board ran out 10 7 4 K A, giving Dwan a set, while Pilossoph rivered two pair -- too little, too late. Pilossoph was eliminated, and he will have to try again to make his television debut.

Coming into the day as the chip leader, Freddy Deeb couldn't get much going at the final table and was the next to go. Deeb moved all in from middle position for his last 545,000, and Dwan called from the cutoff with A J. Deeb showed K Q and the board came 7 7 5 9 8 to eliminate Deeb in ninth place. After stumbling early, Dwan was finally making the right moves at the right times to challenge Schulman for the chip lead.

After doubling up Mike Vela, Myung hung on as long as he could, but he eventually went out in eighth place. Medic raised from middle position to 165,000, and Vela called from late position. Myung moved all in from the big blind for 540,000, and Medic went into the tank for about a minute before mucking his hand. Vela counted out the chips to see how it would affect his stack and eventually called with 7 7. Myung showed A Q, and it was a race situation. The board came J 9 5 7 4, and Vela turned a set of sevens to win the pot and eliminate Myung.

Rodney Legendre was card dead the entire final table, and it showed on his last hand of the night. He moved all in for 955,000, and Mike White called from the small blind. Legendre showed J 5, and White clapped his hands as he flipped over A J. The board came A A 8 2 7, and White flopped trip aces to win the pot and eliminate Legendre on the TV-bubble.

As a result, both former WPF champions are still in the hunt for a repeat as the final six return tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET to battle for the $1,704,986 first-place prize money.

Here are the final six and chip counts:

Seat 1: Nenad Medic -- 555,000
Seat 2: Mike Vela -- 4,155,000
Seat 3: Mark Weitzman -- 855,000
Seat 4: Mike White -- 2,455,000
Seat 5: Nick Schulman -- 4,395,000
Seat 6: Tom Dwan -- 4,875,000

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