Sign Up For Card Player's Newsletter And Free Bi-Monthly Online Magazine

Day 4 of the Foxwoods Poker Classic

Down to the Final Table, Still Two Days to Go

Print-icon
 

Ted Forrest at the 2008 Foxwoods Poker ClassicCalling the slow grind that was day 4 of the Foxwoods Poker Classic anything other than excruciating wouldn’t be doing it justice. After the field motored through the first two days of the tournament, it didn’t look like anything could stop what was predicted to be a premature conclusion to one of the premier stops on the World Poker Tour. Instead, the remaining 33 players spent hours trading chips back and forth until the inevitable rising blinds forced the action.

The first elimination of the day didn’t come until nearly half of a level had ticked off the clock, but it jump-started a run by Ted Forrest to the top, putting him in position to win his second WPT title. Forrest got nearly all of his chips in with pocket tens against Daniel Woolson’s pocket kings, but he spiked a 10 on the flop to spark his run up the leader board.

While Forrest was busy chipping up, Paul Snead was busy trying to salvage a poor start to the day. Snead had been in the top five for nearly the entire tournament, but a clash with music producer Joe Simmons left him scrambling for his tournament life. Snead, Simmons, and Robert Richardson all saw a J J 5 flop in a raised pot when the fireworks started. After Snead bet 200,000, Simmons check-raised all in. Richardson had bowed out before Snead went into the tank, asking if Simmons held a jack. Simmons replied by saying, “If I tell you I don’t have a jack, would that help you?” Snead then called the floor over to rule on the statement, which was interpreted as an angle shot on Simmons’ part. The floor ruled in Simmons’ favor, but it did not stop him from getting visibly upset by Snead. Snead eventually folded, and half of his stack was shipped over to Simmons.

Paul Snead at the 2008 Foxwoods Poker ClassicSnead would inevitably give the rest away, as well, when he got into another confrontation with Richardson. Snead raised preflop and was called by both Richardson and Farris in the blinds. The flop came 8 4 3, and Richardson check-raised all in to Snead’s flop bet. Snead went into the tank for more than 10 minutes before deciding to call with A 2. Richardson turned over a set of fours, and the board bricked out for Snead, sending him home in 30th place.

Snead’s bustout opened the flood gates as more and more players joined him on the rail. For the first time all day, the action picked up, and a steady stream of eliminations took players such as Adam “AKat11” Katz and Andrew Barta up the leader board. Here were the eliminations:

33. Daniel Woolson
32. Phil Bodey
23. Jim Martin
19. Rich Meli

Erik Seidel at the 2008 Foxwoods Poker ClassicThe players then redrew for the final two tables, allowing Erik Seidel to take over. Seidel steadily dominated his table, first doubling up through Simmons with pocket jacks and then busting Matt Brady and John Spadevecchia to take his stack over 1.5 million. Forrest maintained his million-plus stack by taking out Ben Zamani, and he and Seidel took turns raising at their table to increase their leads over the rest of the field.

One table over, Mike Santoro was eliminated, causing Andrew Barta to move over for a table balance. Barta quickly became the third player to cross the million-chip mark when his pocket queens held up against Simmons’ A-K. Simmons was sent home, and Barta took some time stacking his 1.4 million in chips.

It seemed like table 1 was doing all of the work, having eliminated five of six eliminated players during the final two tables. The trend continued when Seidel’s pocket aces held up against Chris Dombrowski’s pocket queens. Seidel’s stack ballooned to 2.3 million to put even more distance between himself and the field. Of course, Forrest did his best to catch up when his pocket aces took out the K-Q of Randy Spain.

With all of the executioners busy at table 1, Adam Katz was able to chip up at table 2, breaking the 1-million-chip mark with relative ease. His biggest hand of the night also ended it, when he took out both defending champion Raj Patel and Steve “Thorladen” Weinstein. Katz raised in the cutoff and Patel moved all in from the small blind. Weinstein shoved behind him in the big blind, and Katz made the call with pocket aces. Weinstein showed A-K, Patel turned over K-J, and neither player was able to hit any miracle cards to stay alive. Katz collected the pot and will take nearly 2.2 million into the final table.

Here were the eliminations, from 18 down:

The remaining 9 players will return tomorrow to play down to the six-handed WPT final table. The action starts at noon EDT, as the remaining players fight for the nearly $1 million first-place prize. With only three eliminations scheduled for tomorrow, it should be a short day, but anything can happen when players are battling for not only more money, but a spot on television.

Here are the chip counts heading into day 5:

Seat 1 — Erik Seidel — 2,472,000
Seat 2 — Frank Cieri — 577,000
Seat 3 — Robert Richardson — 719,000
Seat 4 — Michael Farris — 312,000
Seat 5 — Natale Kuey — 525,000
Seat 6 — Ted Forrest — 1,682,000
Seat 7 — Andrew Barta — 1,433,000
Seat 8 — Adam Katz — 2,190,000
Seat 9 — Allen Bari — 530,000