WSOP: Main Event Day 4The Field Shrinks to 189 Quickly and Play Ends Early -- Jeremy Joseph Leads with over 3 Million |
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Day 4 at the World Series of Poker main event played fast. It played too fast in fact, and action ended for the night at the end of level 19, with 189 players remaining in the $10,000 no-limit hold’em world championship. Those players will return tomorrow at noon, for day 5 action, and the field will then have two days to play down to 27 players.
Play began at late, at 1 p.m. today and when the tournament clock got started two players loomed large in the field. Johnny Chan was looking to make poker history by becoming only the third player to ever win the main event three times, as well as his 11th bracelet, which would tie him with one other player for the most all time. That player was Phil Hellmuth, and he was looking to win his 12th gold bracelet to break his own record, and win his second main event to join Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson, Stu Ungar, and Chan as the only players to win the world championship more than once. Their quests took different paths early in the day. Chan was knocked out in the second level of day 4 when his A-7 ran into pocket eights and he failed to improve. Hellmuth, on the other hand, relished his spot at the featured ESPN table, and although he wasn't at the top of the leader board when play ended, he still has over 500,000 and he still has a shot to make history. And the cameras will be watching.
The other story of the day was made in part by the efforts of the entire field. The majority played fast now that the fabled prize money has been reached, and the size of the tournament field shrank so quickly that a decision was made by the tournament staff before the dinner break. They decided to end play when the field either got down to 189 players, or when the fourth level of the day came to a close when the players came back from dinner.
Lost along the way to the dinner break were 258 players, among them were the following notables:
Early chip leader Brian Schaedlich, Robert Mizrachi, Kirill Gerasimov, Jean Robert-Bellande, Mike Wattel, Dave Colclough, Tim West, Adam Schoenfeld, Frankie O’Dell, Billy Pilossoph, Jason Sagle, Cliff Josephy, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Devin Porter, Ray Henson, Chris Bjorin, Hasan Habib, Pat Poels, Dag Martin Mikkelsen, Hevad “Rain” Khan, Jon Turner, and one of the last ladies standing Evelyn Ng. Note: Steve Billirakis busted after the dinner break.
The final 216 players returned from dinner at 9:30 p.m. and it took just an hour and a half longer to reach the magic number of 189 before day 4 abruptly came to a close. The leader board went through a transformation during the fast play of the day and a few players fell from the top, while new faces gladly took their place. Here is the top 10 at the end of the night:
Jeremy Joseph: 3,100,000
Cristian Dragomir: 2,065,000
David Rheem: 2,000,000
Nikolay Losev: 1,800,000
Andrew Rosskamm: 1,745,000
Nicholas Sliwinski: 1,700,000
Darus Suharto: 1,650,000
Justin Sadauskas: 1,610,000
Mark Ketteringham: 1,600,000
James McManus: 1,600,000
Average Stack: 724,233
Here are some of the most notable hands from day 4, as featured in CardPlayer.com's live coverage of the event:
Jeremy Joseph Continues to Roll
A player in mid-position raised to 18,000 and current chip-leader Jeremy Joseph made the call from the cut-off. The button player also called, along with the big blind. The flop came A
5 5
, and after the blind checked, the original raiser bet 28,000. Joseph and the button player both called. The 9
on the turn was checked by all three players, then the K
fell on the turn. The first player checked, and Joseph bet 100,000. The button player folded, and the first player couldn’t control his curiosity and called. Joseph flipped over A 9 for two pair made on the turn, good enough to take the pot down. The player on the button claimed to have held K J for numerous outs after the flop, and said he had considered a call on the river.
Brandon Cantu Bluffs to Take Down a Huge Pot Worth over 700,000
With the board shwoing 10 10 Q 2, the small blind checked and then Brandon Cantu bet 125,000 from the button. The small blind thought it over for a long time before raising to 275,000. Cantu immediately asked how many chips he had left. When he heard about 350,000 he moved all in. The small blind folded and Cantu jumped out of his seat and flipped over A J. Mike Matusow, who recently doubled up, turned around and took a look at the table. "Did you check-raise bluff Brandon?" Matusow asked. "You should have moved all in then. You have no idea how sick he is?"
The Rich (Joseph) Get Richer
Chip-leader Jeremy Joseph can do no wrong. He elected to make a massive call against Damien Creurer, who was all-in for 271,000. Joseph, with chips to spare, made the call with K Q, and learned he was up against A 9. No problem. Joseph hit the flop of K 9 8, dodged the 10 on the turn, then made trips on the river with the K to add to his stack and send Creurer to the rails.
Hellmuth Melts Down in Three Consecutive Hands, But Doubles Later
The action folded to Santeri Valikoski in the small blind, who completed. Phil Hellmuth raised an additional 10,000, and Valikoski made the call. The flop came A 5 2, and Valikoski checked. Hellmuth tossed three orange 5,000 chips across the line. “This is a bluff,” Hellmuth told his opponent as he pointed to the chips. Valikoski made the call and bet 25,000 when the A fell on the turn. Hellmuth announced a raise and added 30,000 to Valikoski’s bet. Valikoski called, and both players checked the 6 on the river. Hellmuth turned over K 10, and his opponent showed 7 5. “No, he didn’t!” Hellmuth screamed as he stood up from the table. “He called a raise with five-seven from out of position, that idiot from Northern Europe.” Hellmuth made quite a point of his opponent’s place of origin, mentioning it several times throughout his tirade.
After knocking his chips into a pile and screaming over and over in frustration, Hellmuth called another opponent’s pre-flop raise on the next hand and lost approximately 60,000 in chips when his opponent’s ace-king made top pair.
On the next hand, Hellmuth made it 20,000 to go from the cut-off and his opponent in the big blind raised to 85,000 total. Hellmuth instantly called, beating his opponent into the pot. His opponent asked how much Hellmuth had behind, as he still had not restacked his chips. When the K Q 5 flop fell, the player made a bet of 75,000 and Hellmuth folded pocket jacks face up.
Hellmuth launched into another angry tantrum, culminating in him praying to the heavens for better circumstances and constantly referring to his situation as a "nightmare." Hellmuth finished the bender with under 160,000 in chips after losing approximately two-thirds of his stack in the three-hand span. Later though, Hellmuth doubled when, from the big blind his A-5 turned trips against a player with K-10 and top pair. The board in that hand was 10-9-5-5-Q. Hellmuth ended the level [18] with about 320,000 chips.
Hellmuth Building Back Up
Phil Hellmuth raised to 40,000 from early position and was called by the player on the button in seat 1. The flop that came down 8 7 6 was checked by both players. The turn brought the 7 and Hellmuth again checked, as did his opponent. Both players checked the 9 on the river and Hellmuth announced "ace-queen," which was good enough to take the pot.
A few hands later, Hellmuth raised to 30,000 and the same player made the call from seat 1. The flop came K J 3 and both players checked. When the 2 fell on the turn, Hellmuth fired 30,000 into the pot. Seat 1 made the call and the J fell on the river. Hellmuth bet enough to put seat 1 all in, inducing a fold. Hellmuth showed 3 3 for a set on the flop and a full house on the river. He then carried on about how he wished his opponent would have hit any piece of the board. Hellmuth was up to 570,000 after the hand.
Tune back in tomorrow to catch all the action from Card Player's tournament coverage team. The tournament clock will start with 38 minutes and 47 seconds left in level 19, when the final 189 players take their seats at noon.
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