WSOP -- Day 4 of the Main EventPhil Ivey Surges to 1,276,000 in Chips |
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The last time Phil Ivey won multiple World Series of Poker bracelets in a single summer, he also made a run at the main event final table. The seven-time bracelet winner has another chance this year after a dominating day four of the main event.
Ivey entered day four on Saturday with 371,000 in chips, sitting in 148th place among the 789 that started the day. Now at the conclusion of day four and after the field reached the money, Ivey sits in tremendous chip position. He currently holds 1,276,000 and resides in 15th among the 407 that survived to play on in poker’s most prestigious tournament.
With two bracelets, Ivey is nearing the end of one of the best summers of his career. Only five men have ever won three at a single WSOP, and Ivey is one of them. He could etch his name on that exclusive list for a second time and join Jeff Lisandro, who was eliminated on day three, as a triple winner from this summer. Ivey would need to capture the one bracelet that has painfully eluded him over the years.
Ivey’s triple bracelet performance in 2002 was capped off with a deep run in the 631 player main event that year. He finished in 23rd place, in what was his first main event cash. The following year, Ivey found himself near the end of the no-limit hold’em world championship once again.
In the 2003 main event, Ivey suffered a heartbreaking beat from eventual champion Chris Moneymaker at the unofficial final table of ten.
Moneymaker opened the action in early position with the A
Q
for 60,000. Ivey made the call from the cutoff with the 9
9 and Jason Lester made the call from the small blind with pocket tens.
The flop came QQ6, giving Moneymaker trip queens. Lester checked and Moneymaker bet 70,000. Ivey thought for awhile before calling and Lester mucked. Ivey hit gin on the turn when the 9
fell, giving him nines full. Moneymaker suspected nothing from the card and bet out 200,000. Ivey didn’t take long before announcing all in for 300,000 more. Moneymaker snap called and exposed his trip queens, as Ivey was in great shape to build a chip stack for the official final table. He needed to dodge an ace, queen or six in order for his full house to hold. However, disaster struck when the A pealed off the top of the deck.
Ivey had another opportunity in 2005 when he finished in 20th place after wading through a field of 5,619 players. A series of missteps cost him a large portion of his stack, before an all-in with pocket jacks ended his tournament when they collided with the kings of Aaron Kanter.
With one of the biggest surges on day four of the 2009 main event, Ivey sits with almost three times the chip average of 478,673. Here is a look at some of the hands that propelled him to his current position, as featured in Card Player’s live updates:
Ivey Eliminates Opponent with Aces
Ivey raised to 16,000 preflop from early position and was called by Binjian Wu. The flop came Q 7 2 and Ivey bet 23,000. Wu called. The 8 hit the turn and Ivey bet 55,000. Wu went into the tank before eventually calling.
The river was the 4 and Ivey fired out a bet that forced Wu to put in the rest of his chips. Wu eventually made the decision for his tournament life and Ivey tabled the AA. The aces were good as Wu mucked and was eliminated from the tournament. Ivey was then up to 900,000.
Ivey Breaks a Million
On a board of AJ78 Phil Ivey fired 70,000 into David Wickham, who made the call. The river was the 3 and Ivey bet 120,000. Wickham thought for awhile before finally laying his hand down. Ivey took the pot and was closing in on 1,000,000 in chips.
Later, Ivey and Michael Graydon were squaring off on a board of Q 9 5 7. Graydon checked to Ivey who moved all in, having Graydon well covered. Graydon called and turned over A9 for second pair. Ivey exposed the KK. The 7 fell on the river and Ivey scored another knockout. His stack was at 1,100,000 million.
Moments later, Ivey raised to 16,000 preflop and David Watkinson made the call from the big blind. The flop came 9 6 3 and Watkinson checked. Ivey bet 22,000 and Watkinson called. The turn was the 8 and Ivey fired another 55,000 into the pot. Watkinson called and the K fell on the river. Ivey fired 120,000 and Watkinson waved the white flag by mucking his hand. The stack had grown to 1,200,000 as the day was coming to a close.
Aside from Ivey’s day four success, there were many notable professionals who made exits after the money bubble burst. They include Phil Hellmuth (436th), Justin Bonomo (442nd), Paul Wasicka (480th), Alex Kostritsyn (498th), Chris Ferguson (561st) and David Williams (597th).
Here is a look at some of the elimination hands as featured in Card Player’s live updates:
Phil Hellmuth Short, then Busts with Aces
Abraham Mourshaki raised to 20,000 and the action folded to Phil Hellmuth who raised to 36,000. Mourshaki called and the flop came JJ3. Mourshaki checked-called a 40,000 bet from Hellmuth. The turn was the 7 and both players checked. The river was the 5 and Mourshaki bet 120,000. Hellmuth called and was shown the AJ for trips. Hellmuth mucked and the tirade began.
“I’m gonna vomit on the floor,” he said. “You had to find jack-jack for him. You couldn’t find just one jack so he could sail off?” Hellmuth then walked away from the table as he was down to about 100,000.
Just a few hands later, Mourshaki raised to 22,000 preflop and Hellmuth called. Three other players jumped in the pool as well and the flop came J 10 5. Kevin Jenkins moved all in for 83,000 and Hellmuth reraised all in with his last 110,000. Kenny Hsuing made the call and the three players tabled their hands.
Hellmuth: AA
Hsuing: J10
Jenkins: 98
Hellmuth started with the best hand but was out flopped. He needed some help, but the 7 on the turn gave Jenkins the straight and left Hellmuth drawing dead against Jenkins. He did have a shot at a side pot, but the river was the 3 and Hellmuth was gone from the main event.
Paul Wasicka Eliminated
The runner-up to Jamie Gold in the 2006 main event was below 100,000 during the last level of the day when he decided to move all in preflop holding the AJ. He was called by an opponent holding the AK.
The flop came A 9 4 , giving Wasicka little help. The turn was the K, leaving him drawing dead as he didn’t have an out to make a flush. The meaningless 5 fell and eliminated Wasicka.
Chris Ferguson Eliminated
Chris Ferguson was crippled right before level 16 ended when his two pair was no good against the better two pair of an opponent. He was left with just 4,000 chips heading into break. After a few hands into the new level, he was all in for his 1,000 ante. A player in early position limped in and Sander Lylloff made it 21,000. Everybody folded, including the limper, leaving Lylloff to eliminate the five-time bracelet winner.
Lylloff exposed the A6 and Ferguson tabled the 92. The flop was horrendous for the 2000 main event champion as it came J 6 6. The 8 on the turn left Ferguson drawing dead and he exited the tournament, heading for the payout desk.
The field only saw three levels of play due to the plethora of eliminations.
Here are the official top 10 chip counts from the end of day four:
1. Matt Affleck – 1,819,000
2. Ludovic Lacay – 1,680,000
3. Tom Lutz – 1,600,000
4. James Akenhead – 1,570,000
5. Charlie Elias – 1,540,000
6. Miika Puumalainen – 1,492,000
7. Jordan Morgan – 1,489,000
8. Bernhard Perner – 1,426,000
9. Blair Hinkle – 1,399,000
10. Benjamin Jensen – 1,394,000
The chip leader of the tournament is Matt Affleck with 1,819,000. Affleck has one cash so far at this summer’s series when he finished 22nd in event no. 44 ($2,500 seven card razz). He also won a PokerStars SCOOP event this past spring for $550,500.
Second in chips is Ludovic Lacay, who has remained very consistent over the last couple of days. The french pro ended day three with 896,000 chips, trailing only Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier on the leader board. Lacay doubled his stack on day four.
Jordan Morgan made his first cash of the 2009 WSOP on day four and currently resides in seventh with 1,489,000. Blair Hinkle, the bracelet winner from last year’s event no. 23 ($2,000 no-limit hold’em), is also very healthy with 1,399,000.
Grospellier ended with 127,500 chips less than his monster stack of 1,380,500 that he began the day with. Going into day five, Grospellier sits right behind Ivey in chip position with 1,253,000 and still has a great shot at his first bracelet.
Main event champions Dan Harrington (659,000), Joe Hachem (490,000), Peter Eastgate (397,000) and Bobby Baldwin (219,000) are also still in contention. Eastgate would be the first back-to-back winner since Johnny Chan in 1987-88.
A member of the Card Player family is still alive with a healthy chip stack. Jeff Shulman began the day with 178,000 and made solid progress, ending day four with 314,000.
Day 5 will begin at noon PDT on Sunday. Check back as Card Player will be providing up to the minute coverage with hand histories, chip counts and eliminations.
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