Main Event - Day 4 - Level 18 - Hour 2
Jul 11, '08
Tournament officials have announced that remaining players will only play one more two-hour level tonight when they return from their 90-minute break.
Blinds/Antes: 4,000-8,000-1,000
Players Remaining: 216 of 6,844
Chip Leaders:
Jeremy Joseph - 2,500,000
Brandon Cantu - 1,800,000
Keoni Schwartz - 1,700,000
David Saab - 1,650,000
Phi Nguyen - 1,600,000
Nikolay Losev - 1,600,000
Andrew Rosskamm - 1,500,000
Darus Suharto - 1,500,000
Mark Ketteringham - 1,470,000
David Benefield - 1,400,000
Other Notables
Gus Hansen – 1,400,000
Shawn Sheikhan – 1,100,000
Ylon Schwartz – 1,000,000
Matt Matros – 940,000
Chris Klodnicki – 620,000
Craig Marquis – 550,000
Jeff Madsen – 430,000
Mike Matusow – 415,000
Kido Pham – 400,000
Thomas Keller – 355,000
Andrew Teng – 300,000
Hoyt Corkins – 300,000
Phil Hellmuth – 300,000
Average Chip Stack: 573,000
Eliminations:
Hevad Khan
Evelyn Ng
Jon Turner
Big Hands and Storylines:
Gus Hansen takes monster pot with two pair
After raising to 24,000 from the cutoff position, Hansen then called a reraise to 84,000 by Joseph Ward out of the small blind. The flop came A
T
5
and Ward bet 100,000. Hansen took a long time to act, but ultimately called. The turn was the 9 and Ward checked. Hansen took his time and then bet 200,000. The action was on Ward and he stood up. He separated 200,000 from his stack and saw he would less than 200,000 remaining. After a couple minutes he moved all in. Hansen called and showed AT
. Ward held AQ and needed a queen on the river. The river was the 7 and Hansen took the pot of 1.2 million chips. After the hand he had roughly 1.4 million chips.
Helge Pedersen Doubles Through Pontus Khosravi
Pontus Khosravi raised from the hijack and Helge Pedersen moved in from the button for 260,000 total. Khosravi made the call and showed AK, but he was trailing the KK of Pedersen. The board – Q7632 – did not help the Swede, and his stack took a big hit. After the confrontation, both players had stacks of about 530,000.
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 A52, 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 K10, and his opponent showed 75. “No, he didn’t!” Phil 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 KQ5 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 with about 320,000 chips.
Evelyn Ng Eliminated
Keith Ferrera raised to 19,000 from early position and Evelyn Ng pushed all in for her remaining 122,000 as the next player to act. The action folded around, and Ferrera quickly called and turned over KK. Ng’s 1010 were in bad shape, and the 98742 board offered no assistance.
Kostritsyn Loses Massive Pot
Alexander Kostritsyn took a significant blow when Cristian Dragomir snagged a two-outter on the river for a pot in excess of 1,000,000 in chips. Kostritsyn raised preflop to 22,000, Dragomir to his immediate right called, along with one other player and the big blind. The flop came J96, and once the big blind checked, Kostritsyn bet 58,000. Dragomir made the call, and the two were heads-up to see the 2 fall on the turn. Kostritsyn then bet out 105,000, and again Dragomir made the call. The 9 hit the river to pair the board, and Kostritsyn bet another 105,000. Dragomir then raised to 300,000 and Kostritsyn called. It was bad news for Kostritsyn who showed king-jack for top pair. Dragomir held K9 for trips made on the river and scoop the massive pot.
The Rich 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 KQ, and learned he was up against A9. No problem. Joseph hit the flop of K98, dodged the 10 on the turn, the made trips on the river with the K to add to his stack and send Creurer to the rails.
Khan, sixth a year ago, bows out
On a Q74 flop, Hevad Khan, who was short-stacked at around 150,000, found himself all in and in big trouble against Tiffany Michelle. Khan held 99 and was up against KQ, meaning he needed a nine and no hearts. The turn and river were 105 and Khan was eliminated. After a very loud and very deep run last year, Khan was much more subdued during this year's series. At the start of every tournament an announcement was made warning players not to celebrate excessively. Most if not all the time, the announcement would specifically mention not to lift up any chairs, something Khan did often last year. When he was knocked out today, he quietly got up and waited for his pay slip.
Incredible hand ends with ace-high winning
Stephane Hornet raised from late position, and then Matt Lessinger made a big reraise to 130,000 from the button. Then Alex Borteh came over the top from the big blind. He had both players covered and moved all in. Hornet was frustrated but went ahead and moved all in. The action was back on Lessinger, and he was also extremely exasperated. He ultimately folded, and was shocked to see the hands that were turned up.
Hornet: AK
Borteh: KQ
Board: 73386
Lessinger, who had 250,000 chips left, said he folded two queens. Borteh now has 285,000 chips left, while Hornet is now up to 500,000 chips.
Player Tags: Evelyn Ng, Gus Hansen, Phil Hellmuth, Alex Borteh, Tiffany Michelle, Hevad Khan, Jeremy Joseph, Santeri Valikoski, Alexander Kostritsyn, Cristian Dragomir, Stephan Hornet
