WSOP Main Event: We’re Down To Three Tables
Monday, 14 July 2008
The last remaining household names are out of this year’s World
Series Main Event, meaning the promotion guys will have their work
cut out by the time the final table begins in November.
The last remaining household names are out of this year’s World
Series Main Event, meaning the promotion guys will have their work
cut out by the time the final table begins in November. As Phil
Hellmuth makes a charge at the title but comes short, and Mike ‘The
Mouth’ Matusow feels Main Event heart break once again, there are
still some fairy tale endings possible in Las Vegas though.
The fall of both Hellmuth and Matusow rang of horrible deja-vu
for both. Phil Hellmuth has exited four Main Events in a row
holding A-Q, this time falling on the wrong side of a coin flip
against pocket Jacks.
Mike Matusow’s exit was another argument supporting his own
claims of being the unluckiest man in poker. Facing a raise to
200,000 from the cut-off, Matusow made it 660,000 to go with A-J.
The call was made by the opening raiser, and two went to see a flop
of A-A-5, rainbow. Check-check on the flop, and when the nine came
on the turn, Matusow made his move at the pot. He was heart-broken
to find he had indeed outflopped his opponent, but he’d been
overtaken on the turn as the cut-off showed A-9. No Jack on the
river meant that Matusow ended in 30th place. Massive credit has to
be given to 'The Mouth', who for the fourth year in seven has been
in contention to win the biggest tournament of them all – a great
achievement in itself.
Of course, the fairy tale can still happen. Notable players
still in the field include Brandon Cantu, David Rheem, Phi Nguyen,
Owen Crowe, Scott Montgomery, and one lady - Tiffany Michelle. It
is with Michelle that most people will be rooting now, as she hopes
to become only the second woman ever to make the final table of the
Main Event, following in the footsteps of Hall of Famer Barbara
Enright back in 1995. Michelle is in great shape to do that, with
9.75 million chips enough to see her in third chip position.
The final 27 return and will play down to the final table of
nine, who will return to play the main event final table on 9th
November. The final two players will then play out their heads-up
match for the world championship on 10th November.
Chip counts and seating arrangements:
Table 1
Seat 1: Joe Bishop - 4,855,000
Seat 2: Peter Eastgate - 9,325,000
Seat 3: Gert Andersen - 6,740,000
Seat 4: Kelly Kim - 8,840,000
Seat 5: Brandon Cantu - 4,740,000
Seat 6: Dean Hamrick - 2,375,000
Seat 7: Ivan Demidov - 4,965,000
Seat 8: Niklas Flisberg - 1,330,000
Seat 9: Michael Carroll - 1,015,000
Table 2
Seat 1: Scott Montgomery - 4,320,000
Seat 2: Tim Loecke - 2,280,000
Seat 3: Anthony Scherer - 2,385,000
Seat 4: Owen Crowe - 3,800,000
Seat 5: Craig Marquis - 11,460,000
Seat 6: Ylon Schwartz - 3,655,000
Seat 7: Paul Snead - 6,600,000
Seat 8: Tiffany Michelle - 9,755,000
Seat 9: Phi Nguyen - 1,020,000
Table 3
Seat 1: Jason Riesenberg - 3,405,000
Seat 2: Darus Suharto - 4,510,000
Seat 3: Chris Klodnicki - 6,245,000
Seat 4: Toni Judet - 5,000,000
Seat 5: Nicholas Sliwinski - 4,925,000
Seat 6: David Rheem - 8,280,000
Seat 7: Dennis Phillips - 11,910,000
Seat 8: Albert Kim - 3,675,000
Seat 9: Aaron Gordon - 1,790,000