| The first out last night in 18th place was Andrew Lichtenberger he was the 21 year old who runs a poker instructional website. He had JJ and chipleader and logger Darvin Moon had KK. The flop came 336. Lichtenberger bet 680K, Darvin bet 1.5M and then Lichtenberger went all in. 6 Turn, 7 River and he was gone.
Next out was Ian Tavelli, who's grandfather bought his $10,000 entry fee as reward for Tavelli maintaining excellent grades. Tavelli had a 99 up against Steve Begleiter a Bear Stearns executive holdng KK. Tavelli opened up with a 450K bet, and Begleiter reraised to 1.35M. The flop came 642. Tavelli checked, Beglieter bet 3.5M and Tavelli moved all in for his remaining 7.7M chips. The turn came Q, 10 and Tavelli was gone with 17th place $500,557.00
Quickly after that Ludovic Lacay went up against 34 year old Jeff Shulman, the only player in the field to be at the final table of the Main Event (in 2000). Shulman bet 450K with AK, Lacay pushed all in for 3.09M with 77. The flop came 9K5, the turn was 9 and river 6. Lacay went out in 16th place with $500,557.
Phil Ivey was quiet most of the night picking up small pots here and there. He hovered around 7M chips and near last place for quite some time.
Youngster Nick Maimone who caught a lot of cards on days 6 and 7 ran out of luck and finished in 15th place, taking home $633,022. Maimone raised to 450K and big stack Eric Buchman called. The flop came J108. Buchman had J9 and Maimone had AQ. Buchman checked, Maimone bet 900K, Buchman moved all in and Maimone called on the draw. The turn was a J putting Maimone in a bad spot. River Q and he was done.
A big hand happened when Brit James Akenhead moved all in preflop for his last 2.4M chips with KQ after Jamie Robbins made an initial 530K bet with AA. The flop came KQJ and Akenhead won with 2 pair crippling J.R.
Ben Lamb was the next out in 14th place he was all in preflop with a AJ of spades verses Jeff Shulman's AK. 9K3 7 2 and he was gone. James Calderaro quickly followed him out the door. He had a KJ up against Kevin Schaffel's 1010.
After picking on 21 year old Joe Cada all night, Ivey took his first hit when he lost a few bets to Joe. With 12 left, Ivey was in for some trouble with a low stack.
But then the big hands happened. Bill Kopp was in second place and got into a hand with Darvin Moon. Kopp was messing around with a 5 and 3 of diamonds. Moon was holding the Q and J of diamonds. The flop came out Kd 9d 2d. They both flopped straights. Kopps chips quickly found their way into the middle. Kopp left in 12th place with $896,730, but he left a lot of money on the table.
Jamie Robbins followed Kopp out the door in 11th place with KQ vs Phil Ivey's A10.
At this point there's 10 people and 9 premium spots. 9 spots that go down in history, and one guy who came as close as he could. That man turned out to be poker pro Jordan Smith.
Smith got Aces after Buchmann made an early raise of 650K, and Darvin Moon called him. Buchmann made a smallish raise to $2.6M and Moon called him with 88. The flop was 8 4 2, Smith's chips all got in the pot and we have our final 9. AND PHIL IVEY IS IN THE FINAL TABLE. The greatest poker player of my generation is in a position to cement his legacy as one of the greatest of all time. Tune in next week for the final table.
The payouts for the spots that remain
Payouts
1. $8.5 million 6. $1.6 million
2. $5.2 million 7. $1.4 million
3. $3.5 million 8. $1.3 million
4. $2.5 million 9. $1.25 million
5. $2.0 million |
