Main Event Day 4 Leaves Remaining Players in the Money

Poker News - July 12, 2009 - Written by Bruce

When Saturday's WSOP Main Event Day 4 got under way there were 789 players all hoping to make the final 648 who all would make the money. When the day's action was done there were 407 players still alive in this years Main Event. The chip leader going into Day 5 is Matt Affleck who had a big day that left him with 1,819,000 chips. Not far behind him is the second biggest chip stack remaining which belongs to Ludovic Lacay with 1,608,000 chips. Lacay had the chip lead for most of the day late in Day 4 before losing a big pot right before play ended which dropped him to second. There was plenty of tension in the room as the money bubble approached late in the nights play. With exactly 649 players left there were a few very interesting hands that occurred with players knowing they are one elimination away from making the money. One hand saw an amazing lay down when Brian Hodhod correctly folded his KK face up before the flop putting his opponent on AA which he showed to the table. This amazing fold allowed him to make the money when Kia Hamadani was eliminated in 649th as the bubble boy. Hamadani had blinded down to only 500 chips before he was knocked out. One consolation for Hamadani is that he will be awarded an entry into the 2010 WSOP Main Event due to being the bubble boy, a promotion run by the sponsor Jack Link's Beef Jerky.

At this point all of the players had a big sense of relief as they knew they would walk away with at least $21,365 and now had their sites set on making it to this year's final table. The play picked up dramatically after the money bubble as 241 players were eliminated in the last 150 minutes of play leaving the remaining 407 players. Two notable names among the chip leaders are Jordan Morgan and Blair Hinkle who both finished the night in the top ten in chips. Well known poker pro Phil Ivey soarded up the leader board in Day 4 finishing with 1,760,000 chips which is good enough for the 15th largest stack. He is going to be dangerous going into today's Day 5 with so many chips. Right behind him with the 16th biggest stack is the chip leader after Day 3 Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier who had 1,250,000 chips. Other poker pros were not as fortunate as Erik Seidel, Mike Sexton, Greg "FBT" Mueller, and Phil Helmuth all busted on Day 4.

Main Event Day 5 will kick off an noon Vegas time today. The 407 remaining players will no doubt battle hard as this will be a key day of action. After today's Day 5 it will be interesting to see who is able to position themselves for good positioning to make this year's final table. One interesting note is the 2009 WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Easgate is still alive in the tournament sitting with 397,000 chips which is slightly below the chip average. Could he remarkably win this thing back to back? Today's play will have a lot to do with that. Day 5 is going to be a very exciting day of poker as the 2009 Main Event continues today.