WPT Legends of Poker Day 3 Recap

28 Aug, 2008 Poker Talk

Amit Makhija - Chip Leader

Despite expectations that Day 4 would be a long drawn out battle narrowing the field down to the final six players, the line-up was determined in just four hours at the WPT Legends of Poker Tournament. Coming in to the day with 27 players, there was no shortage of suckouts, huge pots and collapses that reduced the field at a rapid rate.

Short stacks Ben “bfineman” Fineman and Adam Weinraub were quickly eliminated followed by one of the biggest pots of the tournament went to Amit “amak316″ Makhija eliminating Ron Jenkins. Makhija’s top pair held up against Jenkins’ big draw, catapulting him to the chip lead.

Joining the ranks of the casualties were Allen Cunningham and Maria Ho followed by a long string of short stacks in a steady stream. Players 27-19 received $21,125 for their efforts:

27. Ben Fineman
26. Adam Weinraub
25. Ron Jenkins
24. Allen Cunningham
23. Maria Ho
22. Tan Le
21. Jim Hof
20. Marco Johnson
19. Kirk Conrad

Tournament directors then redrew for the final two tables, expecting the action to slow. The players had other ideas though, sending Rodeen Talebi, Philip Stark, Samuel Ngai and Takashi Shiono home in short order. A short half an hour later, Gary Najarian’s day ended when his pocket Kings were taken down by Zachary Clark’s set of fours. Clark also scored a huge side pot on the hand from Layne Flack, putting him near the top of the leader board.

Lee Markholt then found himself short stacked and all in with A-K against John Phan’s pocket fives. Markholt was able to catch up with an Ace hit the turn but the river showed a five, ensuring he wouldn’t improve on last year’s ninth place finish in this event.

Just before the break, Jinyun Lin and Sirous Baghchehsaraie were taken down to bring the player count to 10. Normally, the final 10 would combine to play out the remainder of the tournament but at the Bicycle Casino, both tables played five handed until a player is eliminated to create a nine-handed final table. After an hour of hand for hand play, Denny Lee’s pocket jacks were smashed by Trong Nguyen’s pocket kings.

Once the final nine were put together, play slowed down considerably. Each player was making very careful decisions, trying to avoid a blunder that would cost them all their chips. That blunder came when Raymond Voskanian pushed all in with pocket 10’s on a flush board with three overs into Matt Keikoan’s diamond flush. Voskanian finished in ninth place and earned $70,415.

Though it took a while for the next player to go, it became on of the most important hands of the day. John Phan raised to 110,000 and Layne Flack re-raised to 360,000, leaving just 300,000 behind. Phan then counted out his chips and considered what he would have left if making the bet. Phan then asked for the dealer’s ‘all in’ button, as he has done all tournament long. Realizing this could be an angle to see his opponent’s reaction, the tournament director informed Phan that the next time he asks for the button, he will be all in.

After another minute of deliberation, Phan tossed in the button and both players turned over their cards. Flack had A-A and Phan had 7-7. The flop came out 7-6-4 causing the crowd to gasp, realizing Phan had flopped a set. The turn didn’t do much to help Flack when another 7 was peeled off the deck, giving Phan quads. The river card was a Q and Flack was eliminated in eight place, earning him $105,620.

After winning that pot, Phan’s chip total rose to over 2 million in the process. The elimination held more importance than for just chips or a pay increase. With Flack’s elimination, Phan was now guaranteed to surpass Erick Seidel for the lead in the Card Player Player of the Year race.

Only a few hands after the break, Matt Keikoan pushed his 10 big blinds stack from the small blind and was immediately called by Zachary Clark. Keikoan’s 7-4 off suit was in trouble to Clark’s A-K and a King on the flop was the writing on the wall. Keikoan was eliminated on the bubble, earning $140,830.

The chip counts going into the final table are:

Seat 1 - Trong Nguyen - 980,000
Seat 2 - Amit Makhija - 3,225,000
Seat 3 - Paul Smith - 1,130,000
Seat 4 - John Phan - 2,415,000
Seat 5 - Zachary Clark - 2,025,000
Seat 6 - Kyle Wilson - 1,425,000

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