L.A. Poker Classic Day 4: Two Phils Rise To The Top
Wednesday, 27 February 2008
Day 4 started with a bang, as eighteen of the 58 remaining players
being out before the end of the first level of play. One man who
was busy in that time was Phil Ivey, who had begun the day on
656,000.
Day 4 started with a bang, as eighteen of the 58 remaining players
being out before the end of the first level of play. One man who
was busy in that time was Phil Ivey, who had begun the day on
656,000. One big hand cropped up, and Ivey seized the chip lead
where he remained until the end of the day.
In the key hand which propelled Ivey to the top spot, the battle
developed as the blinds took on each other. Scott Montgomery raised
to 25,000 out of the small blind, only for Ivey to reraise out of
the big for 80,000 total. Montgomery, perhaps feeling Ivey was
pushing him about, popped it back up to 180,000 but must have
realised something was awry when Phil moved in for 300,000 more.
Now pot-committed, Montgomery called with Ad-9c which was dominated
by Ivey’s Ah-Kh. The board didn’t pair Montgomery’s nine, and Ivey
doubled up to just under a million in chips.
The steady trickle of eliminations continued until the dinner
break, with Toto Leonidas and Mickey Mills losing their way just
before getting to the final three tables. It was now that another
Phil still in the tournament made his move. Hellmuth had been
embroiled in a long war with Neil Ho, but the Poker Brat finally
got his man after he knocked Ho out in 31st place after Hellmuth’s
Ac-Ks outran Ho’s pocket sixes.
Twenty-two players made it to the dinner break, and it took just
over an hour for the last four to fall. Play will resume with two
tables left, and the chip counts looking like this:
1. Phil Ivey: 1,543,000
2. Blair Hinkle: 1,541,000
3. Phil Hellmuth: 1,399,000
4. Nam Le: 1,254,000
5. Michael Carson: 1,029,000
6. Michael Watson: 987,000
7. Charles Moore: 921,000
8. WeiKai Chang: 751,000
9. Quinn Do: 695,000
10. Matt Brady: 497,000
11. Jennifer Tilly: 417,000
12. Jeff Schwimmer: 413,000
13. Theo Tran: 410,000
14. Scott Montgomery: 386,000
15. Pete De Best: 291,000
16. David Singer: 285,000
17. Brian Taylor: 228,000
18. Yury Parad: 214,000
Play will continue down to a final table, and we in the Bluff
Europe office are determined to shake off the ‘Bluff Europe Tip
Voodoo’. We’re backing Nam Le to make it to the final table, along
with the two Phils to set up what hopes to be a classic WPT final
table.
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