WSOP

WSOP

The 12th of July saw Day 4 of the 2013 Main Event whittle the devils number of 666 players down to just the 239 players who do into Day 5. The bubble burst pretty early in the day, and 648 players went away with at least $19,106, and the remaining players are guaranteed at least $37,019, with everyone’s goal being the $8,359,531 first prize.

The day saw the field lose some legends, and some players were intent on starting to write their legend for the future. As always the action in the main event was impressive, and below we have the highlights.

Main Event

The most obvious event of the day was the bubble of the Main Event bursting, and the most depressing spot of the WSOP was awarded. The bubble boy was Farzad Bonyadi, and the three time bracelet winner was eliminated by Nick Schwarmann. Schwarmann started the action in the hand by raising to 12k from middle position and Bonyadi called in position. The blinds folded, and left a pot with about 35k in chips to be fought over by the two players still in.

The flop was dealt, and left the J53 sitting face up on the felt. Schwarmann check raised over Bonyadi’s 14k bet, and Farzad used his position, and just called behind. The T completed flush draws, and put a Broadway straight draw on the board. It also brought a 54k bet from Schwarmann, and for the second time, Bonyadi elected to call behind. The river brought the K to the felt, and Schwarmann applied every drop of pressure he had left as he shoved his remaining stack over the line. Bonyadi was easily covered, but according to Schwarmann, snapped off the call almost without thinking.

The cards were turned onto their backs, and Bonyadi’s AJ was destroyed by the rivered Broadway straight of Schwarmann’s AQ.

As I mention in yesterday’s article, two players were hooping to match a record set by Chris Bjorin of having four consecutive WSOP Main Event cashes, and both Christian Harder and Ronnie Bardah made it past the hurdle, and now share the honour with Bjorin. Harder ended up busting in 608th place for $19,106 and Bardah is still in touch with the leaders with 932,000 left in his chip stack going into 8k/16k with a 2k ante at the start of Day 5.

Day 4 also saw the sad sight of the demise of Doyle Brunson. No, he’s not dead, but he has no chips left, which in some circles is considered nearly the same thing.

Doyle left in a post bubble hand where Tim Ulrich raised to 16k from early position, Sergei Stazhkov called from the hijack, leaving the action Brunson on the button. Never one to shy away from a confrontation, Doyle three bet to 86k, and forced the blinds and Ulrich to throw their cards away. Stazhkov was another matter, he four bet shoved against the Poker Legend, and Doyle made the call for his remaining 204k.

Stazhkov flipped over TT to be comfortably ahead of Brunson’s KT. The flop was dealt to show
732, which didn’t offer any help to the Texas Dolly. The turn of 9 left Doyle hoping to see a King on the river to keep him in the event. It seems the god of poker wasn’t going to prolong Brunson’s discomfort at playing the long days in this Main Event, and the A fell on the river to send him to the rail in 409th place for $28,063. This give the Godfather of Poker cashes in the main event in five different decades, a feat that may never be equalled.

Doyle celebrated his cash with a single word tweeted to his 397,307 followers:

 


 

FTR “local boy” Max Steinberg made it into Day 5, and is sitting in 24th place in the chip counts with 1,591,000 in front of him as play ended for the day. The 888 sponsored pro has had a great WSOP so far, with four WSOP cashed so far, including a 7th and a 2nd place. It may be a little unprofessional, but we at FTR are all hoping to see Max make the November Nine, and maybe go all the way.

Max is always thinking about his appearance (as evidenced by his penchant of wearing ties) but having Andrew Feldman from ESPN notice him having a haircut and a shave in the break may be taking it a little far:

 


 

Defending Champion, Greg Merson, is still in the event, and is doing his best to be the first person to repeat in the Main Event since Johnny Chan in 1987. He’d also be the first person to repeat the main event in the modern, much larger field, era. He’s sitting with 635,000 chips in his stack, and the 2012 Main Event Champion could be looking to celebrate his championship anniversary with another matching bracelet.

Other notable players who still have chip stacks going into Day 5 are Annette Obrestad (1,186,000), Carlos Mortensen (302,000), Marvin Rettenmaier (809,000), JC Tran (1,141,000) and Brit, Kevin Williams (2,007,000).

We’ll be back tomorrow with more updates, and we expect to be down to less than a hundred players by the end of the day, all heading towards the inevitable nine players coming back in November.

Keep an eye on the FTR Twitter account to stay up to date.