The action returned to TV last night for Day #6 at the 2013 Word Series of Poker Main Event. Check out the highlights below to see who got lucky, who got scummed, and who is still alive in the hunt for the World Championship.
Highlights
Back-to-back hands with pocket Aces opened up the televised action of Day #6, but neither hand brought a lot of action – both Timoshenko and Steve Gee only won the blinds and a pair of small preflop bets.
On the outer tables, a massive 6 million chip pot erupted preflop between Noah Schwartz and Jay Farber. Unfortunately for Schwartz, he had the bad luck of running his pocket Kings into Farber’s pocket Aces. Schwartz would go on to lose 85% of his chip stack in the hand, a crushing blow to his Main Event dreams. The win would propel Farber onto the top 10 leaderboard.
The drama wasn’t quite over for Schwartz and Farber, however. A short time later the two would once again be involved in an all-in pot, but this time Jonathan Jaffe was on board to play as well. After a slight mixup preflop, Jaffe and Schwartz continued the hand heads up. Luckily for Schwartz, a King on the turn gave him the win and a much needed triple up.
Steve Gee kept his title hopes alive by making a smart river bet and stealing away a pot from Ronconi with Queen-high.
Jackie Glazier, the only woman left in the field, won a 3M pot when her AA held up against Vladimir Geshkenbein’s QQ. Geshkenbein was eliminated in the hand and finished in 62nd place for $123,597.
In one of the sickest hands of the day, the river card gave Keanu Tabali 3s full of Kings, the only problem being that the turn had already given Yevgeniy Timoshenko Kings full of Queens. After a series of raises and reraises, Tabali could only watch as the dealer shipped over the 6M pot to Timoshenko. At over 8M in chips, Timoshenko was the new tournament leader. Tabali lost 55% of his stack in the hand.
Bruno Kawauti decided to get cute with a aggro 4-bet preflop with J10os, but Chris Lindh with A4c didn’t buy it, 5-betting all-in and making Kawauti fold. Urged on by the rest of the table Lindh would flip over the 4, eliciting a series of laughs. Bruno lost 25% of his stack in the hand.
Short-stacked amateur hip-hop artist (yes, really) Brett Richey would survive to rap another day when the river gave him the nut flush all-in against Nicholas Le Floch. The hand doubled up Richey to 940k (18 big blinds).
The bad luck would continue for Keanu Tabali when he ran AQd into Jorn Walthaus’ pocket Aces, sending him home in 58th place with $123,597. Walthaus, who has yet to be seen smiling, increased his chip total to 7M, earning a top 5 place on the leaderboard.
The fast-paced Chris Lindh would continue his torrid pace, sending the youngest player left in the field, Brendon O’Neal, home in 57th place after O’Neals gut-shot flush draw came up short against Lindh’ two pair. The hand pushed Lindh’s chip total up to 5M.
The gig was finally up for Brett Richey when his KQ failed it improve against James Alexander’s AA, sending him to the rail in 55th place.
Noah Schwartz again had the misfortune of running into pocket Aces all-in preflop, and this time it ended his Main Event run. He would finish in 52nd place when his pocket 7s did not improve.
Carlos Mortensen, quiet thus far on Day 6, battled it out with fellow poker pro JC Tran. The flop brought a flush draw for Mortensen and a pair for Tran. The turn brought a similar flush draw for Tran, but it was the river that gave Mortensen the win when his heart draw came through. Both players showed tremendous respect for one another, and Mortensen only called down Trans’ small river bet, winning the 1.8M pot.
Steve Gee, who was attempting to become the first player to reach back-to-back Main Event final tables since Dan Harrington, was at risk all-in with A10 against Jim Collopy’s 88. An Ace on the turn would breathe new life into Gee’s tournament hopes, doubling him up to nearly 3M. The hand effectively ended Collopy’s Main Event, leaving him with only 9 big blinds.
Carlos Mortensen and his KK faced off against the Walthaus’ 77. The turn gave Walthaus a full house and the grim-faced Dutchman put the Matador to the test on the river with a bet for half his stack. After an extremely long deliberation (and a commercial break), the clock was called on Mortensen. Eventually, he would fold with 2 seconds remaining.
Jorn Walthaus wouldn’t waste much time, picking up AA a short while later against JC Tran and his wired pair of 8s. Despite Phil Hellmuth’s TV objections, Tran would call the 4-bet preflop. The case 8 on the flop would spell disaster for Walthaus, who would call Tran all-in after a series of raises. The double bracelet winner would double up to over 8M. Walthaus, despite losing 46% of his stack in the hand, still sat better than average with 4.5M.
Despite missing his K-high flush draw, Steve Gee would sniff out Jaime Kaplan’s river bluff and re-raise, taking down a 1.1M pot.
Mortensen and Walthaus would tangle again, but this time the Matador would have the last laugh, hitting a Broadway straight on the river to suck out on Walthaus’ pocket Kings. The monster beat cost Walthaus 39% of his stack, leaving him with only 2.365M.
Yet another pair of pocket Aces appeared, this time going to Mark Newhouse, and yet again they were upset. Jaime Kaplan’s pocket 2s flopped the case 2, and madman Chris Lindh flopped a pair and a flush draw. After a pair of raises, Lindh shoved his 5M stack all-in. Kaplan eventually went all-in as well, which was enough to make Newhouse fold. A spade on the turn gave Lindh the lead, and when the board did not pair on the river Kaplan was eliminated in 47th place. He took home $151,063 for his efforts. With the win, Chris Lindh would jump to the top of the leaderboard with nearly 12M chips.
Players Remaining: 46
Average Stack: 4,145,000
Make sure to tune in next week for Part 2 of our Day 6 coverage. Episodes will continue to air until the final table begins play in early November.