The World Series of Poker Main Event returned to television this week for Part 2 of Day 7. With the final table mere episodes away, it is down to the nitty-gritty as only 21 players remain to battle it out for the $8.3M first place prize. Check out the highlights below to see who got lucky, who got scummed, and who survived until next week.
The first hand of the episode saw 26-year-old French pro Sylvain Loosli pick up pockets Aces. Chip leader Morgenstern decided to 3-bet to 850k with 87os and was immediately 4-bet to 1.8M by Loosli. Astonishly, Morgenstern didn’t take the hint and 5-bet up to 3.8M! It was Christmas Morning for Loosli, who quickly shoved all-in to the disgust of Morgenstern, who folded. Morgenstern lost nearly 4M in the hand.
Short-stack Alex Livingston bet approximately 10% of his stack preflop with pocket 5s and had the unfortunate trouble of running into big stack Chris Lindh, who reraised with 77. After a smooth call from Livinston the flop brought down a board of Js Ah Jh, and Lindh once again bet out. After assessing the situation Livingston check-raised all-in for 2.8M and took down the pot. After winning the hand Livingston sat with nearly 5M chips. Despite the loss Chris Lindh still sat with 16M chips, equal to 100 big blinds.
Morgenstern butted heads with Mark Newhouse a short time later, calling Newhouse’s all-in bet of 5.455M and putting him at risk to be the first person eliminated this episode. Morgenstern held 88 and Newhouse AQos, and so the two men were essentially flipping for 11.5M. A Queen right on the flop allowed Newhouse to double up. Two hands into the episode and Morgenstern had already lost nearly 10M.
Jason Alexander’s luck continued to propel him towards the final table as he hit a gutshot straight on the river against Maxx Coleman, although to be fair Coleman gave him the hand by checking it down until the river. The Texas bar owner picked up 880K in the hand.
Carlos “The Matador” Mortensen and Canadian Marc McLaughlin faced off next, holding KQos and QJh respectively. Carlo’s King-kicker gave him the advantage on the flop when a Queen hit the board, but an Ace on the flop kept the betting under a million. A series of checks on the turn and river gave Carlos the hand, who added 1.14M to his stack.
Online poker pro David Benefield picked up some much-needed chips against Matthew Reed, spiking two pair on the turn and bumping his stack up to 5.5M. Reed lost 23% of his stack in the hand, dropping down to 5.6M.
Newhouse and Morgenstern were at it again, this time fighting it out with pickets 2s and AJc. A gut-wrenching flop of AA2 gave Morgenstern trip Aces and Newhouse a full house. After smooth calling Morgernstern on the flop, Newhouse finally attacked on the turn, reraising 750k to 2M. Morgenstern, confident with his three of a kind, fired back with a 3.9M reraise of his own. Newhouse pushed all-in for 10M, and Morgenstern made the call – over 22M chips were in the pot! A harmless 4 on the river gave Newhouse the win and the tournament lead. After amassing an incredible 29M chips earlier in Day 7, Morgenstern now sat at only 5.3M. He lost 67% of his stack in the hand. Clearly confused by Morgenstern’s thought process, Newhouse asked the table “What is he doing?”
Marc McLaughlin picked up AA against Chris Lindh and his 98os. The flop gave Lindh a gutshot, but he wisely folded the turn after he failed to improve his hand. At least one big stack in the Main Event wasn’t losing his mind.
In the next hand, Matthew Reed and Maxx Coleman both flopped a set, spiking a 9 and a 7 respectively. The hand played out exactly as you would expect, and Coleman could only shake his head at his misfortune. A set-over-set double-up for Reed propelled him up to nearly 11M in chips. Coleman was essentially crippled, losing 77% of his stack in the hand, leaving him with only 1.6M.
23-year-old Ryan Riess picked up pocket Jacks and faced off against McLaughlin, who has previously put in a cheeky raise with 73s. Two spades on the flop made things more interesting, and an 8s on the turn proved disastrous for Riess. A 4th spade on the river gave Riess ammo to bluff, and he fired out 1.3M. After tanking for 3 minutes McLaughlin finally made the call. Riess was left with only 13 big blinds while McLaughlin sat with nearly 100 bb.
Riess picked up AQ shortly after and shoved all-in for 2.25M. Lindh, who initially raised it up A10, was getting 4 to 1 on his money and made the reluctant call. Lindh was unable to catch a 10 and Riess doubled up to 5.1M.
Not missing a beat, Lindh picked up pocket Aces soon after and ran right into McLaughlin’s A4d. A seemingly harmless flop of 544 was anything but, and McLaughlin took down a pot worth over 14M. With the win McLaughlin sat at over 21M, good enough for 2nd place. On the other side, Lindh lost 59% of his stack, dropping down to 4.77M.
Amir Lehavot shoved all-in preflop with AJos and was lucky to suck out on Matthew Reed’s pocket Kings, spiking an Ace on the flop to take down a pot worth 5.2M.
After flopping overcards and an ace-high flush/straight flush draw, Jay Farber shoved all-in and was called by the pocket 9s of Fabian Ortiz. Needed an Ace, 10, or any club to stay alive, Farber called out to the poker gods and used his “one time” to stay alive, hitting a 10c on the river to scoop up the 9M pot. Ortiz lost 33% of his stack, leaving him with 8.3M.
Two Texans locked horns on the outer table as David Benefield and James Alexander faced off with AA and A2d. After Benefield shoved all-in Alexander decided he wanted to gamble, and he made the call for 2.5M. Two diamonds on the flop had Benefield shaking his head – he knew what was coming. Surprisingly, Benefield avoided the knockout and doubled up to 6.2M.
JC Tran raised it up with A3s, Ortiz called with JJ, and Loosli also called with QJos. A flop of 5 10 Q effectively killed Ortiz’s hand and gave Loosli the lead, and yet it was Tran who was the aggressor, betting out his Ace-high. Ortiz made the (surprising) call, and Loosli followed suit. The turn smiled upon JC Tran, giving him an Ace of Hearts to take the lead. JC took down the hand with a bet on the turn and brought his stack up to 14M.
A2 seemed to be James Alexander’s favourite hand of the day as he once again called an all-in raise, this time for 4M preflop against Rep Porter’s pocket 9s. It was a stunning display of power poker, if ever there was one. After hitting an Ace on the flop Alexander remarked, “It’s about time I won a race.” I’m not sure about you, but the last time I checked being a 29% dog doesn’t constitute being in a race. Thankfully, the Poker Gods saved Porter’s Main Event life, giving him a 9 on the river. Alexander lost 41% of his stack in the hand, dropping down to 6.5M. Porter doubled up to 9.4M.
Back on the featured table a 4-way hand erupted between Newhouse (J8c), Tran (QJd), Loosli (77), and former chip leader Morgenstern (KQos). A flop of 9 9 2 and two diamonds gave the advantage to JC, but he checked it down. The turn put a 7 on the board, giving Loosli a full house, but again there were no bets. The river brought a 10, which gave Newhouse the highest possible straight. Loosli bet out 750K and Newhouse reraised to 2M. Loosli announced another raise and made a 4.8M bet. Newhouse made a great fold, tossing his cards into the muck and saving himself at least a few million. Loosli won 3.38M in the hand.
Maxx Coleman made a bizarre all-in call against David Benefield preflop with QJh. Although David only held A3os, Coleman could not have thought he was ahead when all the chips were pushed into the middle. The board failed to improve Coleman’s hand and he exited the Main Event in 21st place for $285,408. After starting Day 7 in last place (27/27) Benefiled now sat in 7th with 10.6M.
Anton Morgenstern picked up AK against Fabian Ortiz’s KQ, but his bad luck continued when the glop gave Ortiz a second Queen. Morgenstern did hit a King on the turn, but it was little consolation as he doubled yet another player up. Sitting at 2.5M chips, Morgenstern was left with only 12 big blinds. In only half a day of action, we have witnessed quite possibly the greatest collapse in Main Event history. Ortiz doubled up to nearly 5M.
Morgenstern would complete his epic collapse soon after, running AJ into (who else?) Fabian Ortiz, who held pocket Aces. At one point he held a 15M lead on second place, but now he exited the tournament in 20th place for only $285,408. It was an incredible turn of events, to say the least. He went from final table lock to Main Event footnote.
Another former big stack, Jason Alexander ,had his own epic collapse to complete, putting all his chips on the line with A9os against Benefield’s KQos. He managed to survive, however, and doubled up to 3.3M.
A big hand arose between Mark Newhouse and JC Tran after Newhouse flopped top two and Tran flopped bottom set. Newhouse played it tight and only lost the minimum, and he folded his hand face up on the river after Tran bet out 2M.
James Alexander’s luck finally ran out against Amir Lehavot, who sent the outspoken Texan home in 19th place. With his exit the Main Event was down to two tables.
Leaderboard
1. Sylvain Loosli – 20,970,000
2. Jay Farber – 18,715,000
3. Marc Etienne McLaughlin – 18,380,000
4. Amir Lehavot – 17,460,000
5. JC Tran – 17,430,000
6. Sergio Castellucio – 12,880,000
7. Michiel Brummelhuis – 10,325,000
8. Matthew Reed – 10,085,000
9. Carlos Mortensen – 9,760,000
Players Remaining: 18
Average Stack: 10,585,000
Make sure to tune in next week for our continuing coverage of Day 7. Episodes will continue to air until the final table begins play in early November.