May 22 2012, Donnie Peters

The $25,000 World Poker Tour World Championship continued with play on Tuesday with Day 4 action. The clock was stopped at the end of Level 18 and play was halted for the night with just 19 players remaining. Leading the way was Hafiz Khan with 1.966 million in chips. Trailing Khan in second place was Marvin Rettenmaier with 1.87 million.

When the day began, 44 players returned to action. As things progressed, one by one, players started to hit the rail. Of those eliminated early on in the day were Joseph Elpayaa, Matt Waxman, David Chiu, David “Doc” Sands, Hoyt Corkins and JP Kelly. Falling after that were David Steicke in 27th place, Sam Trickett in 25th place and start-of-the-day chip leader Curt Kohlberg in 24th place.

Finishing in 23rd place was Nicolas Fraioli after he was sent home by Khan. According to the WPT Live Updates Team, Khan opened to 22,000 from under the gun during Level 17 with the blinds at 5,000/10,000/1,000. Play moved over to Fraioli and he shoved his last 66,000 into the middle. When action folded back to Khan, he made the call holding the . Fraioli tabled the . The flop, turn and river ran out to give Khan a winning flush and eliminate Fraioli.

The last two eliminations of the day belonged to two former WPT champions, Antonio Esfandiari (21st) and Jonathan Little (20th). Both of them were knocked out by Day 2 chip leader Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi.

It was reported by the WPT Live Updates Team that Mizrachi scored both knockouts in the last level of the day with the blinds at 6,000/12,000/2,000. Esfandiari was the shortest stack of the three and was all in with . Little had the second shortest stack and was all in with . Mizrachi held and covered both players. Although Mizrachi went into the three-way all-in battle with the worst of it, he finished with the best hand by catching a queen on the turn to win the pot. From there, Mizrachi went on to end the day with 1.168 million in chips.

Other players still remaining are Steve O’Dwyer, Barry Shulman, Tom McCormick and Farzad Bonyadi.

WPT World Championship Day 4 Top 10 Chip Counts

Although he has already been eliminated from this event, Will “The Thrill” Failla still has a sweat. As things currently stand, Failla leads the WPT Season X Player of the Year race with 2,050 points (see right). Four of the 19 remaining players still have a chance at overtaking Failla for the POY title and they are Joe Serock, Moon Kim, Matt Juttelstad and Rinat Bogdanov.

Serock has the best shot at overtaking Failla. All he needs to do is place 15th or better in this season-ending WPT Championship event to take the top spot. Currently, Serock sits in second place with 1,800 points. Kim must finish in fifth place or better to become number one while Juttelstad and Bogdanov must both win the event. This makes things a bit more interesting going into Day 5.

Speaking of Day 5, the action will kick off with the cards in the air at 1200 PDT (2000 BST) on Wednesday. The plan for the day is to once again play five 90-minute levels before calling it quits. The first bit of the day is set to be extremely tense as a cash and $40,266 in prize money lurks just one spot away. You can be sure to find the daily recap right here on PokerNews.

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*Lead photo courtesy of BJ Nemeth at WorldPokerTour.com

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May 02 2012, Chad Holloway

On Day 4 of the World Poker Tour Jacksonville BestBet Open, the final 16 players battled down to the final table. Will “The Thrill” Failla began the day as chip leader and used his big stack to coast to the final table, where he was joined by WPT personality Tony Dunst; however, both men trail the big stack of Shawn Cunix.

Action began in Level 20 with the blinds at 5,000/10,000 and a 1,000 ante, and there were two eliminations within the first 90 minutes of play. According to the WPT Live Reporting Team, the first came when Farid Jattin got his last 170,000 all in preflop holding and racing against Failla’s . The board ran out and Jattin hit the rail in 16th place for $16,263.

Not long after, Justin Conley open shoved for 137,000 holding and James Calderaro made the call from the big blind with . Conley was behind and failed to improve and was eliminated in 15th place for $20,699. From there, David Tuthill, Tony Parille and Robert LeBeau were eliminated in 14th, 13th and 12th place respectively.

In Level 23, with the blinds at 10,000/20,000 and a 3,000 ante, Calderaro opened for 45,000 under the gun only to have Peter Campo, who was next to act, move all in for 304,000. The rest of the field got out of the way and Calderaro made the call.

Showdown

The flop wasn’t very exciting, and neither was the turn. Campo needed a ten on the river to stay alive, but it was not meant to be as the appeared. Campo was eliminated in 11th place for $25,134, and the final 10 players were combined to one table.

On Hand #17 of the 10-handed final table, a short-stacked Blake Purvis moved all in from middle position for 28,000 and Darren Elias isolated. The rest of the field folded and Elias rolled over , which was way ahead of Purvis’ . The board ran out an uneventful and Purvis fell in 10th place for $25,134.

Eleven hands later, which coincided with the end of the level, Matt Marafioti opened for 70,000 from middle position and Cunix looked him up from the big blind. When the flop came down , Cunix checked and Marafioti moved all in for nearly 600,000. Cunix snap-called and rolled over , which dominated Marafioti’s . The turn gave Marafioti some hope, but the river took it away and sent him home in ninth place for $34,005.

With that elimination, Failla, who had won the WPT Legends of Poker earlier in the season, retook the lead in the WPT Player of the Year race.

On Hand #47, Amelio Amato met his demise at the hands of Cunix, ushering him out in eighth place for $39,919, bringing about the TV final table bubble. It took quite a while for the bubble to burst, 41 hands in fact, and came when Byron Kaverman moved all in under the gun for 415,000 and was called by Calderaro from middle position.

Showdown

It was a classic race at a crucial point in the tournament, but Kaverman needed to catch to stay alive. The flop meant a jack would give him Broadway, but of course Calderaro held two in his hand. The turn was a blank, as was the river. With that, Kaverman finished in seventh place for $47,312 while the final table was set.

Here is a look at the WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open Final Table:

WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open Final Table

The players will return on Wednesday at 1600 EDT (2100 BST) to play down to a winner, which will be streamed on a 30-minute delay with hole cards and commentary from Darryll Fish and James Dempsey. You can also check back right here on PokerNews.com for the final table recap.

*Hands referenced from the WPT Live Updates Team.

*Photo courtesy of BJ Nemeth at WorldPokerTour.com

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