August 29 2012, Donnie Peters

Tuesday was Day 4 of the $3,500 buy-in World Poker Tour Legends of Poker Main Event, and 18 players returned to action. When play was all said and done, six contenders remained at the official WPT televised final table. Josh Hale leads the group with with 7.325 million in chips. Joining him are notables Greg Mueller, Ali Eslami and Jeff Madsen.

WPT Legends of Poker Final Table

The action kicked off around 1300 PDT (2100 BST) and within about a half an hour, the first player was eliminated as Joseph Cheong hit the rail in 18th place. According to the WPT Live Updates team, Cheong was all in during he first level of the day with the blinds at 10,000/20,000/3,000 holding the . He was up against the of Jim Willerson. The board ran out and Willerson’s straight was the winner.

After Cheong was eliminated, Efren Abustan, Antonios Roungeris and Sam Barnhart hit the rail. The last of that group, Barnhart, fell to Hale during Level 24 with the blinds at 12,000/24,000/4,000. As reported, Barnhart got the in preflop against the for Hale. The flop, turn and river ran out and Barnhart was eliminated.

It was then time for Ramzi Srour, Alan Myerson, Cyrus Farzad and David Marshall to go. On the hand in which Marshall busted, Hale was against the one yielding the sword and gained a massive chip lead with the pot.

The blinds had increased to Level 25 at 15,000/30,000/5,000 when a flop of fell in the middle of the felt. Hale checked and Marshall bet 160,000. Hale check-raised Marshall’s bet to 450,000, but Marshall had other things in mind and moved all in for approximately two million. Hale was holding bottom set with and quickly made the call. Marshall held . Marshall didn’t find the miracle, come-from-behind victory she was looking for as the turn and river completed the board with the and .

That pot vaulted Hale to a huge chip lead with nearly five million in chips and sent the tournament to the final table of 10. To give you an idea of how big Hale’s lead was exactly, when the player redrew to one table of 10 and the stacks were counted, Hale’s closest competitors were Eslami and Madsen, both with 1.48 million. Hale had about 3.5 million more than either one.

After the redraw, it took 12 hands before Art Alaniz fell in 10th place. Jesse Martin then exited in ninth, followed by Stephen Granerp in eighth place, and with seven players left, the official WPT final table bubble had arrived.

Graner went out on the 76th hand of the final table and the bubble lasted just three hands from there. Willerson, the man who had eliminated Cheong as the first elimination of the day, fell in seventh place. With the blinds at 30,000/60,000/10,000, Max Steinberg raised from under the gun to 150,000. Willerson reraised all in for 1.025 million and then Hale reshoved for roughly six million. Everyone folded back to Steinberg, and he also gave it up.

When the hands were tabled, Willerson showed , but had unfortunately run into the of Hale. The flop came down and Willerson was still behind. He was looking for a king or running clubs to stay alive, but the on the turn meant only a king would do it on the river. The dealer burned one last time before slapping the on the river, which eliminated Willerson in seventh place. For his finish, he took home $60,400.

Hale will begin the final table with 7.325 million in chips and the button. He has over double Mueller’s second-place stack and what looks to be a stranglehold on the tournament. Surely, he’s in the best position to take the title, but each of the other five competitors want the $500,000 first-place prize just as badly. None of these players have earned a WPT title before and only Mueller and Eslami have made an official WPT final table before, placing fourth and sixth, respectively.

The final table is scheduled to have cards in the air at 1600 PDT (0000 BST) and you can be sure to find the complete recap of the action right here on PokerNews following the completion of play.

Photo and data courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com.

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September 20 2011, Donnie Peters

The Borgata in Atlantic City was alive again on Monday with Day 1b of the World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open. It was a record-setting affair with the Day 1b field attracting 853 players, bringing the total field to 1,313. This event was held with a re-entry format and 143 players took advantage of that after busting on Day 1a.

One of those players who did just that turned out to be the end-of-day chip leader. Jeff Madsen busted on Day 1a but came back with a fury on Day 1b to bag up 216,925 in chips. He’s a bit behind the Day 1a chip leader Abe Korotki with 260,100, but he too pocketed $5,000 for ending the day with the most chips.

According to the WPT Live Update Team, Madsen scooped a big pot in Level 3 with the blinds at 75/150 to send two opponents to the rail and move to over 100,000 in chips. In the hand, Madsen opened with a raise to 300, and one player called before another three-bet to 1,125. Two players behind the three-bettor called, Madsen called and the initial caller called, sending five players to the flop. After Madsen checked, the next player bet 2,100. The three-bettor raised to 6,100 and action folded back to Madsen. He reraised and made it 13,000 to go. The player after him then moved all-in for slightly over 20,000 before the third player began to tank. Eventually, that player moved all-in for 26,000 total and Madsen snap-called.

Madsen had flopped a full house with . His two opponents held and , respectively. After the turn brought the and the river the , Madsen won the pot and both players hit the rail.

Madsen wasn’t the only player taking a second chance in the event. A few other notables took advantage of the re-entry format including Allen Bari, Dan O’Brien, Chris Klodnicki and defending champion Dwyte Pilgrim. All fell short once again and will see their double buy-in have no chance of coming back to them.

Pilgrim was all-in on the flop with an open-ended straight draw against an opponent’s set of tens. The turn and river failed to give Pilgrim what he needed and he was sent to the rail, clearing his chances at a back-to-back title.

A few other notables to bust on Day 1b were Brett Richey, Scott Seiver, Ryan D’Angelo, the WPT’s own Tony Dunst, Steve Zolotow, Olivier Busquet, Josh Brikis, Nick Frangos and Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi.

While those notables busted, others had solid days on the felt and finished with sizable stacks. They included Matt Affleck, David Williams, Mark Gregorich, Maria Ho and Robert Mizrachi. Jennifer Leigh rounded out the day as a severe short stack with just 5,900 in chips.

A total of 541 players made it through Day 1b and they’ll combine with the 245 survivors from Day 1a to return to play on Tuesday. The entire remaining field of 786 players will begin Day 2 at 1100 EDT (1900 BST) and the top 100 spots will be paid, earning at least $8,386 for cashing. Top prize is $922,441 and everyone will have his or her eyes set on working down to that ultimate goal. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for the daily recap of the event.

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