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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April 26 2012, Donnie Peters

Day 1b of the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final Main Event is in the books after the second and last starting flight ran through the first eight levels of the tournament. There were 394 players in action on Thursday, bringing the total of this year’s field to 665. Nicolas Yunis ended the day with the most chips in the room – a stack of 191,700.

On Day 1a, Martin Kabrhel bagged up the most chips with 167,800. On Day 1b, Yunis along with Ivan Kudriavtcev and Andoni Larrabe Sánchez finished with more chips to put Kabrhel in fourth place overall heading into Day 2. Yunis was a steady climber throughout the day and there wasn’t a single stand-out pot that the Live Reporting Team saw from him that vaulted him into the lead. Rather, a gradual progression of hands earned him the No. 1 overall spot.

Plenty of notable players were in the mix on Day 1b including those representing Team PokerStars Pro. Ana Marquez, Fatima Moreira De Melo, Humberto Brenes, Pius Heinz, Marcel Luske and Jason Mercier all had successful days on the felt. Lex Veldhuis, Victoria Coren, Jonathan Duhamel and Eugene Katchalov however, were all eliminated on the day.

Other well-known faces were in the field and ended up bagging up decent stacks, including Tom Marchese, Stephen Chidwick, Erik Seidel, Annette Obrestad and Maria Ho.

End of Day 1b Chip Counts

Day 2 will commence at 1200 CET tomorrow and PokerNews will be back in action firing away the updates as the players fire in their chips. Be sure to join us then.

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