April 13 2011, Donnie Peters

Tuesday was Day 4 at the World Poker Tour Hollywood Poker Open in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, and only nine players remained in the $10,000 Championship Event. Only three players needed to be eliminated before the official WPT televised final table was set. That only took 43 hands, and at the end of the day, William Reynolds was leading with 1.169 million in chips.

The first player to be eliminated on the day was Terry Jacobs. He finished in ninth place for $31,021 after losing to Mike Scarborough. On the ninth hand of play at the final table, Scarborough raised to 9,500 from middle position with the blinds at 2,000/4,000 with a 500 ante. Reynolds called and then Jacobs moved all-in for 85,000 from the button. The action folded back to Scarborough, who made the cal, and Reynolds got out of the way.

Scarborough turned over the and Jacobs the for your standard all-in coin flip. The board ran out to steer clear of anything Jacobs needed and gave Scarborough the pot.

On the 30th hand of play, Allen Kessler raised to 10,500 from middle position. Scarborough made the call on the button, and everyone else folded before the flop came down . Kessler was first to act and bet 14,500. Scarborough flatted to bring the two players to fourth street where the landed.

On the turn, Kessler checked and Scarborough checked. The river then completed the board with the . Kessler bet 18,000 and Scarborough raised all-in for an effective shove of 110,500. Kessler made the call with the for top pair. Scarborough turned over the for a king-high straight. Scarborough held the winning hand and sent Kessler out the door in eighth place for a $39,884 payday.

Seven-handed play only lasted 13 hands before the final player hit the rail to end the day. That player was start-of-the-day chip leader Steve Barshak, and he was eliminated by Reynolds.

With the blinds at 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante, Barshak raised to 12,000 from under the gun. Action folded around to Reynolds in the big blind and he three-bet to 38,000. Barshak didn’t back down and four-bet to 92,000. Reynolds had some extra firepower of his own and fired right back. He five-bet to180,000. Barshak then six-bet shoved for approximately 425,000, according to the World Poker Tour Live Update Team, and Reynolds made the call.

Reynolds tabled the and Barshak the for another classic race situation, this time worth more than just some chips. If Reynolds won this hand, it would send him and the remaining five players to the official final table. If Barshak won, he’d take the chip lead. The board ran out and Reynolds won the hand with a full house, queens over jacks, to eliminate Barshak in seventh place. He walked away with $44,315 in prize money.

Final Table Seat Draw with Chip Counts

As you can see, Erik Seidel has the golden touch once again. He’s successfully maneuvered his way to this final table and continues to do nothing but win in 2011. Another player who is having a great year is Ali Eslami, having also made the final table. Tom Marchese has a few big tournament splashes to his name and will be looking to add this trophy to his mantle while Andy Whetstone is truly making the best of his opportunity from qualifying for this event from ClubWPT.

The final table will commence at 1600 EDT (2000 GMT) on Wednesday and it’s set up to be another great one. Be sure to check back to PokerNews for the recap or follow the action at WorldPokerTour.com.

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April 11 2011, Donnie Peters

Day 3 of the PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun came to a close on Monday as the field was cut down to its final 24 players. Leading the pack into Day 4 is defending champion Vanessa Selbst with 1.406 million in chips.

When play began for the day, 74 players returned to the felt, but only 56 of them got paid. That meant a handful of players would have to hit the rail empty handed. Some of those players who were eliminated short of the money included Kevin Eyster, Ronnie Bardah, Team PokerStars Online’s Andrew Brokos, Todd Terry and Dan O’Brien. The official bubble boy title went to Nick Binger, who ended his tournament in 57th place.

Binger had a rough day filled with a lot of bad luck. First, he had Adam Junglen on the ropes holding to Junglen’s . The poker gods shined on Junglen though as the board ran out to give him a flush and send the rockets of Binger crashing to the ground.

Junglen was then the player who finished off Binger, having to come from behind again to do so. This time, Junglen cracked a pair of queens for Binger. Binger was all in preflop with and Junglen held just one overcard with the . The board ran out to give Junglen an ace on the river and the winning hand.

Binger took it extremely well and left with a smile on his face. “I just keep telling people that bubbling builds character,” he said as he made his way to the rail. In fact, Binger hopped right back on his horse and was seen playing a satellite to the $10,000 Bounty Shootout later in the evening.

Once the money bubble broke, the players started dropping fairly quickly, as expected. The first to go was last year’s runner-up Mike Beasley. He was followed by a group of players that included Jerry Wong, Team PokerStars Pro Greg DeBora, Jeff Papola and Lee Markholt.

Selbst was able to build her stack pretty steadily throughout the day, but it wasn’t until right at the end of the night that she took over the chip lead from Vincent Rubianes.

From under the gun, Olivier Busquet raised to 21,000. Rubianes reraised to 51,000 from the cutoff and then action fell on Selbst on the button. She four-bet to 109,000 and play folded back to Busquet. He folded and then Rubianes made the call. The flop came down and Rubianes checked. Selbst bet 129,000 and Rubianes made the call, making this pot awfully big between two of the largest stacks in the room.

The turn card added the to the board and completed a possible flush draw. Both players checked to see the put a fourth club on board on the river. Rubianes checked and Selbst bet 294,000. After tanking for a bit, Rubianes made the call, but only to muck his hand when Selbst tabled the for a king-high club flush.

Day 4 Table and Seat Draw

Play resumes on Tuesday at 12:00 p.m EDT (1600 GMT) where the final 24 players will return to action and play down to just one final table of eight is left standing. There’s plenty of firepower still left in the field, but it’s Selbst’s tournament now and it doesn’t look like she’s ready to give up her title anytime soon. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all of the live coverage from the event as only our world class Live Reporting Team can bring it to you!

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