July 14 2012, Samuel Cosby

Day 4 of the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event began with 720 hopefuls sitting just a few dozen spots away from the money bubble. Many saw their series come to an end throughout the day, but several big names were among the 282 that advanced to Day 5.

Daniel Negreanu, Joseph Cheong, Vanessa Selbst, Gaelle Baumann, Eric Buchman, Marcel Luske, JP Kelly, Matt Marafioti, Andrew Lichtenberger all survived Friday’s play in the Amazon Room. Leading the way after Day 4 was Paul Volpe, who bagged up an astounding 2,750,000 chips, and at one point was just one card away from 4 million chips.

In one of the final hands of the day, Volpe and Eric Pratt got involved in a preflop raising war which saw Volpe five-bet shove and Pratt call off his entire 631,000-chip stack. Volpe was holding the while Pratt held the . The flop fell keeping Volpe in the lead. The on the turn changed nothing, but the on the river Pratt a pair of aces and the double up. Volpe took it in stride and still finished the day as the leader.

While Volpe and several others thrived on Day 4, there many who hit the rail after the money bubble burst at 666 players. Among them were Big One for One Drop champion Antonio Esfandiari, Chris Moorman, Roberto Luongo, Liv Boeree, Jason Mercier, Maria Ho, JC Tran, Huck Seed, and Johnny Chan.

There were also some delays in play, including an incident involving pepper spray, as well as a payout issue. Players were only able to get four levels in, there was still lots of action.

The day got off to a quick start with the money bubble quickly approaching, and before you could think twice, hand-for-hand play was already in effect. During the first hand of hand-for-hand play, five players found themselves all-in, and four were eliminated. On one of the bubble hands, Roberto Riva made it 11,000 from under the gun, only to have Desmond Portano three-bet to 32,000 from middle position. Riva moved all-in with a covering stack, and the pressure was on Portano, who went into the tank. Finally, after Riva called the clock, Portano put his chips in with . Riva was holding and was behind, but not for long. The flop fell to give Riva the commanding lead. The turn was the to give Portano a flush draw, but the on the river was a brick and Portano became one of the four bubble boys.

The other three bubble players were Steve Rosen, who ran into ; Dane Lomas, whose couldn’t hold up against ; and David Kelly, who shoved into . The four bubble boys split 666th-place money ($19,227) and each took home $4,806.75. In addition, there were all invited to take part in a four handed sit-and-go for a $10,000 seat in the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Eliminated not long after the money bubble was burst was Antonio Esfandiari, who was short stacked after he ran his into Brian Meinders’ . On Esfandiari’s final hand, he found himself all in holding against Michael Shelton‘s . The board ran out and Esfandiari could not catch up to stay alive. He was sent home in 501st place collecting $24,808, just a small payday compared to his recent $18 million score.

Also hitting the rail Friday was NHL goalie Roberto Luongo, who got his chips in with against Bryan Vanrijsbergen‘s . He was unable to catch up and was eliminated, collecting a small payday. Another player to hit the rail Friday was Johnny Chan, who also shoved a small pair into his opponent’s bigger pair. Chan got all his money in with but found himself up against Isaac Baron‘s . Baron flopped quads on the board, and that was it for Chan. Huck Seed was also eliminated earlier in the day, so Chan’s bustout marked the elimination of the last Main Event Champion still in the field.

Matt Marafioti was at the feature table for most of the day and had a memorable roller coaster ride. At one point, Marafioti was down under 75,000 chips, but he was able to finish the day with 673,000 after cracking aces to double up on one of the last hands of the night. In the hand, Marafioti found himself all in with against Nghi Van Tran‘s . He was in huge trouble, but the flop fell giving him a shot at survival. The turn gave him the flush he needed and secured his double up. He shot out of his chair and jumped around the main stage in celebration as the dealer put out the to complete the board.

Another player who surged after the money bubble was Andrew Lichtenberger, who was on the winning end of a massive three way pot late in the day. In the hand, Jeremy Ausmus opened to 17,000 from middle position. Action folded to Filip Verboven who moved all in for 120,000. Lichtenberger cold-called on the button, and Ausmus moved all-in. Lichtenberger quickly called with the , but found himself crushed against Ausmus’ . Verboven was in the worst shape though holding the . The board was kind to Lichtenberger though when it ran out giving him a set of kings and the pot which moved him up to 930,000 chips. Lichtenberger was able to finish the day with 1,150,000 and a chance to surpass his best finish of 18th in the 2009 Main Event.

Here’s a look at the top chip stacks moving into Day 5:

On Tap

On Day 5 of the 2012 Main Event, the remaining 282 will continue playing their way down to the final nine. Action will resume at 12:00 PST (20:00 BST) in the Amazon Room and will end after five levels.

Make sure you don’t miss any of Saturday’s action by following PokerNews’ live reporting blog where we will bring you all the updates you need throughout the day.

Video of the Day

In the Video of the Day, Kristy Arnett caught up with Grant “Mister Fish” Hinkle. Hinkle offered some poker tips to players including how to play on the bubble, being patient, and playing with gloves on. To see the whole interview, make sure you check out the video below.

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July 13 2012, Shari Geller

On Day 47 of the 2012 World Series of Poker, the entire surviving field of Main Event entrants was under the same roof for the first time. The remaining 1,765 players sat down together to play five two-hour levels on Day 3 in the Brasilia Room and the Amazon Room at the Rio. By the time the final level of the night was completed, just 720 players remained, with Dave “doubledave22″ D’Alesandro and his 1.1 million chip stack leading the way.

2012 World Series of Poker Main Event: Day 3

Gaelle Baumann was the leader with 505,800 in chips when the day began. She remained at the top of the leaderboard through the first level of play, but was passed as her chip stack stayed about the same throughout the day. She finished with 599,000, more than double the average chip stack.

Two-time bracelet winner and Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst will be back for Day 4, thanks to a very lucky double up late in the day. In the pivotal hand, she check-raised all in for over 200,000 with a board reading . Her opponent snap-called, turning over for a flopped set. Selbt tabled for a gutshot and flush draw semi-bluff. Selbst stood up from her seat, ready to say her goodbyes, and congratulated her opponent on his good call, before the dealer turned over the on the river. That winning flush brought her up to 540,000 chips and she finished the day in 12th place with 814,000.

Several well-known players will be returning on Day 4 with varying chip stacks. Joining chip D’Alesandro in the million chip club are Sean Rice (1,076,000), Jacob Balsiger (1,065,000), and Leo Wolpert (1,003,500). There are still many notables remaining in the field include 2011 WSOP Circuit Regional Champion A.J. Jejelowo (928,500), Sorel Mizzi (738,000), Jason Somerville (637,000), Shaun Deeb (598,000), Lee Childs (570,000), Antonio Esfandiari (485,000), Mike “Timex” McDonald (396,000), Maria Ho (382,000), John Juanda {357,500}, David “ODB” Baker (291,500), Jackie Glazer (187,000), Daniel Negreanu (109,000), and former November Niners Eric Buchman (478,000), Sam Holden (424,500), Phil Collins (252,500) and Joseph Cheong (237000).

Before the dinner break, we lost four former Main Event champs-Pius Heinz, Peter Eastgate, Jerry Yang and Robert Varkonyi-as well as many notables including Abe Mosseri, Sam Farha, Kurt Jewell, John Racener, Chris Tryba, Adam Levy, Jeff Shulman, Dean Hamrick, Marco Traniello, James Dempsey, Taylor von Kriegenbergh, Nenad Medic, Nam Le, Gabe Kaplan, Bryn Kenney, Aaron Steury, Michael Benvenuti, Farzad Bonyadi, Karina Jett, Soi Nguyen, Nick Schulman, Tristan Wade, Brian Hastings, Ryan Eriquezzo and PokerStars Team Pros Barry Greenstein, Vicky Coren, Christophe De Meulder, and Eugene Katchalov.

Dan Harrington was in position to join Johnny Chan and Huck Seed as the only previous winners of this event to move on to Day 4, but he lost most of his chips to Evan Jarvis with against after the board ran out . In his last hand, Harrington three-bet all in from the button with and the original raiser called with . Harrington failed to improve and he was sent to the rail.

In just two hands, Ben Lamb saw his run for another Main Event final table come to an end. In the first, Lamb had four-bet all in and his shorter-stacked opponent called for 94,600 total. Lamb was in trouble with pocket jacks versus pocket queens, and found no help on the board. Lamb was down to about a dozen big blinds and, a few hands later, he put them at risk with pocket fives. Chris Moorman called him from the small blind with . Moorman went ahead on the flop and stayed there as the board ran out . Lamb was on his way out of the tournament short of the money.

Among the many eliminated during the last two levels of the night were Faraz Jaka, Jason Lester, Leif Force, Shannon Shorr, Phil Galfond, Michael Binger, Will “The Thrill” Failla, Brett Richey, David Pham, PokerStars Team Pros Toni Judet and Alex Kravchenko, Todd Witteles, Jake Cody, Athanasios Polychronopoulos, Eoghan O’Dea, Kelly Kim, and 2006 runner-up Paul Wasicka.

On Tap

On Friday, the remaining 720 players from Day 3 of the Main Event will return at 1200 PDT (2000 BST) to the Amazon Room to play five more levels. The first order of business is breaking the money bubble at 666 players. After that, expect the action to really heat up as the remaining players try to build up their chip stacks as we cross the halfway point of the Main Event.

PokerNews will be there to cover all of the exciting action as we approach the magic number 666 and then as we move from making it to the money to building a big stack for a deep run. We will have all the updates, hands, chip counts, bust-outs and more from the Rio in our live reporting blog, so make to follow our coverage throughout the day.

Video of the Day

In the Video of the Day, Lynn Gilmartin talks during the dinner break with Shaun Deeb about his good run so far, his “volatile” table, and the pluses and minuses of sitting at a televised table. Deeb also talked about what he did after winning the $1 million at the One Drop satellite.

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