March 01 2011, Donnie Peters

When Day 5 began at noon out in Commerce, California at the Commerce Casino for the 2011 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic Main Event, 18 players remained. All of them were contending for the title and over $1.6 million in first-place prize money, but only one of them was still in contention for his fourth WPT title. That player was none other than 2001 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Carlos Mortensen. When the day ceased with the final television table of six set, Mortensen was on top of the pack with 5,235,000 in chips.

Mortensen isn’t the only former WPT champion to make his way to the final table. Vivek Rajkumar is second in chips going to the final table with 5,185,000. That puts the 2008 WPT Borgata Poker Open champion not too far behind Mortensen. Joining those two are Amir Lehavot, Gregory Brooks, Darryll Fish and Steve Gross.

Kathy Liebert was the first player to bust on the day, finishing in 18th place for just over $50,000 in prize money. She was all in preflop with the , but in trouble against Fish’s . The board ran out and sent Liebert to the rail.

Another notable name who made it to Day 5, but failed to get through the day was 2010 WSOP November Niner Jason Senti. He was all in holding the against Brooks. Senti’s queens were in front as Brooks tabled the , but they wouldn’t hold as the board ran out to send him to the rail in 14th place.

With 12 players left on two tables of six, Mortensen was able to bust both Shannon Shorr and James Carroll on the same hand. He did it after having the worst of it in the three-way all in though.

With the blinds 20,000-40,000 with a 5,000 ante, Mortensen had raised from under the gun to 95,000 and Shorr reraised from the small blind to 275,000. Carroll was in the big blind and moved all in. Mortensen re-shipped and then Shorr snap-called all in. What were the hands? Just the ol’ aces versus kings versus queens with 12 people left in a WPT Main Event, that’s all.

Shorr:
Carroll:
Mortensen:

With the worst of it going to the flop, Mortensen added a flush draw as the first three community cards came down . As the only player holding a spade in his hand, Mortensen had his opponents drawing dead when the rolled out on the turn. Without the board paired, the on the river was meaningless and Shorr and Carroll hit the rail while Mortensen moved to 4,500,000 in chips.

After Jesse Yaginuma hit the rail in 10th place, the final nine players reconvened at one table. WSOP gold bracelet winners Jason DeWitt, Allen Cunningham and David “Bakes” Baker all made it, but wound up finishing in ninth, eighth and seventh, respectively.

Baker was the last elimination of the night that set the official six-handed WPT final table. His final hand happened after he raised to 125,000 from the cutoff seat with the blinds still at 20,000-40,000 with a 5,000 ante. Rajkumar reraised to 305,000 from the small blind and Baker moved all in for slightly more than 1.5 million. Rajkumar made the call and held the . He was behind the for Baker, but the board ran out in his favor. Baker took over $176,000 for his finish.

Final Table Seat Draw and Chip Counts

Under normal circumstances, Rajkumar making this WPT final table and going for his second WPT title would be the top story. This isn’t a normal circumstance though as Mortensen is in line for his record fourth WPT title. This is Mortensen’s fifth WPT final table having previously won three out of the four he’s made. With his record and the chip lead, we’re taking him if we’re betting. If Mortensen can find his way to the title, he’ll move into fifth place on the all-time money list, surpassing Phil Hellmuth. Right now, he sits in 13th.

The final table will commence at 4:00 p.m. local time on the West Coast on Wednesday and the blinds will begin at 25,000/50,000 with a 5,000 ante. This is going to be an amazing final table. Be sure to check back for the final recap right here at PokerNews.

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March 07 2011, Elissa Harwood

It’s officially the year of Erik Seidel. In January and February of 2011, Seidel cashed for $3.59 million. In the first week of March, he picked up another $750,000 by winning the 2011 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Seidel finished second to Annie Duke last year and came back this year as the hottest poker player in the world to make the title his. After dispatching five other opponents, Seidel defeated one of the most recognizable names in poker, Chris Moneymaker, in two straight matches to win the best-of-three final round. Moneymaker earned $300,000 for second place.

Seidel’s Heads-Up victory moved him into the top spot on the Hendon Mob all-time money winner list. With an astonishing $14.7 million in lifetime live tournament cashes, Seidel overtook Daniel Negreanu, who has $13.95 million. Phil Ivey occupies the third spot with $13.86 million.

Eight players returned to Caesars Palace on Sunday for the four quarterfinal matches. In the first flight, Moneymaker played nosebleed cash-game regular David Oppenheim for the Clubs Bracket crown. Oppenheim moved all in on a board with for a turned two pair. Moneymaker called with and rivered the timely to send Oppenheim home with $75,000. The final Spades Bracket match pitted 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel against Olivier “LivB112″ Busquet, a high-stakes heads-up sit-’n-go specialist. The pair took their time trading small pots until Busquet shoved with . Duhamel called with and turned a jack to advance to the semifinals.

In the next pair of quarterfinals, Seidel took on force-of-nature Vanessa Selbst, and Andrew “good2cu” Robl battled another cash-game fixture, David Benyamine. Seidel took an early lead, then doubled Selbst to fall behind. Moments later he picked up aces to retake a lead he never relinquished. Selbst, who finished second in the 2008 WSOP Heads-Up Championship, earned $75,000 in her first cash in the NBC event. Just as Seidel was completing his domination of the Diamonds Bracket, Robl had Benyamine all in and at risk on the other table. Robl’s was ahead from the start against Benyamine’s and rivered the nut heart flush to win the Hearts Bracket and send Benyamine home in suitable style.

In the marquee semifinal match-up, it was World Champion against World Champion. Moneymaker’s 2003 WSOP Main Even victory was worth $2.5 million. Thanks in part to the boom he is credited with igniting, Duhamel’s was worth $8.9 million. This time, however, Moneymaker did his part to minimize Duhamel’s take. Duhamel check-called all in on a board with to discover he was out-kicked by Moneymaker’s and out of the tournament in fourth place. The 23-year old will have to settle for $125,000 on this Vegas trip.

During Duhamel’s exit interview, the other semifinalists reached the river of a board. Seidel shoved the river to put Robl to the test for all of his chips. Robl agonized for minutes before calling all in. He couldn’t beat Seidel’s treys full and said his goodbyes in third place. Robl was called in to replace David “Viffer” Peat only a few hours before the first round and parlayed his last-minute bid into $125,000.

A trophy, a ring, and a pyramid of cash appeared on stage to set the scene for the championship best-of-three battle between Seidel and Moneymaker. Seidel chipped up slowly in the first game, then doubled Moneymaker and started the process again. Seidel built back to a substantial lead by the time he flopped top pair and called Moneymaker’s shove. Moneymaker bricked his open-ended straight draw, and Seidel took a 1-0 lead.

Moneymaker held the chip lead early in the second game but lost a good chunk of his stack in an unsuccessful bluff. He tried another bluff with the rest of his stack on a flop. It might have worked better if Seidel didn’t have . Moneymaker could only turn up , meaning he needed running cards to come to his rescue. But they didn’t, and Erik Seidel won yet another high buy-in, high profile event.

For a full account of all 63 NBC Heads-Up matches, check out the Live Reporting Team’s blog. And if you’re in the mood for some full-ring action, follow the Big Event at the Bike!

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