Tuesday, June 17, 2008 5:43 PM Local Time
Following the previous big pot it appears that the button wasn't moved. The cards were dealt out and action was imminent before Johnny Neckar realized the situation and called the floor. The TD confirmed it was a mistake and the hand was declared a misdeal.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 5:41 PM Local Time
John Phan raised to 89,000 from the button and Johnny Neckar re-popped it an additional 190,000. Phan deliberated, as he always does, and eventually made the call.
The flop arrived
and Neckar led out for 275,000. Phan goes into the tank for a good five minutes before folding his hand.
Neckar regains some chips but still trails Phan.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 5:35 PM Local Time
We never saw the cocktail waitress arrive, but it does appear that Phan and Neckar have both received a bottled water. It is not the typical all in water that has been served here, so we can only assume someone brought it to them.
Wait....just as I am typing this I see the cocktail lady over at a table next to the final table. Oops, I spoke too soon. In the time it took to type the last sentence she has left the area.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 5:32 PM Local Time
John Phan raised preflop to 85,000 and Johnny Neckar reraised 180,000 more. Phan then proceeds to tank for several minutes.
Phan looks over at Neckar and asks, "How much you got?" Neckar does a visible blink and looks at his chips like, "are you serious?" The floor staff comes over and counts down Neckars chips. He had about 1.7 million in chips left.
Phan says, "This could be it huh?" He then proceeds to count his chips. Afterwards, he cuts his chips for a couple of minutes, shifts his seat, looks at his cards, and then just smiles.
Finally, Phan proceeded to fold his cards. While the dealer was shuffling for the next hand, Phan says, "I was almost ready to ship it to you I think. Almost."
This final table is drawing a good crowd. I would estimate that there are 50 people hovering around the final table area, which is a good number considering that it is not a televised table.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 5:21 PM Local Time
John Phan has taken down the last few pots to build a handy chip lead over Johnny Neckar.
The first pot saw Phan take it down after the flop was checked and he fired out 120,000 on the turn on a board of
. Neckar quickly folded.
The next pot required two barrels, after betting 80,000 on the flop, Phan fired another 185,000 on the turn on a board of
. Neckar folded and Phan took it down.
The third hand actually got to a showdown. Neckar raised preflop to 90,000 on the button and Phan called. They took a flop of
and Neckar fired 110,000 which Phan eventually called. The
on the turn and
on the river were checked down by both players as Phan showed
for just a pair of sixes to take down the pot.
Neckar is now down to 1,500,000 putting Phan on about 2,800,000.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 5:10 PM Local Time
John Phan has been complaining to the floor staff that the cocktail waitresses are being a little too slow. Cocktails were called about 15 minutes ago to the final table, but a waiter or waitress has not arrived as of yet.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 5:08 PM Local Time
Johnny Neckar picked up a couple of pots from John Phan and now we are nearly dead even in chips.
John Phan 2,200,000
Johnny Neckar 2,100,000
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 5:01 PM Local Time
In the first hand of heads-up play, John Phan bet the flop before the turn and river were checked down on a board of
.
Phan showed
to take down the first heads-up pot.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 4:56 PM Local Time
The players are back with most of the yellow 1,000 denomination chips colored up and raced off.
We're now playing for the bracelet!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 4:42 PM Local Time
The two players are taking a quick five-minute break before the heads-up battle commences.
As we go into heads-up John Phan holds a narrow chip lead:
John Phan: 2,345,000
Johnny Neckar: 1,950,000
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 4:41 PM Local Time
Johnny Neckar raised to 65,000 preflop and Matt Vengrin reraised to 125,000. Neckar then came over the top all in. Vengrin called.
Neckar:
Vengrin:
Board:
Matt Vengrin finishes as our third place finisher, taking home $167,973. We are now heads up.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 4:30 PM Local Time
John Phan: 2,500,000
Johnny Neckar: 900,000
Matt Vengrin: 860,000
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 4:24 PM Local Time
Alex Bolotin open shoved from under-the-gun for about 260,000 chips and John Phan quickly called.
Bolotin:
Phan:
The board ran out
and Phan eliminates Bolotin in 4th place for $137,343 in prize money.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 4:21 PM Local Time
On a flop of
John Phan fired out a bet of 70,000 and Matt Vengrin made the call.
The turn brought the
and both players checked.
The river was the
and Phan fired 125,000 which Vengrin reluctantly called.
Phan flipped over
for top pair which was good to collect another handsome pot.
Phan is in total control of this table as his opponents have no idea what cards he might be playing at any given time. Phan is relentlessly aggressive and catching cards which is a formidable combination. He is now over the 2 million chip mark.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 4:20 PM Local Time
Johnny Neckar raised to 46,000 preflop and John Phan made the call after tanking for several minutes. On a flop of
, Phan checks to Neckar who bet 85,000 chips. Phan again tanks several minutes, cuts chips, moves his stacks around, before finally making the call.
The turn was the
and Phan checked yet again to Neckar. Neckar bet out 140,000 chips. Neckar was clearly nervous at this point. He was breathing heavy and shaking as he put chips in the pot. Phan again took his time as he made his decision. He sat for around five minutes before finally making the call.
The
came on the river and Phan wasted no time in betting 100,000 chips. Neckar wasted no time in folding his hand. Phan then proceeded to turn over
for a missed straight draw. Phan picked up a 500,000 chip pot for his bluff. One of the people on the rail said, "that's sick. That's just sick."
The very next hand, Phan raised again from the button. Matt Vengrin in the big blind folded and Phan proceeded to turn over
.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 4:07 PM Local Time
John Phan opened with a raise from under-the-gun to 54,000 and the action folded to David Singer in the big blind who made the call.
The flop came
and Singer checked to Phan who said "same bet" as he put 54,000 into the middle. Singer thought briefly before declaring he was all in, but before the words had left his mouth, Phan exclaimed "I call!" and slammed
onto the table for two pair. Singer showed
and would need to hit his gutshot straight draw or runners to survive.
The turn was the
and the river the
and Singer misses out on a second bracelet to be eliminated in 5th place for $112,641 in prize money.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 4:05 PM Local Time
We caught the action on the turn with the board reading
. Johnny Neckar led out for 65,000 from the small blind and Matt Vengrin made the call on the button.
The river brought the
and Neckar bet another 125,000. Vengrin grimaced before making a crying call. Neckar showed
which was good to take down the pot.
Neckar is now up to 1.2 million while Vengrin has now lost his chip lead.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 4:01 PM Local Time
Stewart Newman was all in preflop and John Phan made the call.
Newman:
Phan:
Newman had Phan dominated going to the flop. The worst card for Newman fell when the flop came
. Phan did a fist pump and did a hushed, "Yes." The turn was the
, leaving only one of the three remaining queens as outs for Newman. A harmless
fell on the river and Newman finishes our tournament in 6th place.
Newman is still walking around the tournament room looking disgusted that he was outdrawn the way he was. While it is no consolation now, Newman can take some solace in the fact he got his money in as the favorite.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 3:52 PM Local Time
The action folded to Johnny Neckar on the button who raised it up to 65,000. Alex Bolotin folded the small blind but David Singer called from the big blind.
The flop arrived
and Singer checked to Neckar who fired a continuation bet of 75,000. Singer then slid an extra stack of orange chips into the middle to declare a raise of 100,000.
Neckar thought briefly before announcing that he was all in. Singer asked for a count and it was enough to cover Singer's stack. He thought for a few minutes before giving up his hand.
Neckar smiled, flashed his cards to his entourage on the rail before tabling
for complete air!
With this bluff Neckar is now up to over 900,000 leaving Singer on the short stack with about 270,000.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 3:38 PM Local Time
The players are back and the cards are in the air once again. The blinds are now up to 12,000/24,000 with a 3,000 chip ante.