Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:12:44
Congratulations to Steve Sung, Event #4 Champion! ($771,106)
Steve Sung managed to navigate his way through one of the biggest fields in history, ducking and diving all the way to his first bracelet.
He started second in chips at the final table but a bad early couple of hours saw him drop down to one of the short stacks. However, he managed to recover and in the space of an hour become the chip leader, taking a couple of big pots from Dan Heimiller before squeezing everyone else out of contention.
It's Sung's first bracelet, but after watching this final table, you're left with a feeling that it might not be his last.
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:43:22
Back From Break.
And we're back.
Steve Sung spent a couple of minutes just concentrating sitting in a seat quietly next to the press area like a boxer waiting to fight.
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:32:34
Short Commercial Break
We're on a five minute break.
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:24:56
The Balance Of Play
At the moment, it's Sung doing all the betting and providing the aggression attempting to chip away at his older opponent. Vilandos is much more happy to play defensive and check-call, occasionally making big shoves, perhaps thinking he can make Sung fold many hands unless he has a monster.
The question is will Sung find a hand one of the times that Vilandos makes a big push, or will Sung bluff into the Greek player's hands?
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:15:32
Longball...
Vilandos limps for 160,000. Sung raises an additional 550,000 and Vilandos moves all in for about 7.5 million more. Sung folds.
Vilandos has gained some ground.
Steve Sung -- 10,000,0000
Pete Vilandos -- 8,100,000
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:11:58
Sparring
Sung min-raises to 320,000, Vilandos quickly calls. The flop is

and both players check.
The

comes on the turn and Vilandos checks again, Sung responds with a bet of 550,000 and Vilandos calls.
The river is the

and Pete checks as Steve checks behind. Pete shows

, it's good.
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:06:41
Heads Up
The players are now heads up after 6,010 players have been knocked out.
Steve Sung -- 12,400,000
Pete Vilandos -- 5,600,000
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:01:43
Matz-Boxed: James Matz III Out In 3rd ($313,826)
James Matz limps in the small blind, Steve Sung raises an additional 400,000 more. Matz makes the call.

Matz bets 475,000 and Sung raises to 1,100,000. Matz quickly moves all in. Sung calls.
Matz shows

against Sung's

.
The turn is the

and Matz is still ahead but the river is the

and James Matz III is out in third.
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:50:50
Sung A Different Tune
Steve Sung raises to 420,000 and Pete Vilandos makes the call in the small blind. Matz folds.
The flop is

and both players check. The turn is the

and Pete checks again, this time Sung bets 500,000 and Pete moves all in. Sung folds and Pete shouts to his fans, "7-high, 7-high..." Sung keeps saying, "You don't have it..."
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:37:48
Off We Go
Early hand for James Matz III as he button raises to 475,000 to take down the pot.
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:31:06
Pete, Get Over Here!
James Matz III is sitting here but the other two aren't. We're ready to kick off.
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:30:11
Chip Counts:
James Matz III -- 3,650,000
Steve Sung -- 8,745,000
Pete Vilandos -- 5,930,000
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:11:42
Last Hand For Matz
Steve Sung raises to 300,000 from the button. James Matz III calls in big blind. The flop is

, Matz leads for 450,000 and Sung tanks for about a minute before he decides to fold.
We're now on a 1 hour dinner break.
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:56:19
Push-Fold Poker
James Matz has been pushing a lot in the last few hands to get himself over the 3 million mark. The last hand saw him push against Steve Sung's button raise only for Pete Vilandos to call for the clock after a very short amount of time. The clock call was refused and after a couple more minutes, Sung folded anyway.
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:43:17
Larry Sided: Larry Sidebotham Eliminated In 4th ($227,254)
Larry Sidebotham moves all in from the button for 925,000, James Matz III calls in the small blind and Steve Sung folds.
Sidebotham:

Matz:

The flop is

and Sidebotham's outs are already reduced. The turn is the

and the river is the

and we're down to just three players.
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:36:08
The Honeymoon is Over...
Steve Sung raises once again only to find Pete Vilandos reraising all in for about 2.4 million. Sung quickly calls.
Sung:

Vilandos:

The flop comes

and immediately the Larry Sidebotham fanclub call for a jack, wanting their man to ladder again. The turn is the

and the Vilandos fans call for deuces while most of the others call for an ace, king, jack or ten.
The river is the

and Vilandos doubles to 4.8 million. Sung loses his first big pot in a while.
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:25:56
Still...
After that last hand, Steve Sung moved his stacks over and is still stacking the chips...
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:20:54
Mullen Mullered! Nathan Mullen Out In 5th Place ($175,851)
Nathan Mullen moves all-in for 1,580,000. Steve Sung makes the call from the button. Larry Sidebotham asks if he calls and is eliminated, who would go out first. When told he's the shorter stack, he folds.
Mullen:

Sung:

The flop is

and Nathan's fans erupt while the vocal friends of Sidebotham call for a ten. The turn

changes nothing but the

appears on the river to knock out Mullen.
Sung has about 60% of the chips in play, can he be stopped?
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:14:04
We Continue...
Steve Sung has huge chips now and everyone else is short at this point...
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:11:55
Chip Counts:
Nathan Mullen - 1,370,000
James Matz III - 2,095,000
Steve Sung - 10,400,0000
Panayote 'Pete' Vilandos - 2,885,000
Larry Sidebotham - 1,240,000