Saturday, July 11, 2015 5:35 PM Local Time
Julian Parmann opens for 18,000 from early position and Brian Hastings calls from the cutoff. Seffi Lobel calls from the small blind and the three see a flop of . Action checks to Hastings who bets 30,000.
Only Parmann calls and the turn is the . Parmann checks again and Hastings bets 90,000. Parmann lays his hand down and Hastings takes the pot.
Brian Hastings - 1,545,000
Saturday, July 11, 2015 5:34 PM Local Time
Phil Laak shoves all in for 170,000 after a preflop raise by Christian Harder. Harder and Laak are heads up for Laak's tournament life.
Laak -
Harder -
The board comes . Harder's aces stand up and Laak is eliminated.
Christian Harder - 735,000
Phil Laak - Eliminated
Saturday, July 11, 2015 5:31 PM Local Time
On a board reading , Kelly Minkin bets 90,000 into a 280,000 pot, and Adalberto Elias calls.
Minkin turns over for a pair of kings on the river. Elias sighs and mucks his hand.
Kelly Minkin - 750,000
Adalberto Elias - 725,000
Saturday, July 11, 2015 5:30 PM Local Time
We have just been told that Matt Berkey has been eliminated from this year's main event after flopping a set of kings.
David Paredes retold the action -
Alan Wentz opened with a raise of 20,000 before Matt Berkey re-raised to 60,000 with Wentz making the call.
On a flop of , Berkey check-raised Wentz all-in who called with the nuts . Berkey showed his and still had some outs until the turn when the , to give Wentz a royal flush and a pot close to 1,000,000 in chips.
Alan Wentz - 1,090,000
Matt Berkey - Eliminated
Saturday, July 11, 2015 5:28 PM Local Time
Paul Tedeschi and Cheng Liu take a flop of in a raised pot. Tedeschi is first to act and he bets 27,000. Liu announces an all in raise from the button, sending Tedeschi into the tank.
Tedeschi thinks for about two minutes before releasing his cards. Liu offers his cards to Tedeschi, telling him to pick one. Tedeschi chooses the , causing him to roll his eyes and throw his head back. Liu tables his other card, the , before being pushed the pot.
"Ace-king or aces?" asks another player from the other end of the table.
Tedeschi confirms by saying he folded two aces. With this win, Liu is up to 360,000 while Tedeschi has dropped to 582,000.
Cheng Liu - 360,000
Paul Tedeschi - 582,000
Saturday, July 11, 2015 5:23 PM Local Time
With close to 130,000 in the pot and the board reading Shawn Moore checks from middle position, only to see George Danzer, who is on the button, move all-in for just over 160,000.
Moore, who has just over 400,000 in front of him, goes deep into the tank, taking long enough to come to a decision for the ESPN cameras to set up shop around Table 378.
While Moore grapples with his decision, Danzer calmly sits at the other end of the table, perched on his chair, blind to the cameras and boom mic that has been set up around him.
After a few minutes, Moore eventually folds, only to hear Danzer say, sarcastically, "Thank you ESPN cameras for making him fold."
Moore begins to explain how the cameras didn't play a role in his decision, which he described as "big".
"Did you have a spade?" Danzer asks while stacking his chips, with Moore shaking his head "no". Danzer quickly replies "Well then I definitely wanted a call!" as the ESPN cameras move on to their next all-in encounter.
George Danzer - 320,000
Saturday, July 11, 2015 5:23 PM Local Time
Phillip McAllister pushes out a bet of 45,000 on a board reading and is met with an all-in re-raise from Mike Vanier of approximately 250,000.
McAllister who had open folded a flopped set of nines just before the break after much contemplation was once put to another test.
However, after reaching for his iPad and punching in some numbers he folded his face up and asks Vanier to confirm whether it was a good fold.
Vanier puts his cards in the muck and collects his pot of approximately 240,000.
Mike Vanier - 490,000
Phillip McAllister - 150,000
Saturday, July 11, 2015 5:23 PM Local Time
Dax Greene is all-in for his tournament life with and has been called by Daniel Bentley holding .
The flop comes giving Greene the lead with his pair of kings and a flush draw.
The turn is the and the river is the giving Greene the nut flush and a full double up.
Dax Greene - 200,000
Daniel Bentley - 570,000
Saturday, July 11, 2015 5:19 PM Local Time
|
1989 Main Event Champion Phil Hellmuth has been eliminated
|
Phil Hellmuth raises to 20,000 from the hijack, and Lance Harris calls from the small blind. Daniel Negreanu then three-bets to 56,000 from the big blind. Hellmuth moves all in for 295,000. Harris folds, and Negreanu quickly calls.
Negreanu:
Hellmuth:
The flop comes , giving Negreanu top pair and the lead. The turn is the , and the river is the . Negreanu wins the pot, and Phil Hellmuth is eliminated.
The 14-time bracelet winner shakes hands with his opponents at the table, and makes his exit from the ESPN Main Stage. He earns $21,786 for his 417th place finish.
Daniel Negreanu - 817,000
Phil Hellmuth - Eliminated
Saturday, July 11, 2015 5:10 PM Local Time
John Cavanagh raises from the hijack before Justin Schwartz three-bets from the cutoff. John Sorgen then moves all in for 93,000 from the small blind as the decision falls back on Cavanagh. He slides out another raise which forces a fold from Schwartz.
Sorgen:
Cavanagh:
The board runs out to see Cavanagh hold with his kings resulting in Sorgen hitting the rail.
John Cavanagh - 587,000
Justin Schwartz - 820,000
John Sorgen - Eliminated
Saturday, July 11, 2015 5:06 PM Local Time
Miguel Cieri moves all in from the hijack, and action folds around to Jae Kim in the small blind. He asks for an exact count, which is 50,000. Kim calls, the big blind folds, and the players table their cards.
Cieri:
Kim:
The board runs out . Cieri improves to a full house on the river, and he doubles up.
Miguel Cieri - 117,000
Jae Kim - 461,000
Saturday, July 11, 2015 5:05 PM Local Time
Ryan Riess shoves from under the gun for around 120,000 and Jeremy Renz reshoves from middle position for over 300,000. Everyone else folds and the hands are turned up.
Ryan Riess -
Jeremy Renz -
Riess is in trouble as we go to the flop, which comes . No help for Riess, who now needs one of the two remaining sevens in the deck. The turn is the and the river is the .
The former WSOP Main Event champion exits the tournament in 426th place and earns $21,786 for his performance.
Jeremy Renz - 396,000
Ryan Riess - Eliminated
Saturday, July 11, 2015 4:56 PM Local Time
Level: 18
Blinds: 4,000/8,000
Ante: 1,000
Saturday, July 11, 2015 4:43 PM Local Time
Level 17 concludes, and the players are taking a 20-minute break. Of the 661 players who started the day, 441 survived the first two levels. Everyone left is guaranteed at least $21,786.
Michael Shanahan put his name on the map during the first level of the day, building a tower of 1.66 million chips to take the overall chip lead. Shanahan’s second level went nearly as well as the first, finishing with 1.776 million. Shanahan is the only player who's crested 2 million chips so far, though he took a big hit against Michael Butteroni right at the tail end of the level to drop into second place overall.
Shanahan and Butteroni are both inside the top five, while Joe McKeehen (pictured below), who began the day in second place, has pipped into the overall lead. According to another player, it was pocket aces against ace-four on an ace-eight-four flop that gave McKeehen the late surge.
Here are the top five stacks in the room:
Joe McKeehen - 1,908,000
Michael Shanahan - 1,776,000
Charles Chattha - 1,500,000
Federico Butteroni - 1,445,000
Brian Hastings - 1,338,000
As the field size continues to shrink, the number of players with seven-figure stacks continues to grow. There were only three of them to start the day, but that number has swollen to more than a dozen through two levels of Day 4. Hastings was one of the lucky trio to start the day with more than a million chips, and his stack has only moved up so far. Hastings ended the level with 1,338,000 chips. Matthias De Meulder also reached the million-chip milestone in the last few minutes of the last level, playing a big pot with top pair on a queen-high board.
There are four former Main Event champions still alive, too. Phil Hellmuth (pictured above) has been climbing through the pack steadily today, ending the level with 326,000. Jim Bechtel (855,000), Joe Hachem (222,000), and Ryan Riess (116,000) are also still in the hunt for a second-career Main Event title. There are a handful of November Niners still looking to do it again, too. Matt Jarvis (618,000), Marc-Etienne McLaughlin (569,000), John Racener (539,000), Anton Makiievskyi (390,000), and Scott Montgomery (573,000) all survived the level.
While the leaders continue to assert themselves, a number of familiar faces were spotted taking a walk to the payout desk, too. At age 94, William Wachter (pictured above) was the oldest player in the Main Event, and he, “didn’t come here to lose,” as he said during the shuffle up and deal ceremonies. Wachter is the oldest player ever to cash in the Main Event too, but his run ended with a 524th-place finish, good for $19,500.
Jake Schindler Mukul Pahuja, Chanracy Khun, Raul Mestre, David Sands, Randal Flowers, Andy Spears, Justin Pechie, Marco Liesy were also eliminated during the second level of the day, as were former November Niners Andoni Larrabe and JC Tran.
McKeehen leads the survivors into Level 18, and play resumes in 20 minutes.
Saturday, July 11, 2015 4:34 PM Local Time
JC Tran opens with a raise to 15,000 from middle position and Sara Hall calls from the hijack. From the cutoff, Omri Moga three-bets to 40,000 and the action folds around to Tran.
Tran takes a moment, but moves all in for 147,000. Hall folds and Moga calls, tabling . Tran is ahead with his , but Moga hits a set on the flop to take the lead. Tran is looking for a king, but the turn and river are blanks, sending the pot to Moga.
Omri Moga - 545,000
JC Tran - Eliminated ($21,786)
Saturday, July 11, 2015 4:32 PM Local Time
Th completed board reads and chips are being cut out of Michael Shanahan's stack and sent over to Federico Butteroni. Butteroni was all in and at risk on the river for his last 623,000 against Shanahan.
Shanahan held for aces up and was bested by Butteroni's for a flopped straight. With this victory, Butteroni brings his own stack up to about 1.445 million while Shanahan has dropped to 1.75 million.
Federico Butteroni - 1,445,000
Michael Shanahan - 1,750,000
Saturday, July 11, 2015 4:32 PM Local Time
Alan Wentz opens with a raise of 14,000 and Peter Raimondi calls from the big blind.
On a board of , Raimondi checks to Wentz, who continuation bets 15,000 and Raimondi calls.
Both players check the turn, before Raimondi bets 27,000 on the river.
Wentz disappointing folds showing , so Raimondi takes the opportunity to show Wentz that his ace-high was behind as he collects his pot.
Alan Wentz - 660,000
Peter Raimondi - 505,000
Saturday, July 11, 2015 4:29 PM Local Time
Shawn Van Asdale shoves all in for 122,000. Brian Mintz calls. It is heads up for Van Asdale's tournament life.
Van Asdale -
Mintz -
The board comes . Mintz takes it down with Queens and tens. Van Asdale is eliminated.
Brian Mintz - 375,000
Shawn Van Asdale - Eliminated
Saturday, July 11, 2015 4:29 PM Local Time
Benjamin Vinson goes all in from the cutoff and Michael Shanahan calls from middle position.
Vinson turns over and Shanahan tables .
The board comes .
Shanahan wins with a pair of aces and Vinson is eliminated.
Michael Shanahan - 2,305,000
Benjamin Vinson - eliminated
Saturday, July 11, 2015 4:28 PM Local Time
All the chips go in on the turn of a board reading
with Graner at risk against Yong Cho.
Fortunately for Graner he has the goods and turns over
while Cho tables
. The river is the
and Graner scoops the pot.
Stephen Graner - 480,000
Yong Cho - 380,000