Monday, June 14, 2010 10:05 PM Local Time
Michael Chow and James Dempsey raised a few times back and forth to get the last of Chow's chips into the middle. Demspey held the and Chow the .
The flop came down and Dempsey stayed in front. The turn brought the and Dempsey was still ahead. The river completed the board with the and didn't help Chow. He was eliminated in sixth place for just under $100,000, but fell short of back-to-back Omaha-8 bracelets.
Monday, June 14, 2010 9:47 PM Local Time
"Practice saying it," James Dempsey asked TD Robbie Thompson. "'James will win this pot.'"
Thompson just smiled as the cards came out. Action folded to Sam Farha, who limped in. Dempsey raised the button, clearing the blinds and getting him heads up with Farha. Farha checked a flop of , then called a bet from Dempsey. Both players checked the turn. At the river, Farha check-folded to a bet.
"James will win this pot," said Thompson.
"There you go. You said it!" Dempsey told him.
Monday, June 14, 2010 9:34 PM Local Time
Nobody can stop Sam Farha right now. He just shipped two massive pots back-to-back. First, a three-way pot contested among Farha, Chow and Merksick saw four bets go in on a flop of . Farha checked, Chow bet, Merksick raised and Farha re-raised. Chow called the re-raise before Merksick put in the fourth bet. Everyone called to the turn. Farha bet and both players called. On the river , Farha bet again. Only Chow called, giving Farha the perfect opportunity to show quads -- . He dragged a pot of 850,000.
The very next hand, Farha tagged James Dempsey for two bets on the turn and one on the river of a board. "Quads again?" Dempsey asked. Not this time. Farha showed for trip fives. They were good enough.
Farha has his chips stacked in several massive towers, with dirty stacks mixed in, making it difficult to get an accurate count. He could have anywhere between 2.3 and 2.7 million.
Monday, June 14, 2010 9:23 PM Local Time
Eugene Katchalov was all in preflop with Sammy Farha and Sergey Altbregin still left to act. The flop came down and Farha bet out. Altbregin made the call as Katchalov walked over to Nick Schulman on the rail and talked with him for a moment.
The turn brought the and Farha checked. Altbregin checked behind.
The river brought the and Farha, check-called a bet from Altbregin.
Altbregin tabled the and won the side pot first. He also eliminated Katchalov who held the .
Katch finished in seventh place and took home just shy of $75,000 for his efforts.
Monday, June 14, 2010 9:21 PM Local Time
It seemed only fitting that, at the end, Abe Mosseri should be out-drawn. He was out-drawn repeatedly in the hour that came after the dinner break, decimating his stack pot by pot. On his final hand, he was all in on a flop of against Richard Zhu. Zhu was behind with against Mosseri's . The that came on the turn gave Zhu some spade out to go with his low draw, but killed some of his two pair outs. One two pair out it didn't kill was the that hit the river. Zhu improved to aces and queens against Mosseri's aces and nines to mercifully end Mosseri's run.
Mosseri pounded the table rail when he saw the river. Then he stood up, looked back at the board, shook his head and smiled a rueful smile.
"Wow. I tell ya," he said. "Wow. 1.1 [million chips] after dinner."
Mosseri leaves with $57,552 in prize money.
Monday, June 14, 2010 9:12 PM Local Time
Four players saw the flop of . Abe Mosseri was first and bet, Sammy Farha called, Michael Chow raised, Tony Merksick called and then Mosseri and Farha called.
The turn brought the and Mosseri checked. Farha bet out, Chow folded after tanking, Merksick called and Mosseri called.
The river completed the board with the and Mosseri checked. Farha bet, Merksick folded and then Mosseri folded. Farha flashed just the .
Mosseri dropped even further to 205,000 in chips while Farha took over the chip lead with the pot and has 1.6 million chips now.
Monday, June 14, 2010 9:04 PM Local Time
As we mentioned earlier, Tony Merksick seems to be picking his spots very, very well. He's up to 1.2 million after winning a small three-way pot. He, Eugene Katchalov and James Dempsey checked all the way to the river, . On the river Merksick led out with a bet that only Dempsey called. Merksick turned up , two pair eights and fives with a live ace for low. That hand got him the whole pot.
Monday, June 14, 2010 8:57 PM Local Time
Eugene katchalov was all in for 120,000 preflop and Abe Mosseri was there to call him.
Showdown:
Katchalov:
Mosseri:
The board ran out and Katchalov dodged elimination to double up to 285,000 in chips. Mosseri dropped further to about 420,000 and his woes continue.
Monday, June 14, 2010 8:56 PM Local Time
Sergey Altbregin led out a three-handed flop of . He was raised by James Dempsey and called by Rich Zhu. Altbregin, fairly short-stacked, had little choice but to call. He bet all in for 55,000 on the turn and was called by both Dempsey and Zhu. They both checked down the action in the side pot on the river.
At showdown, ALtbregin opened for two pair, kings and tens. He looked at his opponents hopefully.
"Beats me," said Dempsey.
"Beats me too," said Zhu. Zhu flashed and mucked his hand. Altbregin popped out of his chair and raised both arms in the air, clearly stoked to triple up to 665,000.
Monday, June 14, 2010 8:52 PM Local Time
Abe Mosseri just lost some more chips and is down to about 560,000 now. When we went on dinner break, he had 1.15 million.
On the flop of , Mosseri bet and Sammy Farha called. Tony Merksick raised with both Mosseri and Farha calling. The turn added the and action checked to Merksick. He fired and only Mosseri called this time. The river completed the board with the and Mosseri check-called a bet from Merksick.
Merksick tabled the for a set of threes. Mosseri stated that he had , but never showed his hand. Merksick improved to just under a million in chips.
Monday, June 14, 2010 8:49 PM Local Time
Sergey Altbregin is the short stack with eight to go. He re-raised pre-flop from early position after under-the-gun player Sam Farha opened with a raise. Abe Mosseri, in the big blind, called both raises cold and Farha called as well for a three-handed flop of . Action checked to Altbregin, who bet. Mosseri check-raised but couldn't drive out Farha. He called, with Altbregin calling all in behind him.
Betting was on the side between Mosseri and Farha on the turn. Mosseri bet and Farha raised, with Mosseri calling that raise and then check-calling one last bet on the river. They chopped the side, with Farha tabling for the nut low and aces and sixes for high, and Mosseri showing down for trip aces.
As for the main, Altbregin opened . He had been behind to Mosseri's trip aces, better kicker, but spiked a kicker on the river to improve to the nut high hand.
Mosseri seems to be playing every hand right now, but he keeps getting outdrawn.
Monday, June 14, 2010 8:45 PM Local Time
Eugene Katchalov began the action with a raise. Abe Mosseri was seated to his direct left and made the call. Michael Chow called on the button and then Tony Merksick stuck in the extra bet from the big blind and it was four ways to the flop.
The flop came down and Merksick checked. Katchalov bet and then Mosseri raised it up. Chow made the call before Merksick ducked out of the way. Katchalov then called the raise.
The turn brought the and Katchalov checked. Mosseri fired a bet and then Chow made the call. Katchalov mucked his hand.
The river completed the board with the and Mosseri cut out a bet in front of his stack. Chow thought for a moment and then made the call.
"Straight," announced Mosseri, but it was no good.
Chow tabled the for a spade flush and won the pot. He moved up to one million in chips while Mosseri dropped back to 900,000.
Monday, June 14, 2010 8:40 PM Local Time
Abe Mosseri has been using his stack to be active. He opened another pot, this time from middle position. Sam Farha, sitting in position, and big blind Rich Zhu both called.
Abe continued on a flop of and was called only by Zhu. Both players checked the turn. When the river paired treys, , Zhu checked again. He faced a tough decision when Mosseri bet. Zhu thought it over for about thirty seconds before calling.
Mosseri tabled , trip treys with no low. Zhu mucked, allowing Mosseri to scoop the pot without a low.
Only one spectator in the gallery started clapping when TD Robbie Thompson announced, "Abe will win this pot."
"I got a big audience here," said Mosseri.
Monday, June 14, 2010 8:32 PM Local Time
Sergey Altbregin was all in on the flop of with Yueqi Zhu and Tony Merksick still to act. The turn card was the and Zhu check-called a bet from Merksick. The river completed the board with the and Zhu check-called again.
Merksick turned over the for the nut low and Zhu held the for two pair, sevens and threes. They chopped up the side pot first and then Altbregin tabled the for a diamond flush and was able to scoop half of the main pot to stay alive.
Monday, June 14, 2010 8:31 PM Local Time
Many of the final eight players in this tournament have been here before. Eugene Katchalov won the 2007 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio for almost $2.5 million. Abe Mosseri won a WSOP bracelet last year in 2-7 triple draw.
But the accolades of Katchalov and Mosseri aren't quite as fresh or interesting as those of Sammy Farha, Michael Chow and James Dempsey. Farha is a multiple WSOP bracelet winner, with both braclets coming in omaha -- a fixed-limit hi/lo split win in 2006 and a pot-limit high win in 1996. Dempsey won a bracelet this month with a win in Event 9, $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em. And Chow, of course, was the winner of Event 4, $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo.
Are we going to have our first multiple-bracelet winner of 2010 tonight?
Monday, June 14, 2010 8:24 PM Local Time
The first hand back from dinner, Michael Chow took on Abe Mosseri and Sergey Altbregin and came away with the entire pot. Altbregin opened pre-flop with a raise that Chow, in position, re-raised. Mosseri called out of the blinds and Altbregin also called to a flop of . Altbregin led into Chow after a Mosseri check. Chow and Mosseri called.
The turn was the , a card that slowed Altbregin down. After Mosseri passed Altbregin also passed. Chow fired a bet that only Mosseri called.
The river fell , no low on board. Mosseri check-folded to Chow's last bet.
Monday, June 14, 2010 8:19 PM Local Time
The players are back from their dinner break and the cards are in the air.
Monday, June 14, 2010 7:19 PM Local Time
The players are now on a one-hour dinner break. We'll see you back here at 9:20 local time.
Monday, June 14, 2010 7:11 PM Local Time
Tony Merksick hasn't shown much initiative yet at the final table. He's picking his spots carefully and found a great one against Abe Mosseri. Merksick raised pre-flop, then was the only player to call Mosseri's three-bet. He led into Mosseri on a flop of and was again raised. Merksick called.
Merksick check-called a bet on the turn and got a free showdown after the checked through. He tabled for trip treys with an ace kicker. Mosseri nodded and mucked.
Monday, June 14, 2010 7:04 PM Local Time
Michael Chow has been one of the more active players at this final table. He was part of a three-way lop of with Abe Mosseri and James Dempsey. Dempsey bet and received a call only from Chow. The action was the same on the turn and river. At showdown, Dempsey showed 4d] for trip deuces and the nut low. Chow showed only the nut low, and was quartered down to about 360,000.