Monday, June 14, 2010 6:59 PM Local Time
Sergey Altbregin raised from the button and Michael Chow called from the big blind. The flop came down and Chow fired out. Altbregin called.
The turn brought the and Chow fired his last 36,000 into the middle. Altbregin took some time and then mucked his hand, allowing Chow to pick up the pot and move to about 200,000.
A few moments later, Chow was able to double up thorugh Abe Mosseri on the board of . All of the money went in on the turn in the multi-way pot between Mosseri and Chow. Mosseri held the and Chow the .
Chow's flush held strong and there was no low, allowing him to double up to roughly 600,000 in chips.
Monday, June 14, 2010 6:49 PM Local Time
Event 4 champion Michael Chow is down to just 120,000 in chips after losing a recent pot to Abe Mosseri. Chow was the pre-flop aggressor, with Eugene Katchalov calling from the button and Mosseri calling from the small blind.
Mosseri led out on a highly-connected flop, . Chow raised, driving Farha out of the pot. Mosseri then put in the third bet, with Chow opting to call.
Mosseri bet the turn and the river . Chow called each time. At showdown, Mosseri produced a queen-high straight, . It was the winner.
Monday, June 14, 2010 6:44 PM Local Time
Eugene Katchalov made a raise from under the gun and then Tony Merksick called from the big blind. The flop came down and Merksick bet out. Katchalov called.
The turn brought the and both players checked. The river card was the and Merksick bet out. Katchlov took a moment and then made the call.
Merksick showed the -X-X, but lost to Katchalov's . Katchalov improved to 370,000 in chips.
Monday, June 14, 2010 6:41 PM Local Time
Sammy Farha made the comment that he's been up all night to which James Dempsey asked, "Winning?"
Farha responded, "If I win this, I'll break even from last night. Seriously."
Monday, June 14, 2010 6:32 PM Local Time
James Dempsey is the chip leader, and if he keeps winning pots with hands as weak as two pair, it's going to be very tough for his opponents to catch up. Dempsey opened pre-flop with a raise that was called by Rich Zhu, Eugene Katchalov, and Sam Farha from the big blind. Farha checked to Dempsey on a flop of . Dempsey bet and was called by Zhu and Farha.
The board paired on the turn, . Farha checked to Dempsey, who again bet. Only Zhu called. Both players checked the river. Dempsey turned over for two pair, nines and sevens. It was good to win the whole pot.
Monday, June 14, 2010 6:26 PM Local Time
Sammy Farha raised from middle position and then James Dempsey called. Action the moved to short-stacked Steve Wong in the small blind and he reraised all in for 56,000 total. Farha and Dempsey both called the extra 6,000.
The flop came down and Farha bet out. Dempsey called. The two then checked the turn ( ) and river ( ).
Dempsey mucked when Farha tabled the for a pair of tens. Wong showed the for just a pair of sixes and was eliminated from the tournament. Farha moved to roughly 800,000 in chips.
Monday, June 14, 2010 6:23 PM Local Time
Four players put in two bets each preflop and watched the first three community cards come down . Sammy Farha was first and checked, then Sergey Altbregin and Michael Chow checked, and then Abe Mosseri bet. Farha and Chow called, while Altbregin had tossed his cards in.
The turn card was the and action checked to Mosseri. He bet and both his opponents called. The river card completed the board with the and Farha fired out first. Chow folded and Mosseri called.
Farha tabled the for a nine-high straight. Mosseri held the for a live four and the two chopped the pot.
Monday, June 14, 2010 6:13 PM Local Time
Steve Wong has already been all in twice at this final table. The first time he chopped heads-up with Eugene Katchalov. The second time he was involved in a three-way pot with Rich Zhu and Sam Farha.
Zhu opened with a pre-flop raise that Wong re-raised. Farha called two cold out of the blinds and Zhu also called. Zhu led a flop of . Wong quickly called all in and Farha called as well.
Farha and Zhu checked the turn. Farha checked again on the river, then folded to a bet. For the main pot, Zhu showed , three aces and a deuce-six low. Wong showed , three aces with a better kicker. He got the high half of the pot to stay alive.
Monday, June 14, 2010 6:05 PM Local Time
Tony Merksick raised from under the gun and got three callers. Eugene Katchalov, Abe Mosseri and Sergey Altbregin all called in that order. The flop came down and action checked to Altbregin. He bet and all three players called.
The turn added the to the board and action checked to Altbregin again. He bet and everyone called, but Mosseri. The river card completed the board with the and Merksick bet out. Katchalov called and then Altbregin folded.
Both Merksick and Katchalov showed a wheel for the high and the low. They chopped it up.
Monday, June 14, 2010 6:01 PM Local Time
On the very first hand of the final table, Abe Mosseri raised and was called by small blind MichaelChow. Chow check-called one bet on a flop of . When the hit the turn, he led into Mosseri. Mosseri raised, with Chow calling to the river. He checked, then called a last bet from Mosseri.
"Wheel," said Mosseri. He threw his cards face-up on the felt, revealing . Chow flashed , a hand that had been counterfeited by the river.
Monday, June 14, 2010 5:56 PM Local Time
Cards are in the air at our 9-handed final table. 18 minutes and 28 seconds remain in Level 21.
Monday, June 14, 2010 5:50 PM Local Time
If you followed our coverage of this event last night, you'll remember when we talked about a challenge that Paralympian Marlon Shirley laid out to Jean-Robert Bellande. You can read about it [URL="http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2010-wsop/event-25/day2/post.148818.htm?page=5"]here[/URL] if you want to check it out.
Shirley stopped by while the final table players were on break and talked about how he'd love to make the bet happen, but will be leaving tomorrow. He said he'll be back in Las Vegas soon and would like to try and organize something with Bellande for the bet. Shirley was fairly confident he'd beat Bellande, but as of right now, there is no official bet. "The ideal race - the perfect race - would be if Bellande started at 100 meters and I started at 130 meters," said Shirley. We'll be sure to follow up on this if anything goes down.
Monday, June 14, 2010 5:35 PM Local Time
The flop came down and Mike Sexton checked to Sammy Farha. He bet and Sergey Altbregin folded before Sexton raised him. Farha called.
The turn card came the and Sexton bet. Farha raised to put Sexton all in and he called. Sexton held the for trip aces, but was behind the of Farha for a full house.
The river card was the and Sexton couldn't fill up in his own right and was eliminated from the tournament. The official final table is now set and we'll have the counts coming for you shortly.
Monday, June 14, 2010 5:27 PM Local Time
James Dempsey is off to a great start at this non-official final table. He just scooped a 400,000-chip pot against Abe Mosseri by making a full house, kings full of aces, against Mosseri's nut flush. Both players are at the top of the counts. Dempsey now has 1.62 million, while Mosseri is quite robust with 915,000.
Monday, June 14, 2010 5:20 PM Local Time
The tournament has relocated to the main feature table area in the Amazon Room. The final 10 are in the following seats:
Seat 1: Michael Chow
Seat 2: Yueqi Zhu
Seat 3: Steve Wong
Seat 4: Tony Merksick
Seat 5: Eugene Katchalov
Seat 6: Abe Mosseri
Seat 7: Sam Farha
Seat 8: Sergey Altbregin
Seat 9: James Dempsey
Seat 10: Mike Sexton
Monday, June 14, 2010 5:13 PM Local Time
Eric Baldwin raised his button and Abe Mosseri called from the big blind. The two players took a flop of and Mosseri checked to the preflop raiser. Baldwin fired a bet after a few moments in the tank and Mosseri called.
Baldwin had 38,000 chips behind and Mosseri bet enough to put him all in on the turn. Baldwin tanked for a couple minutes and eventually made the call.
Baldwin held the and Mosseri the . The river card completed the board with the and smacked Mosseri with a card to scoop the pot. He also scooped Baldwin out of the tournament in 11th place.
With Baldwin's elimination, the remaining ten players are moving to the final table stage where they will finish this out.
Monday, June 14, 2010 5:06 PM Local Time
Another pot has been pushed away from Steve Wong. In a battle of the blinds, he check-called a bet from Michael Chow on a flop of . When the turn came , Wong checked again, then raised after Chow bet. Chow called that raise and called one more bet on the river. He showed down for a turned nine-high straight and a live four. Wong mucked his cards in disgust.
Wong is down to 92,000 in chips.
Monday, June 14, 2010 5:03 PM Local Time
Eric Baldwin raised from the cutoff seat and Yueqi Zhu called on the button. Eugene Katchalov also called in the big blind.
The flop came down paired, and action checked to Baldwin. He bet and Zhu folded. Katchalov raised. Baldwin tanked for quite some time and then put in a reraised. Katchlov quickly made it four bets. Baldwin took another moment and then mucked his hand.
Baldwin was left with 140,000 in chips and Katchlov moved to 320,000.
Monday, June 14, 2010 4:53 PM Local Time
Steve Wong raised pre-flop from under the gun and was called by big blind Tony Merksick, who said that he told a friend he would never play "this hand". Merksick check-called a bet on the flop and check-called again on the turn. At the river, with the board showing , Merksick led into Wong. Wong made a crying call and was shown a very strong two-way hand, . Merksick had the nut flush and the second nut low. Wong couldn't beat either hand.
Monday, June 14, 2010 4:45 PM Local Time
James Dempsey has become quite active with his big stack at the eature table. He raised a recent hand from the button and was calledby small blind Sergei Altbregin. Altbregin led into Dempsey on the flop and again on the turn. Dempsey called both times, with both players checking the river . Altbregin turned over , having rivered a ten-high straight. Dempsey flashed and mucked.