Thang Pham Heads Mirage Final Table; Days 1 and 2 Leaders Eliminated

The final table at the Mirage Poker Showdown is set, led by Thang Pham, who more than septupled his chip count, ending Day 3 with 1,760,000 chips. Also making the television table are fellow million-chippers Chris Bell and Ted Forrest, along with Eugene Todd, Gavin Smith, and Mark Ellerbe. Forrest is also the chip leader of the television table for the PPT event at the Mirage, to be completed on May 27.

Pham was knocking players out all day, including the 7th and 8th place finishers. First, Kevin Fiore tried to stand up to Pham, but his K-10 was no match for Pham’s Q-Q.

Pocket Queens was a magic hand for Pham again when he faced off with Alan Smurfit. To start the hand, Forrest raised to 50,000, Ellerbe and Smurfit called, and Pham re-raised to 300,000. That was too rich for Forrest and Ellerbe, as they folded, but Smurfit came over the top and pushed all-in with A-K. Pham called, but was dismayed to see a flop of K-9-8, giving Smurfit top pair. But with a miracle 10 on the turn and J on the river, Pham hit the straight and sealed the final six.

Those two knockouts helped Pham increase his stack by approximately a million chips in the final hour of the day.

The hand of the day occurred right on the bubble, when there were 28 players left, with the tournament paying to 27:

John Robert Bellande opened the action by raising to 30,000. Richard Tatalovich moved all-in and the flamboyant Phil Laak debated with himself for a while before also moving all his chips into the pot. Bellande called while at the same time announcing he had the worst hand. He was right – his 8-10, both clubs, was an underdog to Tatalovich’s Kings and Laak’s Aces.

The flop was 3-Q-A with two clubs, which meant Bellande had a flush draw and Laak now had a set of Aces. The turn Jack added a straight draw for Bellande. And then the river King gave Bellande the gut-shot straight, sending both Tatalovich and Laak home. The double whammy instantly gave the remaining players a pay day, as the field was now down to 26. Tatalovich and Laak split the 27th place prize so neither would walk away empty-handed.

And to show that nobody is ever safe, both the Day 1 leader, John Phan, and Day 2 leader, Robert Mizrachi, were eliminated Wednesday. Phan went out about an hour into play when his 9-high flush ran into Ellerbe’s Ace-high flush. Mizrachi grew his stack at the beginning of action, but ran into rough hands the rest of the day before finally being eliminated in 20th place.

The final table will be played May 26 with $1,153,778 going to the champion.

Related stories: John Phan Leads Mirage Poker Showdown Main Event After Day 1; Robert Mizrachi Takes Over Lead at Mirage

Originally published May 26, 2005