U.S. Poker Championship -- Day 4

It was moving day at the United States Poker Championship Friday, with the final three tables narrowed down to one, and the money winners determined along the way.

Many people felt that the tournament should have paid to 27 places instead of 18, but the advantage of the current payout schedule is that those who just make it to the money actually make a good profit – over $18,000 over their buy-in – rather than just barely breaking even, as happens in many events. The bad news is that there were going to be nine players who had to stay an extra day, only to go home with nothing.

Play started late, as usual. Once it started, the first couple players were eliminated quickly. Only about three or four hands into the day, James White moved all-in with Kh-Jh. Bob Edgren, the second-shortest stack going into the day, and who had already added $20,000 to his stack on the first hand, instantly pushed over the top all-in with pocket Aces. The last player to act was Andrew Barta, who pondered his decision and finally folded pocket 8’s face up. Edgren ended up knocking White out of the tournament, but thanked Barta for folding when the hand was over because an 8 fell on the flop.

Play slowed to a crawl after the first couple eliminations, as nobody wanted to be knocked out on the bubble. Slowly, they were down to six remaining, then five, then four….

When there were 20 players left, the action heated up. Many of the short-stacks found themselves all-in, only to either win their hands or not get any challengers. At one point, after having lost a lot of chips when he doubled up Mike Santoro and Tommy Wang, Paul Magriel was all-in against Kevin Chan. Magriel barely had Wang covered, so we were either going to see an elimination or someone severely crippled. Magriel was a heavy favorite with his K-K versus Chan’s A-9, but Chan flopped two pair to double-up. Magriel was down to around $20,000 and on the brink of elimination.

Unfortunately for the other small stacks, Magriel doubled-up twice quickly thereafter to get right back in the action.

When Rathe Miller was knocked out in 20th place, the tournament went into hand-for-hand mode so nobody could stall and wait for others to be knocked out. Again, there were some short-stack all-ins, but they all survived.

Finally, the bubble was burst. Amateur and major underdog Bob Edgren, who entered Thursday in last place out of 69 players and started Friday 26th out of 27, was down to around $60,000 and needed to make a move to stay alive. The first to act, he pushed all-in with A-8, both spades. Action folded all the way around the table (play was only 6-handed, so this was a stronger hand than normal) to Joe Palma in the big blind. He quickly called with a dominating A-Q. It was all but over.

But when the flop produced 10-8-5, Edgren all of a sudden had the edge with his pair. The turn was a King, so Palma could hit any Jack or Queen to win. The river was a kick in the gut to Edgren….a Queen. Everyone remaining was now in the money.

After the dinner break, eliminations happened quickly, since 10th through 18th place all paid the same. There was no reason to try to sneak up a few spots.

Perhaps the most shocking development before the final table was determined was that the chip leader throughout most of the tournament, Mark Seif, ran into several bad hands and was eliminated in 11th place.

The final table begins Saturday at noon.

Current Standings

(Place/Player/Chip Count)

1. James Caporuscio - $1,210,000
2. Men Nguyen - $765,000
3. Frank Vizza - $508,000
4. Steve Brecher - $473,000
5. Ralph Pecorale - $453,000
6. Chris Furbert - $443,000
7. Mike Santoro - $285,000
8. John Juanda - $274,000
9. Andrew Barta - $206,000