2010 WSOP Main Event Day 4 - Semi-Live Blog

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Welcome tot he Johnny Fucking Chan semi-live blog. I have to put "semi" otherwise the content Gestapo will show up at my door and cart me away with all of the other dissenters.

Anyway, we've reached Day 4 of the Main Event. This is moving day. 456 players will go home with nadda, zip, zilch, zero, while 747 individuals will guarantee themselves a min-cash after four arduous days of poker spread out over a week. This is why the Main Event is one of the most difficult and challenging tournaments in poker -- you have to play the best poker of your life for a week straight before you even reach the money.

Ah, the Bubble is today. It can be outright exciting and exhilarating inside the Amazon Ballroom. If you've ever witness the Main Event bubble, you know the frenetic energy gives you goosebumps!

Without further ado, let's get down to the nitty gritty and let's get this show on the road...

* * * * *
Quick Numbers
2010 Main Event Entrants: 7,319
Players Remaining: 1,203
Payouts: 747
First Place: $8,944,138
Prizepool: $68,798,600
Chipleader: James Carroll - 803,000

It's not the Jim Carroll you're thinking of, at least, the one I'm thinking of -- the NYC writer, poet, musician and author of The Basketball Diaries who had passed away. Anyway, this James Carroll is sitting on the big stack at the onset of Day 4. He'll be on the radar of everyone in the room -- until he's overtaken by someone else. Can he add to his stack and become the first player to pass 1M? Or will Johnny 'Fucking' Chan catch a heater to start Day 4 and re-take the lead? Stay tuned...

Editor's Note: Due to the extreme length of the live blog, if you're reading this on the front page of Tao of Poker, then you have to click through READ MORE link below to read more.

* * * * *
Early Eliminations: Savage Ravaged

TD extraordinaire Matt Savage just busted from the Main Event. Hendon Mobber Barny Boatman is also busto.

* * * * *
Featured Tables

We started with three featured tables...

TV Table: Johnny Fucking Chan and Bret 'GetCrunk' Richey
Beef Jerky Table: Gavin Smith, Dan harrington , Jorge Arias, Jonathan Tamayo
Tertiary Table #1: Barry Greenstein and Joe Serock (not Sebok)

Right now, Barry's table just broke and that is currently empty. Gavin Smith's table is pretty stacked. Might sweat that for a bit.

* * * * * *
Early Musings...

- Fabrice Soulier is sitting at a table with a player rocking an old school Gretzky hockey jersey. Fabrice started the day with 420K in chips.

- One player begged the cocktail server for a drink, "Ice coffee. Please. I'm need it ASAP. Ice coffee. Lots of sugar. Lots of cream. Lots of ice. Oh, did I tell you lost of sugar?" If Starbucks decided to set up table service in the Amazon Ballroom, they would make a shit-ton of money. Heck, I'm considering opening up a pharmacy in the hallway (for both legal over-the-counter and under-the-counter products), but I'm sure the DEA would step in and shut it down.

- All four Mizrachis brothers started the day which gives the ESPN crew more fodder for that backstory. Benjo thinks only two will make the cut by the end of the day.

- Resident Phishead Jesse Martin is sitting at a table with lots of cameras hovering -- Bobby Bellande, Karina Jett, and Vince Van Patten. VVP looks like he was up until 7am entertaining ladies in the VIP room at the Rhino. Bobby is always talkative at the tables and definitely keeps the mood loose. Andrew Brown is sitting at that table with a shitload of chips.

- Johnny Lodden is rocking his baby blue hoodie with a Team PokerStars Norway flag on his sleeve. He tunes out the chatter with big headphones and listening to random Scandi techno-pop. He's protecting a mini-fortress of chips and has already begun construction on an "second level" of chips.

- I had three people ask me for weed (on the floor of the Amazon) already today. That's mild compared to the Snoop show when I had over 117 requests.

* * * * *
2 Deaths Per Minute

According to Tao of Poker's crack team of statisticians (two chain-smoking French dudes multi-tasking watching porn and working a calculator), we have already lost an average of two players per minute of play.

And yes, the Pavilion is officially closed. No more Main Event tables inside that massive room.


Empty Pav - photo by Harper

* * * * *
Recently Departed, Vol. 1

Recent Eliminations: Barry Shulman, Matt Savage, Barny Boatman, Blair Rodman (Kill Phil author), Dewey Tomko, JJ Liu, Kathy Liebert, Dave Colclough, and Matt Graham.

* * * * *
What's On Johnny Lodden's iPod?

After we launched a through investigation into the listening habits of Johnny Lodden, we discovered that he and Benjo have similar tastes in 80s obscure Swedish pop, particularly legendary Gyllene Tider (who was overshadowed by the uber-favorite ABBA). And right now, Lodden is listening to När Vi Två Blir En. It's the perfect music to inspire him for a full-out attack on the bubble.

Here's the video...



* * * * *
Rabid Railbird Vultures

If you park your car in a shitty neighborhood overnight, there's a good chance that you wake up in the morning to find your entire car stripped of any salvageable parts (mostly for re-sale). Same goes for the WSOP Main Event. When a table is broken down, in this case one of the tertiary tables in front of the press box, lazy railbirds steal chairs from the empty table. In less than five minutes, I spotted three railbirds pilfer chairs from table 372. At least they didn't steal them from the press bodx. If they did, I would have made a scene. It's been a while since I got into a pissing match with an angle-shooting railbird. Why not today? Might spice things up during the slowdown of the bubble. I mean, is poker that exhausting as a spectator that you need a chair? I loathe lazy asstards who think they are entitled to everything, like the dude who dragged an entire bench from the hallway inside the Amazon last night.

* * * * *
Recently Departed, Vol. 2

Recent Eliminations: Legendary Vince Burgio, Simpsons voice actor Hank Azaria, and karaoke star Joe Reitman.

* * * * *
Artist's Representation of the Bubble

My friend Dana is an amazing musician and singer. Her single Motherfuckin' Whore is one of the most played songs on my iPod. When she's not making music, she covers poker tournaments on the EPT with her boyfriend Snoopy. Those two are some of the funniest people I've ever come across.

Dana suggested that this was how she saw the Money Bubble...


I'm telling you, if you give me an army of flying monkeys, well, not an army, just seven flying monkeys, I can create a live update team that will have the most accurate chip counts in history. Flying monkeys with iPhones solve everything.

Oh, speaking of flying monkeys, maybe they can help solve the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico too.

* * * * *
Bubble Breakdown

The orange section is currently being emptied out as the crew is breaking down the tables as the bubble approaches.



* * * * *
Recently Departed, Vol. 3

Recent Eliminations: UK pro John Shipley, Annie Duke, South Afrian Raymond Rahme, and Alex Fitzgerald

* * * * *
New Episodes of Tao of Pokerati - Day 4 Hyper Tension and Big Head Randy and the Min-Cashers

Michalski actually showed up today! We recorded two quick episodes of your favorite fastest podcast in the universe...

Episode 63: Day 4 Hypertension - With under 1,000 players to go, Dan and Pauly wax on the tension inside the Amazon Ballroom along with the breakdown of the Pavilion. Pauly wonders if Team Pokerati's last player standing, the Big Randy, in the Main Event is properly patched up as action approaches the money bubble.

Episode 64: Big Head Randy and the Min-Cashers - Dan and Pauly hang out at the Bad Beat bar and wonder if they are coolers? Or if the Big Randy had busted out because he was not wearing a Pokerati patch. Yes, the Big Randy busted before the money bubble. The discussion shifts to the bubble strategy for PokerStars qualifiers who also have a PCA package riding on the line along with the min-cash.

Listen to more episodes of the quickest podcast in poker at the Tao of Pokerati Archives.

* * * * * *
No Min-Cash for Varkonyi

Former champion Robert Varkonyi busted in 900th or so place. I thought this could be a year of redemption for Varkonyi... alas, it was not meant to be.

* * * * *
Million Club

Well, I promised that I wouldn't do any chip counts until Day 5, but what the heck. I'm feeling a little saucy. It's not the generic vicodin either.

An Italian player named Fillipo Candio was rumored to have a million in chips, but he was short of the epic mark. He has a funny name though, so I'll do what I can to keep him in the mix. He's totally got a jockey's name. Anyway, the first player to pass the 1 million mark is Duy Le. I wish I was making that name up too. Looking forward to a Le vs. Candio showdown.

Updated Chipcounts:

Vente: Duy Le, Filippo Candio, Alexander Kostritsyn

Grande: Allen Cunningham, Sammy Farha, Eric Buchman

Tall: Erica Schoenber, Rolf Slotbloom

* * * * *
Jan Randomsen


Meet Jan Randomsen
During the 2009 EPT Scandinavian Open in Copenhagen, Denmark (I happened to be there and let me tell you something -- nothing is worse than a bleak Scandinavian winter -- so I spent most of my time smoking hash via Christiana and watching Nordic sports like the ski jump and the biathlon), Benjo started a shtick about all of the random Scandis that had flooded the tournament room. I mean, we were behind enemy lines! They all looked the same... blonde hair, hoodie, Aviator sunglasses, silver ring, stoic smile... and sitting in front of a big ass stack. Benjo nicknamed the random Scandi... Jon Randomson, which translated into English is Jan Randomsen. In fact, the player that he used as his original model back in 2009 was the player above.

Well, Benjo found Jan Randomsen. And he's got chips. He's one of the many Scandi sleeper cells at the WSOP. Be careful out there. Never trust a Scandi in a hoodie.

* * * * *
100 Dusted; 99 to the Bubble Zone

During the last break, the 100 black chips were removed from play. In the 2005 WSOP, this was the part of the tournament when they discovered dozens of fugazi souvenir chips that players tried to sneak into the tournament.

When players returned... they were 99 eliminations away from the money bubble bursting. In an unusual move, all non-official media were banned from inside the ropes. Usually it gets a lot closer to the money 9-18 players before the restrict access.

At any rate, I'm confined to the rail with the rest of the drunkards, peasants, parasites, and other miscreants. Might be a good time to do a report of embedded with railbirds. My buddy Jesse Martin got moved to the feature table, so I'll check that out as well.

In the meantime, in case you were wondering what the pressbox looked like, here's where I've been working almost every day since the end of May.








Les Miserables - the French press

* * * * *
Bubblicious

The bubble is so important that even AlCantHang won't partake in an invitation to the Hooker Bar. He doesn't want to miss it.

I haven't seen so many suits in one room since I worked on Wall Street.

* * * * *
Recently Departed, Vol. 4

Recent Eliminations: Erica Schoenberg, Nordberg, Joe Awada, The Big Randy, and David Grey.

* * * * *
Chippies - Bubble Version

Vente: Duy Le, Theo Jorgensen, Matt Affleck, and Tony Dunst

Grande: Hoyt Crokins, Cole South, Vanessa Selbst, JPKelly

Tall: Gavin Smith, Eric Mizrachi

* * * * *
Rail Chatter - Bubble Report

I bumped into Anguila. He's sweating a couple of Spanish players on the verge of cashing. An agent slithered by as a few uncommitted spectators were constantly on their phones. One girlfriend was checking her Facebook page. Another guy with an iPad was refreshing live updates. Neil Channing kept a watchful eye on table #319 -- presumably on one of his horses. A cute railbird was in the middle of negotiating a massage. She snagged the dealers chair off of the empty tertiary final table and he went to work on her shoulders. A DonkeyBomber look-a-like sat at table #312, but we know it wasn't him because DB busted many moons ago and this guy wasn't wearing the Loudmouth golf pants/jackets. A curious railbird peeked over my shoulder to see what I was scribbling down. I took offense to his prying eyes and jotted down "GUY NEXT TO ME SMELLS"...

* * * * *
Targets and Reality

We're still about two tables away from the money bubble. The original target projected by staff was 639 for today. At this rate, with the bubble set to break just before the dinner break (or shortly after), we should get to under 600 players. Last year, we ended Day 4 with 400 players, but then again, 2010's field has more entrants. 200+ difference seems right.

* * * * *
Dinner Booooooo

Players are going on a dinner break, unexpectedly with 15 minutes to go on the clock. Players reacted negatively and rained down a chorus of boos. It's like you're having sex and the phone rings. Gahhh. No wonder everyone booed.

751 players to go. 747 get paid. So close.

See you in 90 minutes or at 8:30pm PT. When we return the bubble will break.

* * * * *
New Tao of Pokerati Episode - Boo Bubble


New episode on the bubble..

Episode 65: Boo Bubble - Dan was napping in his car as the bubble slowly approached. He woke up during the dinner break and wondered where everyone went. Pauly clued him in and Dan was bummed that he couldn't record the players groaning in dissent. The Bubble is nigh.

Listen to more episodes of the quickest podcast in poker at the Tao of Pokerati Archives.

* * * * *
BUBBLE BURST

Tim McDonald from Lexington, KY is the bubble boy. It's done. Everyone left is guaranteed a cash of $19K.

Check out Otis' recap of the bubble which is highlight by photos from Joe Giron.


* * * * *
Bubblicious Episode of Tao of Pokerati


The money bubble is always the most exciting time in the Main Event, and we were there to capture the historic moment.

Episode 66: Bubblicious - Pauly and Dan were hanging out in upper level of the Jack Links' beef jerky lounge keep tabs on the entire Amazon Ballroom from the high ground when the bubble burst. They captured the announcement of Tim McDonald's 748th place elimination thereby becoming this year's Bubble Boy. They also recorded the jubilant celebration from the players who made the money in the 2010 Main Event.

Listen to more episodes of the quickest podcast in poker at the Tao of Pokerati Archives.

* * * * *
Bubble Photo Essay

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but here are three photos of the bubble from the French crew (Benjo, Harper, and Paco)...





* * * * *
One Mizrachi Down, Three to Go

The Year of the Mizrachi has just ended for Eric. He was the first to bust, but the brothers Mizrachi -- all four of them -- set a record for most siblings to cash in the same Main Event. I wonder if we can teach the kids from Jon and Kate Plus 8 to play poker so they can break the record. But there will only be 7 of them. That one crosseyed kid with the glasses seemed a bit "slow" to me.

* * * * *
Recently Departed, Vol. 5

Recent Eliminations: Eric Mizrachi, Amit Makhija, Gavin Smith, and Humberto Brenes

* * * * *
Color Up Break; One More Hour of Play

The 500 chips were removed from play and we will be here for one more hour before we stop.

Here's a quick chip count:

Vente: Tomeu 'Amatos' Gomila, Theo Jorgensen, Duy Le, Matt Affleck, and Tony Dunst

Grande: Matt Matros, Robert Mizrachi, Jason Mercier, Scotty Nguyen

Tall: Dan Harrington, Lauren Kling

* * * * *
2010 Main Event Payouts:

I should probably post these...

November Nine/Final Table Payouts:
1st - $8,944,138
2nd - $5,545,855
3rd - $4,129,979
4th - $3,092,497
5th - $2,332,960
6th - $1,772,939
7th - $1,356,708
8th - $1,045,738
9th - $811,823

Rest of the Payouts:
10th-12th - $635,011
13th-15th - $500,165
16th-18th - $396,967
19th-27th - $317,161
28th-36th - $255,242
37th-45th - $206,395
46th-54th - $168,556
55th-63rd - $138,285
64th-72nd - $114,205
73rd-81st - $94,942
82nd-90th- $79,806
91st-99th - $67,422
100th-171st - $57,102
172nd-243rd - $48,847
244th-315th - $41,967
316th-387th - $36,463
388th-459th - $31,647
460th-531st - $27,519
532nd-603rd - $24,079
604th-675th - $21,327
676th-747th - $19,263

* * * * *
Day 4 Money Winners...

Thanks to WSOP.com for the info. Here's who has cashed (and obviously busted) so far...

The Following Players Won $24,079:
575 John Kim
576 Amerigo Santoro
577 Phillip Faux
578 Michael Stembera
579 Frederico Dabus
580 Justin Calderaro
581 Allen Cunningham
582 George McKeever
583 David Hrdlicka
584 Jeffrey Fenech
585 Jim Collopy
586 John Dolmayan
587 Dave Williams
588 Michael Minetti
589 Heinz Kamutzki
590 Gareth Teatum
591 Chris Bjorin
592 Rick Villapando
593 Rocky Boustani
594 Darrell Ticehurst
595 Anthony Harb
596 William Thorsson
597 Ville Haavisto
598 Igoris Kuklis
599 Steven Belleville
600 Germain Gillard
601 Patrik Antonius
602 Spencer Hudson
603 Alex Michaels

The Following Players Won $21,327:
604 Ethan Ruby
605 David Burn
606 Michael Marion
607 Alex Prendes
608 Clayton Newman
609 Julien Langvan
610 Christopher Andler
611 Virgil Beddingfield
612 Randy Lorensen
613 Garrett Utt
614 Clorteanu Virgil Marius
615 Jay Houston
616 Steven Wiggins
617 Rahul Maitra
618 L. John Lakatosh
619 Ray Santoli
620 Thomas Kalaway
621 Alan Sternberg
622 Darren Kennedy
623 Kristoffer Vadsmo
624 Kenny Shih
625 Michael Dentale
626 ??? ???
627 James Coca
628 Michael Fryett
629 Chilfton Allen
630 Adrien Allain
631 Tamas Lendvai
632 Omid Azadpeyma
633 Frank Tenuta
634 Adilson Moraes
635 Bradley Marsh
636 Balazs Botond
637 Elad Magidov
638 Jolmer Meelis
639 Marius Olsvik
640 Kenneth Mcgovern
641 John Michalak
642 David Chiu
643 Thomas Kazemieh Aghdam
644 Thomas Konopasek
645 David Frazee
646 Itay Rokni
647 Alexander Beeckx
648 Brandon Garrity
649 Andy Robbins
650 Steven Currin
651 Paul Hoppe
652 Gregory Howard
653 Petter Northug
654 Alexander Luber
655 Mark Wilds
656 Dan Carter
657 Steve Kuzmich
658 Ward Streeter
659 Scott Zakheim
660 William Morrissey
661 Steven Curtin
662 Pierre Neuville
663 Erik Ekerot
664 Jannick Wrang
665 Sam Greenwood
666 Georgy Kurdin
667 Julian Rembert
668 Scott Baumstein
669 Bastiaan Faessen
670 Jon Friedberg
671 Brendan Reid
672 Mel Judah
673 Ronald Minnis
674 Frank Kassela
675 Thomas Duong

The Following Players Won $19,263:
676 Court Harrington
677 Sylvain Biard
678 Fabrizio Gonzalez
679 John Coletta
680 Michael Mercaldo
681 David Theodosopoulos
682 Tim Pollard
683 Paul Magriel
684 Jay Rosenkrantz
685 Hans Englund
686 Eric Siegel
687 Joshua Appelby
688 Phillip Nguyen
689 Raymond Coburn
690 Juan Reyna
691 Samuel Edwards
692 Khamsy Nuanmanee
693 Curt Kohlberg
694 Luis Nargentino
695 Sylvain Mazza
696 Julien Brahic
697 Jeffrey Mahoney
698 Christopher Hauxwell
699 Lejdin Fazlibegu
700 Jason Ramirez
701 Gil Morgensztern
702 Jack Kashishian
703 Randy McKay
704 Stan Sinclair
705 Charles 'Doc' Hansen
706 Randy Burstein
707 Nicholas Olivares
708 ??? DNR ???
709 Thomas Lieb
710 Antony Stroud
711 Patrick McDaniel
712 Anthony Rivera
713 Judson Joplin
714 Thomas Bina
715 Joshua Chait
716 Jeremy Kotter
717 Todd Barlow
718 Eric Mizrachi
719 Paulus Valkenburg
720 Simon Ravnsbaek
721 Manish Patel
722 Blake Bohn
723 William Klevitz
724 Victoria Arzola
725 Donald Himpele
726 Tyron Krost
727 Jonathan Stamm
728 Robert Flowers
729 Jesse 'GridironJesse' Herron
730 Gavin Smith
731 Stephen Elkin
732 Christopher Chapman
733 Boulos Estafanous
734 Anders Jespersen
735 Timothy Batow
736 Humberto Brenes
737 Kyle Bowker
738 John Boylan
739 Paul McCann
740 Amit Makhija
741 Chris Overgard
742 Mathias Karweta
743 Priyan De Mel
744 Mark Brockington
745 Roberto Stamerra
746 Christopher Petrick
747 Ross Myers

Day 4 Complete

Wow, once the money bubble broke it was a frenzy and tough to keep up with all of the eliminations. There are approximately 576 (what it says on the clock) players remaining, but that number is not official and definitely lower (I'd say 574 or so).

Tony 'Bond18' Dunst is the chipleader with over 1.5 million. Stay tuned for official numbers and end of day chip counts. Visit WSOP.com for more info.

Day 5 will resume on Wednesday at noon.