Home / Poker News July 2008 / Main Event field down to 27: the bracelet is within sight. Dennis Phillips takes the lead with 11,910,000 chips.
Main Event field down to 27: the bracelet is within sight. Dennis Phillips takes the lead with 11,910,000 chips.
Posted by: James Carter. - Mon, 2008-07-14 07:19
Day 6 of the WSOP Big Dance saw the field thin down to 27 players. Even though payouts have increased into 6 figures, with the coveted championship title so close, busting out was nothing short of a nightmare for the remaining combatants. And bust out they did, at least pretty much all the big names.
Phil Hellmuth got hit with a penalty at the end of Day 5, and he was supposed to execute it on Day 6, but he talked his way out of the tight spot, and eventually had the whole thing dropped. He juggled his short-stack around for a while, and pushed all-in on an A,Q only to be overtaken from the get-go by Andrew Roskamm’s J,J. Hellmuth ended up 45th. The Main Event run ended a lot sooner for one of the previous chip leaders. Alex Outhread matched his A,K against Chris Klodnicki’s 9,9, with fatal consequences for his tournament life.
The very first elimination of the day was the weirdest too. Bob Whalen pushed his stack in on his pocket jacks against David Rheem’s 7,2o which is – obviously – the worst starting hand in Holdem. The flop brought a 2, and the turn landed a 7 to end Whalen’s WSOP run.
Lisa Parson ran into Owen Crowe’s pocket rockets on a pair of Jacks. David Benefield ended up on the wrong end of a perfect hand. He made a straight on the flop+turn. Quite naturally he pushed all-in, only to have the poker gods laugh in his face when Brandon Cantu completed the nut flush on the river.
Mike Matusow’s elimination was one of the heart-breakers of the day. He landed three aces on the flop, but his opponent (on a pocket hand of A,9) overtook him on the flop with a full house, and Mike failed to improve. Matusow finished in 30th, and only just missed surviving to play yet another day. Only two more players busted out before the day was called.
There is only one woman left in the field: Tiffany Michelle. She’ll attempt to beat Barbara Enright’s record, who is the only woman to date ever to reach a Main Event final table.
