Home / Poker News October 2009 / WSOPE Main Event Day 4: Mercier takes the lead
WSOPE Main Event Day 4: Mercier takes the lead
Posted by: James Carter. - Wed, 2009-10-07 08:12
The 4th day of WSOPE hostilities at the Empire Casino in London saw a field of 36 survivors take to the tables. This star-studded lineup was all that remained of the initial 334 players who had registered at the start of the event.
The day 4 objective was to play down to the final table, and the participants achieved just that, with Team PokerStars’ Jason Mercier leading the way. Mercier amassed a huge stack through the day, and he stacked his chips up in his trademark tower formation, which got knocked down by a staff member during the break, prompting a re-count and re-checking of his stack before the action could continue.
When the day was called, Mercier had over 2 million chips more than his nearest rival, a result of his dominating performance throughout the day.
With Lady Luck firmly standing by his side, Mercier couldn’t make a wrong move all day long. He swung his large stack skillfully, heads rolling left and right in his path. Teddy Sheringham, the soccer player who had impressed everyone through the first 3 days of the Main Event, was one of his victims. Sheringham shoved all in before the flop on a K,Q against Mercier’s Ah,Kh and failed to connect with the board. He was followed to the rail by Saar Wilf and Peter Gould. Konstantin Bucherl found himself sent to the rail by Mercier too, despite the fact that he got his chips in nicely on pocket Ks vs Mercier’s As,Jh. The
PokerStars pro went on to land a 4th spade on the river though to hit a flush and to bounce Bucherl.
Doyle Brunson was the other story of the day. The Poker Legend looked well on track to his 11th bracelet until he hit a snag and busted out at the hands of James Akenhead. The hand that spelt Dolly’s end began with him re-raising Daniel Negreanu, holding a Q,9o. James Akenhead went all-in though, holding an As, Ks, and forced Negreanu to fold. The flop fell 4,Q,5 and it looked like Doyle would pull off the upset, but the K on the turn sealed his fate.
November Nine members James Akenhead and Antoine Saout did well too as both of them made the final table. After Doyle Brunson’s elimination, Akenhead kept the pressure up and managed to bounce Thomas Bichon. Akenhead’s pocket Ks made short work of Bichon’s pocket 10s. Tony Cousineau was next on Akenhead’s hit list. Cousineau got the last of his chips in against Akenhead on an A,Ko vs Kd,9d match-up. The flop looked good for the Frenchman, as the 5c,2d,4c left his opponent drawing thin. The 6d on the turn though and the 3d on the river completed Akenhead’s runner-runner flush to send Cousineau to the rail.
The final table bubble boy was Eric Liu, sent to the sidelines by Jason Mercier. Liu shoved the last of his chips in on a pair of Qs before the flop and got called by Mercier who had Kc, Jc. The flop fell Ac,Ks,10c and Liu’s pocket Qs were toast. The turn and the river failed to change anything and the final table was set.
