Nam Le is the shortest stack in the room and situated on the outer table. He hasn't been getting involved in any pots, but the expressions on his face look as though he's just not getting anything playable. We'll surely be keeping an eye on him as the blinds keep passing around the table to see how he is doing.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
43,000
-18,000
|
-18,000 |
|
||
Just moments after we wrote about Nam Le nursing the short stack, he found a double up and is back to 70,000 in chips. Here's how it went down.
From the button, Dan Smith raised to 8,000 and Le called from the big blind. The flop came down 
and Le led for 7,000 with 13,000 behind. Smith took nearly all of his allotted time and then raised enough to put Le all in. Le quickly called and tabled the 
. Smith held the 
.
The turn brought the 
and kept Le in front with his pair of kings. Smith needed an ace on the river, but couldn't find it when the dealer landed the 
on the end of the board and Le doubled up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
380,000
-34,500
|
-34,500 |
|
||
|
|
70,000
27,000
|
27,000 |
|
|
||
From the small blind, Nam Le raised to 11,000. Phil Ivey called from the big blind and the flop came down 
. Le fired 12,500 and Ivey folded.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Joe Hachem opened the pot with a raise to 10,000, and he found calls from Mikhail Smirnov (button) and Gus Hansen (small blind). It's a good spot to find a big hand in the small blind, and Jason Mercier liked what he saw enough to squeeze all in for 40,500 total. It looked like Hachem called, though we can't be sure. What we do know is that Smirnov reraised and isolated himself against Mercier with a chance at the knockout.
Showdown
Smirnov: 
Mercier:
The board ran out 
, and Mercier manages to find a big quadruple up to crawl back into contention.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
162,000
57,000
|
57,000 |
|
||
Just a few hands after doubling up through Mikhail Smirnov, Jason Mercier was all in for a second time. It was Smirnov that he was up against once more and this time Mercier was behind.
Mercier: 
Smirnov: 
The flop came down 
and Smirnov stayed in front. The turn 
meant that Mercier was just one more card away from elimination. Unless Mercier could catch an eight on the river, his tournament would be over.
The river card was the 
and Mercier had missed. Smirnov had him covered and Mercier headed to the rail in 10th place. The remaining nine players will now rejoin at one table. We'll have those seating assignments and chip counts for you shortly.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
We're down to nine players now, and they've been combined around the unofficial final table. Here's how they set up right now:
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tony G | 160,000 |
| 2 | Gus Hansen | 363,000 |
| 3 | Nam Le | 69,000 |
| 4 | Sam Trickett | 100,500 |
| 5 | Phil Ivey | 138,000 |
| 6 | Mikhail Smirnov | 324,500 |
| 7 | Joe Hachem | 472,500 |
| 8 | Sorel Mizzi | 210,000 |
| 9 | Dan Smith | 363,000 |
Sorel Mizzi just picked up the first hand at the nine-handed final table. He opened with a raise to 8,000 from middle position and found calls from Dan Smith out of the hijack seat and Sam Trickett in the big blind. The flop came down 
and Trickett checked. Mizzi bet 12,500 and both of his opponents folded.
Level: 6
Blinds: 2,500/5,000
Ante: 0
Gus Hansen raised to 12,500 to open the pot, and Nam Le flatted with his shortening stack. Heads-up, they took a 
flop, and Hansen checked it over. When Le bet 8,000, though, he clicked it back to 16,000, and Le tanked and folded.
He's under 50,000 now.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
49,000
-20,000
|
-20,000 |
|
|
||
Between the nine players who have made it down to this last table of play, there's $56,571,193 in career live tournament earnings. Three of them have World Series of Poker gold bracelets: Phil Ivey (8), Joe Hachem (1) and Gus Hansen (1), four of them have World Poker Tour titles: Hansen (3), Ivey (1), Hachem (1) and Le (1) and all but two of them have seven figures of live tournament earnings. That's one heck of a group of players.
