WSOP Updates, $10,000 Main Event, Day 6 – Philip Hilm on Top as Final Table Set

WSOP Updates, $10,000 Main Event, Day 6 – Philip Hilm on Top as Final Table Set 0001

6,358 players started the 2007 WSOP Main Event on July 6th. Nine days, countless hours and innumerable energy drinks later, 36 players remained in the field. Sunday's Day Six required a grueling 16 hours of play to get from the 36 players down to a final nine, finally reached when Scotty Nguyen and Steven Garfinkle exited at the end of play. The nine survivors who will play for the Main event title on Tuesday are led by Philip Hilm, narrowly ahead of Tuan Lam and Jon Kalmar.

Players starting Day Six were guaranteed a minimum of $285,678 for their World Series work. The seating assignments to start the day were as follows, with David Tran in the overall lead:

(Table 2)

Seat 1: Daniel Alaei — 1,995,800

Seat 2: David Tran — 10,280,000

Seat 3: Ray Henson — 8,250,000

Seat 4: Philip Hilm — 9,950,000

Seat 5: Lee Watkinson — 3,500,000

Seat 6: Bob Slezak — 2,115,000

Seat 7: Jason Welch — 2,115,000

Seat 8: Jeff Bryan — 2,100,000

Seat 9: Ryan Elson — 1,785,000

(Table 3)

Seat 1: Steven Garfinkle — 2,115,000

Seat 2: Peter Darvill — 2,430,000

Seat 3: Robin Bergren — 520,000

Seat 4: Hevad Khan — 7,585,000

Seat 5: Allan King — 1,000,000

Seat 6: Mikkel Madsen — 2,080,000

Seat 7: Roy Winston — 1,071,000

Seat 8: Paulo Loureiro — 1,645,000

Seat 9: Kevin Kim — 610,000

(Table 4)

Seat 1: Jason Koshi — 1,175,000

Seat 2: Lee Childs — 6,520,000

Seat 3: Jon Kalmar — 2,665,000

Seat 4: Stefan Mattsson — 3,260,000

Seat 5: Christian Togsverd — 2,030,000

Seat 6: Jerry Yang — 5,090,000

Seat 7: Kenny Tran — 4,955,000

Seat 8: Tuan Lam — 3,600,000

Seat 9: Hoa Nguyen — 2,205,000

(Table 5)

Seat 1: Ron Kluber — 3,070,000

Seat 2: William Spadea — 4,575,000

Seat 3: Bill Edler — 2,680,000

Seat 4: John Armbrust — 2,600,000

Seat 5: Scott Freeman — 7,360,000

Seat 6: Kevin Farry — 7,400,000

Seat 7: Scotty Nguyen — 1,960,000

Seat 8: Alex Kravchenko — 1,555,000

Seat 9: Raymond Rahme — 3,100,000

Play got off to a raucous start, with three players heading to the rail on the very first hand. Robin Bergren moved all-in under the gun with his short stack and was called by Allan King. Roy Winston moved all-in over the top of King, and King called. Bergren's desperation move with 106 ran into the QQ for King and AK for Winston. The flop came down A104, and the turn A and river K completed Winston's full house to eliminate both players.

While that carnage was happening, Hoa Nguyen raised from the button over on the featured table and was called by Lee Childs. The flop brought 322 and Childs check-raised Nguyen. Nguyen went into the tank for a long time before he finally called. The turn brought the 9, and Nguyen called Childs' bet again. Childs checked the river 4, and went into the tank when Nguyen moved all-in. Childs finally called, and Nguyen showed 55 for two pair. Childs tabled A9 for a higher two pair, and Hoa Nguyen exited in 34th.

Christian Togsverd (33rd), Kevin Kim (32nd), Peter Darvill (31st) and Jason Koshi (30th) all went to the rail early in the day as play crept toward three tables. Scott Freeman made a good read on Ron Kluber to eliminate Kluber from the tournament in 29th. After both players checked the flop of 8AJ, Kluber pushed all-in on the turn 3. "Why would you put 2.8 million in that pot?" Freeman mused; Kluber's move was a sizeable overbet. Freeman though for a while and called with A9, dominating Kluber's J9. The river brought the 3 and Kluber was eliminated.

Paulo Loureiro was the last to be eliminated before the redraw for three tables, running his pocket kings into Hevad 'Rain' Khan's pocket aces. The board came 1010253, and Loureiro was eliminated in 28th.

When the seats were redrawn for three tables, the assignments looked like this:

(Table 1)

Seat 1: Ryan Elson

Seat 2: Scotty Nguyen

Seat 3: Steven Garfinkle

Seat 4: Daniel Alaei

Seat 5: David Tran

Seat 6: Jon Kalmar

Seat 7: Jason Welch

Seat 8: Tuan Lam

Seat 9: Kevin Farry

(Table 2 [Featured Table])

Seat 1: Kenny Tran

Seat 2: Scott Freeman

Seat 3: Bob Slezak

Seat 4: Lee Watkinson

Seat 5: Hevad "Rain" Khan

Seat 6: Jeff Bryan

Seat 7: Philip Hilm

Seat 8: William Spadea

Seat 9: Ray Henson

(Table 3)

Seat 1: Bill Edler

Seat 2: John Armbrust

Seat 3: Mikkel Madsen

Seat 4: Roy Winston

Seat 5: Lee Childs

Seat 6: Jerry Yang

Seat 7: Raymond Rahme

Seat 8: Alex Kravchenko

Seat 9: Stefan Mattsson

Jeff Bryan was the first to fall in three-table play, pushing all-in over the top of Philip Hilm's preflop raise. Hilm called quickly with AK and Bryan's J10 was behind. The flop of Q77 helped neither player, but Bryan took the lead on the turn of 10. Hilm re-outdrew Bryan when the river brought the J, giving Bryan two pair, but filling Hilm's Broadway straight.

Roy Winston (26th), Daniel Alai (25th) and Ryan Elson (24th) went out in fairly short order as play pushed on into the late afternoon. Bill Edler was one of two players eligible to become multiple 2007 bracelet winners when the day started, but his quest ended in 23rd place. Edler, winner of Event #45, open-pushed from late position with 910, and was eliminated by Jerry Yang's AK on a final board of Q24A-x. Edler, well known as one of the true gentlemen of the game, was eliminated in 23rd.

Stefan Mattsson (22nd), Jason Welch (21st), Team PokerNews member Mikkel Madsen (20th) and Scott Freeman (19th) were eliminated to halve the day's starting field. As players redrew for seats on the final two tables, these were the seating assignments:

(Featured Table)

Seat 1: Tuan Lam

Seat 2: John Armbrust

Seat 3: Ray Henson

Seat 4: Scotty Nguyen

Seat 5: Bob Slezak

Seat 6: Philip Hilm

Seat 7: Raymond Rahme

Seat 8: David Tran

Seat 9: Lee Childs

(Outer Table)

Seat 1: Jon Kalmar

Seat 2: Lee Watkinson

Seat 3: Steven Garfinkle

Seat 4: William Spadea

Seat 5: Jerry Yang

Seat 6: Hevad Khan

Seat 7: Alex Kravchenko

Seat 8: Kenny Tran

Seat 9: Kevin Farry

John Armbrust busted soon after the redraw, courtesy of Lee Childs. Armbrust raised pre-flop from the big blind, and then pushed all-in over the top of Childs' limp-raise move. Childs spent several minutes evaluating his stack and the impact of the call before shoving his chips in with AQ. Armbrust was a dominant favorite with AK, but the flop brought J72, giving Childs outs to the nut flush. The turn brought the 10, and Armbrust was drawing dead. The 7 was irrelevant on the river, as Armbrust was eliminated in 18th.

Alex Kravchenko was the only 2007 bracelet winner left in the field, and he put all his chips in the middle early in two-table play. Kenny Tran called from the small blind and Kevin Farry called all-in from the big blind. Kravchenko tabled 1010 versus Tran's AQ and Farrys' KQ. The board ran out J8744 and Kravchenko tripled up while Farry was eliminated in 17th. Kenny Tran lost about two million in chips on that hand, and was the next player sent to the rail when Jon Kalmar rivered a nut flush to bust Tran in 16th.

Bob Slezak (15th) and David Tran (14th) went to the rail from the featured table, then William Spadea ran his AK into Jon Kalmer's pocket aces to depart in 13th place. The A88 flop gave Kalmer a flopped full house.

Scotty Nguyen won a coinflip to eliminate Ray Henson in 12th place and double up, bit then ran a flush draw into Philip Hilm's top pair on the flop and didn't hit. Nguyen pushed all-in on the flop of K73, and Hilm called with KQ. Nguyen was behind with 109, and only a club or running cards could keep him in the tournament. The turn card was the 2, and the Q sent the 1998 World Champion out in 11th place, guaranteeing a new Main Event winner.

After a pause for Nguyen's exit interview, players condensed for a final ten-person table and one more elimination before play halted for the day to set the official final table. Here were the seating assignments and the chip counts for the last table:

Seat 1: Raymond Rahme — 12,875,000

Seat 2: Alex Kravchenko — 2,810,000

Seat 3: Lee Childs — 18,050,000

Seat 4: Jerry Yang — 6,130,000

Seat 5: Lee Watkinson — 11,715,000

Seat 6: Steven Garfinkle — 4,925,000

Seat 7: Tuan Lam — 20,100,000

Seat 8: Philip Hilm — 19,310,000

Seat 9: Jon Kalmar — 20,200,000

Seat 10: Hevad Khan — 11,035,000

It took 36 hands and over two hours to eliminate that last player. Finally, Steven Garfinkle, the shortest stack at the final table after Kravchenko's early double-up, moved all-in from middle position. Raymond Rahme called from the small blind and revealed QQ, well ahead of Garfinkle's A3. When the flop brought the KQJ, Rahme made a set of queens, but Garfinkle actually increased his outs, as any ten made his straight. Rahme dodged Garfinkle's outs, and Steven Garfinkle was the final-table bubble boy, finishing in tenth.

With Garfinkle's departure, nine weary players went to bed after a grueling day of play. Here are the seating assignments and chip counts for Tuesday's final table:

Seat 1: Jon Kalmar – 20,320,000

Seat 2: Lee Childs – 13,240,000

Seat 3: Philip Hilm – 22,070,000

Seat 4: Jerry Yang – 8,450,000

Seat 5: Raymond Rahme – 16,320,000

Seat 6: Tuan Lam – 21,315,000

Seat 7: Alex Kravchenko – 6,570,000

Seat 8: Lee Watkinson – 9,925,000

Seat 9: Hevad Khan – 9,205,000

Here's the prize pool they're playing for:

1st: $8,250,000

2nd: $4,840,981

3rd: $3,048,025

4th: $1,852,721

5th: $1,255,069

6th: $956,243

7th: $705,229

8th: $585,934

9th: $525,934

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