World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic Day 4: Mortensen Leads The Way
Day 4 of the World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic began with 72 players. After five and a half levels of play just 22 remain in hope of claiming the nearly $1.8 million first-place prize. Heading the counts are familiar names. Day 3 chip leader Mark Newhouse is still going strong and sits in second place, while Carlos Mortensen surged late in the day to grab hold of the top spot overnight.
"The Matador's" run came during the final level of play, more than tripling his stack. He picked up pocket aces and got his chips all in preflop against Raymond Dolan's pocket jacks. His aces held, moving his stack to just under the million mark. Later in the level, Mortensen's J♦J♥ bested Michael Woo's Q♦Q♠. The board read J♣8♣4♣3♠ and Woo shoved for his remaining stack. Fearful of a flush, Mortensen thought it over for a moment but made the call. He dodged a river queen and vaulted to the top of the counts.
Newhouse had a huge double up with 27 players left. On a 7♥5♠3♦J♦Q♥ board, he held J♠7♠ and went all in. Dan Martin made the call with pocket kings and Newhouse took down the key pot to put himself in great shape for Day 5. Other notables still in the field include Steve Sung, Johnny Chan, Tim "BegsClutch" Begley, and Annie Duke. Play resumes Tuesday at 12 p.m. at the Commerce Casino. The chip counts heading into Day 5 are:
1. Carlos Mortensen - 1,669,000
2. Mark Newhouse - 1,308,000
3. Raymond Dolan - 1,229,000
4. Masa Kagawa - 1,129,000
5. Andras Koroknai - 1,002,000
6. Tri Huynh - 942,000
7. Dan Martin - 684,000
8. Jean-Claude Moussa - 672,000
9. Steve Sung - 671,000
10. Jim Casement - 609,000
11. Tim Begley - 603,000
12. Gevork Kasabyan - 594,000
13. Jamie Brown - 552,000
14. Mari Lou Morelli - 456,000
15. Dylan Linde - 447,000
16. Bob Kairnes - 421,000
17. Johnny Chan - 406,000
18. Danny Fuhs - 379,000
19. Michael Kamran - 327,000
20. Connor Allisen - 324,000
21. Annie Duke - 241,000
22. John Cautela - 219,000
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