David Dawson lost the majority of his chips with 
against Chris Coward's 
, and he lost the rest when he shipped with ace-high and 
called him from the blinds and made a pair of threes.
We're down to the official final table.
Stephen Press and Ellen Lambeth got all in preflop.
Lambeth: 
Press: 
The board ran out 
.
"Nine kicker," the dealer announced, and that was indeed the winning hand. Lambeth was left with just 400,000, and she busted the next hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
2,200,000
900,000
|
900,000 |
|
400,000
-1,325,000
|
-1,325,000 |
Joseph "Mush" Galazzo woke up with 
and in the big blind and called the shove of a short-stacked opponent in the cutoff.
Galazzo:
Cutoff: 
Things were all but over rather quickly when the 
. An and 
finished out the board.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
2,100,000
600,000
|
600,000 |
A player fired 200,000 into Steve Levy went into the tank with the board reading 
. Finally, he announced all in for 597,000. His opponent thought for about a minute.
"Nice hand," he said softly, folding. The player asked how big Levy's pair was, saying he had a pair.
Was Zeebo's Theorem not in effect? We'll never know.
Players are now on a 15-minute color-up break.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,375,000
595,000
|
595,000 |
Dave Brady just ended quite the drought.
By making the final table of Event 18: $560 Omaha Eight-or-Better Semi-Turbo here at Borgata Winter Poker Open, he notched his first top-10 finish in a recorded poker tournament since November 2006. He remembers his other deep runs well, and his enthusiasm is clear when he mentions them.
"My first final table was 10 years ago in Foxwoods," he said. "I had Charlie 'Scotty Warbucks' Shoten to my left. In 2006, I was facing off with Chris Reslock at the Taj."
So anonymous is Brady in the poker world that he doesn't even have a page in the Hendon Mob database. His profile on Card Player's database has some of his cashes and some cashes from another David Brady from Nebraska.
That's just the way the Roseland, N.J., native likes it at the poker table. He said he finished in the top half in the $1,000 six-max tournament yesterday despite playing with tables populated by tough professionals. His strategy? Play on his image.
"I actually wore a suit yesterday so I could get that image going," he said of looking like a well-off amateur. "I want them to think I'm a rock, then when there's a raise and a call and I come in for six-times that, they give me credit.
"It's almost like that 'Kill Phil,'" he said, referencing the famous poker book in which Blair Rodman and Lee Nelson advocated extremely aggressive play to increase variance when playing against expert opponents.
Brady isn't able to play many tournaments due to his work as an actuary for AIG. He said he only plays about three tournaments per year. He's trying to make a splash here and follow in the footsteps of co-worker Josh Spiegleman, who finished fifth in the main event here at Borgata Winter Poker Open in 2006.
Pot-Limit Omaha Eight-or-Better is his favorite game, Brady said. He also enjoys PLO and H.O.R.S.E. He'll have to focus on his limit game right now, but he does get one added bonus tonight.
"I'm driving Allen Kessler bonkers," he said with a laugh.
Steve Levy, who has over $500,000 in recorded live tournament cashes, is the overwhelming chip leader with 45 players remaining. He has around 1.4 million, and no other player appears to be anywhere near that.
Don Rawlins and Dennis Phillips got enough chips all in before the flop to put Phillips at risk.
Phillips: 
Rawlins:
The board ran out 
, giving Rawlins a flush and sending the third-place finisher of the 2008 Main Event to the payout desk.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
667,000 | |
|
Busted |
Joseph "Mush" Galazzo opened for 17,000 in early position, and Simon Taberham made it 45,000 to go from middle position. Action folded back to Galazzo, who put Taberham all in for 120,000 or so. Taberham called.
Taberham: 
Galazzo:
Galazzo flopped the nut flush, and that was all she wrote for Taberham.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
500,000 |
William Givens, in the big blind, fired 16,000 on a flop of 
. His opponent check-raised to 51,000. Givens came back with 116,000. His opponent shoved all in for about 200,000, standing up. Givens made the call after about 30 seconds.
Givens: 
Small blind: 
Givens was miles ahead, and his opponent needed runner-runner. One of the worst cards for Givens arrived on the turn: , giving the small blind a combo draw. A 
fell on the river, though, and Givens has one of the biggest stacks in the room.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
750,000 |
Chris Edwards just got all in with 
against an opponent with 
on a board of 
. He spiked a on the river to finish his short-stacked opponent off, and he's now sitting on a stack of 502,300. That may be the top stack in the room.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
502,000
502,000
|
502,000 |
