$10,000 No Limit Hold'em Championship Day 3 | 2009 L.A. Poker Classic

02-23-2009 19:05 UTC-7

Akkari Conserves Chips

[user75032]

Andre Akkari was the first player into the pot preflop with a raise to 6,700. Action folded to Haralabos Voulgaris on the button. He cut 17,500 chips off his stack and threw them across the betting line. That folded both players in the blinds, but Akkari wanted to see a flop. He called.

Both men checked a flop that was all hearts, {K-Hearts}

. On the turn {4-Hearts}

, Akkari checked again, then folded to a half-pot bet from Voulgaris.

Tags: Andre Akkari Haralabos Voulgaris

02-23-2009 19:23 UTC-7

Timoshenko Shrugs Off Small Hit

[user75032]

Yevgeniy Timoshenko was the only caller of a 30,800-chip all-in bet from an early-position player. That player showed {A-Spades}

against Timoshenko's {9-Diamonds}

. A king hit the flop, {J-Clubs}

, and held up through the {Q-Hearts}

turn and

river.

"You would have had a bit of a sweat if I had called," said the player on the button. He said he had considered a call with {A-Clubs}

.

Timoshenko didn't mind losing almost 31,000 chips all that much. He still has about 235,000.

Tags: Yevgeniy Timoshenko

02-23-2009 19:32 UTC-7

Break Time

[user75032]

Smoke if you got 'em. We're back in ten minutes.

Level: 16

Blinds: 1,500/3,000

Ante: 500

02-23-2009 19:46 UTC-7

Play Resumes

[user75032]

This is it -- the last level of the night!

02-23-2009 20:01 UTC-7

Updated Chip Counts

[user75032]

These start-of-Level-16 chip counts are brought to you courtesy of worldpokertour.com:

1. Kofi Farkye - 640,000
2. Mike Sowers - 534,000
3. Donald D'Auria - 427,000
4. Dan O'Brien - 424,000
5. Jason DeWitt - 350,000
6. Peter Feldman - 350,000
7. Anthony Venturini - 312,000
8. Chris Karagulleyan - 287,000
9. Cody Slaubaugh - 280,000
10. Dan Lu - 260,000

One note on Kofi Farkye's count; we just went out to his table. Apparently he took down a sizable pot since the start of the level, as he is currently sitting behind 750,000 chips.

02-23-2009 20:21 UTC-7

Farkye Playing Lots of Hands

[user75032]

With a stack that's dipping above and below 700,000 chips, it's probably no surprise that Kofi Farkye has been playing hands. Lots and lots of hands. Two hands in a row, he raised to 6,500 from early position. The first time, Men Nguyen called from the small blind and the big blind also called. Both players check-folded to a bet of 15,000 from Farkye on the {10-Clubs}

flop.

The second hand, Nguyen was on the button and was the only caller. When Farkye checked a flop of {5-Clubs}

to Nguyen, he bet 8,000. Farkye calmly cut off 25,000 from his sizable stack and check-raised. Nguyen folded after 30 seconds.

Farkye is at about 705,000 in chips. Nguyen slipped to 120,000 after these hands.

Tags: Kofi Farkye Men Nguyen

02-23-2009 20:26 UTC-7

Esfandiari Gets the Best of Corkins

[user75032]

It's been a very tough day for Antonio Esfandiari. After starting the day with more than 400,000 chips, the start of Level 16 found him under 200,000. He opened the preflop action in a recent hand by raising to 8,500. Hoyt Corkins was sitting in the big blind and was the only caller.

Corkins checked a flop of all babies, {3-Diamonds}

. Esfandiari splashed 12,000 chips into the middle, then collected the pot once Corkins reluctantly folded his hand.

"I know it hurts," Esfandiari told Corkins. "But it's OK." The two men have similar-sized stacks, with Esfandiari sitting behind 175,000 and Corkins on about 187,000.

Tags: Antonio Esfandiari Hoyt Corkins

02-23-2009 20:31 UTC-7

Brady on the LAPC

[user75032]

Melissa Castello is one of the many members of the poker media who has been hard at work today. Check out her recent interview with Matt Brady:

Tags: Matt Brady

02-23-2009 20:38 UTC-7

Closing in on the Bubble

[user75032]

Sixty-three players will make the money in this tournament. With 45 minutes to go in the last level of the night, we're less than one table from the money. Sixty-nine players remain in the tournament. Six more will leave with nothing.

If you were to ask me, my guess is that we will play through the money bubble tonight, even if it doesn't burst by the end of the level. But for now, the plan remains to play 45 more minutes and then pack up the chips.