2009 L.A. Poker Classic
$10,000 No Limit Hold'em Championship
Day: 4
Braband Stuns Arjang
When the river fell , Braband shut down and checked. Arjang decided 130,000 was the correct amount to bet. Braband called after fifteen seconds, prompting Arjang to say, "Good call." Braband showed for two pair, eights and fives, with an ace kicker. Arjang realized he had the same hand and quickly opened .
"What are you doing?" Arjang asked in shock once he saw what Braband had called with. Braband didn't answer.
No Show from Ferguson
"You hit the ace?" Hyman asked. Ferguson didn't move a muscle or make any response to the question. Hyman began talking to himself, trying to come up with hands that Ferguson might have. After several minutes in the tank, he reluctantly folded.
"Show me one time," he said to Ferguson. "Please?" A bunch of railbirds laughed, knowing full well that Ferguson would not show. "You could just verbally tell me," pleaded Hyman.
"What good would that do?" asked Cornel Andrew Cimpan.
Tom Braband Eliminated in 23rd Place ($44,433)
The Iceman Lives
"I'm not goin' home," Monroe told the table. The dealer burned and turned a board of . At each successive street, Monroe repeated that sentence with more conviction. Once the dealer pushed him the pot, Monroe launched into a monologue.
"I ain't goin nowhere. I'm letting you know. I'm the number one live player in the world. I know he was gonna call. Try to bust the Iceman, but he got froze. I'm like a... I'm on a boat, goin' for the shark."
There was more, but we figure you get the gist by now. Monroe is still dangerously short with roughly 120,000 chips.
Nguyen v. Nguyen: Nguyen Wins
All of the money went in on a flop of , Xuan's with and Binh's with . Binh's hand improved when the fell on the turn giving him trips, thus leaving Xuan's chances of survival pretty slim.
"Spade!" shouted a nearby railbird, before the dealer plunked the down on the river - a life-saving card for Xuan. Should he have won the pot, Binh would've surpassed Chris Ferguson to take over the chip lead. Instead, he was left with a still-manageable 1.04 million in chips.
Lu Looks for a Different Spot
Justin Scott Eliminated in 22nd Place ($44,433)
Nancy Todd Tyner Eliminated in 21st Place ($44,433)
Sowers opened the pot with a raise to 30,000 from under the gun and Tyner made the call from the button. The flop came and Sowers check-called Tyner's all in holding . Tyner reluctantly turned over the for nothing but a backdoor flush draw.
The turn brought the , keeping Tyner's hopes alive with four outs to a straight, but the on the river cemented the hand for Sowers, subsequently sending Tyner to the rail.
Play Concludes
Much of the star power went out of this event today. Darden, Shak, Binger, Pham, Paul-Ambrose, Medic, Ho, Grospellier and Wasicka -- all notable names that were eliminated during the course of the day.
There is, however, one big name left in the field. Chris Ferguson is likely to be the overnight chip leader, thanks in no small part to Day 3 chip leader Kofi Farkye. Farkye tried to three-barrel Ferguson in the middle of the day, but Ferguson picked it off to increase his count to more than 1.0 million and drop Farkye below par. Farkye ultimately went out in 31st place, while Ferguson steadily chipped up from there to finish with roughly 1.7 million chips.
Twenty players will come back at noon tomorrow for Day 5 of this six-day event. We will play until only six are left. Those six will return on Thursday to battle it out for the $1.68 million first prize.
See you tomorrow!