$10,000 No Limit Hold'em Championship Day 5 | 2009 L.A. Poker Classic

02-25-2009 12:45 UTC-7

The Final Push

[user75032]

It's Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, California and that means that we've hit Day 5 of the 2009 L.A. Poker Classic Main Event. Of a starting field of 696 players, we're down to the last 20. One of these men will be almost $1.7 million richer tomorrow night.

The odds-on favorite at the start of play today has to be Chris Ferguson. The grizzled veteran and member of Team Full Tilt is known for his patient tournament style and his ability to steadily accumulate chips. He's at the top of the leaderboard to start the day, leading all runners with 1,721,000 chips, more than double the 696,000 average stack. Ferguson is not a "blaster", so don't expect him to dust off those chips any time short of the last table.

But any one of the remaining twenty players could be the next champion. As long as they have chips, they're not out of the tournament yet. We'll be paying special attention to short-stacked Teddy "the Iceman" Monroe, who had the rail in stitches yesterday with his unique brand of poker commentary.

When play kicks off in fifteen minutes, players will be at the same tables as they were at when Day 4 concluded. That table draw is as follows:

Table 1

Seat 1: Xuan Nguyen (1,130,000)
Seat 2: Blake Cahail (310,000)
Seat 3: Nick Schulman (850,000)
Seat 4: Donnie D'Auria (242,000)
Seat 5: Binh Nguyen (1,040,000)
Seat 7: Danny Lu (662,000)
Seat 8: Payman Arjang (1,488,000)

Table 2

Seat 1: Tam Ly (603,000)
Seat 2: Chris Ferguson (1,721,000)
Seat 3: Pat Walsh (760,000)
Seat 4: Cornel Andrew Cimpan (164,000)
Seat 5: Jeremy Kottler (614,000)
Seat 8: Mark Bryan (561,000)
Seat 9: Zach Hyman (320,000)

Table 3

Seat 2: Chris Karagulleyan (1,146,000)
Seat 3: Mike Sowers (626,000)
Seat 4: Peter Feldman (423,000)
Seat 5: Billy Pilossoph (188,000)
Seat 6: Teddy Monroe (264,000)
Seat 9: Matt Woodward (771,000)

PokerNews will have all the action throughout the day. Feel free to follow along.

Tags: Chris Ferguson

02-25-2009 13:02 UTC-7

Shuffle Up and Deal!

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And they're off! Cards are in the air. The players have shifted to a back corner of the upstairs ballroom so that the WPT can build the TV table set in the center of the room for tomorrow's final table.

Level: 23

Blinds: 8,000/16,000

Ante: 2,000

02-25-2009 13:11 UTC-7

Cahail Doubles through Nguyen

[user75032]

We've already had our first player move all in. Action folded to Xuan Nguyen in the small blind. Nguyen, you may remember, was the player who slowrolled pocket aces all in preflop back on Day 2. He hasn't garnered much sympathy from the players, the rail or the media since then. He completed the small blind before Blake Cahail raised to 61,000. Nguyen moved all in and Cahail snap-called.

Nguyen: {Q-Diamonds}

Cahail:

The flop fell {6-Clubs}

, no help to either player but giving Nguyen a gutshot draw. That draw filled when the {J-Diamonds}

hit the turn, but Cahail made a bigger straight with the {K-Spades}

that hit the river to double up to 576,000. Nguyen took the hit to 842,000.

Tags: Blake Cahail Xuan Nguyen

02-25-2009 13:16 UTC-7

Ferguson's Chip Lead Evaporates

[user75032]

Chris Ferguson was in prime position to barrel past the 2-million chip mark. He wound up getting Mark Bryan to stack off preflop with {K-Clubs}

against Ferguson's {A-Diamonds}

. Ferguson took a stranglehold on the hand with a flop of {5-Spades}

, making top pair of aces and leaving Bryan drawing at running cards for the one million chip pot. One runner, the {6-Clubs}

, hit the turn; a second runner, the {Q-Clubs}

, hit the river, giving Bryan the second nut flush.

When the stacks were counted down, Bryan had 503,000 chips. He doubled to just over one million; that 503,000-chip hit knocked Ferguson back to 1,218,000.

Tags: Chris Ferguson Mark Bryan

02-25-2009 13:23 UTC-7

Billy Pilossoph Eliminated in 20th Place ($44,433)

[user75032]

Billy Pilossoph was the second shortest stack coming into the day. If things had gone a little differently, he would have made the next pay jump. As it was, his short stack was rapidly diminishing without a single elimination having occurred. He open-shoved for 138,000 and was called by Chris Karagulleyan from the big blind. Karagulleyan's {K-Hearts}

dominated Pilossoph's {Q-Diamonds}

. It was the better hand at the start, and the better hand at the end after the dealer produced a board of {2-Diamonds}

. Pilossoph was therefore eliminated in 20th place, for which he earned $44,433 in prize money.

Tags: Billy Pilossoph Chris Karagulleyan

02-25-2009 13:29 UTC-7

Another 100K Hit for Ferguson

[user75032]

Chris Ferguson's day has not started off on the right foot at all. Sitting in the small blind, he called a preflop raise made by Jeremy Kottler. Both players checked the {K-Hearts}

flop. When the turn paired the board {6-Spades}

, Ferguson led out for 70,000. Kottler called to a river card of {2-Diamonds}

that both players checked. Ferguson showed down an unimproved {A-Hearts}

for a pair of sixes, ace-high; Kottler's {J-Hearts}

made two pair, eights and sixes, to take down the pot.

Tags: Chris Ferguson Jeremy Kottler

02-25-2009 13:41 UTC-7

Sowers Tough with Two

[user75032]

We caught a flop of {J-Diamonds}

that was contested between Mike Sowers and Matt Woodward. Sowers checked to Woodward, then called when Woodward bet 80,000. The turn put a third diamond on the board, {8-Diamonds}

. Sowers checked a second time, then called again when Woodward bet 150,000. Both players checked the river {7-Clubs}

, with Sowers turning over the best hand {J-?}

for two pairs, jacks and eights.

Tags: M att Woodward Mike Sowers

02-25-2009 13:43 UTC-7

Bryan Really Likes King-Jack

[user75032]

Mark Bryan must really like king-jack. Maybe he won a tournament with it once upon a time. Bryan called the preflop all-in raise of Zach Hyman with {K-Diamonds}

. Hyman turned over a dominating hand, {A-Spades}

, that held up on a board of {9-Spades}

. That double-up pushed Hyman close to an average-sized stack with roughly 655,000. Bryan slipped back to 755,000.

Tags: Mark Bryan Zach Hyman

02-25-2009 13:54 UTC-7

Sowers is the New Chip Leader

[user75032]

Mike Sowers is the new chip leader after winning a massive pot from Chris Karagulleyan. The two raised it up preflop, driving out all other players, to take a flop of {A-Hearts}

. Karagulleyan was first to act and led out for 120,000. Sowers called.

Both players checked the {Q-Diamonds}

turn. When the river fell {7-Diamonds}

, Karagulleyan confidently pushed out 290,000 chips.

"You hit that seven, huh?" said Sowers. "I call. I call." He flipped open {A-Diamonds}

for two pair, aces and sevens. Karagulleyan's cards hit the muck.

Largely thanks to that pot, Sowers is now the chip leader with 1.7 million chips. Karagulleyan is back under a million, to about 750,000.

Tags: Chris Karagulleyan Mike Sowers