Scott Epstein called the bring in and Stephen Su completed. Epstein made the call and called Su’s bet on fourth. On the next two streets, Epstein led out and Su called. On seventh, Epstein check-called Su’s bet. Su showed for a seven low while Epstein flashed a for an eighty-six before he mucked. Epstein was down to only 20,000 after the hand.
The next hand, Espstein was all in on third against Chris Bjorin. The hands ran out as follows:
Bjorin: / /
Epstein: / /
Bjorin could only make a jack-low while Epstein made an eighty-seven to double.
We're too short on time to tell you much about these players, but here are some quick highlights, as announced during the player introductions.
Stephen Su is a 31-year-old pro, a five-year veteran of the WSOP. He used to be an accountant; now he's sitting at his second career WSOP final table.
Robert Williamson III is a face you likely know from television -- both on the felt and in front of the camera. He's a young 40 years old, and he already has 27 WSOP cashes and one gold bracelet. It came in 2002 in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event. He learned poker from his father who must have been a Razz player, because this is Robert's second career final table in this game.
Matt "SamENole" Smith is a 29-year-old online grinder from Florida. He's a proud graduate of the State University there, and he's notched seven cashes in his WSOP career.
Chris Bjorin is the wise elder of the final table at 64 years old. He's already a double bracelet winner looking for number three, and the Swede is one of the top-performing Europeans of all time. This is his 60th career WSOP cash and his second final table this year.
Rep Porter is 40 years old from Washington state. He, too, has a bracelet, picking his up in 2008. He's a pot-limit Omaha player, but he's clearly well versed in this game as well. His bio says he enjoys golf, basketball, puzzles, and... armadillo racing.
Tommy Chen is originally from Taiwan, but now living in San Jose, California. He attended UC Berkeley in undergrad, and he was formerly a world-renowned fencer.
Andreas Krause is 43 years old, and he comes from Stuttgart, Germany. He's got about $350,000 in career cashes since he began attending the WSOP in 2000.
Scott Epstein is the local boy from here in Las Vegas, and he's a self-employed poker player. He's cashed 14 times at the WSOP, and this is his third career final table.
Seat 1: Stephen Su
Seat 2: Robert Williamson III
Seat 3: Matt Smith
Seat 4: Chris Bjorin
Seat 5: Rep Porter
Seat 6: Tommy Chen
Seat 7: Andreas Krause
Seat 8: Scott Epstein
We didn't catch what happened as the players moved to the secondary feature table and started play right away while we were still writing up the previous eliminations that happened so quickly. However we can confirm that Gerard Rechnitzer was eliminated on the first hand of play at the unofficial final table by Chris Bjorin . This means that the eight remaining players have made the official WSOP final table.
George Lewis brought in, Robert Williamson completed and Rep Porter and Lewis called. Porter led out on fourth and received a call from both of his opponents. Porter bet again on fifth and Lewis went all in for not much more. Williamson got out of the way and Porter made the call.
Porter held a ten-seven low at the time while Lewis was drawing to an eight-low. Porter paired his on sixth which changed nothing for him and Lewis also hit a to make him a ten-eight low that was still behind. Porter hit another on seventh that still changed nothing and Lewis would be eliminated unless he caught a better ten-low. Unfortunately for him, he hit another to pair up and was eliminated as the unofficial final table bubble boy.
Gerard Rechnitzer completed with a , and Mikhail Smirnov raised to two bets with a . Right behind him, Stephen Su reraised to three bets also showing a , and that drew a long pause from Rechnitzer. he only had about 80,000 chips left behind, if that. But Smirnov had even less. Rechnitzer called the floor over to ask how the payouts would be awarded if they were both eliminated on the same hand. With his bigger stack, of course, Rechnitzer would be in line to receive the higher payout if that occurred, and it was a difference of more than $3,000 they were discussing. After some deliberation, Rechnitzer elected to duck out of the way and let the other two go at it. Smirnov reraised for the extra 2,000 he had behind, and the boards were run through.
Smirnov:
Su:
Smirnov drew pretty poorly and could only manage a ten-low, but he was still in front of Su's first six cards. His river was a timely , though, giving him the pot and the knockout.
It's not so timely for Smirnov, sent to the rail in 11th place for nearly $12,000. Rechnitzer has locked up that pay bump.
Robert Williamson III called with a , and Rep Porter did the completing showing a . Next door, George Lewis made it two bets to go, and both Williamson and Porter called to proceed. Lewis would call a bet on fourth, but that's as far as he'd go.
Williamson: (X)(X) / / (X)
Porter: (X)(X) / / (X)
Porter had the betting lead the whole way, and he bet it the whole way. On fifth street, Porter's bet drew an unusually long pause from Williamson, but the rest of the hand played out at a normal pace. At showdown, Williamson's stubbornness paid off. Porter could only show for trips and a king-low, and Williamson's made him the winning seven.
With that big pot, Porter has been reduced down to just 125,000, while Williamson climbs back up around 525,000.
Tommy Chen completed the bring in and Rep Porter called behind him. On all remaining streets, Chen bet and received a call until Porter finally folded on seventh. Although Chen hit a slight bump in the road earlier when he dropped into second, he has been back on top of the chip counts for a while again and is using his aggression to take down many pots.
Andreas Krause completed and then called when Mikhail Smirnov raised. On all remaining streets, Krause led out and received a call until seventh when Smirnov folded. Krause then got out of his chair and yelled out a huge “YES! YES!” as he took down the pot.
/ (X)
for an eighty-six before he mucked. Epstein was down to only 20,000 after the hand.
