It took an exhausting five-hour heads-up match for the final four to be set, but with the elimination of Marvin Rettenmaier in fifth place, only four players remain in the quest for a WSOP bracelet in Event 6, the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mixed-Max.
Day 3 began with 31 players looking to navigate their respective ways through the bracket. For Warwick Mirzikinian, his path to the the final four was a bit easier than the rest. As the #1 seed to begin the day, Mirzikinian earned a first-round bye and after defeating Ryan O'Donnell and Rettenmaier, his final four ticket was punched. He will face Aubin Cazals, the #5 seed to start the day. Eric Froehlich, Toby Lewis, and Adam Geyer are in his rear-view mirror as he prepares for a date with Mirzikinian.
2010 November Niner Joseph Cheong (the #7 seed) is in search of his first bracelet and after defeating Nabih Zaczac, Brock Parker, and Fabrizio Baldassari, Cheong is in position to capture it. He'll square off against Hugo Lemaire (the #14 seed). The path for Lemaire included wins against Robert Tepper, Aaron Jones, and Randy Haddox.
Here are the matchups with their chip counts for Sunday's Day 4:
Match
Player
Chips
1
Warwick Mirzikinian
1,547,500
vs.
Aubin Cazals
1,475,000
2
Joseph Cheong
1,567,000
vs.
Hugo Lemaire
1,545,000
There will be plenty of room for them to play as the blinds and antes will be at 2,500/5,000/500. Thanks for following our coverage of Day 3 and be sure to join us at 1pm local time Sunday to see who the next WSOP bracelet winner will be!
Warwick Mirzikinian limped blind on the button and Martin Rettenmaier raised to 31,000 from the big blind. Mirzikinian took a peek at his cards and prompty three-bet to 65,000, putting the action back on Rettenmaier.
About one minute passed before Rettenmaier re-raised all in for 255,500 total. Mirzikinian mulled it over briefly before opting to call with . Rettenmaier trailed slightly with , but the flop gave him a huge lead. The turn kept him there, but the smashed down on the river to give Mirzikinian a winning set, ending Rettenmaier's tournament with a fifth-place finish.
Warwick Mirzikinian has employed an interesting strategy during the current level as many times on his button, he has called dark before the cards have even been dealt. It appears to be working to his advantage as he has managed to steadily increase his lead.
In one such hand Rettenmaier checked his option, landing an flop. Rettenmaier led out 11,000, but was quickly called by Mirzikinian. The hit the turn and Rettenmaier fired again, this time for 28,000. Another call from Mirzikinian delivered the river. Rettenmaier checked and proceeded to fold when Mirzikinian bet 75,000.
Once he got his man down on the mat, it wasn't long before Joseph Cheong sealed the deal.
The action began with Cheong raising to 12,000 and Fabrizio Baldassari matching the bet to see the flop. It came , and Baldassari check-called 15,000. This hand would take very much the same line as the crippling hand; Baldassari check-raised the turn again from 35,500 up to 85,000. The filled out the board, and Baldassari bet another 115,000. Just like the last time, Cheong made his river raise, and this one was enough to cover his opponent.
Baldassari seemed to know he was likely in bad shape, but he had little choice by that point. He stuck his last ~140,000 into the middle with , but his two pair were no good. Cheong's had rivered the better two pair, and with it comes the rest of Baldassari's chips.
It was a valiant effort for the Italian, but his run has come to an end here in the Round of 8. His efforts are worth $68,151, and he's just notched his first cash on American soil.
Former November Niner Joseph Cheong is on to the Final Four!
Hugo Lemaire raised from the button, and Randy Haddox defended his big blind to see a flop.
It came , and all the money got in right there. Haddox got snapped off a bit, and his was in bad shape. Lemaire rolled over , and he had his man drawing dead to runner-runner.
The turn ended any drama right there, and the river was a formality. That's all she wrote for "Randers", eliminated here in the Round of 8. That's good for almost $70,000, but it's Hugo Lemaire who's moving on closer to the bracelet.
Aubin Cazals continued to put pressure on the now severely short stacked Adam Geyer and moved to put Geyer all in. Geyer pushed all his chips in the middle and made the call.
Geyer:
Cazals:
After a flop was unleashed on the felt it looked like Geyer would receive the double up he so very needed. A turn heightened these hopes, but a river sealed the deal and Geyer was eliminated.
With around 100,000 in the pot we found Matthew DeLuca betting 200,000 on a board. His opponent Marvin Rettenmaier was visible upset by this bet and went into the tank in order to figure out if he had the best of it. Rettenmaier even proclaimed "I'm really sorry, I might be slow rolling you". With a few more moments of contemplation Rettenmaier made the call and DeLuca quickly mucked. Rettenmaier showed for three of a kind twos, and took in a monster pot.
A couple of hands later we found DeLuca move all in and get called by Rettenmaier.
Rettenmaier:
DeLuca:
DeLuca was pretty far behind, but you never know what can happen. With a flop DeLuca managed to grab hold of a pair of eights, but was still behind. With a on the turn DeLuca started walking away defeated. A river proved Deluca right as he was subsequently eliminated from the tournament.
Brock Parker began his match with Nicolas Levi at a 2.5:1 chip disadvantage. It took him just about a half hour to overcome that and advance.
The key hand played out just moments before the end of the match as a raising war broke out on a flop. After Levi made his bet, Parker check-raised to 21,000. Levi clicked it back to 39,000, Parker shoved, and Levi called with his barely covering stack. The Frenchman was drawing dead to runner-runner.
Showdown
Paker:
Levi:
Parker had flopped the joint, but Levi turned a sweat as the turn gave him outs with one to come. The river was the blank , though, and the pot that pushed to Parker contained almost all the chips on the table.
Just a moment later, the match was over, and Parker is on to the Sweet 16.
. Rettenmaier trailed slightly with 
, but the 
flop gave him a huge lead. The 
turn kept him there, but the 
smashed down on the river to give Mirzikinian a winning set, ending Rettenmaier's tournament with a fifth-place finish.
flop. Rettenmaier led out 11,000, but was quickly called by Mirzikinian. The 
hit the turn and Rettenmaier fired again, this time for 28,000. Another call from Mirzikinian delivered the 
river. Rettenmaier checked and proceeded to fold when Mirzikinian bet 75,000.![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
turn again from 35,500 up to 85,000. The 
filled out the board, and Baldassari bet another 115,000. Just like the last time, Cheong made his river raise, and this one was enough to cover his opponent.
, but his two pair were no good. Cheong's 
had rivered the better two pair, and with it comes the rest of Baldassari's chips.
, and all the money got in right there. Haddox got snapped off a bit, and his 
ended any drama right there, and the river 
was a formality. That's all she wrote for "Randers", eliminated here in the Round of 8. That's good for almost $70,000, but it's Hugo Lemaire who's moving on closer to the bracelet.
flop was unleashed on the felt it looked like Geyer would receive the double up he so very needed. A 
turn heightened these hopes, but a 
river sealed the deal and Geyer was eliminated.
board. His opponent Marvin Rettenmaier was visible upset by this bet and went into the tank in order to figure out if he had the best of it. Rettenmaier even proclaimed "I'm really sorry, I might be slow rolling you". With a few more moments of contemplation Rettenmaier made the call and DeLuca quickly mucked. Rettenmaier showed 
turn gave him outs with one to come. The river was the blank 
