Welcome back to more coverage of the $25,000 WPT World Championship. The first few days of the tournament were filled with star studded names and heartbreaking eliminations. Day 4 of the Championship has been especially exciting because the money bubble burst, and players are going to battle for a first place prize and player of the year points.
Day 4 started with 35 eager poker players and blinds at 4,000-8,000 with a 1,000 ante. Shawn Buchanan had a strong chip lead with over 1.8 million in chips, and an impressive Heather Sue Mercer was second with 1.3 million in chips. Chris Moore and Tony Cousineau were not so prosperous with their accumulation of chips and would have to double up on Day 4 if they wanted a chance at first place money.
Early in the day, seasoned players David Benyamine and Carlos Mortensen battled against each other. Benyamine raised to 25,000 from mid position. Shawn Buchanan made the call from the button, Eric Baldwin called from the small blind, and Carlos Mortensen reraised from the big blind to 98,000. Benyamine made the call, and the other two players moved out of the way. The flop delivered a 9h 8h 3d to which Mortensen lead out for 134,000. Benyamine made the call. The turn was a 3s, and Mortensen moved all in putting Benyamine at risk. Benyamine snap called turning over 8c 8s for a full house. Mortensen showed Kc Kd and needed a king to hit the river to bust Benyamine. The river wasn’t a king. Benyamine doubled to over a million in chips leaving Mortensen with 115,000.
Yevgeniy Timoshenko will not be at the final table to defend his title. He was short in chips with just over 120,000 when he moved in under the gun. Josh Arieh gave him protection by moving in over the top. Everyone else got out of the way. Timoshenko turned over Qs Th against Arieh’s Kh Ks. The board ran out Ac Tc 2s 4s 5s giving Arieh the win.
Heather Sue Mercer found out that you can’t beat lucky. Mercer raised preflop to 40,000 from early position, and Faraz Jaka made a quick decision to raise 110,000. Mercer reraised 300,000 on top to which Jaka moved all in. Mercer made an effortless call and tabled aces. Jaka surprisingly turned over 3d 9s. As fate would have it the flop came 9c 8d 3s giving Jaka two pair. Unluckily for Mercer, she wasn’t able to recover and she was sent home just before the money.
Day 4 wrapped up when the money bubble burst at 18 players. Maroun Jazzar was the bubble boy and was eliminated by David Benyamine. Other eliminations for the day include James Guinther, Chris Moore, James Calderaro, David “Devilfish” Ulliott, and Brian Limke. Faraz Jaka is the chip leader heading into Day 5 with 3.1 million in chips. Here are the final 18 players who will return for Day 5 and their table assignments:
TABLE 1
1. Eric Baldwin
2. Shawn Buchanan
3. John O’Shea
4. J.J. Liu
5. David Benyamine
6. Phil Hellmuth
7. Cliff Josephy
8. Scotty Nguyen
9. Olivier Busquet
TABLE 2
1. Nikolay Evdakov
2. Robert Cooper
3. David Williams
4. Jason Lester
5. Josh Arieh
6. Billy Baxter
7. Faraz Jaka
8. Tony Cousineau
9. Matt Stout
