Just two days remain in the 2014 World Poker Tour (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic Main Event and the money is starting to get serious. With 18 players left standing (well…sitting), everybody is guaranteed at least $54,850. That price tag will double once eight players are knocked out during today’s Day 5. Leading the charge to the final table is Josh Neufeld with 2,326,000 chips.
After Neufeld, the top of the leaderboard is fairly packed. Six other players have over 1,000,000 chips, including Glenn Lafaye, Chris Moorman, Joe Serock, and Michael Rocco, who have stacks ranging from 1,743,000 to 1,410,000. On the flip side, three players – Heath Mendelsohn, Hasan Habib, and Dan O’Brien – all have below 200,000 chips.
This is almost Neufeld’s largest cash of his career. The Californian has just three trips to the money in live tournaments (thanks to TheHendonMob.com for his tournament records), the largest and latest coming in the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event, where he placed 79th for $88,070. His other two cashes bring his lifetime earnings to just over $100,000.
One of Neufeld’s biggest hands of Day 4 came at the expense of one of the previous day’s headliners, Jennifer Tilly. In the hand, Neufeld raised pre-flop to 26,000 and Tilly called. On the flop of 9♣-6♠-2♥, Neufeld bet 30,000 and then called when Tilly raised to 90,000. The turn was the A♥ and this time Neufeld check-called a 150,000 chip bet from Tilly. Neufeld changed it up on the river, betting 450,000 when the K♥ was dealt. Tilly took some time to ponder her action, but finally decided to call. Neufeld revealed pocket Kings for the lucky rivered set, while Tilly mucked her hand.
Josh Neufeld was already the chip leader before that hand, but that took him up to 2,700,000, more than twice the chips of anyone else in the tournament. Jennifer Tilly was eliminated shortly thereafter.
Perhaps Neufeld’s most significant hand came earlier, though, in a big three-way all-in. He, Kumar Parminder, and Jesse Yaginuma were in a three-bet pot and saw a flop of J♠-5♥-4♠. Yaginuma checked, Parminder bet 125,000, Neufeld called, and then Yaginuma decided to shove for 437,000. Parminder then moved all-in over the top for 519,000. Neufeld put his tournament life at risk, calling for 516,000.
Neufeld had the best hand, holding 5♣-5♠ for middle set. Yaginuma had A♦-J♦ for top pair, while Parminder had A♠-K♠ for the nut flush draw. The turn was the K♥, not really changing much despite pairing Parminder, and the river was the 5♦, which gave Neufeld quads and close to a triple-up. Parminder was crippled and Yaginuma, the chip leader going into the day, was eliminated in 33rd place.
Today the tournament will run until just six players are left, setting up Thursday’s final table at the Commerce Casino.
2014 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic Main Event – Day 4 Chip Counts
1. Josh Neufeld – 2,326,000
2. Glenn Lafaye – 1,743,000
3. Chris Moorman – 1,731,000
4. Joe Serock – 1,596,000
5. Michael Rocco – 1,410,000
6. Adam Friedman – 1,244,000
7. Patrick Bruel – 1,039,000
8. Michael Pickett – 847,000
9. Erkut Yilmaz – 689,000
10. Ludovic Assouline – 672,000
11. Tab Thiptinnakon – 640,000
12. Kazu Oshima – 516,000
13. Allen Pock – 452,000
14. Alexandru Masek – 402,000
15. Huy Lam – 359,000
16. Heath Mendelsohn – 184,000
17. Hasan Habib – 162,000
18. Dan O’Brien – 129,000
