Day 4 of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event came to an early close Saturday evening, as it took just three levels to eliminate 382 players and break the money bubble. The top 648 players received a minimum of $21,365 and, after some fast play, the tournament staff halted the event with 407 runners left in the field.
The money bubble broke after nearly two hours of hand-for-hand play and Kia Hamadami, a 26-year old financial analyst from Los Angeles, was the odd man out. Hamadami was all-in for his last 500 chips with [4c][3h] on the final hand and couldn’t improve against an opponent’s [9h][2s]. Hamadami wasn’t left completely empty-handed, however, as he received an entry into next year’s WSOP Main Event paid for by sponsor Jack Link’s Beef Jerky.
“I started the day with 280,000 in chips. I had some really tough hands,” Hamadami said after his elimination. “We went like six hands during hand-for-hand and I thought I could make it through, but it didn’t happen. That’s how it goes.
Ultimate Bet pro Phil Hellmuth was among the players eliminated after the bubble broke. Hellmuth’s pocket aces were cracked when a player made a straight on the river, forcing him out of the tournament in 436th place. It was his second consecutive cash in the Main Event after taking 45th last year. Others eliminated on Day 4 included Greg “FBT” Mueller, Hevad Khan, Jesper Hougaard, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, Paul Wasicka, Alexander Kostritsyn, and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson.
Matt “mcmatto” Affleck emerged as the chip leader at the end of the night, bagging up more than 1.8 million after being seated at a table with Mike Sexton and entertainer Lou Diamond Phillips for much of the day. Affleck, a professional poker player from Seattle, bested Phillips in several pots, but the comedian managed to advance to Day 5 with 607,000 chips, well above the tournament average. Sexton was sent home during the last level when his Ace-King was outdrawn by another player’s Ace-Queen. Sexton finished in 420th place, giving him his seventh career cash in the WSOP Main Event.
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier was the chip leader going into Day 4 and built his stack up as high as 1.8 million before losing a good portion of it before the end of the day; he’ll return for Day 5 with 1.25 million. Meanwhile, Phil Ivey continues to wreak havoc on this year’s WSOP, as the seven-time bracelet winner will take his seat with 1.28 million on Sunday. Ivey was at the ESPN featured table for all of Day 4.
Others advancing to Day 5 were Joe Hachem, Dennis Phillips, Theo Tran, Joe Sebok, Kenny Tran, David Benyamine, Kara Scott, Vitaly Lunkin, J.C. Tran, Antonio Esfandiari, and defending champion Peter Eastgate, who ended Day 4 with 397,000 in chips.
Here’s a look at the top 25 stacks going into Day 5, which gets underway at Noon Pacific Time on Sunday:
1. Matt Affleck – 1,819,000
2. Ludovic Lacay – 1,608,000
3. Tom Lutz – 1,600,000
4. James Akenhead – 1,572,000
5. Charlie Elias – 1,540,000
6. Miika Puumalainen – 1,492,000
7. Jordan Morgan – 1,489,000
8. Bernhard Perner – 1,426,000
9. Blair Hinkle – 1,399,000
10. Benjamin Jensen – 1,394,000
11. Billy Kopp – 1,385,000
12. Eracles Panayiotou – 1,299,000
13. Chuck Clark – 1,295,000
14. Abraham Mourshaki – 1,294,000
15. Phil Ivey – 1,276,000
16. Bertrand Grospelier – 1,253,000
17. Kevin Schaffel – 1,206,000
18. Keith Lehr – 1,190,000
19. Ben Lamb – 1,183,000
20. Patterson Tyler – 1,168,000
21. Rifat Palevic – 1,152,000
22. Joe Ward – 1,129,000
23. Nick Maimone – 1,104,000
24. Kasper Cordes – 1,095,000
25. Manuel Labandeira – 1,087,000
