2008 WSOP Event #46, $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed: Lyndaker Heads Final
Ninety-six players spread around 16 tables began Day 2 of Event #46, $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed, and 15 hours later it was down to the final six. They will return to compete for the top prize money of $911,855 and the coveted WSOP bracelet. Five of the six held the chip lead at one time or another during an action-packed Day 2, with Richard Lyndaker vaulting to the top on the last hand. The short stack, Davidi Kitai, is looking to add a second bracelet to his 2008 Series record.
Going into the final table, here are the seating assignments, hometowns and chip counts of the remaining six:
Seat 1: Sam Trickett (Nottingham, United Kingdom) — 1,000,450
Seat 2: Davidi Kitai (Belgium, Brussels) — 298,000
Seat 3: Joe Commisso (Las Vegas, Nevada) — 1,961,000
Seat 4: Richard Lyndaker (Chaumont, New York) — 2,345,000
Seat 5: Tom Lutz (Dayton, Ohio) — 1,493,000
Seat 6: Edward Ochana (Elgin, Illinois) — 928,000
Jimmy Fricke was an early Day 2 casualty, out before the money bubble burst. It began when "gobboboy" ran his A-Q into Eric Mutrie's A-K on the first hand of the day. The best hand held up and Fricke was down to just 6,000 chips. Fricke then lost those in a race against Mutrie when he went all in with 9♣9♥, against Mutries's K♥10♣, and the board ran out K♣J♠10♥8♦A♣ giving Mutrie two pair.
Also out early was previous bracelet winner Jason Lester. From the small blind, Lester called Ben Hamnett's raise and the two saw a flop of 6♠A♦Q♣. Lester check-raised Hamnett's 6,000 bet an additional 14,000 and Hamnett called. After a 3♦ fell on the turn, Lester pushed for his remaining 51,000 and Hamnett called. Lester showed A♥J♠ for top pair, but Hamnett tabled 6♣6♥ for a flopped set and Lester was drawing dead.
It took over an hour of hand-by-hand play, but finally someone was the unfortunate bubble boy — Johannes Strassmann. Down to 29,000, Strassmann pushed all in from under the gun with A♣K♥, and Jonathan Aguiar called him with A♥J♥. The board ran out 9♠10♥J♦J♣9♥ and Strassmann departed. "You got there, you run good," said Strassmann to Aguiar. Aguiar then pointed out that Strassmann has had his own good run, cashing in some recent WSOP and EPT events.
A number of notables made the cash, but were eliminated before the end of the day. Al Adler, Alan Smurfit, Philip Yeh and Glen Chorny all squeaked by just past the bubble, each earning $8,323. Going out a bit later were Ken Einiger, Nick Binger and Dan Shak, each taking home $9,080. Moving up in the money was Eugene Todd (50th) with $10,972, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott (47th) with $12,107, Tony Hachem (40th) cashing $14,377, and Shannon Shorr (28th) taking home $20,430.
Down to the final three tables, JJ Liu had been nursing a short stack for some time when she moved for her last 46,000 from the cutoff with A♣2♣. The big blind, Steve Ware, called her and tabled pocket sevens. The flop gave Ware a set with 10♣7♣4♠ but also gave Liu the flush draw. The turn and the river came 3♠6♠, no help to Liu, and she was out in 18th place, with $31,781.
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier built up his huge stack in a heads-up skirmish against Tom Lutz. Lutz check-raised him on the 7♠5♥6♠ flop and Grospellier called. Lutz check-called the 3♦ turn and checked again on the A♠ river. This time, Grospellier pushed for his remaining 192,000. Lutz called and Grospellier turned over 9♠8♠ for a flopped straight and a rivered flush. That moved Grospellier up to 570,000. But "ElkY" was eventually knocked out in 16th place when he went all in on a board of J-8-4-7-8 with A-J, only to be crushed by the pocket aces of Richard Lyndaker.
Alex Jacob went all in against Samuel Trickett after a 6-7-7 flop and was behind by one pip, pocket nines to Trickett's pocket tens. Jacob failed to spike a nine on the turn, Trickett instead picked up a third ten on the river, and Jacob was eliminated in 11th place, earning $45,023. Bryan Pope also made it to the final two tables, only to leave short of the final six. He was all in against Richard Lyndaker in a classic race, his pocket fours versus Lyndaker's A-K. Lyndaker spiked a king on the flop to take control, the board ran out K-J-5-2-3, and Pope was out in 10th, for $63,941.
The last seven players battled over an hour to determine the final-table lineup. In the end, Will Failla just missed the final, taking home $82,858 for his seventh-place finish. Failla, on a short stack, moved all in from the big blind and was looked up by Lyndaker. Lyndaker had aces, Failla A-K. The board ran out 9-7-7-9-2, changing nothing, and the final table was set.
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