2014 WSOP Day 46: Matthew Haugen Leads Final 291 of Main Event; Phil Ivey Exits
For the first time in the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event, all of the remaining players fit into a single room on Friday. That room was of course the Amazon Room, and it had its share of excitement.
After four and a half levels of play on Day 4, Matthew Haugen bagged the biggest stack in the tournament. Huagen will lead the way into Day 5 on Saturday, when the remaining 291 players will attempt to play down to the final dozen or so tables.
Others bagging big stacks on Day 4 were established poker pros Dan Smith, Griffin Benger and Brian Hastings, all of whom are looking to make their first deep run in poker’s grandest tournament. Here’s a look at the official top 10 heading into Day 5:
2014 Main Event End of Day 4 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matthew Haugen | 2,808,000 |
| 2 | Zach Jiganti | 2,364,000 |
| 3 | Griffin Benger | 2,329,000 |
| 4 | Michael Finstein | 2,316,000 |
| 5 | Bruno Politano | 2,280,000 |
| 6 | Dan Smith | 2,229,000 |
| 7 | Andoni Larrabe | 2,195,000 |
| 8 | Kyle Keranen | 2,157,000 |
| 9 | Brian Hastings | 2,079,000 |
| 10 | Vladimir Bozinovic | 2,035,000 |
Day 4 began with 746 players remaining – only 53 shy of the money – and the bubble was quite the dramatic affair. Former Main Event champ Huck Seed, five-time bracelet winner Allen Cunningham and Barry Hutter were eliminated shy of the money. Then, after the field went hand-for-hand, five tables around the Amazon Room had hands that involved an all-in and a call. Three of the fives hands eliminated players from the field, officially putting everyone remaining in their seats in the money and guaranteeing a payday of at least $18,406.
On the first bubble hand, John Dwyer ran a full house into November Niner Mark Newhouse's quad fives. Zhen Cai followed Dwyer out the door, unable to improve with pocket queens against Darren Keyes' pocket aces. Finally, Kori Hunter's pocket aces were cracked by Harry Kaczka's nine-eight which made two pair. All three of these players made $6,135 and Chai won a high card for a free seat in next year's Main Event.
For more on the money bubble madness, check out this article at PokerNews.com.
Dan Smith surged early in the day when he won a massive pot against Stephen Graner to take the chip lead. Smith continued his domination and increased his lead as the day wore on.
Michael Finstein became a name to remember during Level 17, soaring to the top of the chip counts in two key hands. In Finstein's first key encounter, he made a full house of tens full of nines against Rocky McNatt's nines full of kings. This hand crippled McNatt and Finstein was pushed the 1.75 million-chip pot. Soon after, Finstein climbed the chip counts even higher, making another full house - this time eights full of sixes - to send Lisa Tehan to the rail. Finstein had right around two million in chips after the conclusion of that hand. He finished the day fourth in chips.
It was Haugen, though who stole the headlines at the end of the night. After losing his lead late in the evening, Haugen took it back after scooping a big pot against Timur Margolin. We arrived to the table to see Haugen with 285,000 committed and Margolin had reraised to about 430,000. Haugen reraised all in for effective 1.98 million-ish and Margolin quickly folded, giving Haugen the pot.
Several notables will advance to Day 5, including Leif Force (1.987 million), Martin Jacobson (1.594 million), Simon Charette (1.525 million), Andrey Zaichenko (1.484 million), Matt Waxman (1.453 million), Ankush Mandavia (1.093 million), Jared Bleznick (986,000), Rep Porter (931,000), Mukul Pahuja (827,000), Bryan Devonshire (667,000), Maria Ho (544,000), Jeff Madsen (419,000), and David Einhorn (284,000).
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Ten-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey was one of the big stories of this Main Event after bagging the chip lead on Day 2, but his tournament came to an end on Day 4. In Ivey's final hand, he raised all in over the top of a bet from John Kabbaj on a 9♥9♣2♦2♥ board. Kabbaj quickly called with pocket jacks and was out in front against Ivey's ace-king. The river was no help to Ivey and he was forced to settle for a 430th-place finish.
Other notable eliminations in the money include Randy Ohel (692nd), Olivier Busquet (641st), Ben Yu (611th), Angel Guillen (594th), Vinny Pahuja (575th), Joe Kuether (558th), Daniel Alaei (534th), Phil Galfond (527th), Jonathan Little (490th), Abe Mosseri (455th) and Faraz Jaka (333rd). Also hitting the rail was Ronnie Bardah, who cashed in his fifth WSOP Main Event in a row – a new record.
Play resumes at 12 p.m. on Saturday where the final 291 will play five more levels on the path to the November Nine!
Video of the Day
Griffin Benger dominated on Day 4 of the Main Event. Sarah Grant talked to him during the dinner break about his huge pot, his tablemate Mark Herm and how his friends are paramount to his success.
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