Jordan Batt open-jammed his last 735,000 from early position, and Danny Wong called on his direct left. The rest of the players folded, and the hands were opened.
Batt
Wong
Batt looked like he was resigned to his fate as the flop fell . The was no help either, but the spiked on the river, doubling Batt to over 1.5 million chips.
Vanessa Selbst, David “ODB” Baker and Greg Merson were the only three players at the start of the day among the top ten in the Player of the Year Race. Unfortunately, the former two have been eliminated from the Main Event and are out of contention for POY honors, at least until the World Series of Poker Europe. With that said, each did earn 75 points to their totals for their deep runs.
Here’s a look at the current WSOP POY standings:
Current 2012 WSOP Player of the Year Standings
Place
Player
Points
1
Phil Ivey
568.70
2
John Monnette
524.25
3
David “ODB” Baker
508.38
4
Phil Hellmuth
500.70
5
Antonio Esfandiari
488.10
6
Michael Mizrachi
486.20
7
Gregory Merson
481.13
8
Vanessa Selbst
463.17
9
Andy Frankenberger
406.66
10
Andy Bloch
405.30
*Greg Merson is still alive in the Main Event & he will earn at least 75 points for his performance, but more if he makes the final table. Those points are not reflected on this chart.
We just saw another dramatic all-in situation over at one of the tables in the Gold section, this one involving three players, with two at risk.
The hand began with Bobby Law shoving his short stack all in for 650,000 from under the gun. It folded to David "ODB" Baker in the cutoff who reraised all in himself for about 950,000. After the button folded, Marc Ladouceur called Baker's reraise from the small blind, the big blind folded, and the three players showed their hands.
Ladouceur:
Law:
Baker:
Three big hands, with Ladouceur's ahead with five cards to come. The flop came , providing Law and Baker with a gutshot to a wheel. The turn was the , and Ladouceur was still in front. The dealer then burned and turned over the river — the — and Ladouceur's kings had held.
Both Law and Baker were eliminated, and since Baker had the bigger stack before the hand he'll finish 56th while Law finishes 57th, though both earn the same $128,384 payday.
Gaelle Baumann opened to 125,000 from under the gun. Marty Zabib called and it folded to Daniel Strelitz who three-bet to 385,000 from the small blind. Zabib got out of the way and we were heads up to the flop.
The flop came and Strelitz continued out for 440,000. Baumann called and the turn was the . Strelitz pushed out 615,000 and Baumann elected to muck her hand, pushing the pot toward the chip leader.
Percy Mahatan completed from the small blind, Jeremy Ausmus checked his option in the big, and the flop fell . Mahatan led for 100,000, and Ausmus called.
The turn was the , and Mahatan slowed down, checking to Ausmus who tossed out two lavender T100,000 chips. Mahatan quickly check-raised to 400,000, and Ausmus called.
The completed the board, and Mahatan led for 450,000. Ausmus folded, and Mahatan picked up the pot.
Action folded around to Greg Merson on the button and he raised to 125,000, which Russell Thomas three-bet to 310,000 from the small blind. The big blind got out of the way, Merson four-bet 555,000, Thomas moved all in for 2.1 million, and Merson made the call.
Showdown
Merson
Thomas
Merson was ahead with big slick, but the hit Thomas by pairing his eight. What's more, the gave Thomas a flush draw and took away some of Merson's outs. The ended up blanking on the river, and Thomas scored the come-from-behind double.
John Beauprez returned from the dinner break to one of the shortest stacks in the room of 800,000, and before long he was pushing it all in the middle from late position and getting a single caller in Lasell King in the small blind.
Beauprez had and King , and after the board ran out , King's hand was best, sending Beauprez to the rail in 58th place.
In the modern-day poker era (2002-present), only three players have finished in the top 50 the year after they reached the World Series of Poker Main Event final table. Those three players are Dan Harrington, Greg Raymer and Dennis Phillips.
Player
Year
Result
Dan Harrington
2003
3rd - $650,000
2004
4th - $1,500,000
Greg Raymer
2004
1st - $5,000,000
2005
25th - $304,680
Dennis Phillips
2008
3rd - $4,517,778
2009
45th - $178,857
The reason PokerNews brings this up is because last year, Sam Holden made the WSOP Main Event final table. He went on to finish in ninth place for $782,115 and is on the brink of getting into the top 50 this year in his back-to-back run.
Holden is one of the 58 players returning to play after the dinner break and has 1.995 million in chips. That's below the 3.4-million average, but a Holden's very much still in the race. One thing is for sure, he knows what it's like to get this deep and has experience on his side.
Only a few more eliminations to go and Holden will be in the top 50, so be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all of the updates. Earlier in the day, our very own Sarah Grant caught up with Holden to talk about his second deep run in as many years and you can check that interview out below.
![[user101598]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. The 
was no help either, but the 
spiked on the river, doubling Batt to over 1.5 million chips.
, and Ladouceur was still in front. The dealer then burned and turned over the river — the 
— and Ladouceur's kings had held.
and Strelitz continued out for 440,000. Baumann called and the turn was the 
. Strelitz pushed out 615,000 and Baumann elected to muck her hand, pushing the pot toward the chip leader.
. Mahatan led for 100,000, and Ausmus called.
, and Mahatan slowed down, checking to Ausmus who tossed out two lavender T100,000 chips. Mahatan quickly check-raised to 400,000, and Ausmus called.
completed the board, and Mahatan led for 450,000. Ausmus folded, and Mahatan picked up the pot.
ended up blanking on the river, and Thomas scored the come-from-behind double.
and King 
, King's hand was best, sending Beauprez to the rail in 58th place.
