Hellmuth’s stay at the televised feature table was short-lived. After entering as the second largest stack, “The Poker Brat” hit the rails in sixth place; Hellmuth still pocketed $117,000 for his efforts. With blinds of 10,000-20,000 and an ante of 3,000, Hellmuth called from the small blind pre-flop with pocket queens and chip leader Andy “BKiCe” Seth made it 80,000 from the big blind. Hellmuth raised to 280,000 before Seth shoved all-in. Hellmuth called for his tournament life and was in prime position to double up against Seth’s A-J.

The flop came K-6-5, keeping Hellmuth out in front, and the turn was a ten. Needing to catch an ace on the river to send the decorated industry veteran packing, Seth saw the ace of hearts hit the board, sending Hellmuth out in dramatic fashion. As you’d expect with Hellmuth, his exit was far from quiet. Coverage found on the WPT’s website explains, “Then, Hellmuth steps off the stage, kneels down, and drops down to the floor in a little ball. The other players expected a blowup, but not this. Someone asks if he needs a doctor and Seth asks, ‘Do you think he'll sign my bounty shirt?’” Seth collected his fourth $5,000 bounty of the Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament.

Matt Keikoan was bounced in fifth place from the $10,000 buy-in WPT event. Keikoan shoved pre-flop with A-7 and received a call from Seth, who held pocket nines. Both players made a flush by the river, but Seth’s nines were enough to scoop the pot and send Keikoan out in fifth place for $175,000. It was Keikoan’s first WPT final table appearance.

Hasan Habib, who has reached the final table of the WPT Championship twice, called all-in on a flop of J-2-2 with two clubs, turning over K-10 of clubs for a flush draw. Karr held 4-2 of spades for trip deuces and a jack of spades on the turn improved the tournament’s eventual winner to a full house. The river was the four of clubs, filling Habib’s flush, but he was still sent away $234,000 richer for his wear. Karr pulled away from the pack after scooping Habib’s stack.

Seventy-five hands later, Dan O’Brien committed his 19 big blind stack with just J-2 of diamonds. He was up against Karr’s wired pair of sevens and the flop came 5-5-3. A ten on the turn left O’Brien drawing to a jack on the river, but an eight of spades instead fell. O’Brien boosted his bankroll by $292,000 and Karr held a 5:2 chip lead over Seth entering heads-up play.

Heads-up action at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star event lasted 56 hands. In the tournament’s final pot, Seth pushed before the flop with pocket fours, but ran into Karr’s pocket eights. The board ran out K-10-3-A-A and Karr took down his first WPT title. Seth, meanwhile, recorded his largest WPT cash to date. Here were the final payouts in the San Jose, California poker tournament, which will air as part of Season 8 of the WPT on Fox Sports Net:

1st Place: Mclean Karr - $878,500
2nd Place: Andy "BKiCe" Seth - $521,200
3rd Place: Dan O'Brien - $292,800
4th Place: Hasan Habib - $234,300
5th Place: Matt Keikoan - $175,700
6th Place: Phil Hellmuth - $117,000

Amazingly, Karr was the tournament’s short stack with 27 players remaining. On his comeback, Karr told WPT Live Updates Hostess Jacque following his win, “I was on life support. I got it in good, tripled up, won a few coin flips, and thanks to this great structure… once you get a few chips back, you have a shot again.”

Next up for the WPT is a trip to the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana for the Hollywood Poker Open. The $10,000 buy-in Ohio Valley tournament kicks off on March 20th and will crown a champion four days later.

Hellmuth has made three final tables on the WPT circuit. He finished fourth in the Gold Rush event during Season 1 for $34,000 and took third at Foxwoods during Season 2 for $281,000. Hellmuth returned to the WPT spotlight during Season 6, when he made the feature table of the L.A. Poker Classic, finishing sixth for $229,000. All told, the 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner has $836,000 in career WPT earnings; he’s poised to double that total if he wins at Bay 101.

Hellmuth told WPT Live Updates Hostess Jacque, “The guy on my left, Andy, is a very good player. I’ve had a read on him for two straight days, so that’s been helpful, but he still has the chip lead. If I can get a read on him tomorrow, I have a good chance to win.” On what it would mean to take down his first WPT title in four tries, Hellmuth remarked, “It would mean a lot. I really want to win. It’s what I do. I’ve been working really hard.” Hellmuth alludes to online poker legend Andy “BKiCe” Seth, the Bay 101 Shooting Star’s final table chip leader.

At one point during play on Thursday, Lon Diamond was down to just 17,000 in chips before mounting the comeback of a lifetime. With a stack equivalent to one big blind when play wrapped up on Thursday, Diamond tripled up and then doubled twice more to stay alive. Ultimately, Diamond was the final table bubble boy at Bay 101, finishing in seventh place for $58,000. Diamond called all-in pre-flop with A-Q, but ran into the pocket queens of Seth. The board came 10-9-6-6-8 and the six-handed final table was determined.

Former WSOP Main Event winner Scotty Nguyen hit the rails in eighth place for the same $58,000, baby. Nguyen shoved pre-flop under-the-gun with J-8 of hearts and ran into Seth’s K-Q. The flop came queen-high, keeping Seth out in front, and no help came for the five-time bracelet winner on the turn or river. Nguyen has made a colossal eight WPT final tables, emerging as the champ once.

Poker fans will also recognize Hasan Habib, who owns the second shortest stack entering the Bay 101 final table. Habib finished second in the WPT Championship during Season 2 for $1.3 million and promptly took third the following season for another $896,000. Making his first WPT final table is Matt Keikoan, who took seventh in last season’s Legends of Poker for $140,000.

To go from 11-handed to 10-handed action took five hours. Here are the six players remaining in the 2010 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star event:

1. Andy “BKiCe” Seth - 2,164,000
2. Phil Hellmuth - 1,433,000
3. Dan O'Brien - 1,129,000
4. Mclean Karr - 1,112,000
5. Hasan Habib - 455,000
6. Matt Keikoan - 371,000

When play resumes in San Jose, California, the blinds will be 8,000-16,000 with an ante of 2,000. Nearly two hours will be played at this level before the price of poker increases. Players who found the exit on Thursday were:

7. Lon Diamond - $58,600
8. Scotty Nguyen - $58,600
9. Brian “tsarrast” Rast - $38,000
10. David Forster - $38,000
11. “Miami” John Cernuto - $29,300
12. Dan Gamon - $29,300
13. Nick Schulman - $23,400
14. Chau Giang - $23,400
15. Joseph “BigEgypt” Elpayaa - $23,400
16. Tim McDermott - $23,400
17. Lars Elmoe - $23,400
18. Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka - $23,400
19. Vanna Tea - $20,500
20. John Monnette - $20,500
21. Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo - $20,500
22. Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little - $20,500
23. Taylor Raines - $20,500
24. Tom Marchese - $20,500
25. Thuy Phan - $17,600
26. Ted Jivkov - $17,600
27. Kafir Nahum - $17,600

Each of the six players remaining is assured a payday of $117,000, twice what the tournament’s seventh and eighth place finishers received. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT results.

It’s hard to believe. Hellmuth holds the record for number of bracelets won and has made three WPT final tables. However, one accolade the decorated poker pro lacks is a WPT title. After a two-year hiatus from reaching a final table on the roving tournament series, Hellmuth is poised to buck the trend by leading the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star event after two days of play.

Hellmuth told WPT Live Updates Hostess Jacque following Wednesday’s action, “It feels pretty good. I played about as well as I could play today. I had a huge hand against [Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka]. He’s a great young player and has so much talent. He moves his chips so well and the only way I could beat him was to try to play tight.” In a key hand between the two, the final board read J-J-4-3-Q and Hellmuth led out for 21,000. Jaka made the call and Hellmuth showed Q-J for a boat. Coverage found on the WPT’s website explained, “Jaka didn't appear to expect such a strong hand, and he says with sincerity, ‘Wow! Nice hand,’ as he mucks his own cards.”

Hellmuth’s competition was anything but soft on Day 2. The feature table included Hellmuth, Jaka, Andy “BKiCe” Seth, Unabomber Poker’s Phil Laak, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, Tyler “brainwash” Cornell, J.C. Tran, and Day 1B chip leader Eugene Katchalov. Jaka doubled through Katchalov early on after his pocket queens caught a set against Katchalov’s pocket aces. Jaka ended with the seventh largest stack at 332,500, with Hellmuth amassing 550,000 chips during two days of play.

Seth, an online poker legend, busted Shooting Stars in back-to-back hands at the feature table to collect a pair of $5,000 bounties and autographed shirts. Tran was all-in with K-5 of spades on a board reading K-8-5-10 for top and bottom pair. However, Seth flipped over a wired pair of eights for a set. Tran shouted for a king on the river to stave off elimination, but a seven fell.

On the very next hand, 2007 WSOP Main Event champ Jerry Yang called all-in with pocket fives on a board of 9-5-2. However, he was the victim of a set-over-set situation, as Seth showed pocket nines. The board filled out 10-4 and Seth claimed his second straight Shooting Star bounty. The youngster will enter Day 3 with the third largest stack at 453,000.

The money bubble burst on Wednesday with the elimination of Michael Cooper in 37th place. Cooper ran pocket tens into the pocket aces of Scotty Nguyen. Then, a bevy of bust outs occurred, including Mohsin “chicagocards1” Charania in 34th place, Steve “gboro780” Gross in 33rd place, and PokerXFactor instructor Chris “Fox” Wallace in 28th place. Twenty-seven players survived to see Day 3:

1. Phil Hellmuth - 550,000
2. Hasan Habib - 496,000
3. Andy “BKiCe” Seth - 453,000
4. Dan O'Brien - 439,000
5. Matt Keikoan - 426,500
6. Nick Schulman - 381,500
7. Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka - 332,500
8. Brian “tsarrast” Rast - 322,000
9. Chau Giang - 307,500
10. David Forster - 305,500
11. Joseph “BigEgypt” Elpayaa - 302,000
12. Vanna Tea - 279,000
13. Lon Diamond - 242,000
14. Lars Elmoe - 216,000
15. Taylor Raines - 198,000
16. John Monnette - 179,000
17. Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little - 177,500
18. Dan Gamon - 170,500
19. Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo - 154,000
20. “Miami” John Cernuto - 134,500
21. Scotty Nguyen - 132,500
22. Tom Marchese - 117,500
23. Ted Jivkov - 105,500
24. Tim McDermott - 80,000
25. Thuy Phan - 78,000
26. Kafir Nahum - 73,000
27. McLean Karr - 30,500

When play wrapped up on Wednesday night, the blinds were 1,500-3,000 with an ante of 500. Each player remaining is assured at least $17,000 and today’s action will conclude when the six-handed final table is determined. The survivors will battle on Friday for an $878,000 top prize. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT results.

Katchalov finished with 131,500 chips, which will be the third largest stack after the survivors of Day 1A and Day 1B are combined for Day 2. When the cards hit the air today in the West Coast casino, 126 players will be seated. Overall, the tournament drew 333 entrants, down 15% from last year’s tally of 391. In 2009, Kathy Liebert took second to Steve Brecher and heading into Day 2, another female leads the way, Vanna Tea.

Shooting Stars, who have $5,000 bounties on their heads, doubled up left and right to close play on Tuesday at Bay 101. Full Tilt Poker front man Howard Lederer was all-in with A-J of diamonds and up against pocket kings, but flopped one jack and turned trips to advance to Day 2. Lederer will have a stack of 20,600 chips when play resumes, the 109th largest tally.

Also doubling up late in the day was 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Jerry Yang, whose 74,300 chips make up the 27th largest stack. Yang is fresh off an Elite Eight appearance in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, where he fell to eventual champion Annie Duke.

Not as fortunate was 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event winner John Juanda, whose pocket fours could not hold up against the A-K of Tyler Cornell. When the smoke cleared, Cornell made a Broadway straight to collect Juanda’s $5,000 bounty and autographed Shooting Star shirt.

Also falling short on Day 1B was Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari, who was all-in pre-flop with a wired pair of nines against the pocket kings of Betfair pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi and the A-3 of another player. The board ran out J-8-8-5-3, ultimately giving Mizzi a king-high flush, and Esfandiari was relegated to the rails. "The Magician" had tripled up earlier in the day with pocket kings against A-K and pocket nines. Meanwhile, Mizzi busted two players in the hand and owns the ninth largest chip stack entering Day 2.

UB.com pro and 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth was all-in on a flop of J-5-3 with two spades holding A-Q of spades for the nut flush draw and two overcards. His opponent held 4-5 for a pair. The turn came a queen, saving the day for “The Poker Brat,” and a harmless nine fell on the river. Hellmuth ended the day with a stack of 62,800 chips, the 42nd largest tally in the WPT tournament. His talented company at Table 22 on Wednesday will include Phil Laak, Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, and Corwin “mig.com” Mackey. Talk about a tough draw.

Here are the top 10 chip stacks in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star event as play enters Day 2:

1. Vanna Tea – 143,900
2. Greg “FBT” Mueller – 132,800
3. Eugene Katchalov – 131,500
4. Timothy McDermott – 118,100
5. Grantland Hillman – 115,100
6. David Sands – 106,900
7. Oddie Dardon – 105,500
8. Scotty Nguyen – 99,900
9. Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi – 97,600
10. Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko – 97,600

The winner of the event will take home an $878,000 grand prize, with the top 36 players finishing in the money. Here are the payouts for the six-handed feature table:

1st Place: $878,500
2nd Place: $521,200
3rd Place: $292,800
4th Place: $234,300
5th Place: $175,700
6th Place: $117,000

Other notable names appearing in the top 50 after two starting days include:

13. J.C. Tran – 93,100
15. Hasan Habib – 89,700
16. Nick Schulman – 88,100
18. Scott Montgomery – 84,800
19. Chris “Fox” Wallace – 84,100
26. “Miami” John Cernuto – 76,700
27. Jerry Yang – 74,300
30. Phil Laak – 72,700
35. Chau Giang – 68,500
41. Steve “gboro780” Gross – 64,200
42. Phil Hellmuth – 62,800
45. Matt “All In At 420” Stout – 61,000
47. Brandon Cantu – 58,100

The WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament will crown a champion on Friday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT results.

Greg “FBT” Mueller won two bracelets during the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), coming out on top in the $10,000 World Championship of Limit Hold’em for $460,000 and a $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout for another $195,000. Moreover, he made a third final table, taking seventh place in the World Championship of Seven Card Stud for $53,000. All told, Mueller logged one of the most successful WSOP showings in history and is up to his winning ways once again in San Jose, California, the site of Bay 101.

Mueller sent Shooting Star and recent WPT Southern Poker Championship winner Hoyt Corkins out on Monday. The DoylesRoom pro was all-in before the flop with A-K, but Mueller, who is also a Shooting Star, picked up pocket aces. The board ran out Q-8-4-9-9 and Corkins signed over a commemorative shirt. Mueller also laid claim to the $5,000 cash bonus. The former hockey player has the second largest chip stack after Day 1A at 132,800, trailing only chip leader Vanna Tea’s 143,900.

Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko is the reigning WPT Championship winner and also took down the 2009 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event for $1.7 million. In 2008, Timoshenko found the winner’s circle of the Asian Poker Tour’s (APT) Macau Main Event for $500,000. Timoshenko, a Shooting Star, owned the fourth largest stack when play wrapped up for the night on Monday at 97,600. A total of 53 players remained of the 136 who entered.

Timoshenko dropped a portion of his stack late in the day. He led out for 6,900 into a pot of 10,000 on a board reading K-8-4-6-5. Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu made the call and turned over 5-4 of hearts for two pair. Timoshenko had K-J for top pair and was a victim of a less-than-stellar river card. The hand boosted Negreanu to 50,000 in chips, but he ended the day with just 19,600, the 48th largest stack.

The first Shooting Star to depart was T.J. Cloutier, who shoved on a flop of A-J-4 holding pocket queens. Wade Griffith held A-J in the hand for top two pair and Cloutier failed to improve on the turn or river. Griffith finished in 42nd place after Day 1A with a stack of 30,000 chips.

Besides Mueller, Timoshenko and Negreanu, the Shooting Stars who survived the day were Mike Matusow (39th place with 35,100), Freddy Deeb (41st place with 30,800), and Steve Brecher (51st place with 10,800). Here are the top 10 chip stacks after the first of two starting days at Bay 101:

1. Vanna Tea - 143,900
2. Greg Mueller - 132,800
3. Oddie Dardon - 105,500
4. Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko - 97,600
5. Joseph Elpayaa - 87,300
6. Scott Montgomery - 84,800
7. Chris “Fox” Wallace - 84,100
8. Bruce Kramer - 81,200
9. Daniel LaFrance - 79,400
10. Tyson Marks - 74,000

When play wrapped up for the day, the action was in Level 9, where the blinds were 300-600 with an ante of 75. No Shooting Star has ever won Bay 101 since it became part of the WPT in 2004.

As an added bonus, Tea pocketed a $10,000 cash prize for leading the pack after Day 1A; the leader after Day 1B will also collect $10,000. The cards hit the air at 10:45am PT this morning.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT results.

Koroknai earned the largest first place payday awarded so far during Season 8 of the WPT. His prize package included $1.8 million in cash, a WPT bracelet and watch, a Commerce Casino trophy, and a $25,000 entry into the end-of-season WPT Championship, which will play out next month from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Koroknai had a rowdy Hungarian rail during the L.A. Poker Classic’s final table and told WPT Live Updates Hostess Jacque that his plan was to spend his newfound riches.

Koroknai edged out Raymond Dolan heads-up. Michael Kamran, the short stack entering the final table, was the first person sent packing. Kamran moved all-in pre-flop with 10-7 of diamonds for eight big blinds and George Kasabyan made the call with A-J. Kamran picked up a straight draw when the flop came 9-8-5 and turned a seven to take the lead in the hand with a pair. However, Kasabyan hit an ace on the river to end Kamran’s heroics. He picked up $246,000 for his run through the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament.

The second player eliminated was J.C. Moussa, who picked up $321,000 for his fifth place showing. Moussa shoved over the top of a re-raise by Tri Huynh with A-9. Huynh flipped up A-Q and the board ran out 10-6-2-K-5. Huynh made a flush by the time all was said and done and sat with the second largest stack at the table.

Dolan scooped a 2.6 million chip pot shortly thereafter to take the chip lead before a long battle ensued to see who would become the tournament’s fourth place finisher. Kasabyan called all-in with A-7 on a board of A-9-8, but ran into Huynh’s A-9 for top two pair. Kasabyan hit a seven on the turn for one of his outs needed to win the hand, but a river nine gave Huynh a full house. Kasabyan, who hails from Armenia and was rooted on by Chris "The Amenian Express" Grigorian throughout the final table, collected $450,000.

The trio remaining was fairly even in stack sizes following Kasabyan’s exit, but Koroknai doubled through Dolan to claim 60% of the chips in play. On the 93rd hand of final table play, Huynh was bounced after calling all-in with pocket jacks against Koroknai’s A-K. I bet you can guess how this hand ends. A king hit on the flop to send the tournament’s eventual winner out in front and no help came on the turn or river. Entering heads-up play, Koroknai held a 10:1 edge in chips.

Heads-up action lasted all of one hand, as Dolan called off his remaining chips with Q-4 and found himself up against Koroknai’s Q-8 of hearts. The action flop came 10-9-4 with two hearts, giving Dolan bottom pair and Koroknai a flush draw. The turn was a seven, adding even more drama and giving Koroknai even more outs. Sure enough, the king of hearts hit as the jackpot card on the river and Koroknai took down the 2010 L.A. Poker Classic. Here were the final payouts:

1. Andras Koroknai - $1,788,040
2. Raymond Dolan - $1,002,710
3. Tri Huynh - $665,140
4. Gevork Kasabyan - $450,580
5. Jean-Claude Moussa - $321,840
6. Michael Kamran - $246,740

Next on tap for the WPT is the Bay 101 Shooting Star event from San Jose, California. The unique bounty tournament kicks off next Monday, March 8th. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage.

Washington hails from Huntington, West Virginia and is a boxer by trade. If the WPT is looking for a spokesperson for its subscription-based online poker room that Washington qualified through, he may be their man. Washington told new WPT Live Updates hostess Jacque following his win on Wednesday night, “It’s a dream come true. I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. It’s really being able to get out and try to showcase my talent and sit alongside some of the pros and celebs.”

Washington became the first ClubWPT qualifier to make a final table on the roving tournament series and entered the finale third on the leaderboard. Steve Elliott was the first elimination of the night. He called all-in after a raise pre-flop by Neev Baram and turned over K-Q. Baram showed K-10 and the flop came J-J-8, leaving Elliott in prime position for a double up. The turn was a queen, giving Baram extra outs. Sure enough, a bullet hit on the river to improve Baram to a Broadway straight, sending Elliott home in sixth place for $5,000.

Two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Thor Hansen was sent packing in fifth place after moving all-in before the flop with A-6. Washington made the call with just 8-6 and spiked an eight on the flop. No help came for Hansen on the turn or river and the most decorated player at the final table was bumped in fifth place for $10,000. The Season 8 Celebrity Invitational marked Hansen’s first WPT final table.

Five hands later, Baram moved all-in under-the-gun with Q-10 and received a call from Sean Urban, who held A-K of diamonds. The flop fell 10-5-2 with two diamonds, pushing Baram out in front with top pair, but giving Urban a flush draw in addition to his two overcards. The turn was the nine of clubs and Urban spiked an ace on the river to send Baram home. Fourth place in the invite-only WPT tournament was worth $15,000.

Absolute Poker pro and former “Real World: Las Vegas” star Trishelle Cannatella committed her chips with pocket queens on a board reading 8-7-5-5. Washington thought for several seconds before making the call with 6-7 for a pair of sevens and an open-ended straight draw. The river was a four, a dagger for Cannatella, as the card improved Washington to an eight-high straight. Cannatella took home $20,000 in her first WPT cash. She was a guest on the UB.com sponsored poker news show “Poker2Nite” on Wednesday as well. The series airs on Versus.

Entering heads-up play, Washington held a massive 9:1 chip lead over Urban. However, putting him away was anything but easy. Urban doubled up twice in the first five hands to be down just 2:1 in chips. By hand #85 of the night, the two were nearly dead even and 15 pots later, Urban had taken the chip lead over the amateur. Washington finally broke through after calling all-in with K-5 on a board of K-J-10-J-2. Urban sheepishly showed Q-5 for a busted straight draw and, just like that, Washington was a 60:1 chip leader. The ClubWPT qualifier won the tournament on the very next hand.

Here were the payouts from the 2010 WPT Celebrity Invitational:

1st Place: Leron Washington - $100,000
2nd Place: Sean Urban - $50,000
3rd Place: Trishelle Cannatella - $20,000
4th Place: Neev Baram - $15,000
5th Place: Thor Hansen - $10,000
6th Place: Steven Elliott - $5,000

Today, the final table of the WPT L.A. Poker Classic will play out from the Commerce Casino. Andras Koroknai holds a commanding chip lead over the rest of the table, which includes Raymond Dolan, Tri Huynh, Gevork Kasabyan, Jean-Claude Moussa, and Michael Kamran. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage.

Jim Casement was bestowed the title of Final Table Bubble Boy on Tuesday. He shoved pre-flop with A-4 of clubs for 14 big blinds and received a call from Koroknai, who held A-9. The flop came Q-10-5 with one club, leaving Casement drawing to a runner-runner flush or straight. He’d also win if a four hit. However, the board filled out A-2 and the final table of the 2010 WPT L.A. Poker Classic was determined. Casement earned $185,000 for his efforts.

On the 160th hand of the day, about 30 hands prior to his elimination, Casement doubled up Jean-Claude Moussa. The race situation featured Moussa’s pocket eights against Casement’s A-Q of hearts. The board fell 9-5-4-4-J and Moussa doubled up. The Canadian ended the day with a stack of 1.36 million, the fifth largest overall entering the final table. Moussa finished 503rd in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, collecting $25,000 for his efforts.

WSOP bracelet winner Steve Sung was bounced in eighth place from the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. Sung moved all-in over the top of a bet by Koroknai on a flop of 8-2-2. Sung flipped up pocket queens, only to see Koroknai turn over kings. After one of the two remaining queens in the deck failed to hit on the turn or river, Sung was sent packing from the tournament. Eighth place was worth $135,000.

Another big gun was ousted just before the final table bubble, as 2001 WSOP Main Event champion Carlos Mortensen hit the rails in ninth. Mortensen committed his final seven big blinds with A-4 of clubs and received a call from Casement, who held a wired pair of tens. The flop came 9-6-5, all red, and no ace came on the turn or river. “The Matador,” who owns two WPT titles and two WSOP bracelets, earned $100,000 for his five-day run.

UB.com pro and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke was eliminated in 19th place from the $10,000 buy-in WPT tournament. Short-stacked, Duke picked up A-8 and pushed. Timothy Begley made the call from the big blind with pocket fours, which held. Duke, who has never made a WPT final table, earned $45,000. Begley, who turned in a strong run through the L.A. Poker Classic, ended up in 10th place for $67,000.

Who is left, you ask? Here are the chip stacks of the six players remaining in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic:

1. Andras Koroknai - 4,995,000
2. Raymond Dolan - 3,300,000
3. Tri Huynh - 2,565,000
4. Gevork Kasabyan - 2,000,000
5. Jean-Claude Moussa - 1,360,000
6. Michael Kamran - 680,000

In a tournament dominated by American poker players, two Canadians and a Hungarian will head to the final table. Moussa hails from Toronto, while Huynh resides in the home of the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vancouver. Koroknai calls Debrecen, Hungary home. The three American poker players are all from California.

The six-handed televised final table of the L.A. Poker Classic won’t play out until Thursday. Today, the six survivors of the WPT Celebrity Invitational will take to the felts to play down to a champion. The eclectic group of players features former “Real World: Las Vegas” star and current Absolute Poker pro Trishelle Cannatella along with ClubWPT qualifier LeRon Washington. The veteran of the table is Thor Hansen, a dual WSOP bracelet winner. The final table stacks up as follows:

1. Sean Urban - 2,090,000
2. Neev Baram - 1,900,000
3. LeRon Washington - 1,790,000
4. Trishelle Cannatella - 1,540,000
5. Steven Elliott - 1,520,000
6. Thor Hansen - 1,480,000

Thursday’s conclusion of the WPT L.A. Poker Classic gets underway at 4:00pm PT.

Mortensen sent Michael Woo to the rails in 23rd place. Woo pushed all-in on a board of J-8-4-3 with three clubs, flipping over pocket queens. Mortensen made the call and showed pocket jacks for top set. Needing to catch one of the two remaining queens in the deck on the river to stay alive, Woo watched as an ace hit, sealing his exit. He picked up $45,000 for his efforts in the $10,000 buy-in poker tournament.

Thirty minutes prior, Mortensen had doubled up through Raymond Dolan. Mortensen held pocket aces in the hand and Dolan held jacks. The hand boosted Mortensen to 960,000 in chips, kicking off “The Matador’s” last–minute surge to the top of the pack. Mortensen has two WPT titles under his belt. He won the Season 3 Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship for $1 million and also came out on top in the Season 5 WPT Championship for nearly $4 million. He’s second all-time to Daniel Negreanu with $5.26 million in WPT earnings and would become just the second three-time WPT event winner, the other being Gus Hansen.

Mark Newhouse, who held the chip lead entering Day 4 on Monday, finished with the second largest stack at 1.31 million. Newhouse doubled up through Dan “Wretchy” Martin late in the day. On a board of 7-5-3-J-Q, Newhouse pushed all-in for 561,000, nearly the size of the pot, and Martin made the call, flipping up pocket kings for an overpair. Newhouse, however, showed J-7 of spades for a turned two pair, pushing his chip stack to 1.5 million. Martin, meanwhile, dropped to 500,000 after his aces were cracked, but finished the day with 684,000, good for seventh place on the leaderboard.

Also doubling up late in the day was UB.com pro and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke. The top female pro picked a prime spot to shove with A-K pre-flop, as Masa Kagawa called and showed A-Q. The flop came ace-high and no queen came for Kagawa, doubling Duke to 266,000 in chips. She ended the day at 241,000, the second shortest stack in the room next to John Cautela’s 219,000.

Ten-time WSOP bracelet winner Johnny Chan remains in contention and doubled up on Monday with pocket aces against DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins’ pocket kings. The board came 7-7-6-9-8 and Chan moved to 450,000 in chips. He ultimately ended with 406,000, the 17th largest stack entering Day 5. Chan and Doyle Brunson are tied with 10 bracelets each, trailing only Phil Hellmuth’s tally of 11 for most all-time.

When play resumes today at Noon PT at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, the blinds will be 6,000-12,000 with an ante of 2,000. The following 22 players remain in the hunt for the top prize of $1.8 million:

1. Carlos Mortensen - 1,669,000
2. Mark Newhouse - 1,308,000
3. Raymond Dolan - 1,229,000
4. Masa Kagawa - 1,129,000
5. Andras Koroknai - 1,002,000
6. Tri Huynh - 942,000
7. Dan “Wretchy” Martin - 684,000
8. Jean-Claude Moussa - 672,000
9. Steve Sung - 671,000
10. Jim Casement - 609,000
11. Tim Begley - 603,000
12. Gevork Kasabyan - 594,000
13. Jamie Brown - 552,000
14. Mari Lou Morelli - 456,000
15. Dylan Linde - 447,000
16. Bob Kairnes - 421,000
17. Johnny Chan - 406,000
18. Danny Fuhs - 379,000
19. Michael Kamran - 327,000
20. Connor Allisen - 324,000
21. Annie Duke - 241,000
22. John Cautela - 219,000

Each player left is assured a $45,000 payday, while the top nine will take home at least $100,000. Despite the tournament already being down to 22 runners, the final table will not take place until Thursday. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage.

Sunday marked a major day of television viewing for players remaining in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic, which is being held at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. The United States hit a last-second goal to send the gold medal game in the 2010 Winter Olympics into overtime, where Canada ultimately prevailed. By nightfall, Canadian Daniel Negreanu, who held the chip lead in the $10,000 buy-in tournament entering Day 3, watched himself take second to Barry Shulman in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event on ESPN2.

Despite the diversions, Newhouse came out on top of the field after Day 3 with a stack of 498,000 chips. Newhouse sent Danny Wong to the rails on Sunday with pocket jacks against A-K, building his arsenal of chips up to 250,000. Newhouse started the day with a stack of 68,000 and told WPT Live Updates Hostess Jacque, “The biggest pot of the night, I got lucky. I beat two kings with A-K.” The hand occurred against Jason Smith and an ace hit on the flop to send Newhouse’s chip stack flying high.

2010 L.A. Poker Classic Heads-Up champion Chris Moore stole a sizable pot off GoDaddy Girl Vanessa Rousso during Sunday’s action. The flop came 9-4-2 with two diamonds. Rousso bet, Moore put in a raise, and Rousso called to bring a third diamond on the turn. Rousso bet 45,000 and Moore came over the top all-in for 150,000. Rousso tanked before finally folding 5-6 of diamonds for a flush face up. Moore scooped the pot and promptly turned over pocket nines for a set. Thanks in part to Rousso’s donation, Moore owns a stack of 489,000 chips entering Day 4, the second largest tally in the room.

One of the final eliminations yesterday went to Full Tilt Poker front man Howard Lederer, who was all-in with A-K against pocket queens for a classic race situation. The flop came queen-high, giving his opponent a set, and Lederer failed to catch up. Other pros who found the exit on Day 3 included Barry Greenstein, Gavin Griffin, Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar, Jason Mercier, Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Steve Zolotow, Todd Brunson, and Allen Cunningham.

Play ended on Sunday with the money bubble bursting at 72 players remaining. Thomas Fuller, who had been near the top of the chip counts throughout much of the event, was the unfortunate 73rd place finisher. Fuller was all-in pre-flop with A-K, but ran into pocket aces. The flop of Q-Q-10 gave Fuller an inside straight draw if a jack hit, but the board filled out Q-7 and everyone remaining had made the money. The top prize in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic is $1.8 million.

Here are the top 10 chip counts entering Day 4 of the Commerce Casino tournament:

1. Mark Newhouse - 498,000
2. Chris Moore - 489,000
3. Masa Kagawa - 432,000
4. John Cautela - 417,000
5. Shawn Pilot - 400,500
6. Millad Jorshari - 386,000
7. Gevork Kasabyan - 378,000
8. Tim Begley - 369,500
9. Tri Huynh - 353,000
10. Dan “Wretchy” Martin - 335,000

A stacked field of 72 players remains in the hunt for the L.A. Poker Classic title. Other notable names still alive include:

15. Annie Duke - 321,000
17. Carlos Mortensen - 305,000
19. Steve Sung - 285,000
25. Eugene Katchalov - 235,000
29. Daniel Negreanu - 222,500
30. Peter “Belabacsi” Traply - 221,500
32. Johnny Chan - 218,000
35. Prahlad Friedman - 208,000
36. Hoyt Corkins - 206,500
39. Erica Schoenberg - 189,000
47. Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar - 157,500
51. Robert Mizrachi - 139,500
60. Surinder Sunar - 83,500
64. Vanessa Rousso - 46,000
69. Jon “PearlJammer” Turner - 31,500
72. David “Bakes” Baker - 17,000

Sunday also marked the beginning of the $25,000 High-Roller tournament, whose top prize is $425,000. Twenty-three players remain in the event, with Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger and Daniel Alaei out in front after one day of play.