Elio Fox Leads WSOPE ME Final Table; Cody, Moorman, Silver Among Final Eight

Poker News / Short-Stacked Shamus / 19 October 2011 / Leave a Comment

Elio Fox stacked up the most chips among the final eight players at the end of Day 4 of the 2011 WSOP Main Event (Photo: PokerNews)

A whopping €3.89 million of the prize pool still remains to be divided up among the final eight, with €1.4 million of that due the winner.

Just eight are left from the record-setting starting field of 593 at the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event in Cannes, France. Elio Fox of the U.S. ended Day 4 bagging the most chips with just a touch under 4 million. Meanwhile three Brits remain among the final eight -- Jake Cody (2nd), Chris Moorman (4th), and Max Silver (6th).

There were 25 left when play began on Wednesday. The short stacks were the unsurprising early casualties, among them Tony G (24th), James Schafer (22nd), and Erik Seidel (21st). It was the Ukrainian Alexander Dovzehnko who took out Seidel, using Ah-Qh to overcome the eight-time WSOP bracelet winner's Kd-Jd.

John Eames was next out in 20th, earning 37,000 as well. After getting most of his stack claimed by Patrik Antonius, Eames doubled up once before finding himself all in with Kd-10c against Silver's Qh-Qd. The board came 10h-Js-5s-7c-9s meaning Silver's queens had held and Eames's day was done.

Not long after another Englander, John Duthie, was out in 18th, having fallen victim with Qc-9c to Amir Lehavot's As-Qs. Duthie was followed by the Italian Dario Sammartino in 17th, knocked out by chip leader Silver. Each of these first eliminations of Day 4 took home €37,000 for their efforts in Cannes this week.

At that point the remaining 16 players took their dinner break before moving to a different room in the Hotel Majestic Barrière. Silver had the most chips to move with nearly 3.5 million, followed by Moorman (2.1 million), Levahot (1.85 million), and Brian Roberts (1.42 million). Meanwhile Arnaud Mattern, Thibaud Geunegou. and Cody were on the shortest of stacks, with Cody 16th of 16.

But the shorties weren't ready to quit just yet. Cody would soon score a big triple up (through Silver and Antonius) to put himself right back in the hunt. Then Geunegou would also triple up, and Mattern followed by doubling through Lehavot to climb out of the danger zone as well.

Meanwhile came more eliminations. First the American Michael Drummond went out in 16th. Then Lehavot, after being crippled by Moritz Kranich who rivered a king with his Ad-Kh to crack Lehavot's pocket queens, was wiped out in 15th by Andy Moseley.

Both Drummond and Lehavot earned €43,000. They were followed to the rail by Steven Moreau (14th) and Moseley (13th), both taking away €53,000. The last four eliminations of the night then occurred in rapid fashion.

First Guenegou, having slipped back to short-stacked status, was knocked out in 12th (€67,500) by Fox when his Qh-8d failed to catch versus Fox's pocket eights.

Then came a huge double-knockout of Dovzhenko (11th, €67,500) and Mattern (10th, €90,000), the pair vanquished simultaneously by Fox. It was a three-way all in before the flop, with Mattern holding Ad-As, Dovzhenko Ah-Ks, and Fox 10c-10s. The flop came 9c-10d-6d, giving Fox a set. Then the Kd turn provided flush hopes for Mattern. But the river was the 7s, and they were down to nine.

Antonius had the short stack then, and soon was all in before the flop against both Shawn Buchanan and Moorman. Those two battled for a side pot as the board came Qh-7h-4s-Jc, with Moorman eventually getting Buchanan to fold. Antoinus turned over Ah-10s and was still drawing live versus Moorman's As-Ac. The river then came the 9c, sending the Finn out in ninth for €90,000.

That big double-KO helped propel Fox to the top of the counts by day's end. Meanwhile, one-time short-stack Cody managed to chip all of the way up into second. Here's how they stack up overnight:

1. Elio Fox (United States) -- 3,990,000
2. Jake Cody (United Kingdom) -- 2,685,000
3. Dermot Blain (Ireland) -- 2,405,000
4. Chris Moorman (United Kingdom) -- 2,230,000
5. Brian Roberts (United States) -- 2,000,000
6. Max Silver (United Kingdom) -- 1,825,000
7. Moritz Kranich (Germany) -- 1,660,000
8. Shawn Buchanan (Canada) -- 1.015,000

While the U.K. enjoys a decent shot at scoring a second-straight WSOPE ME bracelet with three left among the final eight, last year's winer James Bord will be hoping to fade the two Americans still in the running thanks to his offer to refund losing prop bets on the ME winner should a U.S. player take the bracelet. (Read about Bord's predicament here.)

The final table gets started at 13:45 CET on Thursday with €1,400,000 and the bracelet awaiting the winner.

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