WSOP ME Day 4 - Key Hands and Eliminations

News / Chris Edwards / 12 July 2008 / Leave a comment

David 'Raptor' Benefield is making a great run in this years Main Event. He won a huge pot when he called a preflop raise from the small blind along with 3 other players. The flop came 8s 7s 5h and Benefield called one players bet, with the other two players folding. The turn bought the Jd and after Benefield checked his opponent moved all in. Benefield instantly called with 9s 6s, the nut straight and a flush draw. His opponent held QQ and was drawing dead. Benefield raked in the pot which was a massive 980,000. Asked how he feels about making it deep in the main event, he said 'I'm not getting excited yet, but I feel pretty good.'

Phil Hellmuth battled his way through day 4 but, as usual, made no new friends. He went on a downwards spiral after losing a huge pot. In the BB, Phil made a raise after the action was folded round to the SB who completed and then called. The flop came Ah 5h 2s and the SB checked with Phil making a bet, which he told his opponent 'was a bluff' and got a call. The Ad fell on the turn and the SB bet with Phil raising and getting a call. Both players checked the 6c river and Phil tabled Kh 10h for a missed nut flush, with his opponent showing 7h 5d for second pair. Phil was not happy, screaming 'No he didn't! He called a raise with 5-7 from out of position, that idiot from Northern Europe.' Phil would lose the next two hands he played, but then double up when his A5 made trips 5's against top pair.

Gus Hansen is doing well again this year after a deep run last year. He won an enormous pot when he raised and then called a reraise before the flop. On a flop of As Tc 5h Hansen smooth called his opponents bet. The turn was the 9c and Hansen bet after his opponent checked and then called his opponents all in. Hansen showed A10 for top two pair and his opponent trailed with AQ. The 7h on the river meant Hansen won the hand and raked in a pot of 1.2m. Before the start of the day Hansen was very happy with his table draw as he had no big stacks and largely unknown opponents.

Here are the chip leaders after day one:

Jeremy Joseph: 3,100,000
Cristian Dragomir: 2,050,000
David Rheem: 2,000,000
Nikolay Losev: 1,800,000
Andrew Rosskamm: 1,800,000
Darus Suharto: 1,700,000
Nicholas Sliwinski: 1,700,000
Mark Ketteringham: 1,600,000
Justin Sadauskas: 1,600,000
James McManus: 1,600,000

Other notable eliminations:

Robert Mizrachi
Johhny Chan
Hevad Khan
Evelyn Ng
Steve Billirakis