Strzemp Stopped
John Strzemp's Day 4 is done. In the context of the WSOP Main Event, Strzemp is of course best remembered for having finished runner-up to Stu Ungar in 1997 at the one and only WSOP ME final table played outdoors.
Today Strzemp entered play with but 27,000 chips. He dropped about a third of that on the first hand after calling a raise then letting go his hand to a flop bet. He folded Hand #2. Then, on the third hand, Nikita Nikolaev opened with a raise to 9,000 from middle position, and Strzemp committed his last 16,500 with a reraise from a couple of seats over. It folded back around and Nikolaev made the call.
Strzemp showed 
, but Nikolaev had the edge with his 
. That edge increased following the 
flop, giving Nikolaev a set. The 
on the turn provided hope to Strzemp, but the 
fell on the river, and Strzemp leaves us, having failed in his attempt to score a fourth career ME cash.