Day 4 Ends With Volpe On Top; Many Notables Still in Contention
After another four levels of hard-fought No-Limit Hold’em, Day 4 of what is arguably poker’s most prestigious tournament — the Main Event — is history. When all was said and done, Paul Volpe would stand tall as the Day 4 chip leader with 2,750,000.
Play was scheduled for five levels today; however, players were sent on an extended break at the end of the 17th level so that payouts could be verified. As a result, it was decided that only four levels be played today.
Day 4 kicked off with 720 hopefuls all trying to survive – and thrive – into the money. However, only 666 spots were guaranteed a minimum $19,227 payday.
As expected, the money bubble came shortly after play began for the day. In the very first deal of hand-for-hand play, we witnessed a four-way bubble, which meant each bubble boy would take home a share of a $19,227 min-cash. It was also decided they would play a four-handed single-table tournament to determine who would get a seat in next year’s Main Event.
Among those who managed to cash, but ultimately fall short of the elusive Day 5 include Jason Mercier, Liv Boeree, Brock Parker, JC Tran, Tuan Le, Huck Seed, Terrence Chan, Mike McDonald, Chris Moorman, One Drop Champion Antonio Esfandiari, Maria Ho, Shaun Deeb and NHL goalie Roberto Luongo, who made his Main Event debut and had to settle for a min-cash after running pocket fours into Bryan Vanrijsbergen’s pocket jacks.
Also unable to last the day was Johnny Chan, our last-standing Main Event champion. Chan met his end late in the day after getting all-in preflop with pocket sevens and running into Isaac Baron’s pocket kings. Barron flopped quads on the flop and that was all she wrote for Chan.
By the day’s end, just 282 remained to duke it out on Day 5. Some notables still in the hunt include Erik Hellman (2,216,000), John Juanda (194,000), Kyle Bowker (2,081,000), Gaelle Baumann (1,438,000), Gavin Smith (831,000) and Vanessa Selbst (1,678,000) who spent all of her day at a restricted-access feature table.
Volpe came into Day 4 among the chip leaders and steadily built his stack throughout the day. Volpe was able to score a couple of eliminations, including the elimination of Sean Rice during the last level of play to propel his stack over three million. Volpe would have ended the day with about four million; however, he lost a big pot against Eric Pratt just before play ended.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, many of today's survivors also boast deep runs in prior Main Events. Here is a look at their names, chip counts going into Day 5 and their best prior Main Event results:
| Name | Chip Count | Best Main Event Result |
|---|---|---|
| Perry Green | 304,000 | 1981, 2nd — $150,000 |
| Joseph Cheong | 1,441,000 | 2010, 3rd — $4,130,049 |
| Eric Buchman | 2,070,000 | 2009, 4th — $2,502,890 |
| Marcel Luske | 603,000 | 2004, 10th — $373,000 |
| Jamie Robbins | 1,538,000 | 2009, 11th — $896,730 |
| Andrew Lichtenberger | 1,150,000 | 2009, 18th — $500,557 |
| JP Kelly | 778,000 | 2011, 26th — $302,005 |
Daniel Negreanu also survived into Day 5 with 302,000 in chips. This marks the second year in a row Negreanu has made a deep run in the Main Event. He will undoubtedly be looking to best his 211th-place finish from last year.
RealKidPoker Daniel Negreanu Started day 4 with 22 bbs. I'll start day 5 with 25 bbs. No big deal. Been here before. I'll be tough to bust. That is all.
July 13 2012
Here is a look at our top ten chip leaders going into Day 5:
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Volpe | 2,750,000 |
| 2 | Erik Hellman | 2,216,000 |
| 3 | Dave D'Alesandro | 2,093,000 |
| 4 | Kyle Bowker | 2,081,000 |
| 5 | Eric Buchman | 2,076,000 |
| 6 | Elisabeth Hille | 2,014,000 |
| 7 | Andras Koroknai | 1,971,000 |
| 8 | Amit Zulkowitz | 1,961,000 |
| 9 | Eric Legoff | 1,947,000 |
| 10 | Nicco Maag | 1,899,000 |
The plan tomorrow is to begin at 12:00 PM PST and play a regular schedule of five additional levels.
Be sure to stick with us here at PokerNews as we provide you with all the action from the felt as the remaining field works its way towards a final table!