2012 WSOP Main Event Day 4
July 14,2012 : DAY 4 DONE AT WORLD SERIES OF POKER (Update)
Cash bubble bursts as remaining players cheer
The cash bubble at the 43rd World Series of Poker main event popped Friday night, guaranteeing a minimum pay-out of $19,227 for the 666 survivors at that point, and sending home cash-less 24-year-old David Kelley of Mercer Island, Washington, who finished 667th but gets a free seat in next year's main event.
Just short of two hours after the commencement of Day 4 action, players cheered with relief as the money bubble burst with the unusual situation of four bubble boys following four all-ins with 667 players remaining.
That meant the cash-less exit of Kelley and a split pay day for bust-outs David Kelley, Dane Lomas, Desmond Portano and Steve Rosen. Tournament Director Jack Effel announced they would share the 666th-place money and take home $4,806.75 each.
Unusual happenings during the day included a player who accidentally triggered a personal protection pepper spray disguised as a pen, sending neighbouring players into coughing fits and creating a minor disruption, and a protracted break as organisers sorted out some sort of glitch in player counts.
Big names by the dozen fell during Day 4, including remaining previous main event champs Huck Seed and Johnny Chan, who's 353rd-place finish was worth $32,871.
Not so fortunate were some respected names that went out before the bubble burst – Erik Lundgren and Rob Perlman among them.
Well-known players who headed exit-wards during the day included Phil Collins, Vivek Rajkumar, Chris Moorman, Mike McDonald, Christina Lindley, Kyle Julius, Dag Mikkelsen, Lee Childs, Ali Elsami, Justin Young, Shawn Buchanan and Terrance Chan.
Liv Boeree is also out of the competition, along with Brock Parker, J.C. Tran, Ronnie Bardah, Mark Teltscher, Christian Harder, Big One for One Drop winner Antonio Esfandiari (501st), Bernard Lee, Katie Dozier, Jamie Kerstetter, Jason Mercier, Marvin Rettenmaier and Canadian ice hockey star Roberto Luongo, who picked up $19,227 for coming in 634th.
Due to the unscheduled and extended break by the organisers, there were only four levels of play in Day 4.
Paul Volpe had a great day and was first to reach the 3 million chip milestone; although his stack fell back to 2,750,000 by the end of play he is still the chip leader going into Day 5 on Saturday.
Celebrity player and actor Kevin Pollack also gave a good account of himself, showing he is a talented poker player and a great entertainer on whichever table he plays. He currently boasts a stack of around 530,000.
When the chips were bagged at the end of Day 4 there were 282 players left in contention, including stars like Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Selbst, Sorel Mizzi, Eric Buchman and John Juanda.
Still in with a chance are WSOP veterans like Joseph Cheong, Sam Holden, Jamie Robbins, Andrew Lichtenberger, David Baker, Kyle Bowker and JP Kelly.
Top ten chip stacks at the end of Day 4 were:
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
Day 5 starts Saturday with average chip stacks at 701,915 and 282 players at 32 tables.
