WSOPE 2008 - Day 6 Recap

The Empire opened its doors once more today to host the thrilling finale to the £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. competition, and eight whole levels of the always action-packed £5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event played out too.

Through the doors poured the usual throng that accompanies the World Series: star names, bright-eyed young hopefuls, a few wanton gamblers and of course a starstruck gathering of railbirds, keen to watch history unfold as the second bracelet of the Series was handed out.

The H.O.R.S.E. tournament went on deep into the nether regions of the previous night, but despite the late finish, the field was unable to play down to the final eight last night, so 12 hopefuls returned to do battle and play to a finish.

The loss of Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu last night had removed two of the favorites and blown the field wide open. The door had been left ajar for some of the lesser-known players to sneak in and snatch glory.

Raul Paez: Early casualty.

It was some of these less-celebrated players who would fall first, however. Raul Paez was the very first, the Spaniard falling in the Omaha/8 to one of the big names still present, Howard Lederer. He picked up £6,188 for his troubles.

Next to fall was Yuval Bronshtein, who showed his consistency by following up a final-table performance in the parallel event last year by a 10th place here. He was knocked out just short of the final table this year by none other than Phil Ivey, and won £6,875 in the process.

The final-table-bubble slot was filled by Eric Albinsson, Jeffrey Lisandro doing the damage in the Stud/8, his tens-up too good for Albinsson's sixes-up. He collected £6,875 for his ninth spot, small consolation for just missing out on a final-table berth.

With all the final-table participants decided, the lineup and chip counts looked like this:

Seat 1  Sherkhan Farnood $88,000
Seat 2   Phil Ivey $139,000
Seat 3   Spencer Lawrence $113,500
Seat 4   Jeffrey Lisandro $170,000
Seat 5   Ivo Donev $65,000
Seat 6   Jeff Duval $136,000
Seat 7   Howard Lederer $212,500
Seat 8   Mark Gregorich $104,000

The stacks were all relatively even and it took some time before we witnessed the first casualty.

Stud/8 was the variant which proved to be Spencer Lawrence's downfall. He made sixes-up three-way with all his chips in the middle, but Jeff Duval's kings in the hole matching up with tens on board made kings-up, to knock Lawrence out in eighth spot for £8,938.

Duvall: Sixes-up no good, bro!

The earlier caginess dissipated rapidly during an eventful Level 16, where three quick eliminations threw a cat among the pigeons. First off, Jeffrey Lisandro ran his jacks into Lederer's straight in the Hold'em, bouncing out one of the favorites in seventh for £11,000.

The shortening of the field and bust-out of one of the favorites should have played into the lurking Phil Ivey's hands, but that wasn't to prove the case. Phil experienced a roller-coaster ride of a final and he had one downswing too many, Mark Gregorich making queens-up in the Stud to bust Ivey in sixth for £13,750.

You would expect busting Ivey to be a springboard to better things and a huge boost in confidence, but the opposite seemed to be true for Gregorich, as he himself busted out quickly after Ivey. He failed to push Farnood off an underpair in the Hold'em variant, and was left high and dry on the river with just A-J high, which sent him to the rail with £17,188 in winnings.

Bracelet No. 6 on ice.

Howard Lederer was the last of the big names still in the competition and he dusted off Jeff Duval in fourth place when his flush and A-4 low were good for the scoop. Duval collected an even £20,000 for busting out fourth.

Three-handed, Howard Lederer, as the most experienced player, was the favorite in most eyes, although an evenly balanced short-handed game swung every player's way at some point.

Eventually it was actually Lederer who succumbed first, double-teamed by Donev and Farnood in a three-way pot, split between the pair. Lederer collected £30,250 for third.

In character for the tournament, the heads-up game for the bracelet was a long-drawn-out affair. At one point the temperature was raised to the point where Farnood became involved in an altercation with a spectator, whom he tried to pay £50 to leave.

The Professor fell just short.

After ripping up his note and throwing it in his face, the woman was escorted from the area, leaving the players free to continue the poker battle.

And it was Farnood who would be victorious, crippling Donev in the Stud/8 by making a higher straight and low to beat Donev's straight. He finished him off soon afterward, Donev collecting £48,125.

So it was Sherkhan Farnood from Afghanistan who took the bracelet and the not-inconsiderable first prize of £76,999 though. Congratulations to Sherkhan on his performance.

We were all going crazy in there, just not as crazy as her!

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The £5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha was the third event to be played out at this year's WSOPE and once again the field was filled with the cream of the poker world, with 165 players contributing to a hefty prize pool of £825,000.

There was a noticeable distinction between the slow, drip, drip poker play we had witnessed yesterday in the limit format of the H.O.R.S.E. and the incendiary play that took place in the fiery eight levels at the tables today.

Big names like Patrik Antonius and Daniel Negreanu weren't able to make it through the firestorm, falling in the long list of the day's many casualties.

Deeb: Top of the Omaha tree.

One of the big names, David Williams, held the lead for some of the day, before being crippled in a pot crossing swords with Roy Brindley. Williams was to make an amazing recovery though, finishing the day back in the top 10.

At the final bell, the leaderboard was largely dominated by young guns, with Jason Mercier and Sorrell Mizzi well stacked in the top 10. Leading the way, though, is Shaun Deeb, and when they resume battle at 3 p.m. GMT tomorrow, Freddy's son will be the man to catch.

We hope you'll join us then for our coverage of what should be an equally explosive run-up to the final table.