The Mouth Flushed

With the crippling of Gene Todd earlier and Mark Weitzman at risk as well, no one here thought Mike Matusow would be the first player to hit the rail. He got in with the best of it against the chip leader, Roy Winston, but in true Matusow fashion, was unable to make his hand hold up.

Winston opened the pot to $230,000 and got a call from Matusow. The flop came A Q 4 and Matusow led out for $325,000. Winston announced raise and Matusow quickly moved all-in. Winston snap-called and tabled A 7 for top pair and the nut flush draw. He would need to improve against Mike's A Q for top two pair.

The crowd was on its feet and the WPT producers were anxiously crossing their fingers as the highest-profile player at the table faced elimination. The turn was the 2, making Winston's flush and the Mouth would need to fill up on fifth street to stay alive. The river was the K though and Matusow is sent to the rail in sixth place. He will take $271,600 for his efforts.

The Bro himself.

Gene Todd Bro'd

Hot on the heels of Mike Matusow is Eugene Todd making his way to the exit. After moving up one spot in the payouts with the Mouth's elimination, Todd moved all-in for $475,000 and got a call from Heung "Scotty" Yoon.

A K for Yoon was racing Todd's pocket treys and the flop came J 9 7. The turn was the 2; Todd was still in the lead, but the river brought the K and sent Gene Todd packing. Considering the crippling he took earlier it's a miracle he made it to fifth place. He will take $325,920 along with him.

Blinds Up

The blinds have been raised and are now $50,000/$100,000 with a $10,000 ante.

Counts

Here are the counts for the four remaining players:

Seat 1	Heung Yoon	$5,350,000
Seat 2	Roy Winston	$7.6 million
Seat 3	Haralabos Voulgaris	$2.5 million
Seat 4	Mark Weitzman	$1.9 million

 

Yoon Brings Bullets to the Battle of the Blinds

It's folded to Heung "Scotty" Yoon in the small blind and he raises to $380,000 total. Roy Winston makes the call from the big blind and the flop comes K 4 3. Both players check and the turn is the 6. Yoon bets out $300,000 and Winston raises to $800,000. Yoon makes the call and the river is the K. Both players check again and Yoon shows pocket aces which are good for the pot.

Another Double for Gene Todd

Gene Todd is battling back from the brink of destruction and is now up to almost $600,000. He gets all-in against Mike Matusow and sees he's in the lead with A 8 against Q 8. The flop comes A 6 3, giving Todd a big lead, and after it bricks out he is good for the double.

Weitzman with the Double

Mark Weitzman's stack had dwindled to less than $1 million but he managed to double up just moments ago. It was folded to Haralabos Voulgaris in the small blind and he moved all-in. Weitzman took a quick look at his cards and made the call. J 9 for Haralabos needed to improve against the A 3 of Voulgaris. The board goes T T 7 6 4 and Weitzman doubles to almost $2 million.

Chip Counts

Seat 1	Heung Yoon	$4,795,000
Seat 2	Roy Winston	$5,115,000
Seat 3	Haralabos Voulgaris	$2,560,000
Seat 4	Mark Weitzman	$1,560,000
Seat 5	Mike Matusow	$2,320,000
Seat 6	Gene Todd	$475,000

 

Small Ball for Voulgaris

Haralabos Voulgaris opens to $200,000 from UTG+1 and gets a call from Heung Yoon in the big blind. The flop comes down 7 4 3 and after a check from Yoon, Voulgaris makes it $290K to go. After a short bit of thought Yoon concedes the hand.

On the next hand Haralabos raises to $200,000 from under the gun and gets a call from Gene Todd on the button. The flop comes J 9 6 and both players check. The turn is the A and Voulgaris bets out again, this time taking the pot from Todd.

Haralabos Double-alabos; Todd Crippled

Gene Todd opens from UTG to $240,000 and it's folded to Haralabos Voulgaris on the button who announces re-raise, pushing in an additional $375,000. The blinds get out of the way and it's back on Gene Todd who goes into the tank. After a few moments he announces all-in and the words are barely out of his mouth before Voulgaris says call.

"Aces?" asks Todd. Voulgaris simply nods his head and tables A A. Gene Todd is in terrible shape with A K and will need a whole lot of help. The flop comes T 7 4, a great flop for pocket aces, as most are, and after the board finishes out 3 9 Haralabos has the check mark and Gene Todd is absolutely crippled. Voulgaris and Todd were almost dead even in chips and Todd is left with only $20,000. He'll be all-in in the big blind on the next hand.

The Comeback Kid

Gene Todd was automatically all-in in the big blind for his last $20,000 and Haralabos Voulgaris calls in the cut-off, Mark Weitzman calls on the button and Mike Matusow calls in the small blind. The flop comes out J 8 3 and it's checked to Weitzman on the button who bets out $200,000. Both other players fold and it's heads-up with Todd's tournament life on the line. 6 5 for Mark needs to improve to eliminate Gene.

The turn is the 3, giving Weitzman the flush but filling up Todd's full house and quadrupling him up.

On the next hand Todd is in the small blind and after it's folded to him he moves all-in for $105,000. Yoon calls the extra $25,000 from the big blind and they go to showdown. K J for Todd is in the lead against Yoon's Q 5 and after the board goes A J T 7 5 Todd doubles through.

Those four magic words have been said and we are off to the races. Levels will be 75 minutes long and we've just been informed that the blinds have been rolled back to give these players a bit more play at today's final table. We ended last night late in the $50,000/$100,000 so this amounts to almost two extra levels being added.

First Pot for the Mouth

Mike Matusow took down the first pot of the night, raising before the flop and getting no callers.

Winston with the Muscle

Roy Winston has taken down a sizable pot on just the second hand of the evening. It began with Winston raising before the flop from the button, getting a call from Mark Weitzman in the big blind. The flop came J T 7 and Weitzman leads out for $400,000.

Winston calmly announces raise and makes it $1.4 million to go. Weitzman only thinks for a moment before mucking his hand. Winston flashes the J as he rakes the biggest pot so far tonight.

Linda Johnson has given the crowd their instructions and turned it over to the WPT producer who is announcing the players as they make their entrance. Heung Yoo, who satellited into this event for $200, "The Irrepressible" Mike Matusow, professionals Roy Winston, Mark Weitzman and Haralabos Voulgaris and, repping the East Coast, Gene Todd, bro.

Despite the 5 p.m. start time having come and gone already without any action, the cards should be in the air in the next few minutes. Stay tuned for photography, live updates and superfluous commentary.

The players are mic'd, makeup'd and ready to make their entrance to today's television final table. Here are the counts at the evening's onset. Play should be getting underway momentarily.

Seat 1	Heung Yoon	$3,090,000
Seat 2	Roy Winston	$5,335,000
Seat 3	Haralabos Voulgaris	$1,465,000
Seat 4	Mark Weitzman	$1,750,000
Seat 5	Mike Matusow	$2,965,000
Seat 6	Eugene Todd	$2,190,000

 

The final table for this year's Borgata Poker Open is just moments away as players make their way to the tables to de-bag their chips and get mic'd up for the evening's festivities. After more than four hours of seven-handed play last night we finally got the final elimination of Day 4. It was John Kranyak out in seventh, a shame since the young player's uber-aggressive style would have been great fun to watch on the tube.

The final six still include some characters though with Mike Matusow, Eugene Todd and Haralabos Voulgaris counted among their numbers. Stay tuned for beginning-of-day chip counts followed by all the action as it happens here in the Borgata Event Center.