Event 29, No-Limit Hold'em Live Updates

It’s worth noting that there were seven players remaining on the $10,000 Limit Hold’em final table when this heads-up match started. That event is now over, and we’re still in action.

John Phan: A New Hope

John Phan has mounted a comeback of epic proportions, surging into the chip lead in dramatic fashion.

The crowd around our heads-up match swelled to nearly 200 people while the $1,500 NLHE was on break, and everyone who came over got to see a monster hand. Phan raised another $175,000 on the button, and Johnny Neckar decided to move all-in. Phan didn’t take very long to call, flipping A♥ J♠ and finding himself in a commanding position against Neckar’s K♦ J♣.

All that changed when the flop came K♣ 4♥ 2♠, giving Neckar a big lead. The kid didn’t flinch, but the crowd roared. The 4♣ on the turn changed nothing, prompting Phan to call for a little help from the poker gods.

“Give me the ace of diamonds,” he said - and the deck complied, bringing the A♦ and sending his supporters into rapture. He ran over to the cheering throng, slapping hands, while Neckar counted out the chips to pay off the bet. He didn’t move much afterward, but he almost compulsively swirled his tongue around the inside of his mouth, clearly frustrated at having been so close to WSOP glory and fallen short on the river.

After that hand, Phan was up to $2,700,000, while Johnny Neckar was down to $1,500,000. The win gave Phan renewed confidence - he ordered 20 drinks for his supporters and took one for himself, and began repeatedly trying to engage Neckar in conversation. He got nothing from the kid, though, other than the occasional smile or raised eyebrow.

Neckar Strikes Back…

A few hands later, Neckar limped on the button and Phan raised it up to $235,000. Neckar then quietly shoved from the button and Phan went into the tank.

He took his time making his decision, half-standing with one knee on his chair.

“One-point-two-eight-five, right?” asked Phan. The kid gave up nothing.

“This could be it, the last hand,” Phan said. Again, nothing.

“I have a big decision here,” Phan said, drawing a roar of laughter from the crowd. Neckar, meanwhile, sat motionless and stared into the space between himself and the table.

“I can beat king-jack again, you know,” Phan said, looking back at his cards. He flashed the A♥ and then folded.

Revenge of the Phan

After Neckar took that last pot, he kept a tight grip on the proceedings until this big pot came along.
Phan raised to $130,000 before the flop and Neckar called. The flop came J♣ 7♣ 6♣, drawing a check-call from neckar of Phan’s $160,000 bet. Bothmen checked the 4♠ turn and saw the A♦ fall on the river. Neckar checked, and Phan bet $450,000. Neckar didn’t take too long, but he mucked as soon as Phan turned up A♥ 2♠, scooping a big pot.

It’s All Part of My Chip Count Fantasy

Here’s the current status according to WorldSeriesOfPoker.com:

The more time that goes by, the more it looks like John Phan is going to come in second again. It's no-limit, though, so anything can happen. One thing is for sure: the atmosphere is getting much more tense. The crowd watching this match has grown to over 70 people, and both players appear to want the bracelet pretty badly.

Johnny Quest

Johnny Neckar may be playing against one of the better players in the world, but he certainly doesn’t appear to be intimidated. In fact, he has the demeanor of a veteran himself.

Neckar sits completely still unless he’s grabbing chips for a bet. His arms encircle his now-enormous chip stack, hands resting over the top of his hole cards. When he checks he only moves the fingers on his right hand. He’s almost as mechanical as he can get at the table, and the big blue hoodie he’s wearing helps to conceal his breathing patterns as well.

For his part, Phan is playing very methodically as well, taking an extra long time to make his decisions. He’s wearing his signature sunglasses and a baseball cap tilted downward and to the left, which is where Neckar is sitting in relation.

It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing

John Phan had been behind for a little while, but he reclaimed the lead on a big hand without showing down his cards. Neckar had raised on the button to $150,000, and Phan called to see the flop come down A♠ 8♥ 8♣. He immediately led out for $150,000 and his opponent called. The turn came the K♠; Phan checked, Neckar bet $225,000, and Phan called. When the 10♦ hit, Phan check-called Neckar’s $600,000 bet and Neckar immediately mucked.

That hand swung the pendulum back in Phan’s favor, giving him a more than 3:1 chip lead.

Big Double for Johnny

Neckar’s methodical approach is giving up very little information to Phan, which might be part of the reason the Razor made a quick call with top pair earlier. The board read Q♥ 6♥ 4♦, and Phan check-raised Neckar’s $225,000 bet to $450,000. Neckar moved all-in with a quickness, holding A♥ Q♠, and Phan called with Q♣ 9♦. The board ran out A♦ 7♦ and Neckar doubled his stack to $3,100,000. Phan, meanwhile, was down to $1,200,000.

Welcome to the Chip Counts

Two more hands came up before the 10-minute level break that saw Phan bleed a few more chip off, leaving him in desperate straits as we move on up. Here’s the skinny courtesy of WorldSeriesOfPoker.com:

Play is once again underway after an impromptu dinner break, and there’s a growing crowd around the heads-up match between Johnny Neckar and John Phan.

Phan Focused

There’s a big contrast between John Phan heads-up for a bracelet in 2008 and last year.

Last year’s John Phan was raucous at the ESPN final table, downing drinks left and right and getting the crowd fired up. This year he’s not drinking, he’s not paying any attention to the 50-deep crowd of spectators, and he’s in a roped off area with no cameras watching. He is, in a word, focused.

Phan is also wearing his World Poker Open bracelet from 2007, perhaps to remind himself that he’s taken tournaments down in the past and can do it again.

Who's This Kid, Anyway?

Johnny Neckar's biggest live career cash so far was a third-place finish in the Venetian Deep Stack event last summer, good for almost $53,000. He has two other cashes, including a Wynn Classic final table and a 19th place finish in this year's WSOP Mixed Hold'em event. Whatever happens today, this will be the biggest score of his career.

Heads-up Play

Play has been mostly tentative since returning from dinner, with the majority of pots being taken down before the flop. The only pot with real action so far saw Neckar take down a $300,000+ pot on a 10♥ 2♥ 8♣ 4♠ 5♣ board, firing out a $400,000 river bet that Phan took several minutes to decide was too big for his comfort.

Something Happens and I'm Head Over Chip Counts

Here's a glance at the chip counts, courtesy of WorldSeriesOfPoker.com:

The players are now on a 90 minute break for dinner.

This is how the race for the bracelet has played out thusfar.

Johnny Neckar has taken the lead in the heads up as of now. Despite Phan being perhaps more naturally aggressive and taking a chip lead into the heads up contest, Neckar has made very few mistakes and value bet his hands most effectively during the last hout.

The two players are very quiet, Neckar in particular doing nothing but focusing on the cards and sipping his water.

His biggest coup was a recent pot where he bet out $250,000 on the river of a K-J-K-2-3 baord, called by Phan, only for Neckar to show down trip Kings with K♦ 4♦.

Lead Whittled Away

Current Counts

Here's the standing at present, illustrating Neckar's advantage.

Johnny Neckar $2,726,000

John Phan $$1,570,000

The game continues with an ever growing crowd curious to see how the match will play out. We watch with baited breath!

And after what has been a lightning fast final table, full of super quick eliminations, we find ourselves heads up for the bracelet!

Here's how that came to pass.

Matt Finish (OUT - 3rd)

Matt Vengrin has been eliminated in third spot, shipping his stack in with A-9, and finding himself unlucky to run into a bigger ace three handed, A-Q in the hands of Johnny Neckar.

An Ace flopped but no nine, so we lose the erstwhile chip leader, Matt Vengrin in 3rd, winning $167,973 for his performance.

Mano a Mano

That leaves Johnny Neckar and David Phan contending the bracelet and title. Phan has a small chip lead and significantly more experience, but can he make it tell?

Stay tuned to find out!

The play on the final table has been exceptionally fast today, and we are already reduced to 3 handed play at this early point of the game.

Here's the news from the rail.

Newman Is Old News (OUT - 6th)

John Phan has been running like Jupiter himself and the latest player to feel his god-like wrath was Stewart Newman.

Newman shipped his chips in preflop, and when Phan called and showed K-J, he must've been delighted to be ahead and dominating Phan.

But it's looking like Phan is unstoppable at present and a fistpump from Phan signalled the flop had fallen Jack high, propelling him massively into the lead.

There was to be no more drama as the dealer quietly dealt out a couple of meaningless blanks, sending Newman to the rail in bewilderment and moving Phan ever closer to the chip lead.

Stewart Newman is OUT, eliminated in 6th spot, winning $88,927.

Not Sing(er)-ing Anymore! (OUT - 5th)

David Singer made a move against Phan that didn't work out as planned.

Calling Phan's opening raise to $54,000, the two players went heads up on a A♣ K♠ 3♠ flop.

Singer checked, Phan led for $54,000 and Singer now check raised all-in!

Insta-call from Phan who had hit the flop hard with K♣ 3♣, whilst Singer could only table a somewhat thin semi-bluff with J♦ Q♥.

The turn and river blanked out in the for of 9♦ 6♥ meaning David Singer is OUT, eliminated in 5th spot for $112,641.

Bolotin The Head (OUT - 4th)

The Deck's Hitting The Phan

The rapid pace of the final has not slowed at all, as yet ANOTHER Phan victim joins the rail.

Alex Bolotin was the unlucky fella this time, shoving with pocket nines from UTG. When Phan called he must have feared the worst and Phan's awesome run of cards continued as he flipped good once again, hitting an Ace and a King.

Alex Bolotin therefore is OUT, eliminated in 4th spot, winning $137,343 for his troubles.

Three handed the race for the bracelet is getting so close the players can almost smell that gold, though who can stop John Phan?

Here's the current chip counts, courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com.

Still early days here but the cagey play is interspersed with some aggressive moves. There's been some hullaballoo, primarily from David Singer, who complained about the lighting, resulting in the tournament table being relocated.

Here's details of the actual poker.

Phan Hits The Ship

John Phan has doubled through. He shoved for $320,000 total over the top of Johnny Necker's opening $55,000 raise.

Phan-tastic!

Neckar tanked, debating whether to call the additional $265,000 chips.

Eventually though he made the call, tabling 7-7 to Phan's A-Q.

It proved a brave but ultimately futile call, as Phan won the flip, the dealer shipping him the $650,000 pot, whilst Neckar was knocked back to $400,000 or so.

Doan And Dusted (OUT - 7th)

Thuy Doan has busted out. Shoving pocket sixes for $260,000 on the button, the newly chipped up John Phan made the call, tabling A-J and hitting both an Ace AND a Jack just to be certain, meaning we lose our sole remaining female player Thuy Doan OUT, eliminated in 7th place for $66,195.

Here are the standings, courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com, as the final table hots up 6 handed.

Matt Vengrin maintains a stranglehold with his massive chip advantage, but Phan is catching up a little.

The final table has commenced and a healthy crowd has gathered on the rail to cheer on the players. One particular player of note on the rail was Annette Obrestad, who was quietly observing the play almost unnoticed, no doubt picking up some tips for the time when she is old enough to throw herself into the WSOP mix.

It Hurts, Segovia (OUT - 9th)

Show Them The Door, Matt!

Sebastian Segovia is the first casualty of the final table. He was shortstacked and finding the Big Slick, he felt he couldn't get away from this, despite there being a raise from John Phan and a shove from Matt Vengrin.

Phan folded and once Segovia called, he found himself flipping for his stack showing A-K to Vengrin's Q-Q.

The board blanked till the river when Vengrin hit a Queen for trips to send Segovia crashing to the rail in a world of hurt. He's OUT, eliminated in 9th spot for $39,523.

Dunst And Dusted! (OUT - 8th)

Matt Vengrin has continued to deal out pain to his tablemates, sending Tony Dunst to the rail in unfortunate circumstances.

The shortstacked Dunst shoved from the small blind for $130,000 or so and Vengrin, feeling frisky called from the small blind with 8♣ 9♣.

He looked unlikely to win with Dunst flipping red pocket cowboys, K♦ K♥.

A flop of T♦ 7♦ 8♦ gave him a pair and a straight draw, but Dunst with his overpair and flush draw was still a big favorite to take it down.

A cruel offsuit J♥ on the turn however moved Vengrin into the lead and he didn't relinquish it on the T♠ river, meaning Tony Dunst is OUT, eliminated in 8th spot for $54,344.

The game continues...