As the table gets shorter here in the Amazon Room, the atmosphere grows more tense. This is starting to feel like a real final table despite the fact that we're off to the side of the ESPN set.

Mizrachi Mashed! (4th)

Cash game player Shun Uchida and tournament stud Robert Mizrachi had both been dancing around for a while to see who would go out in fourth. Uchida can take a deep breath and enjoy moving up the ladder at least one more spot, as Mizrachi has been eliminated.

The frustrated Mizrachi had been betting out and getting raised for some time, folding to pressure after dropping a few bets here and there and finding himself down to just a few stacks of yellow $1,000 chips. He finally got involved in a three-way pot that could have been a big help to his stack, calling (along with Gioi Luong) a raise from Shun Uchida.

All three players took two cards and Mizrachi led out after the draw. Both opponents called; Luong and Mizrachi drew one, while Uchida took two. This time it was Luong who led out after the draw. Mizrachi called off the last of his chips and Uchida folded.

Luong stood pat while Mizrachi drew one final card; Luong turned up 10-6-5-4-2, and Mizrachi turned over 8-6-4-2. He didn’t manage to pick up a good card, though, instead finding a jack to exit the tournament.

Mizrachi finishes in fourth place, earning himself $41,055.

More from Shun Uchida.

Uchida Unfazed

Shun Uchida has been playing extremely tight today, and obviously it’s paid off to a certain degree. He came into three-handed play as the shortest stack but that doesn’t seem to be bothering him.

First Uchida squared off with chip leader John Phan, calling from the small blind after Phan bumped the bet to $20,000. Uchida took one card, while Phan drew three. Uchida bet out $10,000 and Phan called.

On the second draw Uchida again took one, and Phan decided to take two - despite telling Uchida that the book says to draw one. Uchida bet, Phan called.

Uchida stood pat on the third draw, while Phan drew one. Uchida checked, and after some time Phan checked as well. Uchida turned up 8-7-5-4-2, beating the 6-5-4-3-2 straight that Phan pulled on the last card.

On a hand soon after that, Uchida managed to get calls from Gioi Luong to the third draw, ultimately showing down 8-7-5-4-3 and getting Luong to muck his cards.

Those two pots put Uchida just three big bets behind Luong, at $245,000 to his opponent’s $305,000. It looks like we’ve got ourselves a game here, folks.

All the Chip Counts Have Been Destroyed

Here are your three-way chip counts, courtesy of WorldSeriesOfPoker.com:

We're down to four players and the atmosphere is tense. There's not much table chatter at this point; John Phan is focused and staying aggressive, while the rest of the table reacts to him.

Ponzio Schemed! (5th)

Ponzio couldn't get anything going today.

Ben Ponzio never got much going today, and he found himself short-stacked just as we posted our last update. Shortly afterward he was eliminated by John Phan; Ponzio got all-in after the second draw and picked up 10-7-5-4-2 against Phan’s 8-7-4-3-2. That sent him to the rail in 5th place, earning the 2007 bracelet winner $28,739.

John Phan, Born Gambler

Even though nobody is ever out of the game until their last chips are gone, it’s undeniable at this stage in the tournament that Gioi Luong is chip leader John Phan’s biggest competition. Phan decided to go after Luong a few minutes ago in a crazy hand.

The action began with Phan raising the button to $16,000. Luong made it $24,000 from the big blind and Phan called.

John Phan, crazy man.

Luong stood pat on the first draw, while Phan drew two. Luong bet $8,000 dark, and Phan, after looking at his cards one at a time, made the call.

Luong stood pat a second time, and Phan repeated his action from the first draw by taking two cards. Luong once again bet dark, this time $16,000 as the limits had gone up, and Phan again made the call.

Luong stood pat again on the third draw, while Phan took only one card. This time Luong checked rather than firing - a good thing, because Phan led out for $16,000 immediately. Luong made the crying call and Phan turned up 7-6-5-3-2; Luong insta-mucked in disgust as the Razor scooped in a healthy pot to jump a little further ahead of his nearest competitor.

The Mizrachi Shuffle

Robert Mizrachi was in danger of repeating Ben Ponzio’s exit, as he sat on the short stack going into the first break of the day. He’s managed to roar back two different times, even though he subsequently dropped a few bets on two or three hands before folding to pressure. The biggest one was a pot with Phan which would have left Mizrachi crippled; his 10-6 outdid Phan’s 10-7 to keep Mizrachi in the game.