WSOP Day 3: $10,000 World Championship PLHE, Final Table

We kicked off the final table today around 3pm, probably a little past after all of the production setup and introductions were made. I'm hoping everyone was keeping up with the updates over at PokerNews as I'm not going to get into who was there or the chip counts of everything. I will tell you that once we began play, the fireworks started. We had some big hands early on involving Phil Laak, Patrik Antonius, and Nenad Medic. On the very first hand of the tournament, Laak ran his JJ into Antonius' KK. Despite flopping a J, Antonius rivered a K to double through. Just a few hands later, Laak ran JJ into Medic's AA. This time, he was eliminated. What a cold deck for Laak. That is just unreal to run JJ into bigger pairs twice within the first fives hand of a final table. But then again, it could have been karma.

Laak was seen juggling three stacks of cash that was on display next to the final table before the start of the tournament as his girlfriend, Jennifer Tilly, snapped some photos. Laak didn't want to jinx himself of making the final table when he refused to fill out the media consent form with 10 players left. He'll be left to ponder if he jinxed himself this time by playing with the blocks of cash before the final table began.

And then a few hands later, Antonius and Kathy Liebert got it all in KK versus AA. Liebert's aces held and she doubled. The final table was off to a bull rush of a start and I was left thinking that this was going to be just like the New Orleans final table. Now, I'm not sure what the heck Mike Sowers was doing when he was eliminated a few hands later. Yes, we were only 15 hands into the final table and all of this action had happened.

To begin the hand, Sowers had a little over 700,000 chips and Mike Sexton had around 945,000. Here's how the hand played out:

Medic had the button in Seat 8.
Sexton raised to 110,000.
Sowers raised the pot to 390,000 from the big blind.
Sexton moved all in.
Sowers called instantly.

Sexton: QhQd
Sowers: 9h4s

When Sowers made the pot-sized reraise to 390,000, he left himself with around 325,000 behind. The pot was about 1,125,000, so Sowers was getting almost 3.5:1 with over 50% of his stack in the middle. The blinds were 20/40k with no ante, so he'd have a little over 8 BBs left if he folded. Sexton had been playing solid and tight for the entire tournament. Sowers was at his table all last night when we were 10-handed so he should have had a pretty solid read on him. Not to mention, it's Mike Sexton and no reason why he'd be committing his stack without a good hand. If Sexton has two overs, Sowers is a 2:1 dog. If Sexton has a pair 55-88, Sowers is behind 2.3:1. And if Sexton has an overpair, Sowers is around a 6.5:1 dog. it just doesn't make sense that Sowers had to shove. I guess what got me is that he insta-called and didn't even think about it. Just makes no sense to me because I don't see Sexton having anything in this spot but an overpair.

The short stacks went next, Antonius followed by Chris Bell (a North Carolina native). Amit Makhija did well to chip up, but busted in 5th place when his A3 ran into Andy Bloch's A7. Bloch had a pretty commanding chip lead the entire final table. Shortly after Makhija's elimination, Bloch was at nearly 5,000,000, while no one else at the table had over 1,000,000. Then Bloch started doubling people up. First Medic, then Sexton, then Liebert twice. Bloch slowly began to lose chips and Medic looked to be climbing strong.

When Sexton was eliminated, Liebert checked two pair on the flop and snap-called Sexton's all in. She really outplayed played him on this hand. A few hands later, the following hand came up. In my opinion, it was one of the sickest value bets I have seen on the river and Medic is just a sicko for making it. It really seemed to turn the tides for Medic and ignited his big push.

Liebert had the button in Seat 9
Liebert raised to 240,000
Medic made the call
Flop: 9s 6s 6d
Medic checked
Liebert bet 225,000
Medic called
Turn: 8h
Medic checked
Liebert checked behind
River: 6c
Medic bet 375,000
Liebert called

Medic showed 4-4 for sixes full of fours
Liebert mucked

Now that is just a sick, sick value bet on the end. After that, the biggest hand of the final table came up a few hands later involving all three players all in preflop.

Medic had the button in Seat 8
Medic raised to 300,000
Liebert moved all in for 850,000
Bloch re-potted to 2,800,000

This was a really tough spot here for Medic I feel. He jumped from his chair with surprise before sitting back down to think things through. A couple minutes went by as he thought...

Medic called all in
Bloch had both Liebert and Medic covered

Bloch: 9s 9h
Medic: Qc Qh
Liebert: 6s 6d

Medic flopped a set of queens and went on to win the hand. He eliminated Liebert and took over the chip lead 5:2. After that, it was pretty much smooth sailing for him as he took down the bracelet. What I don't get is why Bloch was smooth calling preflop bets with under one million chips towards the end. He'd call a bet of 300,000 and commit almost a third of his stack to the pot, and then fold. He did this three or four times and I feel it really hurt his game.

Medic took home nearly $800,000 for his win and the coveted fold bracelet. And yes, I did pick Medic to come out on top with Bloch in second in my last post. Third was thought to be Sowers, but he had a little falling out. Anyway, it was a great final table to watch and I hope a sign of the awesome poker to follow.

As for the tournament reporting grind, it's been long. I am enjoying it though so I can't really complain. The second day of this event lasted from 2pm until almost 5am local time; almost 15 hours of play! That is a really long day. I've had the past two days off and saw that last night was the longest day so far. The $1,500 NLHE event was supposed to play down to the final nine, but it only made it to 18. They started at 2pm and decided to cut the play at 5:20am to let the players sleep and continue in the morning. No big deal, but I do feel this is an advantage for this entire field.

Why do the PLHE World Championship players have to play to the final table and these players don't? I heard that a lot of the remaining players were complaining about the length of the tournament, but I never heard one complaint in the $10,000 PLHE event. You know the schedule of a tournament when you sign up and if you don't have the stamina to make it, then don't play in my opinion. The best poker players will come out on top in the end. Not that poker is a huge physical sport, but the long hours are very, very tiring at times. As a poker player, you should be taking care of your body so that you can in fact endure these long hours of play if it happens. I would personally be pissed if someone wanted to stop early and remove my advantage of having greater stamina. Just seems unfair to those that have prepared accordingly.

But yes, the reporting grind is long and can be very monotonous and boring at times as the play seems to crawl along, but I'm watching the best players in the world play poker all day... I can't really complain.