June 26, 2005

This is the last set of Match #4. Only 1 person should be happy where they are. The rest of the field has some major work to do.

Johnny Chan - He should be the happy person with 20 points. 3 more finishes where he earns any sort of points should do it for him.

Scotty Nguyen - He's still over the cut-off line, but he should be thinking about grabbing points.

Ted Forrest - He is also over the cut-off line, but when the cut-off is 12 and you have 13, that's not a good feeling. Forrest needs to continue to do well.

Doyle Brunson - He has 12. He needs more, or he will be leaving early.

Eli Elezra. He's come in second once - and that's it. 7 points won't get the job done.

Chris Moneymaker - 3 Matches. 4 points. I don't need to be a mathematician to tell you that Chris desperately needs to finish in the Top 2 here.

Hand #1 - Elezra has a K ? 10 ?, and Forrest raises it with a A ? 9 ?. The flop has a j ? 2 ?, 3 ?, the flop is 5 ? and the river is 9 ?. Its's no help to anyone, and both people check through. Forrest wins the first pos with an Ace high.

Hand #2 - Forest has another Ace (hearth, with a 7 suited) and Elezra shows up again with a K d? J ?. This time, Elezra raises and Forrest folds, leaving Elezra with the pot.

Hand #3 - We hear from Nguyen, who has some black 5's. Forrest has A ? 10 ? and they both limp in. A j ? 8 ? 4 ? comes up on the Flop, a 3 ? on the turn and a Q ? on the river once again helps no one, and once again, they both check through. Nguyen claims that he has 2 pair - but he only has 5's. Still, that's good enough for the win.

We spotlight how Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP, and how he still hasn't proven anything besides the tournament win. So far, he....hasn't done anything yet here either.

Hand #4 - There's Moneymaker with a 6 ? 4 ?. Nguyen had a K ? J ? and raises to $45,000. We see a flop of 2 ? 7 ? 5 ? with a 2 ? on the turn and a 7 ? on the river. Nguyen wins the hand...unless Moneymaker bets. He doesn't, and they once again check through as Nguyen wins another hand. Moneymaker is picking the wrong time to be aggressive and the wrong time to be passive, and that's why he only has 4 points in 3 matches.

Hand #5 - Elezra steals Brunson's hat. Hey! Elezra has a J ? 8 ? while Moneymaker calls with 5's (hearts and spades). The flop (8 ?, A ?, Q;) pairs up Elezra's 8's and he bets. Moneymakes gets out of the way and Elezra wins the pot. Maybe it's the hat...

Hand #6 - Moneymaker raises to $45,000 with a A ? 10 ?. Chan calls with a Q ? J ?. The flop, which helps no one (9 ?, 2 ?, 2 ?) lets Moneymaker bet. Chan folds and Moneymaker finally wins a hand.

Hand #7 - Elezra is still wearing Brunson's hat, and Elezra finally hands it back over. It may be a good thing. Brunson limps in with a A ? 7 ?, facing Chan's A ? J ?. We see a flop of 6? 5? K ? on the flop, which helps no one. A 3 ? on the turn helps no one either, but Brunson bets $100,000. that scares off Chan and he folds. Maybe it IS the hat.

Hand #8 - Forrest has an A ? 8 ? and limps in. Chan, with an A ? 10 ?, goes over the top and all-in. Forrest wants a chip count, then folds out. Chan wins the pot. Forrest still holds the overall lead, though.

Spotlight on Johnny Chan, who was born in Canton and lives in Las Vegas. He prefers to play with pros, because he knows how to play them. he actually played himself in the movie 'Rounders'.

Hand #9 - Chan has a 10 ? 8 ?. Elezra has pocket rockets (hearts and clubs) and limps in. Brunson raises with a Q ? 9 ? right into the Aces. Uh-oh. Elezra raises another $75,000 and Brunson reraises all-in. Elezra calls and we see a flop of... Q ? 5 ? A ?. The Ace gives Elezra trips and Brunson needs some runners. A 3 ? on the turn isn't one of them and the hand is over. A q ? on the River adds insult to unjury by giving Elezra a boat. He doubles up and Brunson is your first star in peril.

Hand #10 - Nguyen is also in peril and goes all-in with a A ? 4 ?. Forrest calls with a 6 ? 6 ? - and so does Moneymaker with a K ? 10 ?. The flop is 9 ? 4 ? 8 ?. Everyne checks - but that changes when a 9 ? comes up on the turn. Moneymaker bails out and it's heads up with Forrest Vs. Nguyen. The rives is a K ?, which is great for Forrest, because by knocking out Moneymaker, he stops him from winning the pot with his King. He also stops Nguyen from winning the tournament, because Forrest eliminates Nguyen from the match. Nguyen gets no points and a 6th placed finish.

Hand #11 - Johnny Çhan has his own pocket rockets of the hearts and clubs variety as he raises. Ted Forrest has pocket 8's (of the hearts and spades variety) and calls. Moneymaker (A ? and Q ?) goes...all-in. Boy, is Moneymaker picking the wrong time to be aggressive. Making it worse - Elezra has pocket 5's, but he folds. Back to Chan with the pair of vowels, as he wants a chip count on Forrest. He calls, which leads it to Forrest, but he folds. The flop is 7 ?, 4 ?, K ?, and Moneymaker needs a pair of runners to stick around. a 9 ? is not one of the runners, and Moneymaker goes bye-bye. He only gets a miserable 1 point, and with 5 points and only 2 matches to go, someone should start tabulating up Moneymaker's tab.

Hand #12 - Chan has black 3's and raises. Forrest, with a A ? 7 ?, calls. the flop - 5 p, 5 ?, 3 ?, which gives Chan a full house. They both check on the flop, and with the turn (4 ?), Chan bets $75,000. With nothing on the table doing anything for his hand, Forrest bails while the bailing is good. A sheepish Chan shows Forrest the boat when the hand is over.

Hand #13 - It's Brunson's turn to go all-in, and he does so with a 9 ?, 6 ?. Elezra calls with a K ?, J ?. The flop, which is a 7 ?, 2?, 8 ?, gives Elezra the lead, but a straight possibility is open for Brunson. The problem is that the 5, 6, 9, or 10 needed doesn't show up on the turn or river, and Brunson has to settle with 4th place.

Hand #14 - We continue the all-inning with Chan (A ? 5 ?) against Elezra's pair of red 9s. The flop, however, gives Chan the lead with Aces and 5's. Elezra needs a 9, and like Brunson, he gets no help on the turn or river. That knocks him out and sets him in third place.

Hand #15 - We finish this match with Chan and Forrest. Chan has a monster lead over Forrest (1,270,000 Vs. 230,000), as he takes the next 2 blinds from Forrest, who should just be thrilled that he got second placed points.

Hand #16 - Back to Chan with a Q ? 9 ?. and raises. Forrest has a J ? 6 ? and folds.

Hand #17 - Forrest goes in again with a Q ? 6 ?. Chan has a A ? 4 ?. The flop favors Forrest with a 1- ?, J ?, 6 ?, a 10 ? on the turn gives Forrst 2 pairs and a 2 ? on the River gives Forrest a souble up, which brings him to...280,000, 50,000 more than 2 hands ago. Whoopie.

Hand #18 - Forrest goes All-In again with a A ? K ?. Chan calls witrh a A ? J ?. Chan needs a Jack, or Forrest will double up again. The flop is...3 ? 10 ? 9 ?. The turn is a 7 ?, which gives Chan a possible straight. The river...A ?, and Forrest doubles up again. Chan is still in the lead, but another douvble-up by Forrest could make this interesting. The problem is that

Hand #19 - Forrest goes all-in again with a K ?, 6 ?, but Chan has J ? J ? and calls. Chan gets trips on the Flop (Q ? 3 ? J ?) and Forrest needs a pair of runners. a 3 ? is not a runner and gives Chan a full house, thus ending the match. Chan wins the match and gets $10,000.

So the person who wins the match is the person who really didn't need to. What happened to him and everyone else?

*37 - Kathy Liebert
*30 - Carlos Mortenson
*30 - David Sklansky
*30 - Johnny Chan
*27 - David Grey
*22 - Freddie Deeb
*20 - Ted Forrest
*19 - Todd Brunson
*18 - Mimi Tran
*18 - Cyndy Violette
*18 - Mike Sexton
*16 - Dewey Tomko
*16 - Barry Greenstein
*15 - Mike Caro
*15 - Doyle Brunson
*14 - Chau Giang
*14 - Scotty Nguyen
-----CUTOFF-----
*12 - Tommy Wang
*12 - Eli Elezra
*11 - Huck Seed
*6 - John Myung
*6 - Antonio Esfandari
*5 - Bobby Hoff
*5 - Chris Moneymaker

* - Have played in 4 matches

We have a tie for the bottom spot right now. Next week - we start match 5, as some of these people are looking to break that tie. Join us in 7 days to see if anyone does.