WSOP Event #2: Final Table Set

Photo credit: IMPDI for 2009 WSOP

Day 3 of the WSOP $40,000 anniversary event featured 23 players
returning to their seats. It seemed as if they were all eager to narrow
the field down to the final nine players because the action kicked off
in a furious pace.

The first clash of the day was between Andrew
Robl and Greg Raymer. Robl was short-stacked and decided to move all-in
with 6-3 off suit and Raymer called with A-4 off suit. The flop changed
nothing, but an ace on the turn ended Robl's road to the final table.

Players
continued to hit the rail one after another, with the play sligthly
slowing down when 19 players remained, due to a first money increase
coming at 18th place. Eventually, it was Andrew Black who packed his
bag in 19th place. His last hand featured him holding A-J against
Daniel Stern's A-K.

Tony G made matters worse for Black when he
said he folded a jack, thus leaving Andrew with only two jacks in the
deck. However, a miracle happened on the flop and a jack revealed
itself. Black said, "Hold! Hold! One time!" and turned away from the table.

As
fortunate as he was on the flop, it still wasn't enough to prevent a
disaster when a king came on the turn. Andrew's hopes of survival were
now put in the case jack, which didn't come on the river and that was
it for the charismatic pro.

The clock was stopped with 35:35
remaining in Level 20 in order for the players to draw for seats and
move to the final two tables where ESPN had them filling out player
profile forms. A few more minutes and everything was set for the action
to continue between the remaining 18 players.

Tony G wasn't
looking too good but then he doubled up twice against Isaac Haxton to
get his stack up to a decent size. Tony's first double up featured him
moving in for roughly 170,000 with pocket threes and Haxton made the
call with pocket deuces. The board came A-K-5-5-8 and Tony's threes
held up. Their second encounter saw Tony holding pocket tens against
Haxton's A-Q. The board came T-5-2-4-Q and Tony doubled up once more.

While Tony G was busy saving his neck, Greg Raymer (pictured right) found his occupation in eliminating the opposition. Doshi "Steve" Suresh had the misfortune of running into Raymer and packing his bags after this encounter.

Suresh first doubled up with A-T against Lex Veldhuis and then he moved all-in for roughly 600,000 again with A-T. This time Raymer  made the call and showed Suresh the bad news in the form of pocket queens. The board changed nothing and Suresh was out.

Greg Raymer was pushing his way through the field even though he had a share of losses along the way. One of such losses featured Raymer opening for 90,000, Brian Townsend moving  all-in for roughly 250,000 and Raymer insta-calling it.

Raymer turned over pocket aces while Townsend held . It looked bad for Townsend but then the flop brought , giving Townsend a world of outs. The turn came and Raymer's aces were cracked while Townsend doubled up.

History repeated itself some time later when Raymer raised to 90,000 and Keith Lehr moved all-in. Raymer made another insta-call and turned over pocket aces while Lehr showed K-9 off suit. The board came K-7-3-2-9 and Raymer's aces were cracked, again.

Both Townsend  and Lehr didn't make it to the final table. Townsend hit
the rail in 13th place while Lehr was knocked out by Raymer in 11th
place. Their clash featured Raymer holding pocket jacks against Lehr's A-Q and this time there was no help on the board for Lehr.
When the remaining players took their seats at the final table, 9 of them decided that they wanted to play until the action got to nine-handed. The final hand of the evening saw Alec Torelli making a raise to 130,000. Tony G (pictured left) moved all-in for his last 75,000 and Vitaly Lunkin decided to tag along and made the call.

Torelli and Lunkin checked to the river and the board finally read . Tony G showed A-7 for a pair of sevens, but Lunkin turned over J-10 for a pair of tens. Tony thus became the final table bubble boy and collected $172,120 for the 10th place.

Here are the final table players and their chip stacks:

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• WSOP Event #2: Bonomo Takes The Lead After Day 2