<img align="right" src=http://www.liquidpoker.net/staff/Pindarots/Juli08/hellmuthmatusow.jpg style="margin:5px; border: 0px solid black;">So, 79 players were up to fight for a place at the final 3 tables of this Main Event. Amongst them, the most notable players were Mike Matusow, Kido Pham, Phil Hellmuth and Victor Ramdin. Chipleader was Mark Ketteringham with 5.8 million chips.
Phil Hellmuth started the day sitting out one orbit, due to the penalty he got the round before. Cristian Dragomir raised to 80, Hellmuth reraises to 255k and Dragomir calls. Flop brings   , Hellmuth checks and Dragomir bets, after which Hellmuth sighs and folds his  face-up. Dragomir shows  ! Of course this is the stuff Hellmuth can't stand, and he begins screaming "Listen buddy, you're an idiot!" and "This is the Main Event and you are the worst player in history!" (if Phil would write a book called "Worst players in history according to Phil Hellmuth" it would be one of the thickest books in history). It went on for a bit until the tournament director calmed them down a bit. After a few minutes they decided to give Phil Hellmuth a one-orbit penalty, and because day 5 ended, it had to be the first orbit at day 6. But in the end, day 6 starts and just a few minutes before they deal the cards, they say his penalty has been overruled. That means Hellmuth doesn't get the penalty and gets away with a warning. A few hours later, there's an official statement by Jeffrey Pollack:
"This morning Phil Hellmuth met with Jack Effel, WSOP Tournament Director, Howard Greenbaum, Harrah's Regional Vice President for Specialty Gaming, and Jeffrey Pollack, Commissioner of the WSOP. Based on that meeting and an official review of the situation, it was decided that the penalty imposed on Mr. Hellmuth at the conclusion of play last night was excessive." "Warnings and penalties are inte<A name="cutnews"></A>nded to correct inappropriate behavior and our rulings should be as fair as possible, given the circumstances," said Pollack. "In this instance, the punishment did not fit the crime." "Phil has now been warned and put on notice in a way that he never has been,"
So, a few of the players knocked out today: One of the two women still standing, Lisa Parson, gets knocked out 76th with JJ vs AA. Victor Ramdin is 64th with A3 vs JJ. Jeremy Joseph, chipleader of days 3 and 4, becomes 57th. Chipleader starting the day, Mark Ketteringham makes 52nd place. Phil Hellmuth's dream of a 12th bracelet and 2nd Main Event win ended in 45th place, after losing a classic coinflip of AQo vs JJ. Kido Pham lost his last flip with AK vs JJ on 41st place. Maybe the most painful moment was for Mike Matusow. Paul Snead raised to 200k, Matusow reraised to 660k and Snead calls. Flop brings   and both check, but with the river Matusow bets 500k, Snead moves all-in (he has Matusow covered) and The Mouth calls, showing  , just to see Snead outdraw him with  . Mike is out 30th, just shy of the final 3 tables.
<img align="right" src=http://www.liquidpoker.net/staff/Pindarots/Juli08/dennisphilips.jpg style="margin:5px; border: 0px solid black;">So, who's still left? Dennis Philips (see picture) is chipleader with 11.9mln chips, just ahead of Craig Marquis and PokerNews' Tiffany Michelle (the last lady standing). Other notables include Brandon Cantu (bracelet owner and won a WPT-event this year), David "Chino" Rheem finished 5th in this year's Mixed Hold'em Event. Phi Nguyen already has 2 bracelets, Chris Klodnicki made a 2nd place at this year's Razz event (which Barry Greenstein won) and Scott "r_a_y" Montgomery does quite well online. There are other semi-interesting players at the tables, but not one name really stands out.
Here's how they line up:
(Table 1)
Joe Bishop (Cincinnati, Ohio) 4,855,000
Peter Eastgate (Odense, Denmark) 9,325,000
Gert Andersen (Herning, Denmark) 6,740,000
Kelly Kim (Whittier, California) 8,840,000
Brandon Cantu (Las Vegas, Nevada) 4,740,000
Dean Hamrick (East Lansing, Michigan) 2,375,000
Ivan Demidov (Moscow, Russia) 4,965,000
Niklas Flisberg (Stockholm, Sweden) 1,330,000
Michael Carroll (Carson, California) 1,015,000
(Table 2)
Scott Montgomery (Perth, Ontario, Canada) 4,320,000
Tim Loecke (Highland Park, Illinois) 2,280,000
Anthony Scherer (Truckee, California) 2,385,000
Owen "ocrowe" Crowe (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada) 3,800,000
Craig Marquis (Arlington, Texas) 11,460,000
Ylon Schwartz (Brooklyn, New York) 3,655,000
Paul Snead (Kings Park, New York) 6,600,000
Tiffany 'Hot Chips' Michelle (Los Angeles, California) 9,755,000
Phi Nguyen (Hawaiian Gardens, California) 1,020,000
(Table 3)
Jason Riesenberg (Halbur, Iowa) 3,405,000
Darus Suharto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) 4,510,000
Chris Klodnicki (Voorhees, New Jersey) 6,245,000
Toni Judet (Bucharest, Romania) 5,000,000
Nicholas Sliwinski (Las Vegas, Nevada) 4,925,000
David 'Chino' Rheem (Los Angeles, California) 8,280,000
Dennis Phillips (St. Louis, Missouri) 11,910,000
Albert Kim (Staten Island, New York) 3,675,000
Aaron Gordon (Brighton, England) 1,790,000
Tonight we'll know who has to come back in November to play the final table. There's still a lot left to play for, with prizemoney ranging from $257,334 for the nr's 19 till 27 and $9,119,517 for the first place. Play will resume at noon.
In the meantime, back home at his PC, TimDawg managed to achieve an incredible win, he took down the biggest Sunday Million in Pokerstars history, cashing in just over $235k after a deal. More info about this can be found here.
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