We've lost half of our Brazilian contingent at the main featured table.
The pot began with John Esposito opening to 175,000, and Ryan Lenaghan flatted in position. When the decision came to Fabio Sousa -- the newest member of the table --, he squeezed all in for about 1.65 million total. Esposito tanked and folded, but Lenaghan made the call with a chance at the knockout.
Showdown
Lenaghan:
Sousa:
The flop was pretty safe for Sousa, but the board pair meant Lenaghan picked up another three outs to the win. The turn provided another three outs by default, and that was not a good thing for the Brazilian. The counterfeit-y landed on the river, and his countrymen in the stands let out a unison, "Awwwwww." One of their guys is out in 42nd place, and they'll be relying on Hilton Laborda from here on out.
The 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event is down to under 50 players from the 6,865 that began the trek several long days ago. In the bunch that's still vying for the $8,711,956 top prize are two Team PokerStars Pros and one PokerStars qualifier. They are JP Kelly, Tony Hachem and Philipp Gruissem.
Scanning through the WSOP archives, we find that Kelly is the only one of these three holding a gold bracelet. In fact, he has two of them. Kelly's two bracelet wins came in 2009, but they came on two entirely different continents. First, Kelly won the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em event in Las Vegas for nearly $200,000. A few months later, he won the £1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event at the WSOP Europe for over £135,000 ($225,535). In the WSOP Europe title he won, Kelly nearly defended it the following year, but came out runner-up. He's also had a couple other WSOP final tables, but never in the Main Event. IN fact, he's never even broke the top 100.
Kelly's best finish in the WSOP Main Event came last year. It's also his only WSOP Main Event cash prior to this run. Out of the 7,319 entrants, Kelly finished in 111th place and earned $57,102. He's already surged past that finish and earned himself nearly triple the money this year. One thing is for sure, if Kelly can make it to the November Nine this year, we could be witnessing one of the most epic rails ever given the noise the British crowds have been providing in support of their players.
Right now, Kelly sits with about 9.25 million in chips. That's a little over double the average at the current moment, which is a very good thing for Kelly. He's looking to be the first-ever Team PokerStars Pro (with their deal already in place) to final table the WSOP Main Event and make history in that regard.
In order to keep up with Kelly's progress for the rest of the 2011 WSOP Main Event, be sure to keep your browser glued right here to PokerNews. You can also follow along with the PokerStars Blog for some more detailed coverage on PokerStars Team Pros.
A short-stacked Erick Lindgren moved all in from the hijack for around 640,000 and received a call from Steve Brecher in the big blind.
Showdown
Lindgren:
Brecher:
It was a tough spot for Lindgren as his small pocket pair was dominated by that of Brecher. The flop gave Lindgren some extra outs as any five would give him a straight, but the turn wasn't what he needed. With one card to come, Lindgren's 2011 Main Event came down to needing either a four or five on the river.
Unfortunatley for Lindgren, and his fans the world over, the bricked and he was eliminated in 43rd place.
From under the gun, Ruben Visser shoved all in with his last 985,000 and it folded all of the way around to Khoa Nguyen in the big blind. Nguyen checked his cards, then instantly called, having woken up with . Visser, meanwhile, needed help with his .
The flop came , giving Visser one pair and a little hope. But the turn was the and river the , and Visser is out in 44th place.
[user101598]
Ben Lamb is back among the chip leaders
Ben "Benba" Lamb opened to 170,000 from the hijack seat, and Guillaume Darcourt three-bet to 440,000 from the cutoff. The action folded back to Lamb who slid out a massive tower of green T25,000 chips, re-raising to 1.1 million total. Darcourt called, and the dealer fanned .
Lamb tanked for nearly two minutes before sliding out 1.2 million chips. Darcourt reached for a stack of lavender T100,000 chips, and put out 2.2 million, which wasn't enough for an official raise. Darcourt quickly tossed out two more lavender chips, making in 2.4 million, and the action was back on Lamb. Lamb moved all in for his last 4.5 million, and Darcourt angrily mucked his hand.
Lamb pulled in the monster pot, pushing his stack to over 11 million chips.
It folded around to Konstantinos Mamaliadis in the small blind, who took a look at his neighbor Gionni Demers in the big blind before raising to 180,000. Demers then reraised to 420,000, and after thinking a bit Mamaliadis folded.
Demers showed his hand triumphantly before dragging the pot -- .
Demers has 2.5 million now, while Mamaliadis has 6.2 million.
Gregory Kaplan was in the hijack and raised all in preflop for 1.125 million, which was met with an over-the-top all-in reraise to 1.77 milliom by Erick Lindgren on the button. The rest of the field got out of the way and the cards were turned up.
Showdown
Lindgren:
Kaplan:
Lindgren was ahead preflop, but that quickly changed on the flop, which came down . Neither the turn nor the river helped Lindgren and he was knocked down to just 645,000.
Steve Brecher raised to 175,000 from late position, and Erick Lindgren called from the big blind. The flop came , and both players checked. The turn was the . Brecher checked, then Lindgren bet 250,000, and Brecher called the bet.
The river brought the and another check from Brecher. Lindgren bet 350,000 this time, and Brecher called once more. Lindgren showed , but Brecher had made a better pair on the river with his .
Brecher has 4.1 million now, while Lindgren sits with 1.8 million.
Just before the elimination of David Bach, the featured table welcomed two new players. Fabio Souza is in the five seat now, Matt Giannetti in the six, and we have (well, had) a full table once again.
flop was pretty safe for Sousa, but the board pair meant Lenaghan picked up another three outs to the win. The turn 
provided another three outs by default, and that was not a good thing for the Brazilian. The counterfeit-y 
landed on the river, and his countrymen in the stands let out a unison, "Awwwwww." One of their guys is out in 42nd place, and they'll be relying on Hilton Laborda from here on out.![[user68268]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop gave Lindgren some extra outs as any five would give him a straight, but the 
turn wasn't what he needed. With one card to come, Lindgren's 2011 Main Event came down to needing either a four or five on the river.
bricked and he was eliminated in 43rd place.
. Visser, meanwhile, needed help with his 
.
, giving Visser one pair and a little hope. But the turn was the 
and river the 
, and Visser is out in 44th place.
. Neither the 
turn nor the 
river helped Lindgren and he was knocked down to just 645,000.
, and both players checked. The turn was the 
and another check from Brecher. Lindgren bet 350,000 this time, and Brecher called once more. Lindgren showed 
.
