Highlights from day 48 of the 2012 WSOP (July 13)
Just two Australian players are still standing after day four of the 2012 WSOP Main Event, with 282 players surviving a fast and furious session at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. David Balkin (146th) and Laurie Gibson, originally listed from the US, (148th) lie just 9000 in chips apart, holding 579,000 and 570,000 respectively.
From the moment players reached hand-for-hand play on the bubble (which last just one hand) to the end of the day 10 hours later, the rate of bust outs exceeded all expectations.
Despite losing almost one-third of his stack late in the day, Paul Volpe (pictured left with thanks to wsop.com) is the chip leader. A poker pro from West Chester, PA (just south of Philadelphia, Volpe has 2,725,000 in chips. Only six players have more than two million in chips.
Also near the top of the chip count at the end of day four were David D’Alesandro (third after leading day three), Norwegian Elisabeth Hille (highest ranked female), 2009 November Niner Eric Buchman (fifth), two-time gold bracelet winner Vanessa Selbst (14th), 2010 November Niner Joseph Cheong (21st), David “ODB” Baker (27th), Andrew Lichtenberger (44th), Gavin Smith (75th) and John Phan (89th).
The top 20 ranked players at the end of day four represent eight different nations – including Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Israel, France, Ireland, Canada and the United States.
Players sent to the rail throughout the day included Melboune’s own Jackie Glazier, who finished second in a gold bracelet event two weeks ago (284th), former gold bracelet winner Eric Baldwin (287th), Shaun Deeb (319th), dual WSOP Main Event winner Johnny Chan (353rd), Chris Moorman (358th), one of last year’s November Nine Phil Collins (393rd), Shawn Buchanan (404th) and Terrence Chan, who cashed 10 times in the 2012 WSOP (410th).
Others to bow out earlier in the day included Huck Seed (1996 World Champion), Antonio Esfandiari (two-time gold bracelet winner and Big One for One Drop Champion), Brock Parker (two-time gold bracelet winner), J.C. Tran (gold bracelet winner) and Jason Mercier (two-time gold bracelet winner).
The bubble burst in sensational fashion with all-in confrontations on four separate tables at the beginning of hand-for-hand play. The four bubble victims were dealt the following hands – A-A, A-A, K-K and Q-Q and they all lost. Steve Rosen, David Kelley, Desmond Portano and Dane Lomas tied for 666th place.
They divided $19,227 in prize money. Kelley became the first official entrant into the 2013 WSOP Main Event after agreeing to pay the other three players $2500 in return for the bubble prize.
Actor Kevin Pollak, who has starred in movies including Casino, A Few Good Men and The Usual Suspects survived the day in 158th place with 530,000 in chips.
Day 4 chip count (top 20)
1 Paul Volpe (USA) 2,725,000
2 Erik Hellman (Sweden) 2,216,000
3 Dave D’Alesandro (USA) 2,093,000
4 Kyle Bowker (USA) 2,081,000
5 Eric Buchman (USA) 2,076,000
6 Elisabeth Hille Bergen (Norway) 2,074,000
7 Andras Koroknai (Hungary) 1,971,000
8 Amit Zulkowitz (Israel) 1,961,000
9 Eric Legoff (France) 1,947,000
10 Nicco Maag (Germany) 1,899,000
11 Leo Wolpert (USA) 1,835,000
12 Ben Greenberg (USA) 1,822,000
13 Jacob Balsiger (USA) 1,775,000
14 Jonathan Seelbach (USA) 1,709,000
15 Vanessa Selbst (USA) 1,678,000
16 Erik Cajelais (Canada) 1,600,000
17 Mads Andersen (Denmark) 1,595,000
18 Randy Haddox (USA) 1,542,000
19 Robert Salaburu (USA) 1,529,000
20 Jamie Robbins (USA) 1,503,800
Aussies through to day 4 from day 3
146 David Balkin 579,000
148 Laurie Gibson 570,000
Results
284 Jackie Glazier $38,453
580 Paul Birman $21,707
582 Paul Spiteri $21,707
585 Michael Weiss $21,707
• Additional reporting, Nolan Dalla, WSOP.com
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