WSOP 2008 Main Event, End of Day 4 Results and Report

2008 World Series of Poker
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada

Event #54
World Championship
No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $ 10,000
Number of Entries: 6,844
Total Net Prize Pool: $64,333,600
Number of Places Paid: 666
First Place Prize: $9,119,517
Total Players Remaining: 189
July 3 - November 10, 2008

Tournament Notes from Day Four

Eight days ago, the World Series of Poker Main Event began on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008. Day Four was played on Thursday, July 11th.

This is the 43rd of 47 total days which comprises the vast majority of the 2008 WSOP schedule (not counting WSOP-Europe, which takes place September 19th through October 2nd and the Main Event final table to be played November 9-10).

Day Four started at 1:15 pm PST. The tournament began one hour later than the normal start time (noon), due to last night’s play lasting until 2:30 am.

The number of players who started Day Four was 474.

There were at least 118 different nations and territories represented by all players who entered the 2008 Main Event. By contrast, there were 87 different countries present last year. This represents a 36 percent increase in international participation.

The 2008 WSOP Main Event winner will collect $9,119,517 in prize money. The minimum payout is $21,230.

ESPN designated two “feature” tables. The table on the main stage included 1989 world champion Phil Hellmuth. The secondary feature table was located off to the side and included five-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Allen Cunningham. Tables were changed multiple times during the day.

All seat assignments and re-draws at the WSOP are completely random. However, ESPN selects “feature” tables each day, which are presumably tables with the greatest public interest. Those two tables are then transferred to the main and secondary stages.

The average stack at the start of the day was 288,766 in chips.

The day began with the traditional “Shuffle Up and Deal” announcement from the tournament floor. The honor went to Jenna Phillips, who works as a WSOP dealer. Phillips won this year’s “WSOP Dealer of the Year” award. She was presented with a special-edition ladies watch made by Corum, valued at over $4,000. She will also be one of the six dealers selected to deal at the Main Event final table in November.

Only two former WSOP Main Event champions continued play on Day Four -- Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Chan busted out. Therefore, Hellmuth remains the only former champion still alive in the tournament.

1987 and 1988 world champion Johnny Chan was eliminated about two hours into play. He ended up finishing in 329th place. This marked Chan’s first time since 1992 that he has cashed in the WSOP Main Event. He now has five lifetime cashes in the world championship. All four of his previous finishes included a final table appearance.

1989 world champion Phil Hellmuth survived the day. He currently ranks in 106th place.

Only one former Main Event runner-up played on this day – Glenn Cozen. He finished second to Jim Bechtel in the 1993 WSOP. Cozen was eliminated and finished in 200th place.

The number of players remaining out of the initial 474 players who started play on Day Four is 189. This means only 40 percent of the field survived from the start of the day. Only 2.7 percent of the field remains among those who started this tournament.

Jeremy Joseph remains as the End of Day Four chip leader. He is 23-years-old and plays poker professionally. Joseph is from Buffalo, New York. He was the first player in the tournament to cross the 1M and 2M threshold. He currently has 2,187,000 in chips, slightly ahead of two Eastern European players – Nikolay Losev (Moscow, Russia) and Cristian Dragomir (Bucharest, Romania).

The chip leader coming into the start of Day Four was Jeremy Joseph. He approximately doubled his stack on this day.

The chip leader coming into the start of Day Three was Brian Schaedlich, from Cleveland, Ohio. He was eliminated on this day and settled for 456th place. He collected $27,020.

As Day Five begins, there are at least three female players remaining in the Main Event. They are: Tiffany Michelle (Los Angeles, CA), Karen Manfrede (Santa Monica, CA), and Lisa Parsons (Franklin, TN). It is estimated that 209 female players participated in the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

Former WSOP gold bracelet winners who were eliminated on this day include – Robert Mizrachi, Chris Bjorin, Mike Wattel, Frankie O’Dell, Cliff Josephy, Jason Lester, Johnny Chan, Pat Poels, and Steve Billirakis.

Eleven former WSOP gold bracelet winners are still in contention. This list includes – Phi Nguyen, Brandon Cantu. Mark Vos, Gus Hansen, Allen Cunningham, Jeff Madsen, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Thomas Keller, Hoyt Corkins, and Jon Friedberg.

The last remaining player from last year’s final table to be eliminated was Hevad Khan, who settled for 240th place.

With his 452nd-place finish in this tournament, two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Chris Bjorin now has 42 lifetime cashes, which ranks 13th on the all-time list.

All players who started play on Day Four were guaranteed at least $27,020 in prize money. All players who survived Day Four are now guaranteed at least $38,600.

With his guaranteed in-the-money finish in this event, 11-time gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth extended his record for the most all-time cashes in WSOP history – with 68.

Coming into this year’s WSOP, the current longest streak of cashes in the Main Event was held by Theodore Park – with three. He cashed again this year, taking 284th place. Park now has four consecutive cashes in the Main Event – the longest current streak of anyone.

WSOP Academy instructor Alex Outhred played on this day. He currently ranks 18th in the chip count.

There are 26 different nations represented among the Day Four survivors. The most players from any nation aside from the United States come from England – with 12 contenders still in the tournament. Nations still alive with players include: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Monaco, Netherlands, Panama, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Venezuela, and the United States.

There are 65 non-American players out of the remaining 189 in the field, which means 34 percent of the players still in contention are international players.

Play was suspended with 38:47 remaining in Level 19. This was done because play was ahead of schedule and players had played more than 14 hours the previous day. Day Four concluded at 11:45 pm PST.

Day Five begins Saturday, July 12th at 12:00 noon.

When play resumes on Day Five, Level 21 will begin with blinds set at 8,000-16,000 and antes at 2,000.

Day Five is expected to include five levels of play. Therefore, play will most likely end following completion of Level 24.

This is the largest World Series of Poker in history. A grand total of 58,720 players entered into 55 gold bracelet events surpassed last year’s number of entries, which was 54,288. These figures represent an 8 percent increase over 2007.

This was the richest World Series of Poker in history. A grand total of $180,676,248 in prize money awarded in 2008 makes this the richest event in all of sports. Note: This figure does not include the upcoming four events to be played at WSOP-Europe. These figures represent an increase of 13 percent over 2007.

This ranks as the second-largest live poker tournament in history. This year’s turnout surpassed 2007 attendance (6,358) by 7.4 percent. Only the 2006 WSOP Main Event was larger than this tournament -- with 8,773 entrants.

This is the second-largest tournament prize pool in history. The total prize pool amounts to $64,333,600. The top 666 finishers will collect prize money.

The full payout list for the Main Event (all places) is as follows:

End of Day Four (Standings)

In-the-Money Finishers (to date)