WPT L.A. Poker Classic, Day 4 Recap

By BJ Nemeth

Noah Schwartz (right) would have a big day on Monday, playing — and dragging in — several large pots to finish the day as chipleader.

Day 4 began with 54 players, who were all guaranteed at least $21,080 for finishing in the money. Royal Flush Girls Danielle Ruiz (left) and Brittany Bell checked out the early action. Some of the notable early eliminations include Christian Harder (53rd place), Amit Makhija (50th), and Matt Marafioti (49th).

The big story early was the precipitous fall of Tuan Phan, who started the day as chipleader with 1,140,000. After the first level, Phan was down to 185,000. He was able to rebound up to a fairly safe 500,000 or so, but then Phan ran A-K suited into the pocket aces of Sean Jazayeri, and he was eliminated in 43rd place.

Kunal Patel (standing, top left) was eliminated by Joe Hachem (center, right) when Patel’s [AhJh] failed to catch up to Hachem’s [AcKd]. Patel entered the day as the short stack, but couldn’t climb out of the hole, finishing 46th.

Joe Hachem started the day relatively short-stacked with 153,000, but had a strong first level, more than tripling his stack to 555,000. Hachem, who has both a WPT title and a WSOP Main Event championship, survived to Day 5 with 700,000 in chips.

A day earlier, Barry Woods (right) missed nearly two full levels with a trip to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a distended hernia. But he made it back Sunday night in time to play his remaining chips into the money.

In this photo, he battles against David Sands (left) over a board of [10d6h5dKc3d], and Woods took it down by moving all in on the river. Unfortunately, Woods was eliminated late in the day in 21st place.

After a flop of [QcQh6s], Tom Marchese (right) checked, A.J. Jejelowo (left) bet 25,000, and Marchese check-raised to 62,000. Jejelowo reraised to 115,000, and then Marchese made it 172,000.

The entire table watched as Jejelow slid out the fifth bet (pictured above), making it about 300,000. Marchese folded, and Jejelowo took the pot. Marchese started the day above average, but he would be eliminated in 25th place.

Jamie Shaevel was eliminated in 35th place when his [4h4s] failed to catch up to the [9c9d] of A.J. Jejelowo.

With the final board showing [As8h4s8d10s] and more than 350,000 already in the pot, Daniel Idema (far left) moves all in for 307,000. Tyson Marks (right) stood up to study Idema, and he tanked for several minutes before he folded.

In the biggest pot of the tournament to this point, Noah Schwartz (foreground, right) raised preflop, and Larry Lipman (left, smiling) reraised to 102,000. Schwartz called, and the flop came [5c4c3s]. Lipman bet 130,000, Schwartz raised to 284,000, Lipman reraised to 484,000, and Schwartz moved all in for 960,000.

Lipman had Schwartz had nearly even stacks, and both were contenders for the chip lead, so nobody minded that Lipman took his time to consider the situation. Lipman eventually called with [AhKd] for a gutshot straight draw, while Schwartz turned over [3d3h] for bottom set.

The turn card paired the board with the [4h], clinching the pot for Schwartz with a full house, and the meaningless river was the [9c]. Lipman, who had been near the top of the leaderboard, was eliminated in 27th place.

Noah Schwartz (right) chats with Tom Marchese as he takes several minutes to stack the biggest pot of the tournament to that point, worth 2.1 million in chips.

Jason Dewitt (right) four-bet all in preflop with [Ad10d], but he ran into the dominating [AcKd] of Joe Tehan (left). But a ten on the flop gave Dewitt a big double up to 1.1 million in chips, and left Tehan with just a small handful of chips. Tehan was eliminated a short while later in 23rd place.

With Tehan’s elimination, there were still two members of the WPT Champions Club in the field. Everyone recognizes Joe Hachem, but Allen Carter (pictured above) flies under the radar of most people. Carter didn’t draw much attention to himself on Day 4, but he quietly survived the day with 580,000 in chips, still in the hunt for his second WPT title.

With the board showing [Kd6s5h3s], Skip Wilson (right) check-raises all in against Jason Dewitt (left). Dewitt tanked for several minutes before he called with [QdQh], but he was dominated by Wilson’s [AcAd]. The river was the [7d], and Wilson doubled up. Both players would survive the day.

Sorel Mizzi’s amazing comeback continued for another day. Mizzi had been crippled down to just 700 in chips on Day 3, which represented about 1/3 of a big blind. But Mizzi battled back with some fortunate double ups, and survived not only Day 3, but Day 4 as well. Mizzi takes his seat among the final 18 players with 600,000 in chips.

After A.J. Jejelowo (left) four-bet it preflop to 250,000, it was Noah Schwartz (right) who took the lead, betting 325,000 on the turn with the board showing [Jc10h2s6s]. Jejelowo would fold, and Schwartz would drag in another large pot to add to his pile.

David Sands (right) studies a preflop raise from Dan Kelly (left). Sands is one of the WPT’s "Ones to Watch" for Season X, and he’s looking to make his first televised WPT Final Table, surviving the day with 819,000. Kelly was battling with Noah Schwartz for the chip lead late in the day, and finished second in chips with 1,749,000.

Jason Somerville (left) was the ClubWPT.com Player of the Day for Sunday, but Monday it was Noah Schwartz’s turn (right). Schwartz won several large pots, and finished as the chipleader as he seeks out his third televised WPT Final Table. Both players survived the day — Somerville with an average stack of 1,025,000, and Schwartz with a chipleading 1,770,000.

Day 4 came to an end with 18 players. Here’s a look at the official seating and chip counts for Day 5 (average chip count: 915,000):

TABLE 1:
Seat 1.  Shahen Martirosian  –  236,000  (11 BBs)
Seat 2.  Jason Somerville  –  1,025,000  (51 BBs)
Seat 3.  Joe Hachem  –  700,000  (35 BBs)
Seat 4.  A.J. Jejelowo  –  1,573,000  (78 BBs)
Seat 5.  David Sands  –  819,000  (40 BBs)
Seat 6.  Elvis Huynh  –  675,000  (33 BBs)
Seat 7.  Allen Carter  –  580,000  (29 BBs)
Seat 8.  Dan Kelly  –  1,749,000  (87 BBs)
Seat 9.  Jason Dewitt  –  1,182,000  (59 BBs)

TABLE 2:
Seat 1.  Jason Burt  –  609,000  (30 BBs)
Seat 2.  Daniel Idema  –  433,000  (21 BBs)
Seat 3.  Sean Jazayeri  –  1,126,000  (56 BBs)
Seat 4.  Sorel Mizzi  –  600,000  (30 BBs)
Seat 5.  Nick Binger  –  565,000  (28 BBs)
Seat 6.  Noah Schwartz  –  1,770,000  (88 BBs)
Seat 7.  David "The Dragon" Pham  –  855,000  (42 BBs)
Seat 8.  Stephen Chidwick  –  1,420,000  (71 BBs)
Seat 9.  Skip Wilson  –  625,000  (31 BBs)

Day 5 begins Tuesday at 12:00 noon PT, and the final 18 players will battle for the six seats at Wednesday’s televised WPT Final Table. Stay tuned to WPT.com for live reporting of the action, including hand-for-hand coverage once they reach the final 10 players.