World Poker Tour Championship - Day 4 Recap

639 players gathered last Saturday at the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas with one goal in mind…win the World Poker Tour Championship. After 4 days of grueling play, only 54 players remained in the hunt for $4 million dollars and the right to call themselves the WPT Champion.

Phil Hellmuth was in the lead, starting the day with over $1.8 million in chips. He had been helped by the fact that he started at one of the easiest tables in the tournament and had several shortstacks sitting to his left. But his play on Day 4 was overly aggressive, and his involvement in too many pots eventually cost him the chiplead. According to Hellmuth, “Playing a lot of pots is a tricky thing. Sometimes it could cost you. Sometimes you can reap the benefits.”

While Hellmuth finished the day in 19th place and with $738,000 in chips, players were being eliminated all around him. In fact, only two and a half levels were played before only 27 players remained. The remaining players were asked if they wanted to finish all 5 levels or call it a day. A few were more than happy to stop, so play was suspended until today at noon.

As expected in a tournament of this magnitude, there were plenty of pros who failed to advance to day 5. Patrik Antonius, for example, finished in 52nd place after his A-J was beaten by Jim “KrazyKanuck” Worth’s pocket Kings.

Paul Lee moved into position as the chipleader after winning a huge pot off of Loi Phan which amounted to almost $2 million. Afterwards, he used his massive stack to bully everyone at his table. It was a tough day for those sitting nearby, and Lee finished the day close to $3.6 million.

Keep in mind that Carlos Mortensen and Phil Hellmuth are both still in the tournament, and that a WSOP Main Event champ has never won the WPT Championship. Both men have a chance to make history and pick up a few million dollars in the process. But as we all know, anything can happen in the world of poker.

As Day 5 begins, here’s the way it looks:

END OF DAY 4 CHIPCOUNT

Paul Lee $3,601,000
Kirk Morrison $2,980,000
Carlos Mortensen $2,429,000
Sorel Mizzi $2,256,000
Thomas Wahlroos $1,847,000
Jake Minter $1,568,000
Benjamin Johnson $1,280,000
Tim Phan $1,273,000
Scott Fischman $1,268,000
David Levi $1,258,000
Guy Laliberte $1,232,000
Grant Lang $1,201,000
Mike Wattel $1,060,000
Loi Phan $1,007,000
David Baker $983,000
Tommy Vu $830,000
Can Kim Hua $760,000
Richard Anthony $755,000
Phil Helmut $738,000
Adeeb Harb $735,000
Paul Waseca $581,000
James "KrazyKanuck" Worth $556,000
Roland de Wolfe $460,000
Jimmy Tran $458,000
Robert Wazelle $284,000
Raymond Davis $274,000
Tom Pniak $270,000

Play resumes on Thursday at noon, and it will continue until there are only players left. While you’re waiting for the results of Day 5, why not read the following articles:

Pokerstars Sunday Millions Results

European Poker Tour - Day 1 Recap

World Poker Tour Championship - Day 4 Recap