WPT Foxwoods

Monday, November 10, 2008

The November 6? WPT Foxwoods Final Table Set

By Martin Derbyshire | WPT

With most of poker world concentrated on some other little tournament more than half a continent away in Las Vegas, the WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals final table was set today and it's a pretty sick one.

They started play on this fifth day at Foxwoods just after noon on the East Coast with ten players. Needing just four eliminations, it didn't take long for the first one to fall.

Tom Nguyen was one of the leaders in the middle of Day 4, but came into today as a short stack. Soon after the whistle blew he found himself all in with top pair and a flush draw, but couldn't get past Dimitri Haskaris' turned straight.

A very nervous looking short stacked Henry Doiban was the next to go, failing to prevent Jonathan Jaffe from hitting one of two overs against his pocket tens.

Jaffe, who came into the day with a share of the chip lead, gifted a massive pot to Haskaris in the early going when he four bet an early position raise and re-raise only to find Dimitri in the blinds with aces. However, Jaffe pushed his way back to the top as the day wore on picking off a couple of ill timed bluffs with less than immaculate holdings before the single biggest pot of the tournament so far played out.

Jaffe giveth and he taketh away.

It started with a Jaffe raise and a Haskaris re-pop. Jonathan made the call and the Sunset Ballroom blew up when the K 10 9 flop fell.

Jaffe led out for $250,000, Haskaris pushed it up to $600,000 and Jaffe re-raised to $1 million total. The man they call Jim Dawgs looked down at pocket tens and let it rip, shipping it all in. Having flopped the joint, Jaffe made the call, faded the boat/quad draw and while Haskaris went home eighth, Jaffe looked like a sure bet to roll into his first WPT final table having close to $4 million in chips and the massive lead.

Speaking of the lead, Full Tilt's Mike Matusow also had a share of it when the day began, but re-raising a Charles Marchese open late in the day really took a bite out of The Mouth.

Marchese shipped and getting 2:1, Mike made the call with pocket tens. Marchese, who was playing so tight he might have folded anything less, had kings and suddenly a very loud Mouth was quiet, falling under $1 million in chips.

Shut your Mouth - I'm talkin' 'bout Mike.

Soon after, Anthony Newman's pocket fours failed to fade Jonathan Little's two overs and just like that, the final six was set.

Jaffe added a few chips to his lead and when the final table goes off sometime around 5 p.m. EST tomorrow, the online phenom and 2008 WSOP Heads-Up World Championship 4th place finisher will have $4.1 million.

The two players in a dead heat for second in chips at the moment should be quite familiar to you World Poker Tour junkies. After barely missing his unbelievable seventh WPT final table at the Bellagio Cup this season, David Pham got there this time. The Dragon will be looking for his first win coming in on a little over $2 million in chips.

Jonathan Little grabbed his first WPT title at the Mirage Poker Showdown last year on the way to the Season 6 WPT Player of the Year crown and he'll enter his fourth WPT final table looking for another one right with Pham.

Courtesy of that big hand with Matusow, New Yorker Charles Marchese will come in with $1.7 million looking to make a name for himself and a whole boatload of bucks in the process, while young Jack Schanbacher, having torn up the East Coast WPT prelims the last few years, will be right behind him on $1.59 million.

It feels like the first time.

Then, of course, there's The Mouth. Having made two WPT final tables last season, including a heart breaking heads-up loss to Kevin Saul at the Bellagio Cup, this is Matusow's fourth shot at WPT glory. He'll come in the shortest on a little over $800,000, but definitely not out of it.

With this kind of star power, there's little doubt the WPT has delivered yet another final table that's worth watching. In fact, this one's so sick, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

A $1.1 million first place prize, a seat at the WPT Season 7 Championship and the chance to be interviewed by PokerListings.com all hangs in the balance tomorrow and even if you get caught up watching the tape-delayed coverage of that other wee little event in Vegas, you can still follow all the Foxwoods World Poker Finals action live right here.