Day 4 of the 2011 World Series of poker is now in the books. Day 4 of the WSOP began with 852 players, and after the day was finished there were 378 players remaining.  We reached the money in Day 4, as 693 places are paid in this year’s Main Event.  You can read our full recap below, or you can take a look back at our Day 3 Main Event Report. You can also check out latestpokernews.net for some other breaking poker news.

Top Chip Counts from Main Event Day 4
Manoj Viswanathan 2,115,000
Sam Barnhart 1,925,000
Pius Heinz 1,887,000
Stephane Albertini 1,867,000
Daryl Jace 1,849,000
Lars Bonding 1,813,000
Kyle Johnson 1,761,000
Matthew Kay 1,756,000
Mazin Khoury 1,707,000

Players Advancing from 2011 WSOP Day 4
Bryan Devonshire
Ben “benba” Lamb
Daniel Negreanu
Jean-Robert Bellande
Mark Newhouse
Peter Feldman
Joseph Cheong (final table last year)
Eli Elezra
Sorel Mizzi
Tony Hachem (brother of former champ Joe Hachem)
Allen Cunningham
Erick Lindgren
Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro
Freddy Deeb
Peter Jetten
Tom “tommyboy” Koral
Jon “pearljammer” Turner
David Levi

Notable Eliminations from World Series Day 4
Vanessa Rousso
Robert Varkonyi (past Main Event Champ)
Todd Brunson (son of poker legend Doyle Brunson)
Bryan “The Icon” Micon
Dennis Phillips
Phil Hellmuth
Jeffrey Lisandro
Humberto Brenes
Berry Johnston (cashed in at least one WSOP tournament for 30 consecutive years – streak ended this year)
Shannon Shorr

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Top Story from World Series of Poker Day 4 – Rousso on a Yo Yo
Day 4 of the 2011 World Series of Poker is a day Vanessa Rousso would probably like to forget. Rousso started the Day with an above chip stack of 298,500. She was quickly able to build her chip stack up to over a million, vaulting her into the top ten in chips. Vanessa Rousso looked primed to make a deep run in the 2011 Main Event.

Then disaster struck for Rousso.  She lost three big hands that led to her busting out of the World Series of Poker in 511th place.  This was truly a shocker for someone that had vaulted into the top 10 in chips.  All three big hands were lost to the same person, David Bach. Summaries of the 3 big hands can be found below.

• Bach gets it all in preflop with pocket aces and is called by the Ace-King of Rousso. The aces hold for Bach and Rousso loses about 200,000 on the hand.
• Bach gets it all in on a flop of 10-9-6 rainbow holding Q-J. Rousso calls with pockets sixes as she had flopped a set. Bach nails the straight on the turn to take another 450,000 from Rousso.
• Rousso is now down to 273,000 as the action heats up on a board reading 5-J-6-9. Rousso gets it all in with Q-J and and is up against the pocket aces of Bach. The aces hold and Rousso is sent packing.

This was an amazing and extremely fast crash to busto for an experienced player like Rousso. She got it in good one hand with the set of sixes, but was obviously far, far behind in the other two hands. The ace-king loss was unfortunate and was probably the correct play, but Rousso has to be kicking herself for the Q-J offsuit hand.

Day 5 action is now underway at the Rio in Las Vegas.  It is sure to be an entertaining day as there are plenty of big name players left in the field.  Come back tomorrow to check out our recap of today’s action.

Day 3 of the World Series of Poker Main Event has drawn to a close, and Day 4 has just begun. Day 3 was the first day that all the players were in action on the same day. You can read our reports from Day 2a and Day 2b by clicking the links.

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Day 3 of the WSOP Main Event started with 1,864. At the end of the day the field had been whittled down to 852 players. There will be 693 players that make the money. The money bubble should pop about halfway through Day 4. Below you will find a full report of WSOP Day 3. You will find top chip counts, notable players moving on, and notable eliminations.

Top Day 3 WSOP Main Event Chip Counts
1 Patrick Poirier 1,328,000
2 Darryl Jace 1,282,500
3 Chris Kwon 944,500
4 David Barter 917,500
5 Scott Smith 896,500
6 Sebastian Ruthenberg 889,000
7 Chris Bonita 859,000
8 Daniel Retallick 858,500
9 Brian Park 820,000

Notable Eliminations From Main Event Day 3
Jason Alexander (from Seinfeld fame)
Brad Garrett (from Everybody Loves Raymond fame)
Shaun Deeb
Jason Mercier
Jamie Gold
Tom McEvoy (former Main Event champ)
Joe Cada (former Main Event champ)
Annette Obrestad
Matt Savage (premier tournament director)
Todd “DanDruff” Witteles
Patrik Antonius

Survivors From World Series Day 3
Phil Hellmuth
Warren “Greg” Fund (affectionately know as “Poker Star”)
Erick Lindgren
Vanessa Rousso
Daniel Negreanu
Humberto “The Shark” Brenes (just busted early in Day 4)
Bryan “The Icon” Micon
Kevin Saul
Ben Lamb
Peter Jetten
Thomas “tommyboy” Koral
Mark Newhouse
Shawn Keller
Freddy Deeb
Allen Cunningham
Shannon “BluffForRent” Shorr
David Chiu
Peter Feldman
Taylor Caby
Alex Kamberis
Robert Varkonyi (former Main Event champ)
Jeff Madsen
Eli Elezra
Jean Robert Bellande

Top Story from WSOP Day 3 – The Donks Strike Back
In poker, bad players are typically known as donks. Sometimes good players even make donkish plays. With a field the size of the Main Event you will see your fair share of donkstrikes. I don’t mean kings beating aces or something that is unavoidable. I’m talking about doing something obviously bad that ends up working out well.

Shaun Deeb was victim of a huge donkstrike in Day 3 of the WSOP.  Shaun had built up a stack of over 200,000 when he was crippled in an epic donkstrike.  The hand summary is below.

• Player raises to 4,600
• Shaun Deeb raises to 15,600
• Heinzelmann raises to 31,300 (original raiser folds)
• Deeb five bets to 68,600
• Original raiser 6 bet shoves for about 150,00 total
• Deeb calls the additional 80,000 and change

Looks like your classic aces versus kings hand right? Half right anyway as Deeb rolls over aces.  Heinzelmann rolls over Ace-6 offsuit. Say what?  Heinzelmann flops one six, and hits another one on the river.  Deeb was crippled in the hand and ultimately eliminated a few minutes later.

Your second chipleader from Day 3 was the beneficiary of a huge donkstrike. Daryl Jace won a humongous pot by getting all the money in preflop by calling off with pocket deuces. The action is recapped below.

• Jace opens for 2,700
• Billy Paradiso 3 bets to 22,000
• Don Nguyen 4 bets to 52,300
• Jace 5 bets to 130,000
• Paradiso 6 bet shoves all in for over 400,000 total
• Nguyen fold and Jace calls

Paradiso rolls over pocket kings and Jace rolls over pocket deuces. Say what? Both players started the hand with over 400,000 and Jace was content to call all in with pocket deuces.  Jace of course flops the deuce to send the other player packing.  Jace looks like the prime candidate to throw away a big stack in Day 4.

Day 2 of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker has drawn to a close. The players completed Day 2b yesterday, with Day 2a completed on Monday. You can read below for our full Day 2b report, or you can go back and read our WSOP Day 2a report.

Day 2b of the 2011 World Series of Poker started with 2031 players. At the conclusion of play there were 1043 players that survived Day 2b. These players will be combined with the 823 survivors from Day 2a. There will be a total of 1866 players that begin Day 3 on Thursday.

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Top Chip Counts After World Series Day 2b
1 Ben Lamb 551,600
2 Kevin Saul 542,200
3 Ryan D’Angelo 462,300
4 Nicolas Fierro 405,000
5 Narendra Banwari 404,800
6 Dong Yang Yan 383,400
7 Patrik Antonius 361,000
8 Joshua Gibson 355,100
9 Joshua Weizer 349,600

Big Names Moving on From Day 2b
You don’t have to look much further than the leaderboard to see some notable names moving on to Day 3 of the 2011 World Series of Poker. Perched atop the chip counts is the red hot Ben Lamb. Known in the poker world as benba, Lamb has been on fire during the 2011 WSOP. He is joined in the top 9 by online and live pro Kevin Saul. The most notable player in the top 9 is without a doubt Patrik Antonius. Antonius has played some of the biggest cash games around the world, and has repeatedly hit big scores in tournaments as well. Other notables can be found below.

Justin Bonomo
Tony Hachem (brother of past Main Event Champ Joe Hachem)
Shawn Keller
Jeff Madsen
Joseph Cheong (3rd place in last year’s Main Event)
David Oppenheim
John Racener (runner up in last year’s Main Event)
Matt Savage (famous tournament director)
Lyle Berman
Thomas Keller (brother of Shawn Keller from above)
Galen Hall
Jean-Robert Bellande
Robert Varkonyi (former Main Event Champ)
Allen Cunningham
Todd Brunson (son of Doyle Brunson)
Carlos Mortensen (former Main Event Champ)
Huck Seed
Isabelle Mercier
Lee Watkinson
Sam Simon (Simpson’s creator)
Erick Lindgren

Notable Eliminations from WSOP Day 2b
Joe Hachem (former Main Event Champ)
J.C. Tran
David “Devilfish” Ulliot
Eric Mizrachi (brother of Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi)
Jamie Gold (former Main Event Champ)
Paul Wasicka
Alec Torelli
Phil Galfond
Kathy Liebert

Top Story of WSOP Day 2b – Edog Runs it Up
Erick Lindgren started Day 2b of the World Series of Poker with a paltry 3,700 chip stack. It looked like it would be an extremely short day for Lindgren, but he put together an amazing comeback. He finished the day with 170,300. That is almost 50 times what he started the day with. He went from being close to busto to being a contender when Day 3 begins on Thursday. In 10 tries in the Main Event, this is the first time Lindgren has advanced to Day 3.

Top Story Honorable Mention – Ben Lamb Continues Heater
Ben Lamb will be the chip leader when play begins on Day 3 with a humongous stack of 551,600. We really shouldn’t be surprised, as Lamb has been on fire during the 2011 WSOP. Some of his notable finishes in this year’s Series are listed below.

2nd in Pot Limit Omaha for 259,918
1st in Pot Limit Omaha for 814,436
12th in NLH 6 Max for 56,140
8th in 50k Players Championship for 201,338

One word can be used to sum up Lamb’s 2011 WSOP. Wow.

Day 2a of the World Series of Poker is now complete. Day 2b will be be played today. The players will be combined into one Day 3 on Thursday. This will be the first day that all of the remaining entrants will play on the same day. You may also want to click below to read our reports from the four Day 1′s at the 2011 WSOP.

2011 WSOP Day 1a
2011 WSOP Day 1b
2011 WSOP Day 1c
2011 WSOP Day 1d

Day 2a of the World Series of Poker began with 2031 players.  When play ended for the day there were 822 players remaining.  Look for about 900 players to advance from Day 2b today, which will make for about 1700 players remaining at the beginning of Day 3.  Below you will find top chip counts from Day 2a, notable players advancing, and some high profile exits.

Top Chip Counts from Day 2a of the WSOP
1 Aleksandr Mozhnyakov 478,600
2 Tuan Vo 434,500
3 Guillaume Darcourt 410,500
4 Stephane Albertini 400,100
5 Wilfried Haerig 366,000
6 Massimiliano Martinez 355,000
7 Mike Sowers 347,700
8 Christopher Moore 328,600
9 Brendan Taylor 317,500

Notable Players Advancing from Day 2a
Phil Hellmuth
Daniel Negreanu
Jason Alexander (George from Seinfeld)
Brad Garrett (from Everybody Loves Raymond)
Jason Mercier (extremely annoying tweeter and “poker pro”)
Shaun Deeb
Peter Feldman
Dan Shak
“Miami John” Cernuto
Humberto Brenes
Todd “Dan Druff” Witteles
Eli Elezra
Tom McEvoy (Former Main Event Champ)
Christian Harder
Adam Junglen
Ted Forrest
Joe Cada (Former Main Event Champ)
Shannon Shorr
Lee Childs
Sorel “The Cheat” Mizzi
David Gray

Notable Eliminations from 2011 WSOP Day 2a
Paul Pierce (Boston Celtics star)
Daniel Cates (online superstar)
Filippo Candio (final table in last year’s Main Event)
Lex Velduis
Andy Bloch
Barry Shulman (owner of Card Player Magazine)
Barny Boatman
Marco Traniello (husband of pro Jennifer Harman)
Marcel Luske
Andrew Robl
Gavin Smith
Soi Nguyen (final table last year in the Main Event)
Phil Gordon
Johnny Chan

Top Stories From 2011 WSOP Day 2a
The top story from the day has to be the ups and downs of Phil Hellmuth, and I don’t just mean his chips. Phil Hellmuth was initially a no show for Day 2a of the World Series of Poker. Apparently he thought he was supposed to play on Day 2b rather than Day 2a.

Luckily for Hellmuth his friend Mike Matusow noticed that Hellmuth was absent. He called Hellmuth’s cell phone, but the phone was turned off. He attempted to call his room, but Hellmuth had the front desk block calls to him. After some Matusow pleading, his call was eventually put through to Hellmuth’s room. But still no answer.

Matusow finally convinced the hotel security to break into Hellmuth’s room. They woke him and informed him that he was supposed to be at the Rio. Hellmuth got dressed quickly, and hopped in his car for the ride over to the Rio.  By the time he arrived, Hellmuth’s already short stack had been blinded down to below 7,000. By the end of the day he was able to run his stack up to a respectable 64,900. If Hellmuth hits a big score he will definitely owe Matusow a huge favor. Maybe a stake into a tournament, or possibly a bag of coke?

The fourth and final day of the 2011 Main Event of the World Series of Poker has drawn to a close. Read below for our full report including top chip counts, notable players moving on, and some high profile eliminations.  We will continue to bring you daily summaries of the rest of the 2011 Main Event of the World Series. You can also read our three other reports from Day 1a, Day 1b, and Day 1c.

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Number of Players Entering Main Event Day 1d
2011 – 2802
2010 – 2391

As you can see the number of players increased for Day 1d at the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event. This is good, as all three previous day 1′s had fallen below last year’s totals. The 2802 players in Day 1d brought the total number of Main Event entrants to 6865. This was a drop from last year’s Main Event total of 7319. Though their was a decrease year over year, the 2011 Main Event was still the third largest in the history of the World Series of Poker.

Top Chip Stacks from WSOP Day 1d
Mory Little 179,450
Ben Mintz 176,875
Roj Vohra 167,450
Dax Mellon 161,325
Antony Lellouche 155,200
Harambos Tsivicos 147,850
Brett Flood 145,800
Jay Houston 141,000
Jeff Frerichs 139,675

Former Main Event Champs Moving on from World Series Day 1d
Huck Seed
Jamie Gold
Berry Johnston
Robert Varkonyi
Joe Hachem

Other Notables Advancing from WSOP Day 1d
Bryan “The Icon” Micon
Warren Fund (known better by Greg or simply “Pokerstar”)
Lyle Berman
Shawn Keller
Freddy Deeb
Peter Jetten
Danny Mizrachi
Victor Ramdin
Noah “Exclusive” Boeken
Matt Matros
Kristy Gazes
David Oppenheim
Minh Nguyen
Vanessa Rousso
Taylor Caby
Jeffrey Lisandro
J.C. Tran
Matt Savage
Men Nguyen
Kathy Liebert
Jennifer Harman

Notable Exits from Day 1d
Tom “durrrr” Dwan (reportedly eliminated in first 90 minutes)
Melanie Weisner (poker cutie)
Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari
Nelly (yes that Nelly)
David Williams (Main Event runner up to Greg Raymer)
Jennifer Tilley
John Juanda
Bertrand Grospellier
Ivan Demidov
Alex Kravchenko

Top Story of Main Event Day 1d
The story of Day 1d was the number of people that entered. With Day 1a and Day 1b both attracting under 1,000 entrants, there was real concern this would be a down year for the WSOP Main Event. This turned out not to be the case, with a strong turnout on Day 1c followed by a massive turnout on Day 1d. The massive turnout over the weekend makes this the third largest Main Event ever.

Moving on to Main Event Day 2
The better wording should be moving on to Day 2′s. The field be splintered into two Day 2′s. The players that advanced from Day 1a and Day 1c will play today (Monday). The players that advanced from Day 1b and Day 1d will play on Tuesday. The field will eventually be combined on Day 3 on Wednesday. Look for the money bubble to pop on Wednesday. There will be a total of 693 players that make the money in the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event. First prize is a staggering $8,711,956.