Day 4 is over: Results + the final 8 players


---
WHU Update No. 11

The fourth day is over! After some exciting poker, we have an event that is dominated by the British, the final four matches being:

Pascal Perrault (France) - Peter Gunnarson (Sweden)
Dave Colclough (UK) - Andreas Hagan (Norway)
***
David Leigh (UK) - John Falconer (UK)
Peter Abela (UK) - Simon Nowab (UK)

---
WHU Update No. 10

As the third round matches are still going, some fourth round matches have started as well. I will give you all updates as soon as possible - if the Internet connection co-operates, that is. (Both the regular network and the wireless system have been down more often than not in previous days.) You can find the results of all round 4 matches below the third round results. Note that in round 4 all limits / blinds are doubled as opposed to round 3, and that instead of with 20,000, all players will start with 40,000 here.

---
WHU Update No. 9

THIRD ROUND MATCHES
_____________________

Now that the second round is over, we can make up the balance. Well, we have lost some more few big names like former winners Bruno Fitoussi and Angel Blanco, the strong Julian Thew, the colorful Padraig Parkinson, the dangerous Alex Kravchenko, the English trumps John Kabbaj, Roy Brindley and Ross Boatman, and last but not least the young Noah Boeken. Coupled with the casualties from round 1, that's quite a few recognizable faces that are not with us anymore. Also, notice the toughness of especially the first bracket, where a couple of cracking matches have been played already - and are about to be played. Everybody will get 20,000 in chips, with blinds starting at 200-400, then after an hour 300-600, then 400-800 and the final increase to 500-1,000. And all winners will play their fourth round match today as well, so you guys are guarantueed to get a lot of action. All in all, the qualifiers for round 3 are (winners of all round 3 matches are in the money):

1
Ivo Donev - Pascal Perrault* (0h09)
... Ivo was very unlucky to lost this match. Holding a slight chip lead, he got all the money in with J8 for a straight on a board ATQ9 with two diamonds. Pascal had a hand that looked nice, Td 8d, but in fact he was drawing very thin - even more so because Ivo also had one of his diamonds. But a diamond rivered, making the chess champion extremely shortstacked, and on the very next hand the match was over.
Dave Ulliott - Stephen Pearce* TT (0h14)
... Before the match started, Dave gave his opponent a warm welcome with the words: "I'll call your airline - so that they can already book your ticket." But as it happened, the Devil went out himself! Holding A7 against Stephen's 88 and a flop 877, there was simply no way he could avoid going broke. Dave bet small, Stephen raised to 7,000 and then Dave went all-in. Of course his opponent, a professional golf player from Stoke-on-Trent if my information is correct, had an easy call with top full. After just eight hands and fourteen minutes of play, one of the top favorites is out.
Simon Trumper* - Martin Cedercrantz (1h11)
... The man who beat Ross Boatman on the televised table yesterday, is now out himself. But against the strong Simon, he simply stood no chance. The Englishman won an important pot when he snapped off a 1,500 river bluff, correctly deducing that from the way the betting had gone, his opponent probably didn't have much, and from there he went on to a smooth win. On the final hand, with J9 against J2 on a flop J53, he had his opponent all-in for about 7,500. When a nine came on the turn, Martin was drawing dead.
Peter Gunnarson* - Mickey Wernick (2h15)
... All-in as a big favorite, holding 77 to 66, Mickey was a clear favorite to double up to 23,600 and to take the lead. But the first card off the deck was a six, and that was the end of it.

2
Dave Colclough* - Juan Sastre (1h41)
... Dave has been playing excellent in this match so far, despite the fact that he has not been exactly fortunate. Juan survived the first time, when he actually was in the lead (all-in for 4,000 on a flop KQT with pocket aces against Dave's queen-eight suited), and he also survived a second time when he was a clear dog. Juan raised Dave's 400 big blind to 1,500, and then Dave reraised him all-in for 10,600 total. Colclough's AQ was a clear favorite against Juan's A9, but the man from Spain did pay off the large reraise, and got rewarded by flopping a nine. But Dave refused to give up because these two important losses, and just fifteen minutes later he was again in there with a 3-to-1 chip lead. And on the final hand, it was Juan who lent him a helping hand by slowplaying his aces on all streets, and put in the money when his bullets had been outdrawn. On a flop JJ4, Dave called a small bet to try to take the pot away from his opponent later, holding a mere eight-seven. When the flop gave him a gutshot with a ten, he bet into his opponent, and of course had his opponent just breathed at the pot, he would have thrown away his cards. But he just flatcalled with his aces up. Now, when a nine of spades came on the river that completed all draws (there were now straights and flushes possible), Dave decided to check his small straight, and when Juan then bet all-in, Dave simply called him. Of course, had Juan just checked the hand back, he would still have been in, and this would probably have been his best course of action. Either way, Dave has played a truly excellent match today, and is through to the final 16.
Raul Paez Corral - Barny Boatman +
... Barny was in deep trouble against the exact same player who also busted him out last year. Down to a small stack, he bet 5,000 all-in into a 762 flop holding 54 for an open-ended straight, but he got called by a 98 for a higher open-ended straight! So, Barny had the worst hand and the worst draw, but a three on the turn gave him the nuts to stay alive.
Richard Gryko - Jamie Sharrat* (5h40)
... We were in for a long match between Richard and Jamie. Richard was on the verge of exit after about four hours. Holding an overpair (KK) to the 964 flop, he raised his opponent's 3,400 bet all-in to 6,800. Jamie was in there with a nine-five, and when a five came on the turn he had two pair. But a four on the river counterfeited his two pair, giving Gryko kings up against Jamie's nines up. Being close to even again, it seemed Richard could get back into this match, but in the end it was Jamie to go through.
Manuel Silva - Andreas Hagan* (1h14)

3
Derek Baxter - David Leigh* (2h21)
... Derek's good run over here has come to en end today. He was all-in for 5,500 with T9 against AT, and no less than two aces flopped to send his opponent through.
Hans Eskilsson - Jac Arama* (2h05)
... Jac had been struggling in this match for quite a while, when suddenly he won one or two pots to take a clear lead. His opponent was down to 6,200 and had to make a stand with an ace-six all-in preflop, but Jac's queens held up.
Isabelle Mercier - Frej Rutenskold* (1h31)
... When after an 30 minutes of play Isabelle raked in a small pot with a straight to get back to 14,000 again (still below par), she asked me the rhetoric question: "Rolf, why do I always run out of chips so early in the event?" I answered: "Well, I don't know - but I guess it makes any victory taste much sweeter that way." As she did yesterday, she tried to fight back, but Frej just didn't give anything away. Slowly but surely the Canadian's chip status was deteriorating, and unfortunately for all the people -including me, I guess- who just love to see her in action, she was unable to fight her way back into this match. "No Mercy" Isabelle is out.
Chen Guosem - John Falconer* (0h38)
... Against Chen, who had flopped top two pair, John had a gutshot with 5d 4d on the flop T62. On the turn he had made a gutshot + flushdraw, and when in the end he had completed his backdoor flush, the rest of the money went in. Burnley John is looking strong, and is in the money.

4
Jin Cai Lin* - Cui Guogun TT (5h39)
... An interesting match between two players who know each other very well. Because the match between the Devilfish and Stephen Pearce was over in a heartbeat, the two Asians had been transferred to the televised table. And their match took about 25 times as long as the Devilfish match! Despite the fact that both players are known to be highly aggressive, there were just relatively few big pots. In the end, it was Cui who made an unfortunate move by coming over the top of Jin's raise when in fact Jin had the goods. Jin had AQ, called his opponent's 17,000 all-in reraise and dominated his friend: Cui had A2. No surprises, and Jin can now enjoy a ten minute break, getting ready for another task: his fourth round match against the strong Peter Abela.
Peter Abela* - Jatinder Singh (1h09)
... And yet another good win for Peter Abela. On a flop KKQ, which seems like a typical trap flop to me, Peter did exactly that: he trapped. He made a small check-raise to 6,000 on the flop with KT, and his opponent fell for it. Holding QT for two pair / decent kicker, he went all-in for 15,500 total. When he got called, he knew he would probably be in bad shape - and that was indeed the case.
Luzhe Zhang - Paul Jackson* (2h29)
... "Action Jack" Paul Jackson is through as well. In a hand that went exactly the same as the deciding hand in the fourth round match between Pascal Perrault and Stephen Pearce (that was played at the adjacent table and that actually finished before this match), it was pocket fours with the four of clubs against ace-king suited. Luzhe had big slick, and all-in for 7,500, he was happy to see a king flop. But he was not so happy when the final card was the nine of clubs, creating four clubs on the board to give his opponent a flush- the exact same nine of clubs that, as we shall see later, also propelled Pascal Perrault into the final eight. Either way, the sympathetic Luzhe is out, and we have yet another British player in the last 16.
Simon Nowab* - Rory Liffey (2h28)
... And to complete the British dominance in this event, we can also add Simon's name to the list of in-the-money players. Simon had been down to about 4,000 when he doubled through with JJ vs. AT. Once he had taken a slight lead, a crucial hand developed. Simon had called a 2,000 raise with pocket eights, and when he flopped a set, he did the logical thing: checking to let his opponent hang himself. Rory bet no less than 11,000, but when Simon check-raised all-in, Rory was unable to call for the 3,000 or 4,000 that he still had left. Rory did fight back though. By winning a couple of pots uncontested, he was back at 8,000 again. But then he lost all of that in the final hand. Simon flatcalled a 1,600 preflop raise with queens, came out betting that same 1,600 when he flopped an overpair to the T54 flop, and when Rory moved all-in with a mere J8, Simon had an easy call.

FOURTH ROUND MATCHES
______________________

Pascal Perrault* - Stephen Pearce (0h30)
... The exact same hand from the Paul Jackson - Luzhe Zhang match happened here as well - and again the pocket fours survived over the ace-king suited. With 40,000 in starting chips, and Pascal having built that to about 42,000, he raised to 2,800. When Stephen reraised to 7,800, the Bandit decided to stick it all-in with his small pocket pair (44 with again the four of clubs) to put Stephen to the test. Of course, heads up there is no way you can get away from an ace-king suited, so Stephen put all of his chips in the middle as well. Again, three clubs on the flop, and then the same nine of clubs on the river to send the Frenchman through. As in his match against Ivo Donev, when he had caught a lucky break because he needed to make his flush with just one card to come, he was fairly lucky again here, because he may have been overplaying his fours a little in this hand. But he has won both his matches in no time, and he will be fresh tomorrow - when his opponents may be exhausted from long and tough matches played today. Either way: The Bandit has reached the final eight.
Simon Trumper - Peter Gunnarson* TT (1h54)
... After one hour of play at the televised table, Simon is trailing 14,000 to 66,000. He lost a 30,000 pot when he made an aggressive reraise before the flop with KQ, and his opponent called him down all the way to the river with a mere pair of threes. When Simon then lost another pot where Peter actually tried to trap him by checking once he had made his flush on the river (but Simon didn't fall for it, and also there was no need to bluff: the river had also given him a hand that could have won in a showdown, third pair), the Englishman was down to about 10K. And then on the final hand, Peter raised to 3,000, Simon moved all-in to 8,600 and Peter called. The hands: ace-queen of spades for the Swede, king-jack of clubs for Trumper. Even though Peter didn't need to improve, he hit everything. He caught both an ace and made a flush as well, and remains in the event as the only Swede.
***
Dave Colclough* - Raul Paez Corral (1h26)
... Another strong performance by Dave, against the man who had knocked out Barny Boatman two years in a row, but who now was down to 10,700 within 90 minutes. Both players got their stacks in before the flop, and Dave's AJ held up against Raul's king-queen suited.
Jamie Sharrat - Andreas Hagan* (1h28)
... On a flop Ac 4c 8s Andreas bet 2,600, and the shortstacked Jamie raised him 7,000 more all-in. After some thinking, Andreas called him with a pair of aces / no kicker, and he was correct: Andreas had T8 for merely a middle pair. An ace on the turn left Jamie with no outs.
***
David Leigh* - Jac Arama (2h19)
... Jac must have been very eager to make it this week: he had folded KK face up on the turn 567T against moderate action, which can be considered somewhat unusual in a heads up match. He wass up against a good player though. David made a smart play when he first bet 3,000 on the turn with QJ for top pair of jacks, and then checked on the river when another jack fell, to induce a bluff from his opponent. When Jack indeed bet 5,000, David just flatcalled to snap off his opponent's bluff. Jac was now down to 28,000, and not much later David snapped off yet another bluff. On a board with three clubs, two queens and a seven, a blank fell on the river, and David called yet another 5,000 bluff. (Jac had 98 for a busted nine-high flush draw, David had a seven for two pair, queens and sevens.) And after Jac won a first all-in confrontation, he lost the second one. All-in for 6,500 with Q8 against AQ, the best hand held up.
Frej Rutenskold - John Falconer* (2h25)
... After about 90 minutes of play, Burnley John was in front 58,000-22,000 against one of the surprises this week, the strong Frej Rutenkold. And in the end, he booked a routine win to join the final eight players.
***
Jin Cai Lin - Peter Abela* (1h08)
... Right back from his long third-round match on the televised table, Jin had no problems keeping his rhythm. Within no time, he check-raised his opponent's 2,500 flop bet all-in on a flop Ac Jd 7c to take a clear lead. Just twenty minutes in the match, he was already 55K-25K in front. But then a crucial hand developed where Jin slowplayed aces and it went wrong. Peter had a king-queen, flopped a pair of kings and could reach the turn fairly cheaply. When a queen came to give him top two pair, he bet, and at that point Jin came out of the closet, moving in with his aces. But then it was too late, as his opponent had already outdrawn him. After this key hand, Jin's resistance was broken, and we have another Englishman in the final eight.
Paul Jackson - Simon Nowab* (3h43)
... As in the previous match, Nowab showed great character. Being down to just 7,000 this time, he again turned things around.