| As the luxury cruise liner departed from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, the excitement was in the air for the final 45 players of the PartyPoker.com Million tournament. One of these 45 players would be $1,000,000 richer just a day later.
Play began for the final 45 players with 30 minutes remaining at the $1,000/$2,000 level.
The first player to depart was Vadim Svecharnik in 45th place. Although play was mostly cautious, players were dropping fast. Within the first ½ hour, Tina Sue, Adam Schwartz, Mickey Seagle, Mathew Singletary and Barabra Enright all found themselves enjoying the great views of the beaches of Mexico as they ran out of chips.
With the limits going to $1500/$3000, and the average stack moving up, players were less willing to depart the tournament room. The next player to go was Donald Puckett. As the first table was broken down, seven of the nine players that were gone had qualified on PartyPoker.com.
To go along with the fun and excitement of the tournament, a Calcutta was set up for the final 45. All 45 players were auctioned off to the people watching, and the person who buys the winner of the tournament wins the prize
pool. The bidding was fast and furious and by the time all 45 players were sold, the prize pool was over $10,000.
There was also a pool started to bid on individual seats at the final table. Any of the spectators could pay $25 or $100 for a seat at the final table. They then drew a seat number and the player that drew that seat at the final
table would be their horse. This makes for some fun in rooting for a player so you could win $225 or $900.
The side betting was also in full swing as prop bets flew around the open seas. Seems being in the middle of the ocean gets the juices flowing for everyone to gamble.
While still at the $1500/$3000 level, the next players to depart were Jim Lester, Yosh Nokano and Michael Lilley. When the round ended, some of the appx. chips counts were as follows:
Kathy Liebert - $75,000
Ross Brandberg - $65,000
Mike Yuwiler - $65,000
Ken Flaton - $64,000
Buddy Lockwood - $62,000
Phil Hellmuth - $45,000
Play resumed at $2000/$4000 and play again sped up. Within a few hours players who were eliminated included:
Bott, James
Germann, Andre
Fedak, Joseph
Giles, Kenneth
Cunningham, Michael
David, Pham
Hartmann, Tony
Parma, Michael
Clark, Eskimo
Babb, Raymond
Gazes, Bill
Chan, Jon
Oertli, James
Shenk, William
Carotenuto, Sal
With 2 tables remaining, there was a redraw for seats. Phil Hellmuth and Chris Ferguson had played next to each other almost all day. When the redraw was done they drew the same seats side by side. Phil and Chris were the only
2 former world champions left in the tournament and they were playing side by side. Play resumed with 18 players at the $3,000/$6,000 level. The first to go was Kenneth Robison in 18th place. Shortly after Kenneth, David
Oppenheimer and Timm Miller went out in 17th and 16th place respectively.
When the bell rang sounding the end of the $3,000/$6,000 limit, the players were sent on a 3-hour break for dinner. Friday night was formal night on the ship; so all players got to enjoy a glamorous night of fine dining as they
dressed their best.
With their stomachs full of lobster tail and caviar, the remaining 15 players took their seats. Since we had left Cabo San Lucas earlier in the day and were now heading north into the Pacific Ocean, the seas got rough and the
boat was rocking. This proved to be a bit of a test for some players as they not only had to fight the butterflies of playing for $1,000,000 but also had to deal with the swaying ocean. As it turned out no one was affected by the
waves and all the players enjoyed their time. Play started back up at the $4,000/$8,000 limit, and immediately the play was fast and furious. The first to run out of chips after dinner was Buddy Lockwood. Buddy raised all in with KQo and was called by Berj Kacherian with JQc. When the final board showed J8769 Buddy was out in 15th place.
The next to fall was Yvan Courchesne. Yvan went all in with JT when the board came down QJ5 but failed to improve against Ken Flaton who had flopped a set of Queens. Yvan finished in 14th place.
Jerry Shields had been holding on to his chips for many hands when he finally found an AJo and went all in only to see Chris Ferguson find two Aces. When the final board showed J8854, Jerry was finished in 13th place.
David Rabbi had been short stacked for many all in hands when he was forced to play a T5o in the big blind. The only player to call him was Scott Buller who held 66. When David failed to improve his hand he was out in 12th place.
Allen Green found a good spot to go all in with AJo against Phil Hellmuths A7o. But when a 7 fell on the turn, Allen’s hopes fell and he finished in 11th place.
With 10 players remaining, the tension was thick as these players were one away from the final table. Play continued hand for hand at the $5,000/$10,000 limit.
The bubble is a tough place to finish. Ross Brandberg thought he had picked the perfect spot to pick up some chips to take to the final table. He got all of his chips in the pot with A9c againt Chris Ferguson’s A7h. When the
flop came AK5, an innocent deuce on the turn and the only card that could knock Ross out was a 7. The tension mounted as the dealer burned and turned a river card 7 that set up the final table for Saturday.
The final table will be played at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday with the following players:
Seat 1 - Ken Flaton $29,500
Seat 2 - Scott Buller $34,500
Seat 3 - Mel Judah $23,500
Seat 4 - Chris Ferguson $144,000
Seat 5 - Phil Hellmuth $227,000
Seat 6 - Kathy Liebert $176,500
Seat 7 - Michael Yuwiler $103,000
Seat 8 - Bruce Yamron $203,000
Seat 9 - Berj Kacherian $187,000
Prize Pool
1st Place - $1,000,000
2nd Place - $93,600
3rd Place - $62,400
4th Place - $46,800
5th Place - $37,440
6th Place - $24,960
7th Place - $18,720
8th Place - $15,600
9th Place - $12,480
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