Charlie Elias is now clearly within sight of a place in Australian poker history as they progress into the final 64 on day seven of the 2009 WSOP Main Event. The TeamAPL player is now the last Australian standing after the elimination of Daniel Neilson during the final level of the night.

While Australians have claimed five top-20 finishes in the Main Event – three of those coming in an era when the fields were much smaller – the Sydney APL qualifier is rapidly approaching a spot among the best five cashes in the history of the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship.

Top 5 Aussies in Main Event (by placing)

Joe Hachem 1^st, 2005
Mel Judah 3^rd, 1997
Billy ‘The Croc’ Argyros 15^th, 1995
Jeff Lisandro 17^th, 2006
Marsha Waggoner 19^th, 1993

Top 5 Aussies in Main Event (by cash)

Joe Hachem $7,500,000 (2005)
Jeff Lisandro $659,730 (2006)
Mel Judah $371,000 (1997)
Sarah Bilney $145,875 (2005)
David Saab $135,100 (2008)

Neilson endured a roller coaster ride during level 25. He initially strengthened his position just after the last break of the night when he doubled through Dennis Phillips, who remains in the hunt for successive November Nine spots. Neilson’s K-J connected on the flop against Phillips’ A-Q, sending him to a tournament-high chip count of 1,400,000.

But those chips disappeared in two big pots – the killer blow landed by Steve Sanders when he called Neilson’s all-in of 450,000 with pocket kings. Neilson failed to hit on the raggy board of 3-4-4-10-9, and was out in 73^rd (worth $68,979).

The 26-year-old Elias lies just outside the top 10 overall, but there are some familiar names who’ve cracked the top of the chip count for the first time today. Charlie, it’s all yours.

Unofficial chip count (at the end of day six, with thanks to www.worldseriesofpoker.com)

1 Darvin Moon 9,745,000
2 Billy Kopp 8,245,000
3 Phil Ivey 6,345,000
4 Steve Begleiter 6,315,000
5 Ludovic Lacay 5,965,000
6 Antonio Esfandiari 5,610,000
7 Tommy Vedes 5,430,000
8 Antoine Saout 5,195,000
9 Ben Lamb 4,975,000
10 Nick Maimone 4,900,000

Australian chip counts (at the end of day six)

Charlie Elias (Sydney) 4,190,000 

73 Daniel Neilson (Sydney) $68,979
95 Tian Shou (Sydney) $47,003
105 Joe Hachem (Melbourne) $40,288
146 Joey Lawrence (Sydney) $40,288
148 Mike Comer (Sydney) $40,288
248 Jonathan Wertheim (Sydney) $32,963
256 Chad Awerbuch (Sydney) $32,963
267 Craig Ivey (Adelaide) $32,963
401 Jarrod Holmes $27,469
404 Emma Grace (Gold Coast) $27,469
511 Paren Arzoomanian (Sydney) $23,196

Posted by Sean Callander, 12.10am, 14/7/09

We’re sad to report that the first attempt at an “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” chant has just reverberated through the Amazon Ballroom as players work their way through their 47^th hour (level 24) of the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

The bourbon-fuelled spectator didn’t get much love from the crowd, and his efforts petered out before anyone could muster an “Oi, Oi, Oi”. A quick word with Harrah’s security supervisor Tony Spencer should ensure there’s no attempted repeat performance.

And we’re sad to report that the 2009 WSOP Main Event is over for Sydney’s Tian Shou. He’d been hit hard when his A-Q failed to catch against the A-K of Leo Margets but the killer hand came when Matt Affleck pushed all-in for 405,000, Shou declared all-in for 406,000 (that’s not a typo) and Ben Jensen made the call. Oops.

Affleck showed A-K, Jensen had pocket nines and Shou was in reasonable shape with pocket queens until the board fell A-2-7-6-J, sending the main pot to Affleck and leaving Shou with a single yellow 1000 chip. It didn’t last long, with his 6-3 outmatched by A-7.

Charlie Elias has slipped down to fourth overall in the chip count, but remains in strong contention with 4.75 million, while Daniel Neilson has climbed to 925,000 and looks well positioned to return tomorrow.

Unofficial chip count (near the end of level 24, with thanks to www.worldseriesofpoker.com)

1 Darvin Moon 7,500,000
2 Antoine Saout 5,430,000
3 Ludovic Lacay 5,200,000
4 Charlie Elias 4,750,000
5 Steve Begleiter 4,700,000
6 Tommy Vedes 4,600,000
7 Billy Kopp 4,500,000
8 Wesley Ismay 4,000,000
9 Eugene Katchalov 3,870,000
10 Jeff Shulman 3,810,000

Australian chip counts (near the end of level 24)

Charlie Elias (Sydney) 4,750,000
Daniel Neilson (Sydney) 925,000
95 Tian Shou (Sydney) $47,003
105 Joe Hachem (Melbourne) $40,288
146 Joey Lawrence (Sydney) $40,288
148 Mike Comer (Sydney) $40,288
248 Jonathan Wertheim (Sydney) $32,963
256 Chad Awerbuch (Sydney) $32,963
267 Craig Ivey (Adelaide) $32,963
401 Jarrod Holmes $27,469
404 Emma Grace (Gold Coast) $27,469
511 Paren Arzoomanian (Sydney) $23,196

Posted by Sean Callander, 10pm, 13/7/09

 

It’s dinnertime on day six of the 2009 WSOP Main Event – the first dinner break in three days – with the field down to 101 players.

The latter stages of level 22 weren’t kind to Sydney online whiz Tian Shou. After a small raise from Matt Affleck, Nick Maimone made it 160,000, Shou pushed it to 300,000, Maimone called and Shou folded.

The flop came 3h-3d-10h, Maimone checked, Shou bet 250,000 and Maimone came along for the ride. The turn was the 4d – both players checked – then Masimone bet 260,000 on the river (9c). Finally, Shou through he was beaten and folded, sending his stack down to just over 1,000,000.

Meanwhile, we can update the official chip counts (again) with Charlie Elias regaining the chip lead as he took a stack of 6,000,000 – yes, 6,000,000 – to the dinner break. Suddenly, the media are all over the humble Sydneysider, with interviews requests being fielded from ESPN and PokerNews. Charlie, don’t forget where you came from!

Dan Neilson is down to 750,000 but there are plenty of short stacks in the room and, having settled at the main TV table, the young Sydney pro needs only a whiff of luck to be back in the hunt.

When we return in 90 minutes, blinds will be at level 24 (15,000/30,000 with a 4000 ante). One big blind will represent the same value as a starting stack – the price of poker is getting seriously expensive.

Unofficial chip count (end of level 23)

1 Charlie Elias 6,000,000
2 Darvin Moon 5,700,000
3 Hamid Nourafchan 4,810,000
4 Wesley Ismay 4,200,000
5 Billy Kopp 4,095,000
6 Steve Begleiter 4,000,000
7 Antoine Saout 3,680,000
8 Eugene Katchalov 3,600,000
9 Fabrice Soullier 3,550,000
10 Ryan Fair 3,330,000

Australian chip counts (end of level 23)

Charlie Elias (Sydney) 6,000,000
Tian Shou (Sydney) 1,050,000
Daniel Neilson (Sydney) 750,000

Posted by Sean Callander 7.15pm, 13/7/09

Finally, after almost six full days of play, things have started to tighten up in the 2009 WSOP Main Event. The rate of eliminations has slowed to a trickle with barely 100 players still in contention for the $8.6 million first prize.

The hopes of Joe Hachem scoring a repeat win have just ended. Holding the shortest stack in the room, Hachem finally committed his chips with Jc-9c and found himself against the pocket fours of Billy Kopp.

The flop of Kc-7c-7h have Hachem plenty of outs, but the turn (Ah) and river (3h) were no help and Hachem was on his way in 105^th position – his 10^th WSOP cash overall and his third in the Main Event.

The official reporting system has crashed once again, but the Bluff monkeys are still pedalling away and we’re thrilled to announce that Charlie Elias, the 25-year-old tradie from Sydney, is the overall chip leader heading into the third level of the day (10,000/20,000 with an ante of 3000). His stack now stands at 4.4 million – interesting to note that Elias hasn’t increased the amount of chips he holds, others have lost them in the last hour.

Tian Shou’s stack has experienced few major movements – we just watched an interesting hand between the Sydneysider and Rifat Palevic, where Shou folded to an all-in bet of 800,000 on a board of 4d-5h-10d-8s. Shou showed his 8d-9d, much to the delight of Palevic who showed 5d-6d. Shou remains on 2.5 million and well above the chip average.

Daniel Neilson remains seated at the main TV table and has struggled for cards in the past hour. However, the ANZPT Sydney High Roller champ is hanging tough with more than 750,000.

Players eliminated so far today have included out honourary Aussie Sarne Lightman, who pushed with A-4 on a flop of A-2-2 only to find his opponent holding K-2, David Benyamine, JC Tran, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Eric Cloutier, Blair Hinkle, Chris Bjorin and Christian Heich.

Unofficial chip count (midway through level 22, with thanks to www.worldseriesofpoker.com)

1 Charlie Elias 4,400,000
2 Ludovic Lacay 4,350,000
3 Darvin Moon 4,100,000
4 Billy Kopp 4,095,000
5 Warren Zackey 3,950,000
6 Tom Schneider 3,480,000
7 Ryan Fair 3,300,000
8 Antoine Saout 3,130,000
9 Jamie Brown 3,120,000
10 Bernhard Perner 3,050,000

Australian chip counts (midway through level 22)

Charlie Elias (Sydney) 4,400,000
Tian Shou (Sydney) 2,280,000
Daniel Neilson (Sydney) 750,000

105th Joe Hachem (Melbourne) $40,288
146th Joey Lawrence (Sydney) $40,288
148th Mike Comer (Sydney) $40,288
248th Jonathan Wertheim (Sydney) $32,963
256th Chad Awerbuch (Sydney) $32,963
267th Craig Ivey (Adelaide) $32,963
401st Jarrod Holmes $27,469
404th Emma Grace (Gold Coast) $27,469
511st Paren Arzoomanian (Sydney) $23,196

Posted by Sean Callander, 6.30pm, 13/7/09

And then there were four. Joey Lawrence and Mike Comer have been eliminated during the opening level on day six of the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

Nice effort: Joey Lawrence finishes in the top 150

The duo were eliminated two spots apart, both collecting $40,288 for their respective 146^th and 148^th placings. For Comer, this result adds another chapter to his long list of poker achievements dating back to the start of the Australasian Poker Championship in Adelaide in the late 1980s and his tireless promotion of events when the local poker scene due a fraction of the attention it commands today.

Aussie poker icon Mike Comer scores his biggest WSOP result

Charlie Elias has kept pace with the chip leaders so far today, winning two big pots to take his stack above four million in chips. We also notice is wearing some brand new Full Tilt Poker branding in addition to his TeamAPL and Wild Turkey logos – nice work Charlie.

Meanwhile Daniel Neilson has just joined the main ESPN TV feature table where he is seated two spots away from 2005 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Hachem.

Neilson has increased his stack to more than one million, but it’s been a roller coaster start to day six for Hachem, who looked in danger of sliding out of contention until he won a big pot at the expense of reigning world champ and PokerStars teammate Peter Eastgate after his pocket fives improved to a set, then a full-house on the turn.

Tian Shou saw little action in the opening level, content to take down a number of small pots that helped him back above the two-million chip mark.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to “reclaim” Sarne Lightman as one of our own! The former PokerStars manager for the Asia-Pacific region (now based in Argentina) has surpassed his 542^nd-place finish in he 2005 WSOP Main Event and holds 940,000 heading into level 22 (10,000/20,000 with an ante of 3000) on day six. Just 128 players remain, with the chip average now above 1.5 million.

Unofficial chip count (at the end of level 21, with thanks to www.worldseriesofpoker.com)

1 Billy Kopp 4,660,000
2 Ludovic Lacay 4,060,000
3 Charlie Elias 4,000,000
4 Warren Zackey 3,950,000
5 Tom Schneider 3,740,000
6 Darvin Moon 3,450,000
7 Antoine Saout 3,300,000
8 Bernhard Perner 3,200,000
9 Jamie Brown 3,120,000
10 Kasper Cordes 3,060,000

Australian chip counts (at the end of level 21)

Charlie Elias (Sydney) 4,000,000
Tian Shou (Sydney) 2,170,000
Daniel Neilson (Sydney) 1,000,000
Joe Hachem (Melbourne) 670,000
146th Joey Lawrence (Sydney) $40,288
148th Mike Comer (Sydney) $40,288
248th Jonathan Wertheim (Sydney) $32,963
256th Chad Awerbuch (Sydney) $32,963
267th Craig Ivey (Adelaide) $32,963
401st Jarrod Holmes $27,469
404th Emma Grace (Gold Coast) $27,469
511th Paren Arzoomanian (Sydney) $23,196

Posted by Sean Callander, 3.05pm, 13/7/09

It’s day six of the 2009 WSOP Main Event, the time of the tournament when the crowds start to thin, some of the corporate suites start to shut their doors and the money starts to get serious for the remaining 185 players.

Of those 185, six Australians are still in the race to join the November Nine – Charlie Elias, Tian Shou, Joe Hachem, Daniel Neilson, Joey Lawrence and Mike Comer.

And there are still a swag of well-known players in contention, including 2007 WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider, Phil Ivey, Fabrice Soullier, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Blair Hinkle, Antonio Esfandiari, Dennis Phillips, Peter Eastgate, Joe Sebok, Blair Rodman, David Benyamine, J.C. Tran, Kenny Tran, Prahlad Friedman and Chris Bjorin.


The chip leader is Warren Zackey, from Johannesburg, South Africa. Zackey is a 42-year-old business owner who sells plumbing supplies. He cited countryman Raymond Rahme's third-place finish in the 2007 WSOP Main Event as an inspiration.

The broadcast of Rahme’s accomplishment was shown multiple times on ESPN in South Africa, which created more interest in the game and the WSOP.

Zackey won his seat via a tournament held at the Piggs Peak Casino in Swaziland. There are four major tournaments held there each year. Zackey won his $10,000 entry in May.

Five levels have again been scheduled today, with the structure:

Level 21: 8000/16,000 (ante 2000)
Level 22: 10,000/20,000 (ante 3000)
Level 23: 12,000/24,000 (ante 3000)
Level 24: 15,000/30,000 (ante 4000)
Level 25: 20,000/40,000 (ante 5000)

Official chip count (at the end of day 5)

1 Warren Zackey (Honeydew, Sth Africa) 4,872,000
2 Kasper Cordes (Copenhagen, Denmark) 4,352,000
3 Darvin Moon (Oakland, MD) 3,218,000
4 Tom Schneider (Scottsdale, AZ) 3,168,000
5 Bernhard Perner (Austria) 3,022,000
6 Miika Puumalainen (Kuopio, Finland) 2,894,000
7 Matt Affleck (Seattle, WA) 2,882,000
8 Charlie Elias (Sydney, Australia) 2,780,000
9 James Akenhead (London, UK) 2,692,000
10 Steven Begleiter (Chappaqua, NY) 2,621,000

Australian chip counts (at the end of day 5)

8 Charlie Elias (Sydney) 2,780,000
25 Tian Shou (Sydney) 1,802,000
137 Joe Hachem (Melbourne) 540,000
150 Daniel Neilson (Sydney) 439,000
151
Mike Comer (Sydney) 430,000
152 Joey Lawrence (Sydney) 428,000
248th Jonathan Wertheim (Sydney) $32,963
256th Chad Awerbuch (Sydney) $32,963
267th Craig Ivey (Adelaide) $32,963
401st Jarrod Holmes $27,469
404th Emma Grace (Gold Coast) $27,469
511st Paren Arzoomanian (Sydney) $23,196

Payout structure

1st $8,546,435
2nd $5,182,601
3rd $3,479,485
4th $2,502,787
5th $1,953,395
6th $1,587,133
7th $1,404,002
8th $1,300,228
9th $1,263,602
10-12th $896,730
13-15th $633,022
16-18th $500,557
19-27th $352,832
28-36th $253,941
37-45th $178,857
46-54th $138,568
55-63rd $108,047
64-72nd $90,344
73-81st $68,979
82-90th $57,991
91-99th $47,003
100-162nd $40,288
163-225th $36,626 (current)
226-288th $32,963
289-360th $29,911
361-432nd $27,469
433-504th $25,027
505-576th $23,196
577-648th $21,365

• Remember, you can keep up to date with the latest happening from the 2009 World Series of Poker by following twitter.com/bluffaussie.

Posted by Sean Callander, 12.30pm, 13/7/09