That's it for Day 4 of the 2010 PokerStars.net NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event. When we started today, Vanessa Selbst was the chip leader. She expanded her lead throughout the day but was edged at the last minute by Mike Beasley. He'll be the only player not capable of busting on the first hand of tomorrow's televised final table.
Selbst played her aggressive brand of poker throughout the day once again. She also made some tremendous calls. The most impressive had to be when Selbst called Alan Sternberg's all-in four-bet shove for 42 big blinds holding . Sternberg's was dominated. A stunned Sternberg was sent to the rail five cards later.
Beasley ran bad for long stretches of the day but managed to chip up in a big way after the dinner break. He eliminated Vanessa Rousso (10th place) and Brandon Hall (9th place) in addition to getting a chunk of chips off of Selbst. That spot of run-good increased Beasley's count from 1.7 million to almost 5.0 million.
Tomorrow Beasley and Selbst will be joined by six other players at the TV final table. Here's how they'll be arrayed when the chips are unbagged:
Seat 1: Scott Seiver (1,125,000)
Seat 2: Cliff Josephy (1,940,000)
Seat 3: Vanessa Selbst (4,545,000)
Seat 4: Derek Raymond (1,545,000)
Seat 5: Mike Beasley (4,985,000)
Seat 6: Michael Woods (2,950,000)
Seat 7: Jonathan Aguiar (1,535,000)
Seat 8: Alistar Melville (2,940,000)
There will be 27 minutes remaining in Level 26 (25K / 50K / 5K) when play resumes at noon local time. Join us here at PokerNews to see who will take home the champion's trophy and $750,000 in cash!
Play at the nine-handed final table folded to Derek Raymond on the button. All day he has been opening for just less than 2.5 big blinds. He did so again, raising to 120,000. Mike Beasley called in the small blind.
Action passed to Brandon Hall in the big blind, who moved all in for a total of 1,465,000. Raymond folded but Beasley wasted no time in calling.
Beasley:
Hall:
A few of Hall's supporters on the rail told him it was "not the worst spot" -- which was true until an ace hit the flop, . Then it was "just about the worst spot". The on the turn left Hall looking for a river deuce to chop the pot. He didn't get it. The river fell to send Hall to the rail and suspend play for the night.
Mike Beasley raised to 120,000 in early position and Vanessa Selbst called from the big blind.
The flop came down and Selbst check-called 155,000. She bet 240,000 when the hit the turn and Beasley called. The hit the river and both checked. Beasley tabled for a staight and Selbst mucked.
Vanessa is down to 4.8 million while Beasley is up to just more than 3 million.
Action folded to Vanessa Rousso in the small blind and she moved all in for about 550,000 on Mike Beasley's big blind. Beasley checked his cards and then made the call with . Rousso held the .
The flop came down and now Rousso had a gutshot straight draw added to her outs. The turn gave her even more outs when the fell. Needing any diamond, five, seven or eight, Rousso was looking to stave elimination.
The river completed the board with the and that was it for the final Team PokerStars Pro in the field. Rousso finished in 10th place and earned $47,000 for her efforts.
Cliff Josephy has been all in several times and has (so far) managed to wriggle off the hook each time. He recently open-shoved for 985,000 from early position and was called by the repentant Scott Seiver. Josephy's red fives were in a flip against Seiver's . Josephy and Seiver got a bit of a sweat, as the board showed on the turn. But the river blanked to propel Josephy to roughly 2.0 million in chips. Seiver slipped to 1.5 million.
Alistar Melville called in the small blind and Vanessa Selbst raised to 150,000 in the big blind.
Melville called and the flop came . Both checked and the hit the turn. Melville checked and Selbst made it 220,000 to play. Melville called and checked when the landed on the river. Selbst bet 675,000 and Melville insta-folded, surrendering the pot to Selbst.
Selbst is at 5.4 million while Melville is just under 3 million.
Alistar Melville raised to 150,000 preflop, and Vanessa Selbst called. The flop came out , and Melville bet 150,000. Selbst bumped it to 425,000. Then Melville announced he was all in for another 1.125 million. Selbst thought for a minute, and tossed out enough traffic-cone-orange T100,000 chips to cover him.
He flipped over for top set. "Wow," Selbst said, showing for a gutshot. The on the turn gave her an open-ender, but the on the river instead filled Capt. Ahab's boat. Melville doubled to a little over 3 million. Selbst fell to 5 million, but she's still comfortably in the lead.
From middle position, Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy raised to 125,000. Scott Seiver three-bet to 300,000 from the small blind. In the big blind was Derek Raymond and he tanked for a couple minutes. The decision he came to was to move all in for 1.625 million. Josephy folded and then Seiver folded as well, but not after mumbling to himself for about 30 seconds.