Over half the players left in the field at the WPT Championship will make the money.  With 90 left and the top 50 making the money there are now more players that will make the money than won’t.  For the 40 that come up short getting close will be no consolation though.

Phil “USCPhildo” Collins (right) was put in a spot where he had to decide for his tournament life - almost.  In the last hand before the break Collins was faced with a 15k bet on a flop of 886.  Collins raised to 35k and the other player put in another bet to 70k.  Phil called and with the 3 turn Phil just called the 55k bet from his opponent.  The river put the fourth heart on the board with the T and Phil was faced with a bet of 140k.  Collins had a pyramid of chips in front of him, 3 stacks of 1k chips and 3 stacks of 500 chips with 10 of the 5k chips sitting on top.  That made up the 140k it would take to make the call and would have left Collins with 1 each of a 1k chip and a 500 chip.  As players moved out of the room for break a crowd gathered around the table as Collins pondered the call.  Finally he moved the button out of his way and moved his pyramid of chips in to make the call, leaving the 1,500 behind.

Neither player was eager to turn over their hand, and having called the other player Phil had the right to make the other guy show first.  Finally the player said “just a ten” and showed the ten of spades.  He finally put his cards on the table to show both the T and the J he had to go with it.  As soon as Phil saw his hand he flipped his QQ onto the table pushing the Q out a little extra to show the queen high flush.  With a big smile on his face Phil held up the two chips he would have had left had he lost the hand and said “If I was wrong it was up to you,” as he looked at the two chips.  Phil has nearly 600k chips after raking in the massive pot.
Brent “bhanks11″ Hanks (left) was also involved in a 600k + chip pot, but in his case there was no smile at the end of the hand.  At least not for Hanks.  Cody “thugmoneymkr” Slaubaugh picked up aces at the right time and was able to win the large pot against Hanks who had the AK.  Slaubaugh is in a tough seat with Steve “MrSmokey1″ Billirakis on his immediate left but has still been able to amass chips throughout the day and is going strong after busting Hanks.

Jon “pokertrip” Friedberg (below right) was eliminated when his pocket jacks lost in an all in preflop situation against Phil Ivey’s pocket nines.  Ivey spiked a nine to bust Friedberg and win the 175k pot.  Steven “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer flipped bad all day and at the end his jacks lost to AK in an all in preflop race.

Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo was also eliminated in a coinflip with his AQ not improving against another players pocket tens.  Joe Sebok raised to 12k with AJ and when an ever aggressive Steve Sung moved in over the top Sebok called off his 70k remaining chips only to see himself dominated by Sung’s AQ.  Sebok hit a jack on the turn, but Sung made a straight with a ten on the river and was able to bust Sebok.

Justin Young had been ruling the roost for much of the tournament, but Blake “Balla-B13″ Cahail recently picked off a bluff from Young and was able to take a chunk of his chips.  On a board of A33(6c) Young raised to 88k after Cahail had bet 28k.  Blake called and on the K turn Justin bet 120k.  Blake again called and Young instantly mucked his hand.  Blake still had to show his AQ before raking in the pot.

• April 21, 2009 -- Raise Raise Raise
• April 21, 2009 -- Phil Falters; Schleger, Hamby, Mahoney and Khan Also Gone
• April 19, 2009 -- Sets and Flushes
• June 2, 2008 -- WSOP Event #3 Underway