July 15, 2005

Mixed Blessing?

The final table of nine players was decided yesterday. Unfortunately yesterday's play saw the end of the #2 stack going in, Phil Ivey. He won $304,000 for busting in 20th place, and I think that sucks. I also noticed a name that nearly made the cut for Day 6, John Juanda in 31st place, won $274,090. Juanda made it into the top 0.55% of the field, which is great, but since Ivey lasted 10 more spots (or 33% of the remaining feild) , shouldn't his payday have been a little more than an additional $30K? I've yet to see a comprehensive payout structure, but with "only" $7.5M going to first I can't figure out why busting out in 20th place gets you only $300K.

Anyway, the mixed blessing, so to speak, is that Raymer bit it yesterday as well. I don't hate Raymer as much as some people do (Alex), but I certainly was not rooting for him to repeat. That would have been a little much for me to handle. Matusow is still in it, in 4th chip position carrying 7.41M. He chases the new chip leader, an American named Aaron Kanter, who has 10.7M in chips. The short stack sneaked in with 1.18M. Go Mike!