Day 4 of the 2012 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic ended Monday with 18 players remaining. To begin the day, 54 in-the-money players were left with Tuan Phan leading the way. He wound up in 43rd place and at the end of the day Noah Schwartz topped the bunch with 1.77 million in chips.
In the first group of eliminations, Christian Harder (53rd – $21,080), Amit Makhija (50th – $21,080), Kenny Shih (44th – $23,720) and Seth Fischer (42nd – $23,720) all headed to the payout desk. Following them were Larry Greenberg (37th – $23,720), David “ODB” Baker (32nd – $28,990) and Tom Marchese (25th – $34,260).
Marchese was bounced in Level 21 with the blinds at 6,000/12,000/2,000. According to the WPT Live Updates Team, Marchese was all-in preflop with 
against Nick Binger’s 
. The flop, turn, and river ran out 
and Marchese hit the rail.
Former WPT champion Joe Tehan exited in 23rd place for $34,260 in Level 22 with the blinds at 8,000/16,000/2,000. He was all-in preflop with 
against Joe Hachem’s 
. The board ran out 
and Tehan was eliminated.
With play set to stop for the day once the field got down to 18 players, Sergey Pevzner was all-in with the 
versus Stephen Chidwick holding 
. There were 19 players left, and a board of 
ran out eliminating Pevzner. He pocketed $34,260 for his efforts.
Schwartz may be leading the way with 1.77 million in chips, but he’s got Dan Kelly nipping right at his heels with 1.749 million. A.J. Jejelowo finished the day in third place overall with 1.573 million in his stack. Four other players are in seven figures — Chidwick, Jason DeWitt, Sean Jazayeri and Jason Somerville.
Sitting below the current average, 915,000 in chips, are plenty of notable players. David Pham and David “Doc” Sands both have over 800,000 in chips while Hachem bagged up exactly 700,000. Below them are Sorel Mizzi, Allen Carter, Nick Binger and Daniel Idema. Both Hachem and Carter are previous WPT winners and are the only two former champions left in the field.
2012 WPT L.A. Poker Classic Final 18 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chip Counts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noah Schwartz | 1,770,000 |
| 2 | Dan Kelly | 1,749,000 |
| 3 | A.J. Jejelowo | 1,573,000 |
| 4 | Stephen Chidwick | 1,420,000 |
| 5 | Jason DeWitt | 1,182,000 |
| 6 | Sean Jazayeri | 1,126,000 |
| 7 | Jason Somerville | 1,025,000 |
| 8 | David Pham | 855,000 |
| 9 | David “Doc” Sands | 819,000 |
| 10 | Joe Hachem | 700,000 |
| 11 | Elvis Huynh | 675,000 |
| 12 | Skip Wilson | 625,000 |
| 13 | Jason Burt | 609,000 |
| 14 | Sorel Mizzi | 600,000 |
| 15 | Allen Carter | 580,000 |
| 16 | Nick Binger | 565,000 |
| 17 | Daniel Idema | 433,000 |
| 18 | Shahen Martiroslan | 236,000 |
Day 5 will begin on Tuesday at 1200 PST (2000 GMT) at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. The plan is play down to the official WPT televised final table of six and it’s still anybody’s game. With over $1.3 million up top, you can bet that every player will be bringing their A-games back for Day 5. As it stands right now, the final 18 players are all earning a minimum of $39,530. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for the recap of the action.
*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.
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