(O'Keeya Singleton reporting)

And just like that it’s all over!

	James Van Alstyne

(O'Keeya Singleton reporting)

Bryan Micon was eliminated in 4th place after going against James Van Alstyne in three hands.

The first time, Micon went against Van Alstyne in Razz

Micon:            4 3 8 9   X X X
Van Alstyne:  4 8 2 7   5 6 7

Bryan Micon bet on 3rd street and was called by Van Alstyne and Micon.  This patterned repeated until the River.  On the river Van Alstyne bet and Micon called.  Van Alstyne made a Seven high and took the pot as Micon mucked his cards.

Micon and Van Alstyne would tango again, but this time in Stud (High).
Micon:              8 A J K   XxXxXx
Van Alstyne:    7 2 7 2    8 5 5

Micon controlled the action on 3rd and 4th street with bets.  After Van Alstyne paired his door card on 5th St., he took control and bet on 5th, 6th and 7th St. and Micon just called.  Micon mucked again after seeing Van Alstyne’s Sevens-up.

The finale of the Micon Van Alstyne Trilogy was a hand of Stud 8 (or Better)

Micon:           3 J 3 7    8 7 5
Van Alstyne: 2 9 A 6   6 A 3

Micon was all-in on 3rd St., Van Alstyne called and the cards were dealt again dealt out.  Van Alstyne made Aces-Up, besting Micon’s Sevens Up.  Neither players made a low and Van Alstyne scooped the pot and Micon was out of the tournament.

(O'Keeya Singleton reporting)

Shannon Shorr perhaps as a sign of thing to come threw away his 25K Big Blind.  Tad Jurgens limped in.  The Small Blind folded and, whether assuming a raise or just not paying attention, Shorr folded too.  Micon asked if Shorr knew, “he just limped, right?”  Shorr was unresponsive.

A few hands later and Shorr would be out in 5th place.  In a hand of Razz, Mitch Schock brought it in and then reraised Shorr all-in.  Shorr called and the remaining cards were dealt.

Shorr:     A 4 J 3       3 K J
Schock:   K Q A K     5 8 7

Schock’s Queen high was good enough,as Shorr’s hand was King high. 

(O'Keeya Singleton reporting)

Players went on a 30 minute break as the final table was moved over to the Secondary Feature table. 

Play resumed with Razz.

Micon:      5 3 9 4   2 T 7
Malcolm: A 3 T 9  X X X

Bryan Micon tried his best to either push Brian Malcolm off his hand or extract the most money from him trying.  Micon bet each round from 3rd St. to 7th St.  Malcolm called each attempt by Micon.  Micon showed his 7 high and Malcolm mucked.  What could Malcolm have had in the hole?  Maybe [2 6 8] ?

Action switched to Stud High. 

Malcolm:   K 8 4 Q    3 5 5
Schock:      J T A 2      9 J 8

Malcolm had taken a hit to his stack in the last hand.  Malcolm found himself completing the bet and then raised by Mitch Schock.  Malcolm, first to act on 4th St., checked and Schock bet.  Malcolm made the call.  Schock was first to act on 5th St. and bet with Malcolm calling.  The same for 6th St. but this time Malcolm was all in.  Shock had a pair of Fives in the hole and never improved.  Schock had made a pair with his door card Jack on 3rd St. and took the pot.  Malcolm was out on the rail in 6th place.

(O'Keeya Singleton reporting)

More players have ended their night early.  Ron Schiffman called Brian Malcolm’s preflop raise.  The game was Omaha 8 (or better) and the Flop was K 6 4 .  Schiffman bet and Malcolm called him.  The 8 on the Turn put three spades on the board.  Schiffman bet and was raised by Malcolm.  Schiffman called and the Q floated in on The River.  Schiffman checked, Malcolm bet and Schiffman made the all-in call.  Malcolm showed A 4 4 3 , winning the low with the nut flush and the low with the Eight high for the scoop.  Schiffman was out in 8th place.

Fabrice Soulier left in 7th place after starting the day as the overall chip leader.

Soulier:  3 A 9 5    5 7 X
Schock: 3 6 2 Q    A 5 9

Soulier had the bring-in bet in Razz.  Brian Malcolm raised it and Mitch Schock and Soulier called.  Soulier checked and so did Malcolm, but Schock raised the action.  Soulier responded with a check-raise.  Malcolm folded, and Soulier and Schock reraised each other until Soulier was all-in.  Schock made a 6 High on 5th St. and Soulier was in bad shape.  He never recovered and Soulier was out in 7th.

(Dane Young reporting)

We've lost Farzad Rouhani and reached the final table.

We came back to play Stud 8 after dinner break, and Rouhani lost a pot to Shannon Shorr by folding on the river. He then raised James Van Alstyne's completion in the opening round. James reraised and Farzad called . He put the rest in on fourth street and James called.

James: J  7  A  Q  J  (Q  Q )
Farzad: 6  6  T  A  K  (5  2)

Rouhani missed everything and Van Alstyne scooped the pot with Queens full of Jacks.

Mitch Schock has been in the lead almost all day and has no plans on giving any chips away. He took another pot against Fabrice Soulier, who has been struggling.

In Stud 8 Schock completed with the A . Soulier called with the 7 . Mitch then picked up the K  and was check-called by Fabrice's 9 . It went check-check all the way down with these boards:

Fabrice: 7  9  5  J
Mitch: A  K  T  4

Mitch revealed his pair of Kings on the end, while Fabrice mucked his hand after missing, and Mitch added to his chip lead. He is over 650,000 while the chip average is only around 350,000.

(Dane Young reporting)

The players went on a short break, came back, lost Lana Maier to become 9-handed, and then went on dinner break. Talk about exciting.

Maier's comeback run came to a screeching halt as she lost several pots in a row. The Hold'em round was horrible for her Lana as she missed a straight draw again Bryan Micon, was forced to fold after five-betting preflop against Brian Malcolm (the board came A  T  2 ), and then lost an all in race against Shannon Shorr.

Shorr had Threes and Maier had AQ when the chips went in. The flop came Queen high, but the river was the 3  to make Shorr a set and send Lana home with $19,265.

Play is again on hold for dinner break, but here are the final table seats and stacks:

Seat 1: Ron "Schifty" Schiffman - 313,000
Seat 2: Tad Jurgens - 391,000
Seat 3: Bryan Micon - 354,000
Seat 4: Fabrice Soulier - 380,000
Seat 5: Brian Malcolm - 436,000
Seat 6: Shannon Shorr - 565,000
Seat 7: Mitch Schock - 693,000
Seat 8: James Van Alstyne - 202,000
Seat 9: Farzad "Freddie" Rouhani - 136,000

(Dane Young reporting)

Let's recap.

Paul Evans left in 14th after losing to Bryan Micon's Queens in Stud.

Peter Gelencser and Phillip Marmorstein were knocked out in the same hand against Mitch Schock in Omaha 8. Schock scooped them both with Kings full of sixes, so Gelencser was out in 13th and Marmorstein in 12th because he had more chips.

Sebastian Sabic went out in 11th after Fabrice Soulier went nuts on him in Omaha 8. Fabrice's Ace-high club flush and A 2 low were way good.

And so we are down to 10. Lana Maier has been smashing her way through the day after starting out with just 66,000. She's up over the 500,000 mark. Bryan Micon, who had also started low and rallied pretty high, lost a ton of chips to Shannon Shorr with a Jack-high straight against Shorr's nut club flush.

The players went on a short break and will return in 10 minutes.

(Dane Young reporting)

Since winning with his blind bet, Bryan Micon has made something of a comeback.

In a Stud 8 hand against Phillip Marmorstein, Brian called down with Fours and Fives against Phillip's face up Aces. "Chop," said Marmorstein on the end, but Brian's reply of "two pair," was met with a nod and Byran scooped the pot two pair and no low.

He was involved in another Stud 8 hand soon after that. Lana Maier and Peter Gelencser played down to the river.

Micon: 2  4  5  2
Maier: Q  5  8  7
Gelencser: 7  A  J  8

Maier showed her 87 low and Bryan revealed two pair with Fives and Deuces. Gelencser missed it all and threw his hand away.

"Bad beat," claimed Micon. He showed the table that he had started with 5  4  3  2 , an incredible starting four that had a lot of outs to scoop. As it turned out, he picked up a few chips with the chop.

James Van Alstyne is under 100,000 chips now with the average over 200,000.

(Dane Young reporting)

Play is on pause for a break now, but Ron Schiffman took down a big pot against Fabrice Soulier and Farzad Rouzani just before.

In Stud 8, the three got tangled in a pot where Fabrice had J  7 , Farzad had 4  K  and Ron had 2  4 . A few bets had gotten in up to this point and Farzad paired his King on the next street. He led out and got called in both spots as Ron caught T  and Fabrice paired his 7.

Farzad checked when he caught the 9  and his opponents caught Aces, so Ron took the initiative with his A  and new flush draw. Fabrice called with the A , but a disgusted Farzad threw his cards in the muck.

The river brought Ron an Ace to make Aces and Deuces, while Fabrice looked sick and mucked his loser.

Chris Bjorin is gone in 16th place after losing to Paul Evans in Stud 8. Evans had Aces in the hole against Bjorin's Ac Kc and Bjorin failed to catch up.

Dustin Bryan was knocked out by Ron Schiffman in Hold'em as Schiffman's Nines held up through a board of K  4  3  5  K .

Shannon Shorr dodged a bullet  as he got into a hand with James Van Alstyne
in Stud 8. James fired out on fourth street and exclaimed "No! Don't fold!" as Shorr moved to turn his up cards over. James showed a sick one as he dragged in the pot: A  2  4   6  8 .

Bryan Micon picked up a ridiculous pot in which he bet his last 6,000 chips in the dark after getting called on the turn. The board had three hearts and the river brought a fourth. Paul Evans folded and the table chatter commenced, as Micon's miniscule bet took down the pot and kept him alive.

(Dane Young reporting)

We're down to a final two tables after several quick bustouts.

Kathy Raymond went out in 20th after she made worse two-pair against Sebatien Sabic in Omaha 8.

Vanessa Rousso doubled up with a chop in a partially three-way Omaha 8 pot. She makede two pair against her opponent's Aces, but her 23 low was counterfeited on the river. She was knocked out in the her table's first hand of Razz as Alan Myerson made a wheel.

Myerson wouldn't last much longer, however. Getting short after open-folding in the first hand of the day, he got all in on a Stud fourth street against Shannon Shorr. Shorr's Aces were in front of Myerson's Kings and improved to Aces and Queens. Myerson had picked up three pair but missed his boat on the river to leave in 18th.

Joe Serock was eliminated next as Ronald Schiffman's Aces and Nines bested his Tens and Eights.

Lana Maier has been on a steady upward climb after making a heart flush in an almost 200,000 chip pot against Tad Jurgens. She moves to her new seat on the final two tables with over 400,000.

(Dane Young reporting)

The final day of $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. restarted just after 1 p.m. today with 23 players, kicking off with Stud in level 19.

John Racener came into the day very short and was the first to leave. He risked it allon third against Dustin Bryan, but couldn't catch anything against Bryan's Queens that improved to a broadway straight.

Paul Darden and Fabrice Soulier immediately got involved for Darden's tournament life.

Paul committed all of his chips on sixth street with Tens and Eights and Fabrice called him with Jacks and Sixes. Paul picked up a third pair, Deuces, on the end, sending him to the cashier.

Bryan Micon picked up a nice pot in Stud 8, raising with the 4  after Ronald Schiffman completed with the 6 . Schiffman caught the Jh and check-called Bryan, who had picked up the 5 . Ronald was forced to check-fold the next street as the dealer pitched him the 9  to Bryan's 2s.

On the next table in the same game, Tad Jurgens knocked out Torstein Iversen after Iverson put the rest of his chips in on fourth street. Iversen had A  3  3  4  against Jurgens' A  A  K  Q . Iversen caught the 8  and then the A  to give him a big two pair on sixth streeth, while Jurgens missed with the 5  and 8 . Iversen flipped over his blank seventh street card and Jurgens squeezed his out. He caught the K  to make a bigger two pair, Aces and Kings, to take the pot and eliminate Iversen.

The price of poker is getting very high, very quickly today. It's going to be a struggle for all of the players who want to make it to the final table. Stay tuned for more.