Event #4: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em

Expecting to crown another bracelet winner today at the 2011 World Series of Poker saw those ambitions fall just a few places shy in Event #4: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em as just four players remain.

Starting the day with 42 players all eyeing a piece of the $4,065,500 prizepool, many people wanted to see a fairytale story of Brian Lemke capturing his second gold bracelet in the same event after he collected the top prize in 2009. Action early saw players fly out the door as Bernard Lee (42nd), Matt Glantz (38th), Kyle Bowker, (37th), Tim West (35th), JC Tran (29th), Konstantin Bucherl (20th) and Carlos Mortensen (17th) all find themselves on the wrong side of the rail as players jostled for position as they made a run at the final table.

Unfortunately for Lemke, his roller coaster of a day that saw his chip stack soar up and down would eventually end in 14th place when his    was no match for Allen Bari's    when a king dropped on the board. With Lemke's chips in his possession, it would be Bari that would steamroll the field as he accumulated chips like Phil Ivey gets ZOMG's from poker noobs as he arrived at the final table sharing the chip lead with Thomas Ross.

Arriving at the final table wouldn't come without its dilemmas either as players were outraged at the fact that they had to continue playing instead of pausing for the night. Coming off two $5,000 buy-in-plus second-place finishes within the past month, Farzad Bonyadi would be unable to improve on that as he was bundled out in ninth before Mikhail Lakhitov had his kings cracked to fall in eighth. As Bari increased his lead to one-third of the chips in play, that would soon soar out to half and then two-thirds of the chips in play as Jesse Chinni and Ricky Fohrenbach fell in seventh and sixth respectively.

Although the voices on the rail picked up, the action came to a complete stall in the final hour - apart from a quickfire last few hands - as eventually play was ceased for the night with four players remaining. As was the flavor for the final table Allen Bari will hold the chip lead heading into tomorrow with an amassed 9,125,000 in chips, but with Nicholas Blumenthal, Sean LeFort and Maria Ho still fighting for survival, it won't be too easy for Bari.

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be heading home to get some much-needed rest, but just like the remaining players, we will be back here at 2:30 pm PST to provide the conclusion of all the final table action as we look to crown the Event #4: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Champion and award $874,116 in prizemoney along with the coveted gold bracelet!

Allen Bari entered the pot from the cutoff with a raise to 160,000 only to have Thomas Ross move all in for 710,000 from the button. Bari paused for a few moments before making the call.

Bari:   
Ross:   

The     flop gave Bari some backdoor outs along with his eight as the   landed on the turn. Now needing to fade a spade or eight, the river would be a cruel   to see Ross hit the rail in 5th place for a $189,574 payday as Bari soars to 9,800,000 in chips.

Allen Bari picked up the blinds and antes which pleased his rail.

"Finally! He hasn't won a pot in like an orbit!" commented Jason Mercier.

"Shockerrrrrrrr!" stated Jason Mercier after Allen Bari received a walk in the big blind.

Allen Bari

8,550,000

500,000

Sean LeFort opened his cutoff to 160,000 and Thomas Ross made the call from the big blind as the dealer dropped a     flop.

Ross checked, and LeFort continued for 175,000 which was enough to force a fold from Ross.

Sean LeFort	1,300,000	315,000
Thomas Ross	970,000	-255,000

"Mash potato!"

That was Jason Mercier announcing his arrival on the rail to sweat Allen Bari alongside Dan O'Brien.

Also on the rail, but currently occupied playing a three-handed game on an iPad is Vanessa Selbst, Jeff Madsen and Matthew Waxman.

Ricky Fohrenbach entered the pot from the cutoff to 120,000 only to have Allen Bari announce, "I raise... to 4 million!"

Once the blinds passed and the action returned to Fohrenbach, he deliberated for nearly ninety seconds before making the call for his 1,720,000-chip stack.

Fohrenbach:   
Bari:   

With Fohrenbach holding the lead in the race for his tournament life, the     flop switched Bari into the lead but still left Fohrenbach needing any queen, ten or seven to snatch it back.

The   on the turn did little to change the hand, and when the   completed the board, Fohrenbach was forced to hit the rail in 6th place collecting $142,821 in prizemoney as Bari moves to roughly 8,000,000 in chips - virtually three quarters of the chips in play!

Sean LeFort pushed all in from middle position for roughly 800,000 and Nicholas Blumenthal iso-shoved next to act.

LeFort:   
Blumenthal:   

With LeFort in the lead, but in a race for his tournament survival, the       board would ensure the chips shipped his way as he moved to over 1,700,000 while Blumenthal slipped to 900,000 in chips.

From the cutoff, Ricky Fohrenbach opened to 120,000 only to have Jesse Chinni three-bet jam all in for 1,060,000. Once Thomas Ross folded from the big, Fohrenbach immediately made the call and slammed his cards down.

Fohrenbach:   
Chinni:   

With Chinni all in and behind, the     flop gave him no additional outs as the dealer dropped the   landed on the turn.

Only three cards could keep Chinni alive, but when the   fell on the river, he would be forced to head to the rail in 7th place for a $108,914 payday as Fohrenbach moves to 2,700,000 in chips.