Last Tuesday, the World Series of Poker Main Event continued airing on ESPN with action from Day 4. With the money bubble set to pop in poker's biggest tournament, ESPN announcer Lon McEachern pointed out, "The bubble will burst." The top 666 players would finish in the money and PocketFives member Dave doubledave22 D'Alesandro (pictured) stood atop the leaderboard with a stack of 1.1 million.The feature table housed players like Erick Lindgren, former back-to-back Main Event winner Johnny Chan, and World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open winner Vivek Psyduck Rajkumar, the latter of whom was absent when coverage began. Chan immediately went to work, forcing Lindgren to fold aces-up after check-raising. Then, at the secondary feature table, two-time bracelet winner Vanessa Selbst 4bet all-in pre-flop with K-5 offsuit to get Marc Karam, who held K-J suited, to fold.
PokerStars front man Daniel Negreanu moved in with 8d-7 against Eric basebaldy Baldwin, who had 10-9, on a flop of 9d-5d-6d. Baldwin, who had top pair, was drawing dead after the turn and Negreanu doubled up.
Back at the feature table, Lindgren, a former Full Tilt pro, called an all-in with K-Q for top pair against a player who made middle set. Lindgren was down to a single ante following the beat and was ultimately sent packing with 5-3 against Rajkumar's K-8.
After flopping a set and check-calling a bet from Rajkumar, Chan (pictured) promptly check-raised on the turn during hand-for-hand play after a long deliberation. Rajkumar was upset with Chan's theatrics, griping, "You don't have to Hollywood for that long. You really don't have to Hollywood. You shake your head and do the huffing. There's really no need for that."The 2012 WSOP Main Event featured four Bubble Boys. On the same hand during hand-for-hand play, Steve Rosen lost with kings against aces to bust from the Main Event. Then, Christina lindeyloo22 Lindley knocked out David Kelley with aces against queens. Elsewhere in the Amazon Room, a player with Big Slick drew out on the aces of Dave Lomes, while Desmond Portano lost with kings against fives. Each of the four Bubble Boys got it in with no worse than queens and split 666th place money.
After the bubble burst, the field dwindled quickly. Selbst knocked out a player with A-J after flopping top two pair. Then, Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Loungo moved all-in pre-flop with pocket fours and ran into jacks. ESPN quickly turned its attention to Chan, who dropped one-quarter of his stack after calling an all-in with a flush draw against a player with bottom set. The latter made a full house on the turn and Chan was drawing dead.
To end the first one-hour episode of the WSOP on ESPN telecast, Liv Boeree called all-in on the river with kings-up, but met her demise against a player who had hit a boat.
To begin the second Main Event episode, Negreanu busted an opponent with queens against sevens. Also sending a player to the rail was Selbst, whose K-J bankrupted a short stack who had Q-9. Then, Huck Seed went busto with A-K after a player with K-10 drew out on him, recording his fourth career Main Event cash in the process.
Isaac mr. menlo Baron (pictured) pushed all-in on a board of 6-9-A-7 with 10-8 for a straight and Chan, who held pocket nines, called. The river was a jack, keeping Baron out in front with a jack-high straight, and Chan shed a colossal 80% of his stack. All wasn't lost for "The Orient Express," however, who won a race to chip back up to 40 big blinds.Big One for One Drop winner Antonio Esfandiari, poker's all-time money leader, shed 80% of his stack with A-Q against a player with A-K after all of the money went in before the flop. He then tripled up after turning a pair of aces, but went broke after running K-Q into A-Q. Esfandiari won a mind-numbing $18 million in the One Drop event, which aired on ESPN several weeks ago.
To wrap up ESPN's first portion of Day 4 coverage, Danny Johnson, who hails from Hawaii and enjoys shouting "Mahalo," moved all-in before the flop with 9-8 and received a call from a rather annoyed Selbst, who showed A-2. The dual bracelet holder barely made eye contact with her boisterous tablemate and likely watched with glee as the board came ace-high. Selbst sat in sixth place as the credits rolled and Johnson "Mahalo'd" all the way to exit.
This week, ESPN's WSOP coverage will take place on Wednesday beginning at 8:00pm ET. On Tuesday during the WSOP's regular time slot, ESPN will air back-to-back Major League Baseball games.
