James Van Alstyne raises to $75,000, Michael Gracz moves all in, and Darrell "Gigabet" Dicken moves all in over the top. Then, Patrik Antonius moves in over the top of <i>him.</i> Van Alstyne quietly folds to get out of the way, and this probably wasn't what Gracz was hoping for when he flips over Kh-9h. Dicken shows pocket aces (Ad-As) -- you knew they were out there somewhere -- and Antonius shows Ah-Ks.


The flop comes Kd-9d-5d -- Gracz flops two pair to take the lead! Antonius has a pair of kings, but he is drawing dead because the other players have him dominated in different ways. Dicken has the ace of diamonds for the nut flush draw, so Gracz needs to avoid the case ace and diamonds to stay alive and triple up in chips.


The turn card is the Jh, and Gracz is one card away from rebounding up the leaderboard and pushing toward the final table with the Player of the Year award in his sight.


The river card is the 3d.


Dicken's pocket aces give him the nut flush to win the hand, and Michael Gracz is eliminated in 15th place, earning $80,500. (Darrell Dicken finishes the hand with about $1.5 million, and Patrik Antonius is down to about $1.7 million.)


Gracz had a great run at Player of the Year this year, but it effectively comes to an end when he needed to finish fifth or higher in a 555-player field -- and he finished fifteenth. Congratulations to Michael Gracz on a superb 2005!

Antonius decided that he was going to play, and the play there is to move all in so that Van Alstyne would lay down QQ. I would fold, but if he decides to play, he had a ton of chips.

but what about gigabet, he has to be very strong right there

HAH, I cant wait till the cardplayer radio show tonight when Mike Matusow talks about what a F.uckin idiot donk he is. Those will be his exact words.

I can't believe this guy. Folds QQ to a reraise and then makes this move.

Place Poker Player Chip Count
1 Doyle Brunson $ 2,400,000
2 Joanne 'J.J.' Liu $ 2,300,000
3 Rehne Pedersen $ 1,850,000
4 Bengt Sonnert $ 1,440,000
5 Darrell Dicken $ 1,350,000
6 Patrik Antonius $ 1,300,000
7 Phil Laak $ 1,300,000
8 James Van Alstyne $ 945,000
9 Jeff Rine $ 890,000
10 Peter Costa $ 720,000
11 David Levi $ 670,000
12 Joe Cassidy $ 665,000
13 Jeff Littlefield $ 500,000

YES.

Go Doyle!

Doyle is playing extremely well. He deserves it. I didn't even hear about him yesterday and he got up near the chip lead.

Tough break for Gracz. He is a sensational young player.

BTW, the Player of the Year race is not over. Men The Master and John Phan are battling it out at the Taj. Both made the final table in today's event (which is still going on). I have heard unconfirmed reports that Gracz is on his way to AC, but he may be too far behind in points even if he wins the main event due to the (projected) small field.

If Men holds on, he will have won the Player of the Year award 4 times. TJ Cloutier is the only other player that has won more than once.

Poker Player of the Year Award Winners:

1997: Men Nguyen
1998: T. J. Cloutier
1999: Tony Ma
2000: David Pham
2001: Men Nguyen
2002: T. J. Cloutier
2003: Men Nguyen
2004: Daniel Negreanu
2005: ?

However, John Phan still has a chance because he is an absolute animal at no limit. Good luck, Men!

you owe me 1 signed men the master picture saying "nwp pwns all you can eat"!!!

Men is a great player, but he also plays more tournaments than any other pro BY FAR

Yeah, tough break for Gracz, you know, getting all in with the worst hand and losing and all....

scottyno,

You are correct sir. I have not forgotten about you! I probably won't see Men until he returns for the LA Poker Classic in late January, but I will get him to sign a photo for now. Now bite me. And I better not see the photo end up on freaking Ebay.

NICE, I GOT A PHOTO, WOOOOOOOOOO

PM me whenever you see him for my personal info on where to send the picture

Most likely true. I wonder if this will change when some of the young hotshot Internet pros turn 21, i.e., ZeeJustin. Maybe they will keep spending the majority of their time playing on the Internet like Fischman, but it will be interesting to see what develops in the next few years.

The avatar - very disturbing. Where is The Wynn when you need him?

i had never really heard of Peter Costa until watching this year's WSOP broadcoast of the limit event, where he was referred to as "possibly the best limit player in the world."
he's near the top of this tourney too.

is he a high-level pro that I just hadn't heard of, or is he mostly a limit specialist? also, is he actually considered one of the best in the world, or is it typical norman chad hyperbole?

NOPE...Costa is the real deal. He is just a European killer...so you don't hear from him as much...but he is very respected.

woohoo