11:43pm: A little more than a week after the release of the sixth tutorial, HFL will crank out the seventh heads up sng video tutorial by Thursday of this upcoming week. This is as a result of the ever increasing demand to keep producing more tutorials to cover a wider variety of situations.

The seventh tutorial, as planned, will cover endgame strategy from 2-3 different matches. The video will not be covering any action before the 25/50 blind level.

If you have any suggestions for future tutorials, please feel free to comment here in this post. I take all suggestions seriously, and would love to get your input.

Start a Clean Slate at a New Room, a New Sharkscope, and Keep HFL Free in the Process

(PN) Jeremy Joseph had a slight lead over the field of 189 remaining players going into Day 5 of the WSOP Championship. While Joseph would concede the mantle of chip leader to Mark Ketteringham by the end of the day, Joseph hovered near the top of the leaderboard for the majority of the day and currently sits in ninth place. Russian player Nikolay Losev currently holds the second-place slot. Losev apparently can’t get enough poker and took one of his days off from the main event last week to win the Bellagio Cup III $5,000 NLHE event.

Phil Hellmuth was the last remaining WSOP Champion in the field when Johnny Chan was eliminated in 329th place. Hellmuth will not be starting Day 6, but not because he was eliminated on Day 5. Hellmuth survived the day, but racked up a penalty at the end of play for berating fellow player Cristian Dragomir and will be forced to sit out the first orbit.

Day 5 players were guaranteed a $38,600 payday and the average chip count going into day was 760,000. There were, however, many players with a short stack that had to make their moves early. George Ramhe was the first elimination of the day when he shoved with A-5 against Greg Debora’s A-Q. A queen on the turn sealed it for Debora and Ramhe finished in 189th place. Peter Traply was also eliminated on the first hand of the day when his pocket queens had the misfortune of running into Darren Grant’s pocket kings; Traply finished in 188th place.

Alexander Kostritsyn bought himself some time by eventually folding pocket kings pre-flop and face up. As the betting escalated in a three-way action, Kostritsyn came to the correct conclusion; one of his opponents had pocket aces. Reagan Silber was the opponent with the rockets and Roy Carter, holding A-K, was eliminated on the hand in 182nd place.

The year that Scotty Nguyen won the championship bracelet, UK player Ben Roberts had a birds-eye view; Roberts finished sixth in the 1998 WSOP Championship. Ten years later, Roberts had to settle for 178th place when his pocket kings fell to Scott Montgomery’s A-Q after an ace showed up on the board. Lou Esposito was hoping an ace would fall on his board when his A-J tangled with Shawn Sheikhan’s pocket queens. But the board failed to cooperate and Esposito was out in 172nd.

Hoyt Corkins locked in his fifth cash of the 2008 WSOP when his pocket queens ran into Ivan Demidov’s pocket aces. Corkins finished in 162nd place. Chip Jett and Gus Hansen were right behind him, finishing in 161st and 160th place, respectively. Hansen was crippled on a hand when his flopped open-ended straight draw couldn’t connect and Jeremy Joseph’s ace-high took the pot. On the next hand, Hansen’s Q-9 led with top pair on a 9-7-5 flop against Chris Crilly’s A-6 gutshot draw. A three on the turn gave Crilly a double gutshot. And an eight on the river filled Crilly’s straight and sent Hansen to the rail.

WSOP bracelet winner Jon Friedberg was eliminated in 148th place when his A-J couldn’t overcome Keith Hawkins’ A-Q. And player/author Matt Lessinger’s run ended in 144th place. In Day 4, a million chips was a nice stack. When Day 5’s field had whittled down to 136 players, it became merely average. Tiffany Michele, one of the few remaining women in the field, seemed to have no trouble powering through the averages on Day 5. By this time, Michele had almost doubled her starting stack to 1.7 million. And by the end of the day, Michele would double that total again, finishing fourth in chips with 3.4 million.

Five-time WSOP bracelet winner Allen Cunningham finished in fourth place in the 2006 Championship Event. Cunningham’s deep run in 2008, however, came to an end when he ran his Q-J into Tim Loecke’s pocket aces. Cunningham finished in 117th place for his fifth cash at this year’s Series. And two-time bracelet winner Jeff Madsen also put in a solid performance this year, with four cashes and a 112th-place finish in this Main Event. Madsen’s run finally ended when his short stacked play with K-10 was met by Victor Ramdin holding A-K.

Shawn Sheikhan was sporting a good stack for much of the day, but lost almost all of it running his pocket jacks into Jamal Kunbuz’ pocket aces. Sheikhan put the last of his chips in on the next hand with 7-5 and again was called by Kunbuz, this time holding A-K. The board changed nothing and Shawn Sheikhan was out in 105th place. Kara Scott called in the last of her chips on an A-K-4 board with K-Q. Phi Nguyen had the advantage with A-10 and held it through the river. Kara Scott was eliminated in 104th place.

At the ESPN feature table, Mike Matusow had been playing tight all day. Matusow caught an early double-up to get to over 700,000 chips but was unable to navigate his way much higher. He played few hands and advertised high pocket pairs when he had them. In the last level of the night, Matusow must have figured his tight image was going to get the laydown when he reraised all in, over the top of Sean Davis. Davis called with A-K and Matusow was forced to flip over his 10-5. The crowd roared when Matusow pulled ahead on the J-7-5 flop. After the remaining 8-6 fell, Matusow had doubled up to over a million chips for the first time in the event. Soon after, Phil Hellmuth joined the ESPN table and quickly took control, taking three of the first six hands he played. Matusow joked that Hellmuth won more hands in the first 20 minutes at the feature table than Matusow had won all day.

Alexander Kostritsyn had dodged pocket aces early in the day, but was still unable to escape elimination in Day 5. Kostritsyn check-raised to put himself all in against Garrett Beckman on a 10-6-4 flop. Beckman went into the tank, but finally called with pocket sevens and was relieved to discover he was ahead of Kostritsyn’s A-K. No outs materialized for Kostritsyn and he finished in 84th place. And Mark Vos was also unable to escape elimination, succumbing on the very last hand of the day. Pre-flop betting escalated between Vos and Dennis Phillips until Vos finally shoved all in. Dennis Phillips immediately called with pocket aces and Vos’ A-K was drawing thin. The board ran out Q-9-3-10-2 and Vos finished in 80th place.

Along with the Day 5 chip leaders, listed below, Day 6 will play host to Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Kido Pham, Brandon Cantu, Alex Outhred, Victor Ramdin, Matt Matros, Thomas Keller, Mark Wilds, James McManus, Phi Nguyen, and David Rheem. Payouts for Day 6 will begin at $77,200. If they play down to 27 players, as planned, the last elimination of Day 6 will pay $193,000.

Check back with the PokerNews “Live Reporting” team for all the Day 6 action.

Top Ten:

Mark Ketteringham 5,800,000
Nikolay Losev 4,058,000
Albert Kim 3,734,000
Tiffany Michelle 3,438,000
Dennis Phillips 3,436,000
Aaron Gordon 3,369,000
Jamal Kunbuz 3,327,000
Terry Lade 3,225,000
Jeremy Joseph 3,100,000
Alfredo Fernandez 3,053,000

Start a Clean Slate at a New Room, a New Sharkscope, and Keep HFL Free in the Process

(PN) Day 4 of the WSOP Championship began with 474 players and play was suspended with just 189 players left, or less than three percent of the starting field of 6,844. Jeremy Joseph started the Day 4 as the chip leader, and ended it the same way with 2,187,000 in chips. But Joseph has some company near the 2 million chip mark; four other players, from four different countries, all have stacks topping 1.9 million.

The championship field had made the money in Day 3, and all the starting Day 4 players were insured of a $27,020 payday. But with the bubble safely behind them, few players thought about the guarantee. When the WSOP’s Dealer of the Year, Jenna Phillips, said “Shuffle up and deal,” the race for the bracelet and $9,110,517 began in earnest. Many of the remaining players had been to the championship table before, most notably former WSOP Champions Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Other final tablists present included Allen Cunninham, Mike Matusow, Hevad Khan, and Glenn Cozen.

The day started quickly as short stacks wielded what little power they had in a bid to double up. In the first hour, the field players at a rate of one per minute. Robert Mizrachi was an early victim when all his chips went in on a J-9-4 flop. Mizrachi had the best of it with K-J to William Soffin’s Q-J, but a queen fell on the river and Mizrachi finished in 458th place. Brian Schaedlich ended the Day 2 flights as chip leader, but Day 3 took its toll, and Schaedlich started Day 4 with a relatively short stack. In the early going, Schaedlich made his stand with A-9 against Darren Grant’s Q-4. A queen on the turn ended Schaedlich’s run in 456th place.

Two-time WSOP bracelet winner Chris Bjorin locked in his 42nd lifetime money finish in the WSOP. Bjorin’s A-Q looked good against Shawn Sheikhan’s A-6, but the board came J-7-5-8-9 to give Sheikhan a nine-high straight and send Bjorin home in 452nd. Kirill Gerasimov also had the edge when all his chips went in pre-flop; Gerasimov had pocket kings against Danny Mitnick’s A-K. But the A-A-10 flop proved insurmountable and Gerasimov finished in 439th place. With four money finishes, including two final table appearances, Gerasimov can’t be too disappointed with his 2008 WSOP performance. The first hour of play would also claim Jason Young, Jean-Robert Bellande, Mike Wattel, and David Colclough.

“Are you kidding me?” asked a stunned Adam Schoenfeld. “Unbelievable.” Adam Schoenfeld had taken his pocket tens up against Sigurd Eskeland’s K-J. With the board reading 6-7-8-9, the only card that could hurt Schoenfeld was a ten – which fell on the river. Adam Schoenfeld finished in 424th place. Tim West was eliminated in 419th place and bracelet winner Frankie O’Dell claimed 418th place.

Phil Hellmuth had a ballistic moment, possibly attributable to a 2002 WSOP Championship flashback. In 2002, Hellmuth was eliminated by a Q-10 wielding Robert Varykonyi. Hellmuth swore he’d shave his head if Varkonyi went on to win the Championship. Varkonyi not only won it, he won it with a final hand of Q-10. Hellmuth didn’t welch on his bet, allowing Varkonyi to shave his head for the ESPN cameras. Back to 2008. Hellmuth flipped out, berating his opponent for overplaying his hand and did a lap around the feature table area in disgust. The board read 9-6-J-8-2; Hellmuth’s opponent’s flipped up cards were Q-10 for the straight. This time, however, Hellmuth still had a stack left. And after collecting himself, Hellmuth got back to work collecting more chips.

Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy was crippled holding pocket jacks against Danny Fuhs with J-10. All the money was in on the 9-8-6 flop, with Josephy with the overpair and Fuhs with the open-ended straight draw. Fuhs got his draw when the queen fell on the turn, and Josephy was down to 60,000 chips. Josephy got the rest of his stack in with K-J and was up against Dag Martin Mikkelsen’s dominating A-K. When Q-10-2 flopped, Josephy picked up the open-ended straight draw, but the rest of the board failed to cooperate. Josephy finished in 386th place. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier finished in 370th place when his pocket kings were outdrawn by Anthony Zinno’s A-Q when an ace came on the flop. And Jason Lester was out in 367th place when his pocket queens went down to Hoyt Corkins’ A-K when a king hit the board.

Johnny Chan was crippled when he took his pocket fives against Damien Creurer’s A-10. Chan was initially delighted to hit a set on the flop, but the ensuing board came up all diamonds and Creurer’s played for the flush. In a subsequent hand, Chan pushed all in with A-7 and Creurer called with pocket eights. The eights held and Johnny Chan finished in 329th place, leaving Phil Hellmuth as the sole former WSOP Main Event champion in the field.

Thayer Rasmussen moved in the last of his chips with pocket aces against Sylvain Coeur’s pocket tens. Rasmussen finished in 321st place when the board ran out J-8-3-7-9 to give Coeur a jack-high straight. Pat Poels finished in 310th when his pocket jacks ran into Eric Bamer’s pocket kings. Dag Martin Mikkelsen finished in 281st place when his pocket kings fell to Kevin Mason’s pocket aces. And Peter Biebel’s pocket fours couldn’t overtake Steve Billirakis’ pocket fives. Biebel’s run ended in 273rd place.

Van Nguyen took her pocket eights up against Dale Hoy’s K-Q, but Nguyen lost the race when a king hit the board. Van Nguyen finished in 250th place. The field of remaining women continued to dwindle as Tracey Nguyen and Evelyn Ng went out soon after, finishing in 239th and 238th respectively. And Hevad Khan, the last representative from the 2007 WSOP Championship final table, was eliminated in 240th place.

Right before the dinner break, Jon “PearlJammer” Turner flopped a set of aces. Albert Kim berated himself for calling on the flush draw, but the turn delivered his flush and the board never paired, sending Jon Turner to the rail in 225th place. Because Day 3 was over 14 hours long, and play had progressed quickly in Day 4, it was decided to suspend play after just one level after dinner.

Glenn Cozen finished in second place in the 1993 WSOP Championship, behind Jim Bechtel. This year Cozen had to settle for 200th place, when his K-J couldn’t overcome the slight disadvantage against Phi Nguyen’s A-9. Play definitely slowed down in the last half hour of the day, as players stalled to survive one more day of the Main Event. But a few late night eliminations still trickled in. Steve Billirakis was among them, running his pocket eights up into David “Chino” Rheem’s pocket queens. Steve Billirakis finished in 199th place.

When play was called, only four women remained in the field of 189; they are PokerNews video gal Tiffany Michelle, Kara Scott, Karen Manfrede, and Lisa Parsons. Eleven WSOP bracelet winners also advanced to Day 5. Phi Nguyen, Brandon Cantu. Mark Vos, Gus Hansen, Allen Cunningham, Jeff Madsen, Mike Matusow, Thomas Keller, Hoyt Corkins, Jon Friedberg - and of course, Phil Hellmuth – will all be looking to add another to their collection. And Gus Hansen, Alex Outhred, Alexander Kostritsyn, Matt Matros, Chip Jett, Matt Lessinger, and Kido Pham will also return to chase the chip leaders, listed below, on their way to the bracelet.

Jeremy Joseph 2,187,000
Nikolay Losev 2,110,000
Cristian Dragomir 2,065,000
Brandon Cantu 1,981,000
Davor Lanini 1,958,000
David Rheem 1,851,000
Andrew Rosskamm 1,764,000
James McManus 1,761,000
Geoffrey Herzog 1,695,000
Albert Kim 1,688,000