MIKE CARSON

There were 200 entrants in the $3,000 Pot Limit Hold'em for a total prize pool of $600,000. 3 tables were paid, a total of 27 players.

Bruce Yamron was the short stack with about $24,000 left when he took his A 7 suited up against Matt Lefkowitz and pocket Aces. We were done for Tuesday night.

Coming back Wednesday afternoon, Mike Carson had a definitive chip lead over poker legend T J Cloutier. Matt Lefkowitz was a distant 3rd.

THE FINAL TABLE 64 mins left of 80. The blinds are $1,500/$3,000

Player	Hometown	Chip Count
Seat 1 Hieu "Tony" Ma	S El Monte CA	$65,000
Seat 2 Mads Andersen	Hellerop, Denmark	$48,500
Seat 3 Greg Hopkins	Redondo Beach CA	$37,000
Seat 4 Jack Ward	Anchorage AK	$39,500
Seat 5 John Manchon	Grayslake IL	$45,500
Seat 6 Matt Lefkowitz	Brookline MA	$74,000
Seat 7 Mike Carson	Laguna Beach CA	$142,500
Seat 8 Daniel Studer	Steinhausen, Switzerland	$54,500
Seat 9 T J Cloutier	Richardson TX	$94,000

As we've seen repeatedly, great players continue to get great cards. Tony Ma raised to 8K from second button. Tony had an A Q. John Manchon was in his first major event and didn't know what terrible things can happen to pocket Kings in the big blind. The 'Ace Magnets' did it again. John bet the pot putting himself all-in. Ma called and saw the first card off the deck was an Ace. John became the Manchon-ian candidate for 9th.

It could be worse, he might not get here at all. But a disappointed Greg Hopkins has 8th locked up at this year's WSOP. This is his second 8th in as many visits to the Final Table. Greg had the misfortune of having Mike Carson find pocket Aces on the button. Hopkins called Mike's reraise all-in with pocket 7's. Fire the laser, Hopkins is ejected.

Incredibly, this was the 26th Final Table for T J Cloutier in his storied WSOP career. Cloutier has cashed over $1.7 million in the World Series, alone. This is a poker player par excellance. One of the many aspects of Cloutier's game that makes him great is his insistence on going for the tournament win, not just a high money finish. T J had over $100k in chips at the start of his last hand. He could have waited for more players to go out. But that's not the way he plays the game. Mike Carson raised before the flop with pocket Queens. Cloutier called with the A 9 of Clubs. The flop came 10 high with two clubs. When Carson bet $30k, T J came over the top all-in for $90k. Mike Carson had to commit almost his entire stack to those Queens. He did and they held up. No club or Ace came to save Cloutier from 7th place.

It's a cruel game as Daniel Studer found out. Daniel's story is about three bets. Studer took the chip lead early on the first. He won a giant pot from Mike Carson when he went all-in on the river with the K Q of Diamonds. There were two pair on the board, so it was a gutsy bet. Studer had the nut flush which was good. Next, Studer gave the chip lead to Jack Ward when he called Ward's all-in with only an A K of Spades, no pair or flush draw. Ward had pocket Kings. Then Daniel went all-in himself with pocket Queens against a button raise by Matt Lefkowitz with A 3. With an Ace on the river, Studer's hopes were Swiss cheese in 6th.

There are so many new, young European players coming over for the pot limit games especially. Mads Andersen was very disciplined for a long time. He finally felt he had to make a move. Mads raised before the flop and went all-in for $35k when Mike Carson reraised on the button. Andersen had pocket 4's, Carson pocket Kings. Andersen's game is no Danish pastry. He won't get Mads, he'll get even the next time.

Desperate for chips, Matt Lefkowitz went all-in from the small blind against Mike Carson's big blind. Matt turned over A J. Mike had the A K of Spades to give Matt the door in 4th.

Mike Carson had two thirds of the chips. Tony Ma and Jack Ward had slightly over $100k each. Ma couldn't find a deal that he could live with so he insisted that play resume. When an 8 high flop hit, both Ma and Carson went for it. Tony came out second best on the hand with Q 8 to Mike's K 8, and 3rd best in the tournament.

Head up, Carson had a 5-1 chip lead over Jack Ward. It looked to be no contest and it wasn't. Jack, who is the younger brother of longtime Alaskan player Jim Ward, made a valiant attempt to win. He got his chips up to $200k, but the weight of Carson's enormous chip lead finally wore Ward down. It 's too hard to have to keep doubling up. Jack took the best hand on the flop all-in against Mike. Ward flopped Kings with a 6, Carson 5's with a 9. The working man's hand, 9's and 5's, got there with a 9 on the river. Mike Carson, a hard-working professional poker player, nearly lost this event with some poor play early. "I got lucky on my first all-in," Carson said. "Then I played very well."