Elio Fox Leads WSOPE Main Event Final Table

American poker player Elio Fox took the lead at WSOPE Main Event final table lead in the most dramatic circumstances during the early hours of Thursday morning.

In a three-way shove, the native New Yorker hit a set of Tens on the flop to best Arnaud Mattern´s pocket Aces and Alex Dovzhenko´s Ace-King combination and collect a 4 million chip pot – sufficient to give him a chip stack 50% bigger than his nearest competitor, Jake Cody.

An Eventful Day for Cody Too

Jake Cody had started the penultimate day of the WSOPE Main Event clinging onto the coattails of the leaders. The lunchtime distraction of the Caesar´s Cup did not prevent from Jake from doubling up early against Chris Moorman, and he then took a massive three-way pot against Patrik Antonius and Max Silver. Max Silver was again the victim of Cody´s relentless climb up the leaderboard, after betting for value and creating a million chip pot, only to be out-kicked by Cody at the showdown.

Another Ride on the Max Silver Rollercoaster

We have seen Max Silver build up commanding leads and blow them before – most recently at the UKIPT Dublin in which he eventually finished fourth – and yesterday was another rollercoaster ride for the young UK poker player. Starting the day with a narrow chip advantage over Chris Moorman, Silver put John Eames out of his misery when Eames (K♦ 10♣) failed to connect with the board against Silver´s Q♦ Q♥ and then eliminated Dario Sammartino when his 2♥ 2♦ held against Sammartino´s A♣ K♠. Sitting to the right of three short-stacked players, Silver was able to build his stack above 3.6 million chips, but finished the day with half that amount after losing a stack to Jake Cody in the above hand and also finishing second in a 7♦ 7♣ race against Chris Moorman´s K♥ J♦.

Lucky Moorman Cripples Antonius

“Lucky” is not usually a word used to describe Chris Moorman, but even the world´s number one player of online poker was embarrassed about the manner in which he crippled the Finn. Raising by 65,000 from the button, Antonius three-bet up to 165,000 and Chris Moorman moved all-in for his last 940,000. Antonius snap-called and turned over A♥ Q♦ – well ahead of Moorman´s A♠ 7♣. The flop of 8♥ 6♣ 6♠ kept Antonius in control and Moorman´s tournament life was in peril. However, the turn of 8♦ meant that it was looking like a split pot before the 7♦ on the river gave Moorman the better two pairs in the most fortunate of circumstances. Chris Moorman finished the day in fourth position, while Patrik Antonius was soon busted out of the poker game by Shawn Buchanan.

Final Table Chip Counts

Play at the Le Croisette Casino resumes today at 2.00pm and will continue until we have a new WSOPE Main Event Champion. Yesterday, we believed that Shawn Buchanan was the only player capable of threatening Ben Lamb in the race for WSOP Player of the Year, but following Chris Moorman´s good fortune, he could also figure in the shake-up if he goes on to win the event. Dermot Blain is also having an excellent run in the tournament and, win or lose, is guaranteed his biggest cash in two years, while James Bord´s wager on a non-American winner still hangs in the balance with chip leader Elio Fox joined on the final table by his dangerous compatriot Brian Roberts. German player Moritz Kranich is the only player not yet mentioned and he tends to have one big win each year – having won the EPT Deauville in 2009 and WPT Bellagio Cup in 2010.