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WPT -- Bellagio Festa al Lago Main Event Day 4

Jason Lavallee Holds a Massive Chip Lead with 11 Remaining

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Festa al Lago Classic Bubble Boy Chau GiangDay 4 at the 2009 World Poker Tour Festa al Lago Classic took place today at Bellagio in Las Vegas. The $15,000 no-limit hold’em event, which attracted 275 players, saw 37 players return to their seats at noon PDT today, and the first order of business was to burst the money bubble. That task took close to two levels of play, and familiar faces lost along the way from this talented field included Dan Shak (36th place), Cliff Josephy (34th place), Dee Luong (33rd place), Andy Bloch (31st place), Brandon Cantu (30th place), Jason Somerville (29th place), and the bubble-boy Chau Giang (pictured right), who busted in 28th place.

After the bubble burst, each player remaining was guaranteed to walk away with at least $23,855 in prize money, and the focused shifted to playing down to the final 10. The field played slowly to end the night, and they missed that quota by the end of five levels, so the final 11 will return tomorrow. Jason Lavallee ran away with the chip lead during the late stages of the day, and he will enter day 5 with 4,063,000. Many of the in-the-money elimination hands are featured below, and you can see a full list of results from day 4 on the chip counts page for this tournament in Card Player’s live coverage. Day 5 will begin tomorrow at noon, when the final 11 will play down to the final television table of six. Stay tuned.

Here is a look at the chip counts heading into play tomorrow:

Jason Lavallee — 4,063,000
Freddy Deeb — 2,319,000
Shawn Cunix — 2,189,000
Kido Pham — 1,500,000
Tommy Vedes — 1,437,000
Jason Burt — 1,194,000
Chris Bjorin — 810,000
Lawrence Berg — 810,000
Richard Sciuto — 738,000
Aaron Jones — 679,000
Craig Crivello — 539,000

Here is a look at the highlights from day 4 as featured on CardPlayer.com’s live updates:

Chau Giang Eliminated on the Money Bubble

Matt Stout raised from early position to 32,000, and Chau Giang reraised all in from middle position for 199,000. Prahlad Friedman reraised all in from the cutoff for 259,000, and Stout mucked pocket tens. Friedman and Giang then revealed their cards:

Giang: ADiamond Suit KDiamond Suit
Friedman: JHeart Suit JSpade Suit

Board: QClub Suit 9Club Suit 6Club Suit 4Spade Suit 4Diamond Suit

Friedman held 515,000 after the hand, and Giang was eliminated on the money bubble in 28th place.

Prahlad FriedmanPrahlad Friedman Eliminated in 26th Place ($23,885)

Prahlad Friedman (pictured left) raised in middle position, and Jason Lavallee called on the button. The flop came down 10Diamond Suit 7Diamond Suit 7Heart Suit, and Lavallee bet 59,000.

Freidman moved all in for 340,000, and Lavallee called with pocket jacks. Friedman showed AHeart Suit KHeart Suit and needed help, but it didn’t come when the QClub Suit and 4Heart Suit completed the board.

Friedman was eliminated and Lavallee climbed above the 2-million mark.

Chris Ferguson Eliminated in 25th Place ($23,885)

Chris Ferguson raised to 40,000, and Jonas Entin reraised to 178,000 from the small blind. Ferguson moved all in for 300,000, and Etin called.

Ferguson showed ADiamond Suit QDiamond Suit and was in major trouble to Entin’s AHeart Suit ASpade Suit. The board offered no miracles, and Ferguson was eliminated, boosting Entin’s stack back to 1 million.

Matt GlantzMatt Glantz Eliminated in 18th Place ($31,805)

Matt Glantz (pictured right) moved all in preflop, and Jason Lavallee made the call. Their cards:

Glantz: AClub Suit JSpade Suit
Lavallee: AHeart Suit QHeart Suit

Board: QSpade Suit 8Diamond Suit 7Heart Suit 3Club Suit ADiamond Suit

Lavallee won the hand with aces up, and Glantz was eliminated in 18th place.

Dutch Boyd Eliminated in 16th Place ($31,805)

Jason Lavallee raised to 52,000 under the gun and Dutch Boyd made the call. The flop was dealt ADiamond Suit 8Spade Suit 4Heart Suit. Lavallee bet 20,000 and Boyd made the all-in call for 15,000. Their cards:

Boyd: AClub Suit 10Heart Suit
Lavallee: ASpade Suit KHeart Suit

Turn and River: 5Club Suit and 6Diamond Suit

Lavallee increased his chip lead to 4.4 million, and Boyd was eliminated in 16th place.

Vivek RajkumarVivek Rajkumar Eliminated in 15th Place ($39,760)

Vivek Rajkumar (pictured left) raised to 50,000 under the gun. Jason Lavallee reraised from the cutoff to 140,000. Rajkumar reraised all in for 460,000. Lavallee made the call, and they turned up their cards:

Lavallee: ADiamond Suit KDiamond Suit
Rajkumer: QClub Suit QHeart Suit

Board: KHeart Suit 5Heart Suit 5Spade Suit 6Diamond Suit 9Heart Suit

Lavallee grew his chip lead once more, and Rajkumar was knocked out in 15th place.

Matt Stout Eliminated in 13th Place ($39,760)

Craig Crivello checked a board of JDiamond Suit 8Spade Suit 3Heart Suit 4Diamond Suit from the big blind, and Matt Stout moved all in under the gun. Crivello made the call, and they turned over their cards:

Crivello: 3Club Suit 3Diamond Suit
Stout: 10Club Suit 10Spade Suit

River: KDiamond Suit

Crivello won the hand to grow his stack to 1 million and Stout was eliminated in 13th place.

Steve Brecher Eliminated in 12th Place ($47,710)

Steve Brecher was all in with pocket nines against Jason Burt’s KDiamond Suit QSpade Suit. The board gave Brecher a nine, but it also gave Burt the nut straight to send the former WPT champion to the rail in 12th place. Burt now has over 1 million in chips again.