Associated Press – Several hours into the fourth round Tuesday, Greg Raymer found himself holding onto first place in the prestigious no-limit Texas Hold ’em event with pile of chips totaling about $1.5 million.
But to be crowned poker king once more and claim the $7.5 million top prize, Raymer will have to get through the round and outlast 160 other gamblers.
Some of the remaining players that Raymer could face on his way to the nine-person final table that begins Friday are among the most well-known in the game.
In fourth place was Rodney Pardey Jr., son of a professional poker player, with about $400,000 less than Raymer.
Lagging behind the two is the formidable and expressionless Phil Ivey, whose chip stack was dissipating slowly.
Mike Matusow and John Juanda of the fulltiltpoker.com team had dominant stacks. Ivey also is part of that impressive poker stable.
At one point, Howard “The Professor” Lederer, Ivey and Juanda were at the same table, creating plenty of excitement as the fans, known as rail birds, crowded the convention hall.
But Juanda was getting the best of them, knocking out the short-stacked Lederer. In a tense scene, both players went all-in, but Juanda had an edge on Lederer and he was gone.
Russ Hamilton, the 1994 champion, was still in the tournament. He, along with Raymer, are the last of more than a dozen former World Series of Poker champs entered in the event.
There were still four women in the World Series, but a woman has never won the tournament and making history could be tough in this field that has been whittled from 5,619 original players.
If Raymer’s luck holds, the 41-year-old patent lawyer from Stonington, Conn., could join an elite crowd by winning back-to-back titles. On Monday, he started in ninth place with $318,700 but quickly moved up the leaderboard.
In one big hand, Raymer scored a flush on the turn, beating his opponent’s pair of kings and raking in more than $200,000.
“I don’t take it easy on anybody,” a tired-looking Raymer said. “I play the cards.”
Others have made a run, too. Internet player Tom Sartori, a musician from Buffalo, N.Y., has been on a tear. On Tuesday, before play began, he was in 20th place, up 297 spots from the previous day.