Perkins Leads Final Four; Esfandiari Eyes Second One Drop Title
The 2013 World Series of Poker Event #47: $111,111 One Drop High Rollers No-Limit Hold'em was scheduled to come to an end today, but thanks to the record 166-player turnout—the highest ever for a six-figure buy-in event—an impromptu Day 4 has been added to the schedule to see who among the final four will emerge victorious to capture the gold bracelet and $4,830,619 first-place prize.
Businessman Bill Perkins leads the final four with 14.7 million, but he must overcome some stiff competition in Anthony Gregg (13.9 million), Chris Klodnicki (12 million) and Antonio Esfandiari (9.2 million). Incredibly, Esfandiari is looking to capture a One Drop title for the second year in a row.
The day began two off the money with 26 players returning to action. The first elimination came within an hour and happened in Level 21 (30,000/60,000/10,000) when well-known sports bettor Haralabos Voulgaris was eliminated by Connor Drinan in 26th place. The money bubble lasted quite awhile, and despite a double for Yevgeniy Timoshenko, he still ended up the High Roller bubble boy.
Over the next few levels the in-the-money eliminations began to mount and included Steve Gross (24th - $173,723), Dan Shak (23rd - $173,723), Farshad Fardad (22nd - $173,723), Jason Koon (21st - $173,723), Shaun Deeb (20th - $173,723) and Phil Laak (19th - $173,723). It was at that point that Esfandiari was nearly eliminated. Instead, he used his proverbial "one time" to spike an ace on the river to stay alive.
After Andrew Lichtenberger (18th - $173,723) and Daniel Alaei (17th - $173,723) were sent to the rail, the final two tables were set.
Within minutes Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton, who cashed in last year's Big One for One Drop, fell in 16th place for $208,968. From there, Blake Bohn (15th - $208,968), Martin Finger (14th - $251,549), Matt Glantz (13th - $251,549), Jeremy Ausmus (12th - $308,622), Connor Drinan (11th - $308,622) and Lawrence Greenberg (10th - $384,122) all hit the rail before the unofficial final table of ten was set.
It took just three hands for Olivier Busquet to fall to Nick Schulman and to establish the official final table for Event #47: $111,111 One Drop High Rollers No-Limit Hold'em.
On Hand #16 of the official final table, which happened in Level 27 (120,000/240,000/40,000), Schulman attempted an unsuccessful stop-and-go against Richard Fullerton to bust in eighth place for $485,029. In the very next hand, Brandon Steven, who finished tenth in the 201 WSOP Main Event for $635,011, lost a race to fall in seventh place.
In the last level of the night (Level 28: 150,000/300,000/50,000), Martin Jacobson hit the rail in sixth place after running ace-jack into the pocket queens of Anthony Gregg. He was soon joined on the rail by Richard Fullerton, who exited in one of the day's more dramatic hands.
The final four players will return at 1:00 p.m. local time to play down to a winner. Join us then as we look to close this thing out and crown a new One Drop champion.
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, and exploded at the sight of the six. Suddenly, Esfandiari went from being in great shape to needing a ton of help to eliminated Fullerton. Just as the crowd died down a bit, the 
spiked on the turn, and the decibal level increased tenfold.
completed the board, and Fullerton was eliminated in fifth place.
flop was disaster for Jacobson as it left him in need of running cards to overcome the set of Gregg. The 
turn put an end to any suspense as Gregg improved to a boat and left Jacobson drawing dead. The meaningless 
was put out on the river for good measure and Jacobson exited in sixth place for $807,427. With that, the remaining five players are guaranteed at least a million-dollar payday.
turned, however, and Gregg successfully doubled through when the 
completed the board. He now has nearly 10 million chips, while Perkins plummeted to 5.25 million.
. Perkins hit two pair to take a monster lead and his rail let out a cheer. The 
river sent Steven out the door in seventh place for $621,180.
on the turn completed Fullerton's flush, but Schulman could still double with a ten or a nine on the river. It was not to be for the Takeover as the 
, Klodnicki checked, and Jacobson fired out 800,000. Klodnicki called.
was far from it. Busquet shook hands with a few of the opponents and then exited in ninth place to a nice round of applause from the railbirds, which are several rows deep around the "Mothership."
