Reno Hilton 2006 World Poker Challenge -- WPT Season 4
March 9th to March 30th

Day 1 592 players came to Reno, Nevada to take a shot at a $1,052,890 payout to the winner of this event. Lots of big names turned out for this one like Michael Mizrachi, Evelyn Ng, David Williams, Amir Vahedi, Amnon Filippi, Erick Lindgren, Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda, T.J. Cloutier, Barry Greenstein, J.C. Tran, David Plastik, Dustin Woolf, Fabrice Soulier, Carlos Mortensen and last year's champion Arnold Spee. Payout schedule is as follows for the final table:

1. $1,052,890
2. $529,300
3. $256,115
4. $142,285
5. $113,830
6. $85,370

1. Liz Lieu -- 117,200 chips
2. Paul Wasicka -- 104,000 chips
3. Kevin Song -- 95,600 chips
4. Chuck Kelley -- 94,000 chips
5. Robert Goldfarb -- 94,000 chips
6. Sean Morrison -- 90,800 chips

Day 2 Today was painful for a lot of people. Because of the anticipated long day going from 181 players down to 27, tournament officials extended play for an hour to accommodate the action. But it 11 hours which was less than what was figured. Names went to the side lines quicker than a basketball passed at a NCAA final four game. Players like Allen Cunningham who left in the first 20 minutes was joined by Young Phan, David Singer, T.J. Cloutier, J.C. Tran, Freddy Deeb, David Plastik, Mimi Tran, Jean-Robert Bellande and John Juanda.

But others who were hot on Day 2 include Liz Lieu who is now the last woman standing in this tournament. She will be in good company as Barry Greenstein, Chau Giang, Carlos Mortensen and Paramjit Gill also made the cut. Come back tomorrow as we will post the names for the final table when released. Here are the top 6 players with chip counts:

1. Tom Schneider -- 507,000 chips
2. Tony Martin -- 422,500 chips
3. James Davis -- 348,000 chips
4. Liz Lieu -- 335,500 chips
5. Fabrice Soulier -- 335,000 chips
6. Fang Tian -- 326,000 chips

Day 3 We now have the 6 players for the final table, but it did not occur without some upsets along the way. Chau Giang went out on the very first hand by Fabrice Soulier who also went out in 13th position. Liz Lieu left the tournament in 19th place when her pocket 7's could not hold up to the winning hand. But Barry Greenstein was on fire as he started in 11th position, but quickly went up to chip leader and held it most of the day. Come back as we will post who the winner of this tournament is!

1. Mike Simon -- 1,195,000 chips
2. Barry Greenstein -- 1,085,000 chips
3. Tom Schneider -- 1,020,000 chips
4. Jonas Norrman -- 905,000 chips
5. Jason Stern -- 880,000 chips
6. Greg Mueller -- 835,000 chips

Day 4 Final Table This WPT tournament final turned out to be very exciting and competitive. So competitive that Barry Greenstein was the first to be eliminated after tripling up 2 hands prior! Greg Muller who took Barry out continued to do well winning hands and pots uncontested, even getting as bold as to show his "Doyle Brunson" (10 2) when he won a particular hand to the rest of the table. Jonas Norrman went down fighting in 5th place after a battle with Jason Stern. Next, it was Mr. Muller who was put to the sidelines by Tom Schneider with a pair of K's. Then Tom Schneider lost to Jason Stern and went home in 3rd place with a quarter million plus in his pocket. At that point the battle began...

For the next 90 min Mike Simon and Jason Stern went back and forth with huge piles of chips flying across the table in an effort to win. But in the end Mike Simon became champion. The hand that won for Mike went as follows. Mike is on the button and went all in (Kh 4c), which was called by Jason (Jc-8s). Flop showed Ad Qc 3c, turn card was Jc and the river was Ks giving Mike two Kings and the win! When this comes up on the Travel Channel, be sure to watch it!

1. Mike Simon -- $1,052,890 and $25,000 Freeroll seat to WPT championships
2. Jason Stern -- $529,300
3. Tom Schneider -- $256,115
4. Greg Mueller -- $142,285
5. Jonas Norrman -- $113,830
6. Barry Greenstein -- $85,370