Bodog Beat

Poker pro Phil Hellmuth is making a move on Day 4 of the 2008 WPT LA Poker Classic. (Bodog Beat Image)

Day 4 of the WPT LA Poker Classic is proving the old adage that the "cream always rises to the top" to be very true. As we go into the first break of the day, the top four spots on the leaderboard are held by recognized and feared tournament players, including Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey.

Hellmuth started out the day with approximately 100k in chips and staring down the barrel of a quick elimination if he couldn't pull something together. And that is exactly what he has done. Hellmuth has septupled his stack in one level today building it up to an impressive 730,000, good enough for fourth place. Ivey has decided to change gears and has moved into the top spot by becoming the first player to break the 1 million in chips mark.

The other two spots in the top four are occupied by pokerlebrity Jennifer Tilly and poker pro David Singer, sitting in second and third, resepctively.

The pace of play has been very quick so far this afternoon. We've lost an incredible 18 players in only one bline level, 90 minutes, and there's no sign of stopping. We're already down to 40 players remaining and will play down to 27, unless we get there too early in which case we will head to 18. Either way, we're looking at a blessedly short day.

Stay tuned to the Beat for more live updates from the 2008 WPT LA Poker Classic.