Anyway, the tournament is now down to its final four participants and those match-ups will be David Oppenheim vs. Chris Moore and Evan Roberts vs. James Mackey. If you know anything about how brackets work, then you understand that the winners of these two matches will face each other in the championship. On the line is the $350,000 first-place prize with second receiving $190,000. The losers will play for the $100,000 and $75,000 third and fourth-place prizes, respectively.

Speaking of losers, the losers bracket is also still going on with eight players remaining. Here are those matches:

Vivek Rajkumar vs. Ryan Hughes
Steve Sung vs. John Racener
Amit Makhija vs. David Paredes
Owen Crowe vs. Steve Billirakis

The winners play today at 3pm PT (6pm ET) and the losers face off today as well. However, the winner of the losers bracket will get to play the winner of the winner's bracket for the whole tournament, but since this is a double elimination event the winning loser will have to beat the wining winner twice in order to take down the event. If you understood that, congratulations, your brain is not suffering from Friday-itis like ours.

Qualify online for the WPT

The final table was no cake walk for either player as it featured several well-known players, including Jeff Madsen and Amnon Filippi. Nguyen started out the final table in the bottom half of the chip counts, but proved why he is the World Champion by working his way up the leader board to pull and meet Rheem heads-up. Rheem himself was on his last legs at several times during the final table, but continued his sick run by busting both Chris Tsiprailidis and Madsen.

Here are the full final results from the final table:

1. Scotty Nguyen – $339,743
2. David Rheem – $181,227
3. Jeff Madsen – $121,323
4. Chris Tsiprailidis – $85,380
5. Matt Graham – $65,105
6. Robert Golick – $51,281
7. Amnon Filippi – $39,300
8. John Monnette – $28,241
9. Kenny Tran – $10,000

The WPT LA Poker Classic tournament gets underway in a couple of days, so stay tuned for more poker tournament updates from the Bodog Beat. There's also the LA Poker Classic Heads-Up event going on, and once we can decipher the results, we'll keep you posted on that as well. If you want to head to a WPT event yourself, qualify online for the WPT through Bodog Poker's Flight Club promotion and travel the world in style.

Behind Madsen on the leader board are several recognizable and talented players, so the make up of those eight players for the final table is still very much up in the air. Currently creeping up on Madsen are Chino Rheem, Amnon Filippi, Gavin Griffin, Scotty Nguyen, Kenny Tran and Steve Billirakis and those guys are just in the top ten.

Toward the bottom of the chip counts are lurking Nick Schulman and Howard Lederer, either one capable of climbing the ranks. Just barely missing out on the final day of competition were Bodog poker pro Jean-Robert Bellande, LA Lakers owner Jerry Buss and "Miami" John Cernuto. Unfortunately for them, only the final table gets to go home with some cash, so they'll head out with just their memories to comfort them.

Play gets back underway at 12:30pm local time, so 3:30pm ET. The $340,993 first-place prize is still up for grabs and it should be very interesting to see who makes the final table. Stay tuned to the Beat for more random poker tournament updates, and if you want to head out to a tournament yourself, check out the Bodog Poker Flight Club prmotion and qualify online for major poker tournaments all over the world.

Poker pro Phil Ivey collects the $1.6 million dollar first-place prize for winning the 2008 WPT LA Poker Classic. (Bodog Beat Image)

It only took two hands of heads-up play and seven previous WPT final table appearances for Phil Ivey to take down his first WPT title, and now he will forever be known as the champion of the 2008 WPT LA Poker Classic. It really seemed destined to happen. Even when Ivey lost half of his stack early in this final table, it just seemed like he would find a way to pull it out, and that he did.

After slipping out of his initial chip lead, Ivey shifted down into what WPT announcer Mike Sexton referred to as "neutral," content to pick up smaller pots here and there and reestablish himself at the table. He then changed gears again and became the aggressor, steamrolling over the other players and sending Nam Le and Charles "Woody" Moore home in consecutive hands.

The last hand, however, proved to be the exclamation point on what was a masterclass in patient final table dominance. For the last time tonight here are the details courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com:

Hand #100: Quinn Do has the button, he limps for 160,000, Ivey raises to 560,000, and Quinn calls. The flop comes A86, Ivey bets 700,000, and Quinn thinks for about 30 seconds before he calls, leaving himself just 1.02 million behind. There is already 2.92 million in the pot.

The turn card pairs the board with the A, and Ivey moves all in. Quinn goes into the tank, shuffling his chips as he ponders the situation.

After four minutes, Quinn quietly says, "I call."

Ivey shows A8 for a full house, aces full of eights, and Quinn dejectedly shows 98 for two pair, aces and eights. No card can help Quinn here; he is drawing dead. (The meaningless river card is the 4.)

Ivey didn't need the full house to win, he had put Do in a position where he had to make the call. But why not? Like we said, it was the exclamation point on a dominant performance.

Ivey takes home $1,596,100 for the win, while Do gets $909,400 for second. Not too shabby for six days work.

The toasts have now been made and the interviews and photo ops are fully underway, putting an end to a relatively short night of poker. Thanks for checking out the Beat for live updates from the 2008 WPT LA Poker Classic. We're headed to bed and then the beach.

If you want the chance to become the next WPT-made millionaire, then head over to Bodog and check out the WPT Online Poker Qualifiers.

Charles "Woody" Moore finishes in third place at the WPT LA Poker Classic. (Bodog Beat Image)

In what has become the norm at the final table of the WPT LA Poker Classic, on the very next hand dealt after Nam Le was sent home, Woody found himself a victim of something else that has become a familiar happening at this final table, losing to Phil Ivey.

Ivey called Woody's all-in reraise on the turn on a board showing 8-5-2-7 with top two pair and Woody turned over 6-2, needing a 2, 9 or 4 on the river to hit his set or complete the open-ended straight draw. An inconsequential J came on the river and Woody shook Ivey's hand and walked off the stage to a standing ovation. He gets $625,630 for his finish.

Here are the chip counts going into heads-up play:

Quinn Do – 2.48 million
Phil Ivey – 10.82 million

Stay tuned and we'll let you know how it turns out, although we've got a pretty good guess. It rhymes with "shmivey bins."

Nam Le represented Team Bodog at the 2008 WPT LA Poker Classic and takes home fourth place. (Bodog Beat Image)

After hanging on with the short stack longer than most expected, Nam Le found himself taking a brutal beat from dominant chip leader Phil Ivey on a hand that should have doubled him up.

With all of his chips in the middle after a raise, all-in and call, Le turned over his pocket rockets and found himself the odds on favorite against the pocket threes of Ivey. However, in further proof that today belongs to Ivey and his quest for an elusive first WPT title, Le was not destined to win this hand, despite the overwhelming odds in his favor.

Here are the hand details from WorldPokerTour.com:

Hand #97: Quinn Do has the button in seat 1, Nam Le raises from the small blind to 420,000, Ivey moves all in from the big blind, and Nam Le quickly calls with AA. Ivey shows 33, and he'll need to improve to bust Nam here.

The flop comes 1062, Nam retains his huge lead in the hand. Someone in the crowd says, "Put an ace out there. End it!" Do you believe in jinxes?

The turn card is the — 3! The crowd reacts loudly as Ivey takes the lead with a set of threes. Nam Le needs an ace on the river to stay alive.

The river card is the Q, and Ivey wins the pot with his set of threes, increasing his stack to more than 9 million.

When the 3 hit on the turn the crowd went into a frenzy and Nam just shook his head in utter disbelief. With that hand, he should have been sitting comfortably but instead will have to comfort himself with the $411,770 that he receives for his efforts.

Phil Ivey has surged into the chip lead at the final table of the WPT LA Poker Classic. (Bodog Beat Image)

All you need to know is that Phil Ivey has more chips than the other three players combined. It's a little scary. He definitely seems determind to take down his first WPT title.

Here are the chip counts:

Phil Ivey – 7,180,000
Quinn Do – 2,900,000
Charles "Woody" Moore – 1,750,000
Nam Le – 1,450,000

Stay tuned and we'll keep you update on what has quickly become the Phil Ivey show here at the final table of the WPT LA Poker Classic.

Scott Montgomery was eliminated in fifth-place from the final table of the WPT LA Poker Classic. (Bodog Beat Image)

So, our last post wasn't that long ago, but as a testament to how much action is going on at the final table of the WPT LA Poker Classic, the chipleader from that post, Scott Montgomery, just busted out in fifth place.

The wheels on his bus began to fall off when he doubled up Quinn Do the first time. When he doubled Do the second time, he was down to his rims and his journey ended when Nam Le took him out on the following hand:

Hand #51: Phil Ivey has the button in seat 4, Nam Le raises from the cutoff to 350,000, and Montgomery moves all in from the big blind for 800,000. Nam Le thinks for about 10 seconds before he calls with KJ. Montgomery shows J8, and he's dominated as he faces elimination.

The flop comes 755, and Nam Le retains the lead with king high. The turn card is the 3, and Montgomery needs an eight on the river to stay alive.

The river card double pairs the board with the 3, and Nam Le wins the pot with the two pair on the board and his king kicker.

Montgomery earns $296,860 for his fifth-place finish and respect from the poker world for outlasting some of the best players out there. Charles "Woody" Moore is our current chip leader and as we were typing, Phil Ivey took a huge chunk from Nam Le, putting Ivey solidly in second.

You know the drill.

Phil Hellmuth is dunzo at the final table of the WPT LA Poker Classic. (Bodog Beat Image)

Technically, Phil Hellmuth headed to Vegas for the NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship, but we're suckers for alliteration and the "h" was calling us.

There are now only five players remaining at the final table of the WPT LA Poker Classic after Hellmuth was sent home after an eerily familiar hand.

Hellmuth open shoved in the cut-off with A-9 and was called down by Charles "Woody" Moore, who turned up A-Q. You may remember from two whole posts ago that Moore dealt a huge blow to Phil Ivey when Ivey was holding A-9. This one ended in much the same way as the last one and Moore triumphed, sending Hellmuth to the rail in a flurry of theatrics. He gets $229,820 for his sixth-place finish, something we would be very happy with. But that's just us.

After that hand, our current chipleader is Scott Montgomery with Ivey in second and Moore up to third.

You know the deal, stay tuned for more live updates from the Commerce Casino.

Poker pro Nam Le is representing Team Bodog at the final table of the WPT LA Poker Classic. (Bodog Beat Image)

Well, we said that the action had calmed down here at the final table of the WPT LA Poker Classic and literally as we hit publish on that last post, Nam Le got in a huge pot with Phil Hellmuth. Here are the details from WorldPokerTour.com:

Hand #11: Quinn Do has the button in seat 1, Nam Le completes from the small blind for 100,000, and Hellmuth checks his option. The flop comes J63, Nam Le bets 140,000, and Hellmuth thinks for about 15 seconds before he calls. The turn card is the K, Nam Le bets 350,000, and Hellmuth says, "All in."

Nam Le immediately calls with K3 for two pair, and Hellmuth is not happy. Hellmuth shows J8 for a pair of jacks, and says, "I can't believe you caught a king." Hellmuth needs a jack on the river to bust Nam Le here.

The river card is the 10, and Nam Le wins the pot with two pair, kings and threes, doubling up in chips. Hellmuth immediately gets up from the table to walk around a bit and cool off.

As we are listening to the audio feed here in the media area outside of the tournament room, we can tell you that Ivey said some very choice words when the cards were turned up. All classic Hellmuthian reacting, or just acting. Seems like he could be more upset with himself though than he is with Le.

Le has moved up into third place behind Phil Ivey and Scott Montgomery. Stay tuned for more live updates.