A quick look at some of the significant, funny and just plain well-written entries from the excellent live reporting on Day Four of the WSOPE 2009.

Coooooooooorona Time

You know things are getting serious when the whole room is silent and the only sounds you can hear are the riffling of chips and croupiers declaring final bets. But, of course, there are always exceptions, and today Men Nguyen is the only disruption in an otherwise hypnotic atmosphere.

Whilst the rest of the table teeter on entering into a deep sleep, The Master is talking non-stop about a range of subjects, whether he receives a response or not. Perhaps his chirpy mood is a result of his earlier double through, but either way, he's being frightfully upbeat. At one point he ordered a drink and exclaimed: "It's Coooooooooorona time."

But, as is so often the case in poker, Nguyen is one of those players who can change with the wind of luck and the twist and turns of the Poker Gods. When the chips are down, his mood will swing in the blink of an eye. Let's hope this doesn't happen as, for the time being, he's the soul of a somewhat lifeless party.

Lieu Doubles Through Hawrilenko, Everything Goes Dark

On the last hand before the break (actually it went a good few minutes into the break), Matt Hawrilenko raised, and short-stacked Liz Lieu moved all in from the big blind. Call.

Hawrilenko: Kd8d
Lieu: AcJh

Board: As5c5h4cKs

Then the lights mysteriously went out.

"Look at that!" cried Lieu, "I win a hand and the lights go out!"

The players sat there for a moment before being told that they were on break. "That hand didn't count," a jovial Hawrilenko claimed, "It was during the break."

Nevertheless, Lieu is up to a still shaky 155,000.

Timoshenko Busto in 25th Place (£25,918)

Saar Wilf raised to 22,000 from the button, only for small blind Thomas Bichon to reraise to 75,000. Over to Yevgeniy Timoshenko in the big blind, who shoved for an additional 99,000. Wilf folded, and Bichon disappeared into the tank. He counted his chips for some minutes. He checked the clock and/or the payouts. He dwelled some more, while Timoshenko appeared to be trying very hard not to breathe.

Then he called -- or attempted to. After spending many minutes counting his chips, Bichon managed to put only 76,000 in, and was swiftly put right by the dealer. All 99,000 in the middle, and they flipped their cards.

Bichon: 6c6d
Timoshenko: AhKh

Wilf: "Oh no!"
Timoshenko, suddenly worried: "Did you fold one of my cards?"
Wilf: "No, overpair."

Board: 7h4s9c9sQh

Timoshenko is busto, and Bichon is up to 740,000.

A Word About Our Chip Leader

We cannot possibly comment on whether this is due to him having wanged all his money already or whether he's just a good old-fashioned cheapskate -- but either way, now that he's well into the money, we can reveal that Jason Mercier, upon deciding to come to London to play the WSOPE, decided that London hotels were just too expensive and instead is spending these few weeks sleeping on a buddy's couch. Just thought we should say.

Doyle Brunson Eliminated in 17th Place (£31,198)

Back we come from dinner, and no sooner than our remaining 17 were seated back at the felt, than we saw action.

On Table Centre Court, Daniel Negreanu raised, and the action folded gently over to Doyle Brunson on the button, who moved all in. Over to James Akenhead in the small blind -- who reshoved. Negreanu got out of the line of fire, and they turned their cards over.

Brunson: Qs9h
Akenhead: AsKs

Flop: 4dQh5d putting Brunson in the lead

Turn: Kh putting Akenhead back in the lead

Mr. Brunson's assistant, who seemed to be under the impression that Doyle was holding the AsKs, cheered and called out for no nine or queen.

River: Jh

To a standing ovation from the crowd, Brunson is bust.

Mercier Obscene Chip Leader

At this time, Jason Mercier seems to be, in the parlance, pwning this tournament.

As illustration, please witness how he has pwned former chip leader Saar Wilf in the past 10 minutes or so:

Blind on blind in a limp/checked preflop confrontation, Mercier bet out 57,000 on the turn of the Jh4s5c2s board and Wilf called. Come the river, though, Mercier bet 163,000, and this time Wilf folded.

A few hands later and Mercier raised preflop; Wilf called. Mercier proceeded to bet out around 50,000 on the Jc2h5h flop, and again Wilf called. They saw a Qd turn and Mercier bet out 107,000, but this time Wilf made it 250,000. "All in," said Mercier. "Excuse me?" said a surprised Wilf. After a few moments' contemplation, Wilf folded.

Wilf - down to 373,000
Mercier - up to 2,046,000. That's over a fifth of the chips in play, and no-one else has over 860,000. Wow.

Teddy Sheringham Eliminated in 14th (£40,481)

With chip munching Jason Mercier raising it up preflop from mid position, Teddy Sheringham decided to make his move and pushed all in with KcQd. On this occasion, however, it was an own goal for the former England International as Mercier was sitting on AhKd and duly made the call.

Board = Ac6s5s6h2h

And before the river was even dealt, it was ready Teddy go with Sheringham making that lonely trip down the poker tunnel. Mercier, meanwhile, has 2,502,000. Yum.

Day 4 Concludes, Final Table All Set

Coming back today with 36 runners instead of the 27 originally planned, we were a little afraid that we could be in for a long one. But as it turned out, a steady stream of bustouts saw us finishing at a surprisingly reasonable hour.

The list of people who didn't make it could fill a poker pamphlet at least, if not an actual book -- Devilfish, Men Nguyen, Arnaud Mattern and Yevgeniy Timoshenko were among our in-the-money finishers. But ladies and gentlemen, check out this final table:

Seat 1: Barry Shulman - 1,090,000
Seat 2: Jason Mercier - 3,198,000
Seat 3: Praz Bansi - 1,160,000
Seat 4: Markus Ristola - 784,000
Seat 5: Chris Bjorin - 518,000
Seat 6: James Akenhead - 1,398,000
Seat 7: Daniel Negreanu - 438,000
Seat 8: Antoine Saout - 701,000
Seat 9: Matt Hawrilenko - 674,000

After frankly dominating the last couple of levels, Jason Mercier goes into the final as massive chip leader. However, there's a lot of play left in this tournament yet, and we wouldn't like to call it between this fearsome lineup.

Join us back here at the Empire tomorrow from noon GMT+1 for what will by any standards be a pretty interesting final table. Until then, it's goodnight from us, and it's goodnight from them.

Courtesy of the great tournament reporters at Pokernews.com

Follow all the final table action right here