Day 4 of the World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic main event, saw both the fall of legends and the rise of champions, as more than two-thirds of the day’s starting 72 players were eliminated.

Robert Mizrachi, Jon “Pearljammer” Turner, Daniel Negreanu, Eugene Katchalov, Hoyt Corkins, Kenny Nguyen, Bart Hansen, Prahlad Friedman, Surinder Sunar and Chris Moore, were just a few of the recognizable names removed from the list of players still competing, with most of the women including Vanessa Rousso, Lauren Kling, Erica Schoenberg and Jolyne Thompson, knocked out as well.

One highly notable exception, was PokerRoad blogger Annie Duke, who survived the difficult day as if to prove to the doubters (ahem, The Poker Beat) that she was still a poker player first and a Hollywood player second.  Past World Series of Poker Main Event champion Johnny Chan, is also still in the hunt (another player whose current relevance was recently questioned on The Poker Beat).

20 other players will join Annie and John for today’s Day 5,
including PokerRoadster Steve Sung, Mark Newhouse, Daniel Fuhs and chip leader Carlos Mortensen, the man Daniel Negreanu recently argued was the number one earner per event in the WPT- when going by amount won, weighed against the amount entered.

Mortensen, the 2001 World Series of Poker Main Event champion, clearly has the skills to earn what could potentially be his third WPT title- having already taken down both a Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship (2004) and a WPT World Championship (2207)- but will he have the cards?  To find out, rail today’s Day 5 action at the Commerce Casino, or visit www.worldpokertour.com, for live updates and chip counts straight from the event.