Louis Lee continues to kick arse at the US Poker Championship in Atlantic City. They’re down to three and he’s the middle in chips. Go Louis!

By the way, one hand that deserves mention … Louis knocked out Victor Ramdin, who was previously belittling his play and claiming he would take all of Lee’s chips. From PokerListings:

Sickening!
Louis Lee raises to $68,000 on the button and Victor Ramdin comes over the top all-in for another $205,000 from the small blind. Ed Brogdon gets out of the way in the big blind and the action’s on Lee, who ruminates for a few minutes, saying, “This would be the sickest thing in the world if I called this.”

It is the sickest thing in the world, because Lee calls with [cards]Kd 7c[/cards] and is way behind Ramdin’s [cards]Ah Ks[/cards]. The flop is cruel, coming [cards]Qc 7d 6c[/cards], and after the turn is the [cards]Qs[/cards] the river is the [cards]9s[/cards] and Victor Ramdin, who yesterday told Lee he’d take every last one of his chips before the tournament was over, has been eliminated at the hands of the man he’d trash talked.

Ramdin is out in fifth place and will take home $71,586 to add to the coffers.

Awesome. You can see why I am such a big Louis Lee fan.

UPDATE: They’re down to heads-up. Louis is guaranteed $318k … winner takes home $606k. He has 1.6 million chips, to Adam Gerber‘s 3.8 million.

UPDATE: Rough hand … but Lee couldn’t lay down his boat and he got 2nd place:

Louis Lee limps-in and Adam Gerber pops it to 125,000. Lee makes the call and the flop comes [cards]6d 6c 5c[/cards]. Gerber checks and Lee bets 200,000. Gerber immediately pops to 500,000 and Lee makes the call. The turn is the [cards]6h[/cards] and Gerber moves all-in, putting Lee to a decision for his tournament life.

Lee tanks for a good five minutes, standing and pacing and trying to figure out his move. After an agonizing deliberation he makes the call, shoving his stack into the middle and turning up [cards]5s 3s[/cards] for the boat. Gerber has a better boat, however, with [cards]8s 8h[/cards] and Lee is drawing dead. After the [cards]Kc[/cards] hits the river it’s official; Adam Gerber is USPC Champ!

While Louis may be rethinking the call for a while, one thing that probably makes it a little more stomach-rumbly is the chop he turned down. When they got to heads-up, Gerber (the 2.5x bigger stack) offered him $450,000 and they’d play for the bracelet and a Rolex. Very fair, he agreed, but Louis wanted to play it out.

Still, nice debut performance on the high-stakes circuit. Big congrats to LL.

For those who are curious, here’s how the USPC has changed over the years, in terms of the size of the main event field, and thereby payouts:

(Top 2 finishers in parentheses)

2002 — 72 players* (John Hennigan beats Erik Seidel)
2003 — 99 players (Toto Leonidas beats Erik Seidel)
2004 — 177 players (John Aglialoro beats Joe Cassidy)
2005 — 226 players (James “Capo” Caporuscio beats Ralph Pecorale)
2006 — 261 players (Alex Jacob beats Jordan Morgan)
2007 — 164 players (Winner TBD / Not Gavin Smith)

Not sure what all this says about the level of competition or the poker world in general, but the numbers are telling of something. This tourney did lose its TV contract this year, which certainly alters the field. But what becomes of it from here remains to be seen.

Click here to see the top-heavy payout structure.

And/or click here to dig into the history of this boldly named event. (Pre- and post-poker boom.) Do you think it’s possible that “struggling” tourneys like this one might change their payout structures to make them more appealing? Because while the 1st Place prize is plenty hefty, pros know how hard it is to actually win one of these things … and I gotta think if they knew a final table provided a bigger ROI it might be easier to put it on their schedule. Just a thought …

* Buy-in in 2002 was $7,500. Raised to $10,000 thereafter.

Louis Lee, sitting pretty at the final table in his first $10,000 event, is no longer being underestimated by his competition. [photo: Dale Perryman]

The story of Louis Lee has made the USPC entertaining for some of us to follow — moreso than, say, Gavin Smith, who busted out in 9th place when his two-pair couldn’t hold up against a flush draw. With eight players remaining, Lee, who has just $4,000 in major tournament winnings prior to this event, is 2nd in chips with 1.35 million. His trash-talking next-door neighbor Victor Ramdin (last week’s cover of CardPlayer, by the way) is 5th with 322k. Fun!

While this tournament hardly qualifies as a “major,” it still offers potentially life-changing money to the winner. $32k to the next player out; $600k to the last man standing. That’s a big-time sit-n-go no matter how you look at it. (Can we say chop?) For a not-so-winning player like yours truly, it’s kinda extra cool to see a guy sitting next to me at a 2/5 table at WinStar just a month ago in this situation.

Louis and his poker buddy Dale were kind enough to keep us updated throughout Day 4. Click below to see how he got to the final table in such a strong position, where he can theoretically weather a bad beat or two, and totally dominate if he happens to get a tad lucky:

More…

An update on the US Poker Championship at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City as they get near the money bubble. For all you Louis Lee fans out there:

Up to 460,000 chips. 22 players left. Ramdin crippled Bill gaze. Pocket 10 held up to pocket 7. Gaze out. got most of my chips from ramdin.

Excellent. Final table in his sights.

Coverage from PokerPages here.

Coverage from PokerListings here.

UPDATE: From PokerListings:

As we start hand-for-hand play, Victor Ramdin turns to seatmate Louis Lee and tells him, “I promise by the end of the tournament I’m going to take every one of your chips. I promise. And you know why? Because you play bad. You’re playing bad poker. And people who play bad poker, I take all of their chips.”

Awesome … Ramdin sounds like a break-even online player.

With 27 players remaining in the U.S. Poker Championship, held at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, Louis Lee from Plano will start Day 4 tomorrow 4th in chips. Jeff Madsen is the fairly dominant chip leader, followed by his party pal Gavin Smithr. Other recognizable names still alive in this $10k event include Allen Kessler, Victor Ramdin, Cliff Josephy (aka JohnnyBax), and Bill Gazes.

Eighteen get paid, with first prize being a little more than $600,000. (164 players started — kinda small, no?)

PokerPages is the only outlet following the action semi-live …

CORRECTION: PokerListings is at the USPC tables, too.

Louis’ up-and-coming tournament history here.