It feels like we've been in the Amazon Room forever, but it has been a mere 13 hours. In 10 short levels we have whittled our field down from 177 to just 13 - no mean feat given the traditionally rather sluggish pace of limit hold'em.
Although a lot of big names busted out today - Chad Brown, Barry Greenstein and Phil Ivey among them - it looks to be a high-grade final that we are heading towards as the chips are bagged up.
Jameson Painter started the day as chip leader and indeed remains a big stack as we head to the final day. Barring early disasters tomorrow, Painter will be making his second final table of this year's WSOP after finishing 5th in the $2,500 2-7 Draw Lowball event just a few days ago.
However, he was just pipped to the chip lead post by Jason Potter - on 371,000, Potter is the man to beat.
Also still in the running are Ben Lamb who finished 14th in last year's Main Event here at the Rio, Georgios Kapalas who finaled at EPT Barcelona last year, and Matt Matros who is so good he's written books about this sort of thing.
We'll be reconvening at 3pm PT to play this baby right down to a winner. Until then, goodnight.
Matthew Matros was looking to get the rest of Amnuey Sri's chips when Sri went all in on a flop reading .
Matros:
Sri:
For a while it looked like Sri was heading for a double up. He faded Matros' outs with the on the turn but was unable to do so twice as the came on the river, giving Matros two pair.
Matros was the last elimination of the night, and the remaining 13 players will return to play to a winner tomorrow.
We didn't quite make it to the final table, but they players made a good effort. We're going to play five more hands tonight before closing shop until tomorrow.
Terrence Chan opened, and then called the reraise from Ben Lamb in the small blind. Interesting.
Lamb bet out on the flop and Chan flat called; he bet out again on the turn and this time Chan raised. Lamb made the call. Come the river Lamb merely check-called, and promptly mucked to Chan's for top pair.
Chan's stack increased to a healthy 305,000, but Lamb was left with just 10,000. Looks like it could be a short run from here on in for last year's 14th place Main Event finisher...
With three bets preflop, Ilya Sheyn was all in with Terrence Chan making the call.
Sheyn:
Chan:
Sheyn had to dodge plenty of outs to stay alive, which he managed to do through the flop or and the turn's . However, the came on the river and was all Chan needed to send Sheyn packing.
She got her last in with on an flop only to discover that she was behind Georgios Kapalas' . There was a glimmer of hope on the turn, but the river was a blank for her, and this is now an all-male contest.
Terrence Chan raised and was met with a reraise from Jason Potter in the small blind. Chan called and they saw some community cards.
Potter bet out on the flop and Chan called; but both players checked the on the turn. Come the river, Potter bet out again and Chan called - only to muck when Potter turned over for trips.
Dean Tran was in middle position and raised preflop, only to have to call a re-raise from Robert Truijers. There was no action on the flop.
The paired the board on the turn, and Truijers called Tran's bet. When the river added the to the mix, Dean bet once more and Truijers tanked for a while, almost putting his chips in a few times, saying "You're not bluffing here, are you?" Tran did his best to withhold any tells, but showed when Truijers folded. We got no sign from Truijers as to whether or not Dean's hand would have been good.