While several short stacks were merely trying to hang on during hand-for-hand play, the two biggest stacks in the room just collided over at the feature table, creating the largest pot in the tournament thus far.
Kyaw Naing raised to 15,000 from the cutoff and Lou Procopio three-bet to 62,000 from the small blind. Action folded back to Naing, who made the call, and the dealer rolled out a flop. Naing checked and Procopio took his time before betting 150,000. Naing check-raised all-in and Procopio stood up and called.
Naing
Procopio:
Naing needed a heart to burst the bubble and climb close to a million chips. The turn brought the and the river was the , giving Procopio the overwhelming chip lead with more than 850,000. Naing was left with just 82,500, and we were back to hand-for-hand play.
One hand after losing all but one chip and his chair with against Dietrich Kuhlmann's jacks, Nick Pfaffenbach found himself all in in the big blind and facing four callers.
The group checked around on an board and Matt Brunskole showed for a pair of deuces.
Pfaffenbach, who hadn't even looked yet, turned over and unconnected and hit the rail.
As a result, we are down to hand-for-hand play and on the money bubble.
Chip leader Kyaw Naing has been a pest for Michael Mizrachi today, but Mizrachi just got some of his chips back by doubling up. On a flop, Naing check-called a bet of 9,000, and Naing then moved all-in when the hit the turn. Mizrachi called instantly with for a flush, and Naing tabled , needing a ten or a five to send the former chip leader to the rail shy of the money.
The harmless landed on the river, and Mizrachi was given new life near the money bubble.
Justin Villa was just eliminated by Robert "Hoss" Colao at the feature table, leaving only 26 players in the tournament. The top 24 will take home a minimum of $2,869, so the tension is building.
Randy Pfeider's run at a second DeepStacks title at Seneca Niagara just came to an end. We caught up with Pfeifer and Kyaw Naing on a flop. Naing had led out, and Pfeifer moved all in for 91,500 more. Naing called with , and Pfeifer was in rough shape with . The turn and river sent the massive pot over to Naing, who is our new chip leader with 539,000. We'll have a full list of counts for you shortly.
For the second time in the first two levels today, Nachman Berlin has sucked out huge on Andy Spears to double up and stay alive.
Now it appears he has some chips to play with.
After getting it in with top pair against bottom two and turning trips earlier in the day, Berlin found himself facing a 12,500-chip bet from Spears on a board.
His response was to shove and Spears called instantly with . It appeared Berlin's luck had finally run out, but the river made his straight to save him again.
And while he now sits on 200k, Spears is out of the chip lead falling under the 300k mark.
Michael Mizrachi began the day as the chip leader, but he's been having a tough time at the feature table today. Lou Procopio and Kyaw Naing have both been giving him fits, and "The Grinder" has slipped all the way down to around 130,000.