Byron Kaverman opened the cutoff with a raise to 200,000 and Mike McDonald quickly released his cards into the muck from the button. Juha Helppi in the small blind had way bigger plans though, moving all in. Nick Petrangelo (with about 30 big blinds) folded his big blind and action was back on Kaverman.
Kaverman went deep into the tank and after some time the clock was called by McDonald. With about 15 seconds left to act, Kaverman tossed in a single chip to call.
Juha Helppi:
Byron Kaverman:
Kaverman was in trouble and needed help fast, but he wouldn't get it. The board ran out and Kaverman had to settle for 5th place, worth €141,415. The remaining 4 players are guaranteed €178,580 from here on out.
Mike McDonald limped in from the small blind and Juha Helppi checked his option. The flop fell and McDonald tapped the table with a check.
Helppi led out for 200,000 and McDonald called. The turn brought the and checks from both players. McDonald continued checking on the river, but after Helppi fired out a bet of 250,000, McDonald tank-called.
Helppi showed having flopped two pair, but it was no good against McDonald's .
Jason Wheeler shoved from the button for 1,390,000 and Mike McDonald re shoved from the small blind. Juha Helppi folded his big blind and it was time for a showdown.
Mike McDonald:
Jason Wheeler:
The flop came , getting Wheeler all excited. The hit the turn and Wheeler asked for a four one time. He didn't get a four, but the on the river was just as good. Double up for Wheeler.
Jason Wheeler raised it up to 260,000 only to fold when Juha Hellpi pushed all in over the top from the small blind.
A couple of hands later, Wheeler tried again, min-raising from the small blind. This time it was Mike McDonald pushing all in on him from the big blind and Wheeler was forced to let go once again.
Nick Petrangelo limped in from the small blind and Jason Wheeler checked from the big. Petrangelo bet 140,000 on and Wheeler called.
Both players checked the on the turn and the appeared on the river. Petrangelo checked again, and called Wheeler's 330,000 bet. Wheeler showed and Petrangelo mucked.
Nick Petrangelo asked how much Jason Wheeler in the small blind was playing approximately, and he announced he had about 900,000 behind. Petrangelo then raised to 275,000 from the button and Wheeler shoved. McDonald folded his big blind, Petrangelo instantly called.
Nick Petrangelo:
Jason Wheeler:
The flop came about as bad as they could come for Wheeler: . The on the turn was even worse and Wheeler got up and gathered his stuff. The river was there just to make things official and Wheeler headed to the payout desk to collect his €178,580.
The remaining players are guaranteed €232,065 from here on out, but asked to pause the clock to negotiate a deal.
The three players were interested in making a deal and the tournament director gave them the ICM numbers. Nick Petrangelo wanted to agree to the ICM numbers and be done with it, play for nothing, but Juha Helppi and Mike McDonald showed interest in setting some money aside to play for.
The three players negotiated a bit back and forth and for some time it looked like they settled to set €15,000 aside and chop up the rest according to ICM. Helppi wanted all three players to put in €5,000 for the €15,000 but Petrangelo wasn't too happy about that. Since he was the shorter stack he wanted to put in less.
Helppi then set a hard ultimatum; play or use ICM and all set aside €5,000. McDonald and Petrangelo then decided to just play because they found it somewhat unfair to all put in €5,000 while Helppi had way more chips. McDonald tried to make it €7,000 for Helppi and €4,000 for him and Petrangelo, but that didn't work out either.
The three agreed on playing it out, and the clock was started again.