We've been waiting all day for a slowdown that we felt was inevitable. With players busting as quickly as they have been, the size of the average stack is surprisingly big for this point in the tournament at 63 big blinds. That means the players are deeper than they might otherwise be, allowing more room for post-flop poker and creative play.
That also means that the pace of eliminations should taper. We're playing until 24 remain. Now that the slowdown is here, it may take a while to get the last ten eliminations that we need.
41 - Bahador Ahmadi, Canada
42 - Ryan D'Angelo, USA
43 - Luis Nargentino, USA
44 - Steven Goosen, Canada
45 - Elijah Berg, USA
46 - Bryan Bindert, USA
47 - Vinny Pahuja, USA
48 - Bill Kontaratos, Canada
These players earned $10,500:
49 - David Tepperberg
50 - Anton Talle, USA
51 - George Kalaittzis, unknown
52 - Patti Reade, Canada
53 - Taylor Shpur, USA
54 - Vincent Napolitano, USA
55 - Maxwell Greenwood, Canada
56 - Daryl Jace, USA
57 - Dustin Hayes, USA
Catching up to the action on a flop, Andrew Ferguson bet 35,000. Phil Ivey made the call and the hit the turn.
Ferguson checked and Ivey bet 50,000, instantly called by Ferguson. The landed on the river and Ferguson checked. Ivey took a few moments before betting 100,000, getting called immediately once again.
Ferguson turned up , but Ivey tabled for broadway to win the pot. He is up to 420,000 while Ferguson drops to 185,000.
Steven Bordonaro and Scott Seiver (on the button) limped into a pot in front of small blind Todd Terry. Terry chose to move his whole stack of 155,000 into the middle, putting Bordonaro to a decision.
"Well, I know you're going to call," Bordonaro remarked with a trace of sarcasm as he looked at Seiver. Bordonaro then folded. He was right about Seiver, who quickly called with . He was ahead of Terry's .
"Shit!" moaned Bordonaro. "I folded ace jack!" But Bordonaro changed his tune as the board rolled out to give Terry three queens and the best hand.
Terry is up to about 320,000. The loss of 155,000 chips is barely a dent in the armor for Seiver.
Two of the tournament's toughest players were axed in one fell-swoop by Alan Sternberg. Firas Massouh opened under-the-gun to 24k. Alex Keating was extremely short and has shoved the hand before with only to be given a pass. This time Keating reraised to 82k, leaving himself 6k behind. James Akenhead cold four-bet (almost) all in, sticking around 300k in the middle but also leaving himself 6k. By the time Alan Sternberg moved all in over top of them, there was barely any room left in the middle of the felt. Sick squeeze play. Maybe they'll fold and keep their 6k. Massouh folded, and Keating and Akenhead decided they were priced in. Time for showdown.
Keating:
Akenhead:
Sternberg:
The flop made things a lot more comfortable for Sternberg. The on the turn gave Akenhead a straight draw and meant things were over for Keating. The river was the , shipping the giant pot to Sternberg. He's now over the 1 million mark. Keating was still smiling when he made his exit, Akenhead not so much.
Taha Maruf raised to 32,000 from middle position and had about 150,000 behind in his stack as action folded over to Vanessa Selbst in the small blind. She made a three-bet to 90,000 and after the big blind folded, Maruf moved all in. The total bet was 183,000 and Selbst made the call.
She held two nines and was racing against the of Maruf. After a board of , Maruf doubled up and now has about 375,000 chips.
Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy raised to 25,000 from middle position and then Andrew Ferguson flat-called from the cutoff seat. In the big blind sat Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso and she three-bet to 90,000. Action moved back over to Bax and he moved all in for 543,000 total. Ferguson got out of the way and then Rousso went into the tank. After a couple of minutes, she mucked her hand, leaving herself just over a million chips.
Add another 175,000 chips to Jordan Morgan's stack -- and this time without a flop. Morgan had the button during a hand in which Dale Jamison opened the betting with a raise to 25,000. Morgan three-bet to 66,000. Jamison seemed to be off i his own world for about a minute before four-betting to 175,000. Morgan instantly moved all in and Jamison just as instantly folded.
Alan Sternberg opened to 24,000 in early position and Brandon Hall popped it to 64,000 on the button. Larry Sharp went all in from the small blind for about 250,000 and Sternberg gave it up.
Hall made the call and revealed , crushing Sharp's . The board ran out and Hall won the hand tp increase his stack to back around 800,000, eliminating Sharp in the process.