Once again there was no raising before the flop. The three combatants: Sam Stein, Y. Jamal and Tom Marchese. Action passed to Marchese on a ragged flop of . His bet of 275,000 was check-raised by Stein to 785,000. It was enough to fold Jamal, but Marchese called to see another card.
The turn was the . Stein fired out more than a million chips and got the quick fold from Marchese.
Tom Marchese is not going gently into that good night. He opened for 355,000, then moved all in for almost 3.5 million after Daniel Clemente tried an in-position re-raise to 800,000. Clemente tanked, almost a sure-fire sign that he was not going to call. Indeed, after about a minute, he mucked his cards.
Y. Jamal moved all in from the button, and Tom Marchese snap-called from the small blind. It was time for a race, with short-stack Jamal's against Marchese's .
The gave Marchese the lead. With the on the turn, Jamal swapped some outs. Now a queen would give him a double up and a ten would eliminate him. The on the river was neither, sending Jamal to the rail in fourth place. He earns $241,064, by far his largest cash to date.
We're getting to the point of the night -- and the tournament -- where action slows down immensely. Flops are rare; action past the flop even less likely to occur.
For example, Sam Stein opened the last pot to 430,000. Dan Clemente called from the big blind. On a flop of Stein's bet took it down.
Daniel Clemente raised from the button and then Tom Marchese reraised all in from the big blind. Clemente took a minute, but made the call.
Marchese held the and Clemente held the . Clemente was the player at risk and had about 4.3 million chips.
The flop came down and Marchese kept his lead. The turn added the to the board and then the river was the , giving Marchese the pot.
Just to be sure, the tournament staff double checked the two chip stacks and verified that Clemente was the player with less chips. He earned over $300,000 for his finish, leaving Marchese to do battle with Sam Stein for the title.