Daniel Negreanu opened to 36,000 from middle position, and he found calls from Andrew Lichtenberger (cutoff) and Eugene Katchalov (big blind) to go three ways to the flop. The dealer fanned , and a continuation bet of 70,000 chips was enough for Negreanu to take it down without contest.
On the next hand, Negreanu came in with the same raise, and this time only Katchalov called, out of position once again. The small blind checked the flop, and Negreanu checked behind. The turn drew another check from Katchalov, and this time Negreanu took his cue to bet 50,000 at the pot. Katchalov furrowed his brow and made a check-raise to 150,000 straight. Now it was Negreanu with a bit of a puzzled look, and he leaned over the table to eye up his opponent's remaining stack. Katchalov had about 445,000 left, and Negreanu slid out a tall stack of green chips to cover him with a reraise.
Katchalov quickly surrendered, and Negreanu is doing some serious work. He's up to about 2.25 million now.
Nick Schulman and Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier just got into a big preflop raising battle that saw one of the two hit the rail. Unfortunately for Mercier, he was the player eliminated.
When all of the money went in preflop, Mercier tabled the . Although queens are one of the top hands preflop, Schulman had the mother load with the .
The board ran through and Mercier hit the rail. Schulman found himself sitting in second place after the hand with approximately 1.5 million in chips.
Caio Pimenta opened to 29,000 from early position, and he found action from Nick Schulman who came along with the call from the cutoff seat. Heads up they went to the flop, and Pimenta continued out with 49,000 chips. Schulman made the call, and the landed on the turn. Pimenta checked this time, and Schulman took his cue to fire out 115,000 chips.
Pimenta spent the next five minutes or so in the tank as the bet represented a significant chunk of his 430,000-chip stack. Eventually, he uncapped his cards and slid them back to the muck.
Schulman moved back up to 880,000 with that pot, and after a minute, he asked for some info. "Did you have nines?" Pimenta shook his head no. "Queens?" This time, Pimenta nodded slowly. "Ugh. Sorry, bad laydown."
Jason Mercier burst into laughter at Schulman's deadpan comment, but Pimenta was having trouble cracking a smile. He spent the next couple hands staring at the ceiling and running the hand back in his brain.
Two of the biggest stacks in the room belonged to Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu and Eugene Katchalov. They just clashed with David Benyamine stuck in the middle. After it was all said and done, Benyamine was eliminated while Negreanu raked in an enormous pot to take a big chip lead. Here's how it went down.
Negreanu opened with a raise to 28,000 from under the gun. Action then folded over to Eugene Katchalov on the button. He flat-called. David Benyamine was in the big blind with 153,000. When action got to him, he stuck all of those chips in the middle, reraising all in. Play was now back on Negreanu and he thought for a bit. Negreanu reraised to 278,000, but Katchalov didn't go anywhere. Although Negreanu had shown a lot of strength, Katchalov took his time and fired back with another raise to 528,000. This pot was getting huge and the crowd swarmed the table.
Benyamine was caught in the middle with action now back on Negreanu. He thought for a little while and then shipped it all in for a total bet worth 1.189 million, or 661,000 more to Katchalov. It was now Katchalov's turn to tank. He thought for several minutes. It was a painful process, but he finally gave it up, allowing Negreanu to scoop the big side pot. The hands were then tabled.
Negreanu:
Benyamine:
The flop came down and kept Negreanu in front. The turn brought the and the river the . Negreanu's kings held and all of the chips were pushed his way as Benyamine exited from the tournament. Meanwhile, Katchalov was left licking his wounds after getting knocked back to 560,000. Negreanu is by far and away the chip leader with around 1.9 million in his stack.
Under the gun, Sandor Demjan came in raising to 31,000, and Bryn Kenney made the call in the cutoff seat. On the button, David Benyamine squeezed in a reraise to 90,000, and both of his opponents came along with the calls.
Three ways, the flop came , and action checked to the reraiser. Benyamine thought it over for a long while before making a small bet of 80,000; small though it was, it represented about 30% of his stack. Demjan didn't waste any time calling, and Kenney had calling chips in his hand too. Eventually, though, he elected not to call. Instead, he announced an all in check-raise, and Benyamine tanked and folded. Demjan quickly announced the call to put himself all in for 470,000, and Kenney tabled his . Demjan spent about 10 or 15 seconds sliding his stacks across the line one by one, then he turned up his own for the better set. Kenney could only shake his head.
The turn and river were not the one-outer Kenney was looking for, and his stack has taken a big hit. We've got him down around 310,000 now, while that double up has moved Demjan over 1.3 million and into the chip lead!
Eugene Katchalov raised and Matt Glantz moved all in for 103,000 on top of the raise. Katchalov made the call and tabled the . He was in front of the for Glantz.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and a continuation bet of 70,000 chips was enough for Negreanu to take it down without contest.
flop, and Negreanu checked behind. The 
turn drew another check from Katchalov, and this time Negreanu took his cue to bet 50,000 at the pot. Katchalov furrowed his brow and made a check-raise to 150,000 straight. Now it was Negreanu with a bit of a puzzled look, and he leaned over the table to eye up his opponent's remaining stack. Katchalov had about 445,000 left, and Negreanu slid out a tall stack of green chips to cover him with a reraise.
. Although queens are one of the top hands preflop, Schulman had the mother load with the 
.
and Mercier hit the rail. Schulman found himself sitting in second place after the hand with approximately 1.5 million in chips.
flop, and Pimenta continued out with 49,000 chips. Schulman made the call, and the 
and the river the 
. Negreanu's kings held and all of the chips were pushed his way as Benyamine exited from the tournament. Meanwhile, Katchalov was left licking his wounds after getting knocked back to 560,000. Negreanu is by far and away the chip leader with around 1.9 million in his stack.
, and action checked to the reraiser. Benyamine thought it over for a long while before making a small bet of 80,000; small though it was, it represented about 30% of his stack. Demjan didn't waste any time calling, and Kenney had calling chips in his hand too. Eventually, though, he elected not to call. Instead, he announced an all in check-raise, and Benyamine tanked and folded. Demjan quickly announced the call to put himself all in for 470,000, and Kenney tabled his 
. Demjan spent about 10 or 15 seconds sliding his stacks across the line one by one, then he turned up his own 
and river 
. He was in front of the 
