Day 2 has been unkind to Matt Keikoan thus far, and we just watched him drop another chunk of his stack.
Keikoan was the preflop raiser, opening to 3,500. Only the big blind wanted to tangle, and he defended to see a flop. It came , and Keikoan continued out with another 3,600. His opponent check-raised all in for 12,200, though, and Keikoan quickly called with .
"I got a nine," his opponent said, flipping up .
The turn gave Keikoan four outs to the win, but he could not catch up. The river was the blank , and Keikoan is forced to pay off the double. This one knocks him back to about 42,000, and he'll need to stop the bleeding here quickly if he hopes to work his way into the money.
We found this hand at the turn with the board showing and Eric Bergen checked to his opponent. The unknown player moved all in and Bergen took only a few moments to call.
Bergen:
Opponent:
Bergen was drawing to a diamond or one of the two remaining jacks. The river was Yahtzee! for Bergen when it came and knocked out the other player. Bergen passed the 200,000 mark with elimination.
The last of the outlier tables has just been broken, and the remaining players are now all together in one section of the tournament area. There are eleven tables left in play. Quick math, quick math... it looks like we've crossed under the century mark, and 99 players now remain.
Somewhere during the course of the first three levels, we lost both Grant Hillman and Donna Jetter. They both made the final table here last year, and their bid for repeat runs has come to an end.
There's still one man left with a chance ago going back-to-back, though. Rhymingly, it's Dan Black. The cowboy has about 75,000 chips as he returns for this level, and we'll be keeping a close eye on him as he guns for another final table.
We found Darren Hicks with all his chips in the middle and waiting on his opponent to decide. The board showed and after some short thought his opponent called.
Hicks:
Opponent:
The board finished and Hicks is sitting on a healthy 70,000.
The tail end of another pot, this one involving Matt Keikoan.
The board was already out on the table when we walked up, showing . It was a battle of the small blind versus Keikoan's button, and the small blind led out with 12,100 into a pot of more than 40,000. Keikoan quickly called, though he didn't seem to like it. And he was correct to be wary.
Mr. Small Blind showed for trips, and Keikoan reacted with a frustrated flick of his cards. He flashed the , but his kicker problems have cost him the pot.
With that slide, Keikoan has been reduced to about 75,000.
We hadn't checked on Robert Castoire in quite a while, so we wandered over to his table to have a look, and we caught in involved in a hand.
The board was showing on the turn, and Castoire had bet 7,500 into a pot of about 10,000. His lone opponent check-called, and the two of them checked down the river.
Mr. Opponent showed up , but Castoire's had flopped a better pair.
Our hero is doing rather well to day, quadrupling his starting stack to about 80,000 at the moment.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and Keikoan continued out with another 3,600. His opponent check-raised all in for 12,200, though, and Keikoan quickly called with 
.
.
gave Keikoan four outs to the win, but he could not catch up. The river was the blank 
, and Keikoan is forced to pay off the double. This one knocks him back to about 42,000, and he'll need to stop the bleeding here quickly if he hopes to work his way into the money.
and Eric Bergen checked to his opponent. The unknown player moved all in and Bergen took only a few moments to call.
and knocked out the other player. Bergen passed the 200,000 mark with elimination.
and Hicks is sitting on a healthy 70,000.
. It was a battle of the small blind versus Keikoan's button, and the small blind led out with 12,100 into a pot of more than 40,000. Keikoan quickly called, though he didn't seem to like it. And he was correct to be wary.
on the turn, and Castoire had bet 7,500 into a pot of about 10,000. His lone opponent check-called, and the two of them checked down the 
river.
, but Castoire's 