The players are now taking another 15 minute break. The end of Level 12 signifies the end of registration for today, so the 142 player tally that's on the board right now could be the final official number. We will know for sure when players return from their break.
The tournament staff has just announced that we will be playing down to 18 players, or a full 17 levels. Whichever comes first. With that, the cards are once again in the air.
We walked up to Paul Hendee's table to see that he was in the middle of a huge pot on the river. The board read , and with about 60,000 in the middle, Hendee's opponent had moved in for 42,000. Hendee went deep into the tank, talking to himself throughout the thinking process. Eventually, he announced call, and his opponent said "I have a nine high straight."
Hendee groaned before mucking his cards, and after that hit, he tumbles down to 42,000.
Ray Henson had one of the biggest stacks in the room before the last break, but at some point, he took a huge hit. He was down to his last 45,000 when we saw him get in a big post-flop confrontation.
The flop read , and Henson fired out 2,600. His opponent thought for about 20 seconds before tossing in a raise to 8,200, and it was back to Henson. He announced all in, and his opponent quickly called.
Henson:
Opponennt:
Both players loved the flop, but Henson was still hurting and in need of an eight or a heart to survive. He caught the on the turn to complete his flush, then faded the river, the , to double up.
Henson is back up to just under 100,000 after that hand.
We heard all in and a call while we were tracking a hand at another table, and saw that Eric Baldwin and Tyler Patterson had gotten in an all in confrontation preflop. Patterson was at risk with , but he was well out in front of Baldwin's . That all changed though as the board ran out , and Baldwin collected the bounty to up his stack to 60,000.
Mike Souza and Jarod Ludemann were on the river of an action packed board that read . Ludemann checked to Souza, who fired out a bet of 8,500. Ludemann chucked the call in after a minute of tanking, and Souza rolled over for jacks full.
Ludemann released his hand, and dropped to 18,000, while Souza shot up to 70,000
Well it certainly didn't take LA pro Ray Henson very long to get back the chips he lost a couple hours ago. We got to the table as Henson and another player were getting the money in on a flop that read . Henson's was well out in front of his opponent's , and it stayed that way, as the board finished and .
After that hand, Henson is back amongst the big stacks, sitting on 165,000.