Players are back from the break and cards are once more in the air. The big board is showing that 135 players remain, meaning just under half of those still with chips will be making the final 63 and the cash.
From this points forward, levels will now last one hour. There will be a dinner break after two more levels (at the end of Level 17).
Will Failla opened to 6,000 in early position and next to act was Abraham Araya who went all in for 8,000. Chris Reslock called from the cutoff, Failla called, and the two of them checked down a board.
Reslock tabled , Failla showed , and Araya turned up . Failla took it down with ace-queen high to win the pot and eliminate Araya.
Cathy Dever opened with a raise to 5,500 from middle position and got two callers behind her, David Diaz (cutoff) and Terry Grimes (button). The flop came , and Dever fired a continuation bet of 9,000. Just Diaz called. Both players then checked the turn.
The river was the . This time Dever pushed out a bet of 23,000, and after a spell of contemplation Diaz finally let his hand go.
Four players had built a pot of about 12,000 before the dealer spread a flop. It checked around to the late position player who bet 8,500, and only T.J. Crews called from middle position. The turn then brought the and when Crews led for 12,000, his opponent thought for a while before letting his hand go.
Crews began today as the chip leader, fell back a bit early on, then chipped back up over 100,000 where he's been hovering for most of the late afternoon.
"The thing is... there's being active and there's being nuts...."
So began our current chip leader Wade Woelfel, talking to his table following a recent hand.
We came on that one amid a preflop raising war between Woelfel (in the big blind) and his opponent (in the cutoff). Ultimately their back-and-forthing resulted in the latter being all in for about 80,000, with Woelfel holding and his opponent . The community cards came , and Woelfel added still more to his stack.
The conversation continued, with Woelfel noting how he's been active, but not nuts. However he's been playing, it has has worked exceedingly well today for him, as Woelfel has built his Day 2 starting stack of 18,500 up over 400,000.
Chris Reslock opened to 6,300 from the hijack. The player in the cutoff called, as did Will "The Thrill" Failla from the small blind, and a flop fell.
Failla and Relock checked it to the player in the cutoff who bet 8,000. Only Failla called to see the turn and he checked again. The bet to him was 25,000 this time and he called once more. The landed on the river and Failla checked for a third time. His opponent took a few moments before checking back.
Failla tabled for four full of tens, besting his opponent's for what had been a set, than a full house, but now an inferior full house.