After checking through a flop of , Jean-Robert Bellande bet 3,500 when the fell on the turn. His short-stacked opponent came over the top for his remaining 7,500. Bellande quickly called with , dominating his opponent's pocket nines. The river was no help to his opponent, and Bellande took the pot.
Afterwards Bellande said, "He probably put me on the flush. I'm capable of having nothing." At the moment Bellande has 58,500 chips more than nothing.
It is getting to that stage of the tournament. They have just broken a table. However, the bust outs are few and far between as stack sizes build and players find their groove.
Gavin Smith just proved there's more than one way to win a race. He called a shortstack's all-in with and found that he was racing against pocket eights. The flop of seemed a good one for his opponent, but the gave Gavin four additional outs. The on the river gave the hand to Smith and helped continue his move toward the chip lead. He now has 66,000 chips.
On the heels of a hand where he mucked after showing an Ace that paired one on the board, Freddy Deeb once again surrendered a hand where he paired his Ace. On a board, Deeb led out for 1,500 and was raised an additional 3,500. "You check on the flop and then you raise me. I'm not going to play any more Aces," Deeb said before showing the .
After a player in middle position raised to 2,000, Freddy Deeb called, and James Williams raised to 5,000 on the button. The original raiser surrendered his hand, but Deeb called. Both players checked the flop of and also the on the turn. When the fell on the river, Deeb led out for 4,000, and Williams raised to 10,000. Deeb showed an Ace before throwing his hand in the muck. Deeb's stack fell to 48,000, and Williams now sits with 36,000 in front of him.
Alan Jaffray and the big blind saw a flop of . Jaffray bet 13,900 and the big blind called all-in. The turn and river came . Jaffray showed , and his opponent showed . Jaffray's kicker played and he took the pot.
Defending champion Rafe Furst has been eliminated. After Ian Woodley raised to 2,100 Furst re-raised to 6,100 and was called. The flop came seven-high and Furst check-raised Woodley for the rest of his chips. Woodley called and turned over pocket Jacks. Furst could only offer pocket Nines and couldn't conjure the nine that would prevent the end of his reign. Woodley is now up to 40K.