Tom McEvoy’s been running well, and it continued in the biggest hand of the tournament so far. With the blinds and antes at 500/1,000/100, Robert Varkonyi opened to 3,000 from under the gun. McEvoy made it 9,000 from the button, Dan Harrington folded his small blind, and Jim Bechtel announced a reraise from the big blind.
Bechtel pondered, then made it a total of 29,000. Varkonyi quickly folded, and McEvoy paused for only a few moments before announcing “All in.” Bechtel motioned with his hands as if, “Sure,” and announced his own all-in.
The hands:
McEvoy:
Bechtel:
Bechtel’s call had been for his last 35,600, and McEvoy, with 47,700 over Bechtel’s previous raise, had him slightly outchipped. Bechtel went stone-faced when the flop came to pair McEvoy’s ace, with a large cheer erupting from McEvoy’s rooting section. Bechtel was left drawing to the case king after the turn, and the river brought the instead.
With the addition of some small pots at the expense of the other players, McEvoy has jumped to roughly 120,000 in chips and a commanding lead entering three-way play.
Robert Varkonyi successfully slow-played pocket aces to double through Dan Harrington and vault into second place. Harrington raised to 2,500 preflop and Varkonyi called.
The flop came , Harrington bet 4,500, and Varkonyi called again. The turn brought the , Harrington bet another 12,000, Varkonyi pushed all in, and Harrington called. Varkonyi showed his to Harrington’s , and safely doubled when the river card fell.
Dan Harrington is wielding his short stack effectively as this level draws to a close. Down near 30,000 after the Varkonyi double-up, Harrington has picked off a couple of pots with preflop reraises and is in the progress of making it a three-way battle.
The 90-minute break means that action will resume just prior to 10 pm Vegas time.
After three straight hands where the button player won a small pot after a preflop or postflop raise, Tom McEvoy played back at Robert Varkonyi from the small blind after Varkonyi made it 3,500 from the button. McEvoy repopped it to 10,500 and Varkonyi went away.