Gus Hansen was the bring in during a hand of Stud against Bill Chen. Hansen was happy to take a back seat and let Chen lead the betting until sixth with Hansen calling him, before firing a bet on the river. Chen looked him up but Hansen tabled (-X) for two pair to take it down as Chen mucked.
Annie Duke completed and Kostritsyn called before Kassela popped in a raise. Both opponents called before Kostritsyn took the lead on fourth. Kassela raised again to force a fold from Duke with Kostritsyn making the call.
On fifth Kassela led before Kostritsyn took over, firing bets on sixth and on the river. Kassela made the call.
"Two pair," said Kostritsyn but Kassela tabled () for queens up to scoop. Kostritsyn was left on the short stack with just 17,000 as Eli Elezra commiserated with him.
"We can't win today Alex, we're both dead!" said Elezra who is also one of the short stacks of the field. The two then agreed to a deal that if one of them wins the tournament then they would pay back the other their buy-in of $50,000. So there's still some hope!
Jani Sointula (X)(X) (X)
Eli Elezra (X)(X) (X)
Annie Duke (X)(X) (X)
Jani Sointula completed on third street and both Eli Elezra and Annie Duke called. All three players checked fourth and fifth streets. On sixth, Sointula led out, Elezra called, Duke raised, and both her opponents called. Sointula checked dark on the river, Elezra checked, Duke bet and both Sointula and Elezra gave up their hands.
With that pot, Duke is up to 255,000. Sointula is above-average with 172,000 while Elezra is down to 45,000.
Steve Billirakis was the bring in with Jerry Buss completing. Brett Richey and Justin Bonomo both called, as did Billirakis.
On fourth street Buss caught best and led out with Richey calling. Bonomo folded to his brick and Billirakis called along.
On fifth street Billirakis took the lead with Buss the lone caller as Richey bricked once again.
Both players bricked on sixth street and checked as Billirakis got one more bet in on the river. Billirakis revealed () for a seven-low which was good as Buss mucked.
Out of the 95 players in this year's $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, 41 of them are sponsored by or affiliated with an online poker site. That's about 43% of the field.
Full Tilt Poker - 30
PokerStars - 6
Doyle's Room - 2
Bodog - 1
Ultimate Bet - 1
Gioco Digitale - 1
Mike Matusow completed before Alex Kravchenko raised. Cory Zeidman called as did Matusow.
On fourth street, Matusow led out before Kravchenko raised. Zeidman folded when he bricked before Matusow raised again. Kravchenko called.
On fifth Kravchenko bet and Matusow called, with the same scenario on sixth. On the river Kravchenko fired again to send Matusow into the tank. After three minutes of thought he folded (-X) face up.
"Show the bluff. Great for game. Great for game!" laughed Abe Mosseri, but Kravchenko just gave a smile and mucked.