Rob Hollink is up to 7,000 after knocking out another player.
We caught up with the action on the flop when the soon-to-be-busto unfortunate bet out. Hollink raised, and the dead man walking made the call.
He bet out again on the turn and Hollink raised again. The short-stacked player reraised all in, Hollink called, and they were on their backs.
All in: for a variety of straight draws
Hollink: for a set
River:
The pair of aces was too little, too late for the all-in player, who suddenly found himself with an evening off. Hollink took possession of his chips, and moved on up the counts.
2008 Player of the Year Tom Schneider button-raised (amid anecdote) to 200 and received one caller in the big blind. On the flop, the big blind led for 100, which temporarily halted the anecdote. Schneider paused briefly before making the call. Schneider then called subsequent bets on a turn and river before being shown for the rivered straight.
Noah Boeken has had a terrible day so far, and is right now perched rather precariously on a reduced 1,100 stack.
It turns out that a large chunk of his stack went to Barry Greenstein when Greenstein's came good to crack Boeken's pocket aces. Then a few hands later, Boeken's pocket quens were cracked when an opponent holding spiked an ace on the river - particularly painful, as almost all the chips had gone in on the eight-high flop and turn.
Still, Boeken is not not quite Broeken yet and anything can happen.
Four players made it to see a flop in a limped pot, and it checked around until one player bet. Jeff Lisandro in the small blind position was the only caller, and so it was that they went heads up to the turn.
The turn came down the and this time Lisandro bet out. His opponent raised, Lisandro called, and they were at the river.
The river was the , bringing in the flush draw. Lisandro bet out again, and this time his opponent folded. Lisandro duly showed him the flush and picked up a healthy pot to put him back up to 4,000.
An under-the-gun raise and call was enough to induce Ted Forrest into raising it up from the button (having a hand probably helped too). Both players called leading to a flop of .
Check, check, bet 100 from Forrest led to a fold, and then a reluctant call from the second player. Forrest was then check-called for 200 on the turn and river before showing for the flopped set.
Forrest waited patiently as his opponent entered into a postmortem of looking at his hand, then the board, then his hand again, but neither changed and, eventually, Forrest took the pot.
Forrest is still short stacked, however, with 2,500.
After an inevitably slow start, this level appears to be one that can actually send people to their demise. I couldn't help but notice that former EPT finalist Cristiano Blanco, for one, was missing, presumed lost.
Meanwhile, as a smattering of players make their early exit towards the door, latecomer Phil Ivey has finally taken his seat and wasted no time in getting involved. A brief watch of his table unveiled that he has won four of the last five pots, thus increasing his slightly diminished stack back up to over the starting stack.
I wish I was good enough to arrive after everyone. It would be like Michael Johnson turning up as his opponents were already half way around the track, and then still winning!
63rd place will be getting $2,742, and the happy lady or gent who wins this thing three days from now will be taking home a juicy $189,870. Please click the Payouts tab for full information.
Preflop, we saw more action than a Die Hard boxset, and then on the flop it was as if Steven Segal had entered the room with a machine gun as three players once again capped the betting.
One of those players was Sorel Mizzi, and with just 175 remaining on the turn, he was forced to sit back as his opponents meekly checked down the river, if not with a sense of disgruntlement.
And they were right to be dissatisfied as Mizzi had got there with for the rivered straight, only to find that he had pipped not only , but also to stay alive in the tournament. Somehow, he now has 3,600, but may have used up that 'one time'.
Barry Greenstein raised it up preflop only for Noah Boeken to repop. Lauren Kling and Greenstein both made the call. On the flop, Boeken bet, and although Kling stepped out the way, Greenstein made the call. Boeken bet one more time on the turn, but as Barry resisted, Boeken conceded the , check-folding to a single bet to allow the Robin Hood of Poker to pick up the pot.