Scotty Nguyen wasn't the player to eliminate Robert Mizrachi, but he was the one who put Mizrachi two feet into the tournament grave. Nguyen check-called a bet from Mizrachi on a flop of after Mizrachi three-bet pre-flop. Nguyen followed the same action with the turn. But when the river fell a third heart, , Nguyen bet into Mizrachi. Mizrachi made a crying call and had to muck to Nuyens , a small flush.
That hand left Mizrachi with 6,000 chips. He was eliminated a few hands later.
The consolidation of the field has whittled away all of the Team PokerStars Pros that entered this event. The Team is down to just two remaining players: Pat Pezzin and Alexander Kravchenko. Each man has a roughly average stack and is sandwiched between two much larger stacks. Pezzin has to contend with Sam Farha on his right and Chino Rheem on his left. Things aren't any better for Kravchenko, who has John D'Agostino on his right and Dale Phillips on his left. We doubt he'll find any solidarity from countryman Alexander Kostritsyn, sitting to Phillips' left.
There's still a long way to go to the money. It's going to be interesting to see if they can crack the money.
That's the ballgame for George Danzer. He and Steve Zolotow were heads up on a board of . Danzer had flopped the nut straight with and bet after Zolotow checked. Zolotow then hit the perfect river, the . He checked and let Danzer move all in, then quickly called with the nuts, . His Broadways straight was better than Danzer's king-high straight, and as a result Danzer is gone.
Jordan Morgan was all in on the turn with the board reading . He was up against David Benyamine, who held the for a low draw, a straight draw and top pair. Morgan held the for two pair and a worse low draw.
The river was the and Morgan's two pair held up to scoop the entire pot as neither player made a low. He's now back to 56,000 chips while Benyamine dropped to 148,000.
Kiril Gerasimov recently joined Vladimir Schmelev and Sergey Altbregin at Red 369, prompting some comments and jokes from Matt Glantz. The table is quite international, with Toto Leonidas representing the Philippines, David Benyamine carrying the standard for France and James Dempsey sitting in for Jolly Old England. Jordan Morgan and Matt Glantz are the American in the mix.
We missed the action, but there was a 65,000-chip pot that Dan Heimiller scooped in three-handed action. The final board was and Heimiller held the for jacks and tens with an ace kicker. He was very surpsied to ship the pot and moved to 174,000 in chips. The other two players in the hand were Yuval Bronshtein and Martin Davis.
David Benyamine limped into the pot pre-flop in front of Jordan Morgan, who raised. Sergey Altbregin had the button and called two bets cold. Benyamine closed the action with a call of his own.
All three players checked a paired, two-spade flop, . Benyamine checked again on the turn. That led Morgan to try a bet. Altbregin raised and then Benyamine check-re-raised. Morgan quickly called; Altbregin needed more time before putting his own call in.
The river was the . Action checked to Altbregin. He quickly fired a bet that only Benyamine called. The two chopped the pot, Benyamine getting the high with three fours, , Altbregin taking the low with .
"How did you survive that river?" Matt Glantz asked Benyamine.
"I didn't think he had spades. Check-check on the flop. I thought diamonds," Benyamine replied.
"Seven," said Altbregin.
"Yes, I thought you must have a seven to make that raise," Benyamine added.
Abe Mosseri raised from under the gun and then Mike Sexton called from the next seat. Steve Wong called on the button as well to make it three players to the flop. The flop came down and Mosseri bet. Sexton called and Wong folded.
With two players left in a heads-up battle, the turn was dealt the . Mosseri bet and Sexton called.
After the fell on the river, Mosseri bet, Sexton raised, Mosseri reraised and then Sexton called.
Sexton tabled the and Mosseri held the . Sexton won the high with the diamond flush and Mosseri took the low. Mosseri's on 117,000 in chips and Sexton's on 110,000.