Suddenly, it's turned into the World Cup in here. As our floor supervisor Nikki Ivey began introducing our final tablists, each group of railbirds got their opportunity to let their voices be heard. By far the most vocal were Konstantin Bucherl's supporters, who broke into song, waved German flags and swilled beer. Peter Jetten and Dani Stern's groupies are rather excitable as well, and many of them are already on their third or fourth drink.
Hey, it's almost midnight and we've still got nine players left. Anything to elevate the mood!
The table folded around to the blinds where Valdemar Kwaysser opened the pot to 120,000 from the small. In the big, Blair Rodman thought it over for a moment and made the call to see a flop.
It came , and Kwaysser continued out with another 135,000 chips. After another minute in the tank, Rodman announced an all-in raise for about 450,000 total, and Kwaysser quickly called. With Rodman at risk for his tournament life, the cards were on their backs:
Kwaysser:
Rodman:
Matt Marafioti couldn't help himself. "Oh, what a f***ing cooler!" he practically yelled as the cards were turned over. The on the turn cued the handshakes, and Rodman was ushered out the door by a meaningless on the river. For his eighth-place finish, he'll take home more than $70,000.
Valdemar Kwaysser 1,690,000
Konstantin Bucherl 1,640,000
James Calderaro 1,225,000
Dani Stern 1,125,000
Peter Jetten 820,000
Tom Marchese 775,000
Matt Marafioti 650,000
Konstantin Bucherl opened for 110,000 and Peter Jetten made the call.
Bucherl led out for 140,000 on the flop. Jetten called. Both players checked the on the turn. The river was the and Bucherl bet 200,000. After more than five minutes in the tank, Jetten called.
Bucherl tabled and took down the pot to deafening cheers from his railbirds (and some sort of rally song emanating from a bullhorn). He's up to 2,055,000 while Jetten is down to 380,000.
First in from the button, James Calderaro raised to 150,000, and Tom Marchese announced a reraise from the big blind. He made it 575,000 total, Calderaro reraised back, and Marchese got his last few hundred thousand chips into the middle to put himself at risk. And he was in a bad spot.
Showdown
Calderaro:
Marchese:
Marchese looked stricken as he saw the bad news, five cards away from elimination. The news would get worse in a hurry, too. The flop came to give Caldero the nearly-unbeatable full house. As the turn and river filled out the board with the and , Marchese was shaking hands with the table and wishing them luck on his way out the door. It was another exceptional performance for "Kingsofcards", but it comes to an end here at the final table. He'll take home six figures of cash, but the look on his face shows disappointment at this near miss.
![[user25067]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Kuzmin was eliminated. Marchese is now up to 1.8 million and holds the chip lead.
, and Kwaysser continued out with another 135,000 chips. After another minute in the tank, Rodman announced an all-in raise for about 450,000 total, and Kwaysser quickly called. With Rodman at risk for his tournament life, the cards were on their backs:
on the turn cued the handshakes, and Rodman was ushered out the door by a meaningless 
on the river. For his eighth-place finish, he'll take home more than $70,000.
, Marchese was shaking hands with the table and wishing them luck on his way out the door. It was another exceptional performance for "Kingsofcards", but it comes to an end here at the final table. He'll take home six figures of cash, but the look on his face shows disappointment at this near miss.