Soheil Shamseddin raised from middle position, and on the button, Vitaly Lunkin raised. Kirk Morrison called out of the small blind, and Shamseddin called the extra bet. The flop fell , and action checked to Lunkin. He bet in position, and after Morrison folded, Shamseddin called. The turn put four spades on the board. Soheil bet at it, and Lunkin called. Shamseddin bet again after the river, and Lunkin gifted him one more bet. Shamseddin tabled for a flopped set with no spades, and Lunkin mucked his own spadeless hand on his way down to one big blind. Soheil moved the other direction to 71,000.
David Oppenheim was short and called off his last chips in a hand of stud against Nick Schulman. We caught the action on fifth street with Schulman leading the betting. Oppenheim called and again on sixth, before betting the river. Schulman raised an Oppenheim called all in.
Schulman: () /
Oppenheim: (X-X-X) /
Trip tens for Schulman was good to collect the pot and eliminate Oppenheim from the tournament.
Action folded to Erick Lindgren in the small blind, and stuck in a raise. Brian Townsend three-bet, and Lindgren called to see the flop. E-dog bet out, and Townsend called. Both checked the turn. When the on the river completed flush and straight draws, Lindgren checked again. Townsend tried to take it with a bet, but Lindgren raised. Townsend gave up, shipping the chips in Lindgren's direction. Erick is up to 91,000, while Townsend slipped to 55,000.
A five-way Stud-8 hand is a poker reporter's worst nightmare, so we'll do our best to recount the hand that led to the recent elimination of John D'Agostino.
We caught the action on fifth street and D'Agostino was already all in when we arrived at the table. Hani Awad led the betting with Phil Galfond and Jeff Lisandro making the call before Scott Fischman raised. All three opponents made the call.
Lisandro paired his board on sixth street and took control, but Fischman was again the aggressor on the river. Awad and Galfond released as Lisandro made the call.
Fischman was the only one to show as he revealed an eight-high straight and seventy-six low to scoop. D'Agostino mucked and hit the rail as Fischman moved up to 95,000.
A few minutes after stacking Tom Koral, Brett Richey found himself involved in a huge pot with Men Nguyen. The Master got all of his chips in the middle on seventh street, and Richey called. He showed / for tens full. On his way out, Men angrily flipped up to show he'd been dealt rolled up nines. After knocking out another one, Richey has 100,000.
Team PokerStars have been reduced by two with Chad Brown and Jason Mercier both hitting the rail recently, much to the delight of Jean-Robert Bellande who pocketed a couple of last longer bets.
At the other end of the spectrum for Team PokerStars, Greg Raymer is having a good tournament so far with 108,000 chips to be in our top ten. It's been a rough 2010 WSOP campaign for the 2004 World Champ, so he'll be keen for a very deep run here today.
Other Team PokerStars Pros still alive include Daniel Negreanu, Joe Hachem, Ville Wahlbeck, Jose Barbero, Victor Ramdin and friend of PokerStars Bill Chen.
Tom Koral won't be picking up his first cash of the summer or his 13th career WSOP check. Instead, he's on the rail while Brett Richey is stacking his chips.
Richey picked up an ace on fourth street. "I paired," he said. "But I'm going to gamble." Koral was all in the next round of betting, and it took until the final card for Richey's gamble to pay off. He turned over / for an eight-six. Koral showed / for an eight-seven and was eliminated in cruel fashion. Koral will have to settle for sweating his good friend, Scott Bohlman, now.
Catching the action on fourth street, with four players still in the pot, Matt Glantz was the aggressor with David Oppenheim and Sergey Altbregin making the call, before Abe Mosseri raised it up. His opponents made the call and Mosseri continued the aggression on fifth street. Glantz folded, Oppeneheim called and Altbregin stepped aside.
On sixth Mosseri fired again Oppenheim called before he folded to a bet on seventh as Mosseri collected the pot without showdown.
John Hennigan has chipped up through Scott Seiver in a recent razz hand. We caught the action on fifth street with Hennigan leading the betting. Seiver made the call, and again on sixth, before both players checked it down on the river.
Hennigan: () /
Seiver: (X-X-X) /
Hennigan made an eight-six to take it down to move up to 53,000. Seiver slips to 72,000.