After an open to 3,000, Russian journalist Ilya Gorodetskiy bumped it up to 7,400 only for Brazilian Jorge Breda to move all in from the small blind. The initial aggressor folded, but Gorodetskiy was less hospitable, and, after a brief dwell and with the foreboding shadow of the bubble looming, called all-in.
Three players saw a flop including Paul Magriel, Albert Minnullin and Edward Pham.
Both Magriel and Minnullin checked to Pham who moved all in for 28,900. Magriel tank-folded and Minnullin made the call.
Showdown
Minnullin:
Pham:
The on the turn was a golden card for Minnullin and the on the river gave him a flush just for fun. He is now up to 27,500 and Pham is down to just 1,400.
In a scene that reminded me of that Hitler movie clip that seems to do the rounds on various forums, German Vincent Wagner was almost foaming at the mouth when the dealer accidentally mucked his cards whilst he was in the big blind. In a fit of rage, he leapt from his chair like an epileptic salmon and started shouting what I expect were expletives in his native language. "Sir, if you're going to talk to me, you must speak in English," warned the tournament director sternly.
Wagner turned to John Juanda, who is also at the table, looking for support, but Juanda just shrugged his shoulders and said he was happy to leave the decision with the floor men. Inevitably, there was little that could be done, and play quickly resumed, but the player wasn't happy and continued to show his dissatisfaction, this time in the language of the host nation: "I am a very, very careful player," he pleaded. "This has never, never happened to me!"
On a flop, John Phan called a bet of 4,700, before raising his opponent's lead of 12,000 on the turn. His opponent moved all in and Phan called for his remaining 4,100. With versus , Phan was in better shape than a champion body builder, and after a harmless hit the river, he found himself up to that magic 100,000 mark.
The internet here at the Rio has been up and down all afternoon. We've gotten word that the situation is being worked on, and we're working to get as many posts and chip counts up despite the issue. Thanks for your patience.
Andrew Lichtenberger was on the short stack entering the day and was willing to race for his tournament life in the first level of play. Unfortunately for Lichtenberger his ace-queen couldn't out run the wired sixes of an opponent and he is now eliminated.
Early action as the button raised to 1,200 and Zachary Clark made the call from the small blind. On the flop, both players checked, as well as the turn, only for Clark to lead out for 4,500 on the river. The button called with , but Clark had for flopped set. Clark now up to 60,000.
Unfortunately, we were unable to get our hands on a player list today, but a quick scour around the remaining field revealed a few intriguing match-ups. On one table, it's the young versus the wise as Andrew Lichtenberger takes on Tom Schneider, whilst just a couple of tables down it's youth squared as Jonathan Little sits directly to the right of British online pro Stephen Chidwick.
Perhaps the most eclectic line-up, however, is that of the far table, as silent assassin Ben Roberts shares a table with the loud, brash chip leader, Will Failla. Meanwhile, across the table lies a familiar face to sports fan (well, Dutch ones at least), with recently acquired PokerStars Sports Stars Pro Fatima Moreira de Melo looking prove her worth beyond the hockey turf.