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Back from dinner, the first significant pot at the outer table belongs to Matt Affleck. Affleck defended his big blind against a raise to 600,000 made by small blind Jonathan Duhamel. Both players checked an ace-high flop, 
. When the turn came an 
, Duhamel tried a bet of 850,000. Affleck was undeterred and called to see the 
hit the river. Both players again checked. Affleck showed a pair of eights, 
, to collect the pot.
From the cutoff seat, Michael Mizrachi open-shoved all in. Next door, Hasan Habib called all in for his last 1,065,000, and the blinds folded to cue the showdown. Habib was at risk once again, and the cards were on their backs:
Mizrachi: 
Habib: 
The flop was a big load off Habib's shoulders as it came down 
to set him up for the double up. The turn locked up the pot, and the river 
filled out the board as The Grinder counted out his debt.
Another Habib double chips him up to 2.7 million, and he's bought himself a little more time once again. On the other hand, Mizrachi is now the shortest stack left with just over 2 million to his name.
A few minutes into the level the doors finally opened to non-family-and-friend spectators. They came running across the emptied out Amazon Room hoping to secure choice spots along the rail or in the upper spectator box. Ty Stewart, an imposing figure near the entrance to the feature table area, immediately put his hands in the air and started calmly (but loudly) instructing the spectators to, "Calm down! Calm down!"
Watching them enter the Amazon Room through one narrow chokepoint really does look like someone has taken their proverbial finger out of a proverbial dam. In moments we went from a strangely quiet Amazon Room to five deep on the rail.
Cards are back in the air. We have six eliminations to go tonight.
Level: 33
Blinds: 120,000/240,000
Ante: 30,000
It's just about time to get rolling.
Walking back into the Amazon Room about twenty minutes ago, you'd hardly know there was a poker tournament going on in here. The room was entirely devoid of life, apart from a few well-positioned security guards keeping a close eye on the vast emptyness. We peeked out the side door to see where everyone was, and we found the great crowd lurking in the corridors, waiting for the doors to unlatch. About a hundred or so people have stacked themselves up behind the ropes, most of them friends and family anxiously sweating their loved ones. There were a lot of nervous looks and quiet, tense conversations amongst the masses.
The lights are still dim above the felt here in the featured table arena, but the chatter is starting to pick up. The staff has taken their places and a few of the players have tricked back into the room, lingering around the perimeter of the stage and waiting to resume possibly the most important night of their poker career. Lives will be changed tonight.
We're just a few minutes from getting back in action, and T.D. Robbie has just called the players to their chairs. The lights have been lifted, the doors have been opened, and the spectators are en route.
Play will resume in just a few minutes.
The clock is down to triple zeroes, ending the level and sending the remaining 15 players on a 90-minute dinner break. What a level it was!
Things started off with the rapid descent of Michiel Sijpkens, who wasn't able to recover from losing some big pots towards the end of the previous level. His elimination in 19th place paved the way for a two-table re-draw. The significance was evident to all: one more table of eliminations stood between the final 18 players and the November Nine.
Scott Clements was the first to depart, much to the disappointment of many of the women in the crowd. Clements wasn't able to get much going despite playing plenty of pots. He finally wound up all in with 
against Matthew Jarvis' 
and busted from the feature table in 18th place.
At the outer table, players were snug. Nobody was making many moves and one bet was often enough to take down a pot. That finally changed when David Baker check-raised all in with a flush draw and ran into Jonathan Duhamel's overpair. No help on the turn or river made Baker the 17th-place finisher.
Many eyes have been on Michael Mizrachi today, wondering if the Player's Champion could make it all the way to the November Nine. He suffered a big setback towards the end of the level, committing a large portion of his stack with top pair and then folding to a check-raise from Brandon Steven.
The level ended with the elimination of Benjamin Statz in 16th place. That means 15 players hungry for a bit more than dinner will re-convene at 8:35pm local time. It looks like Jonathan Duhamel will be the chip leader when they come back. From that point nobody will leave until the November Nine are known.
Joseph Cheong found a way to get back some of his wayward chips. After Pascal LeFrancois opened for 475,000, Cheong made it 1,425,000 to go. LeFrancois kept up the aggression with a four-bet to 3,425,000. That didn't slow down Cheong. He jammed all in for more than 11 million and induced a snap-fold from LeFrancois.
Duy Le is shaking his head at his bad luck. He smooth-called an early-position raise to 500,000 from John Dolan, creating a heads-up pot for a flop of 
. Dolan continued for another 720,000, then called dafter Le opted to put in a significant raise to 2.0 million. Both players checked the 
turn. When the river fell 
, Dolan took the lead again with a bet of 3.6 million. Le instantly called, but mucked his hand in the fac of Dolan's 
.
Le later told his rail he had been dealt pocket aces. Whether true or not, what we know for sure is that his count is down to 4.5 million and Dolan is up to 17.8 million.
