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Scott Clements is playing lots of pots, to be sure. But he's not winning all of them. Clements was in middle position for the last hand and called William Thorson's open to 260,000. Action passed to small blind Brandon Steven. He three-bet to 660,000, driving Thorson out of the hand. Clements opted to call again.
Steven and Clements checked all the way to the river, 
. That's where Steven finally tried a bet of 420,000. Clements folded.
David Baker raised from the button and Hasan Habib moved all in for 1.965 million from the big blind. Baker thought about it for a minute and then made the call.
Habib held the 
and Baker the 
.
The board ran out 
and Habib spiked a king to double up. He's now back over four million in chips.
Level 30 has come to a close after 93 minutes of play, and the remaining 23 players are headed out of the room for their first twenty-minute break.
It's been quite a level, too! There's no shortage of action at any of the three remaining tables, and we've already lost four players to start the day off quickly. Johnny Lodden came into this Day 8 short on chips, and he could not escape the first orbit at the featured table. He raced his 
against Matt Affleck's 
, seemingly content to flip a coin for double or nothing. Lodden dodged the all-spade flop, but a ten on the turn put him in a hole that he could not climb out of. He became the first casualty of the day, earning $317,161 for his 27th-place finish.
A couple orbits later, the main featured table lost its second player in dramatic fashion. Matthew Bucaric got it all in on a 
flop with . He was slightly ahead of Filippo Candio's 
, but that changed in a hurry. The turn 
flushed Candio into the lead, and Bucaric could not find a heart to survive as the river 
ushered him out in 26th place.
Right behind him went the short-stacked Mads Wissing courtesy of William Thorson spiking a five-outer to send him packing. Wissing got it in good with 
on a 
flop, and he was looking to fade Thorson's 
. The turn was a disaster, though, and the river was not enough to get Wissing back in the game; he was out in 25th place.
Ronnie Bardah's name was just inked into the 24th-place spot on the payout sheet a few minutes ago. Down under 2 million chips, the grinder from Massachusetts found a bad time to run his 
into pocket aces. It was Candio doing the deed once again, and his send Bardah out after the board ran 
.
That leaves us down to 23 players, and apart from those hands, there hasn't been too much to shake up the leader board. Joseph Cheong still leads the way, but Soi Nguyen and Matt Affleck are hot on his heels. We'll post the full updated chip counts in just a moment. While we're doing that, go ahead and stretch your legs; Level 31 is right around the corner.
In a hand that went more than five minutes into the break, John Racener opened for 275,000 pre-flop from middle position. Brandon Steven was next to act and three-bet to 775,000. Racener was the only caller to a flop of . Both players checked.
The turn was the . Racener made a half-pot probe at Steven for 725,000. Steven called that bet. The price of poker was more expensive on the river , where Racener bet 1.9 million. He became very still, even to the point of ceasing to chew his gum.
"Well, if I call and I'm wrong, what will I have left?" Steven pondered. Then he looked at Michael Mizrachi and asked, "Do you have a coin I can borrow?"
Finally, five minutes into the break, Steven gave up. "I guess I'll get to see it on TV," he said. "I think you turned a jack." He folded, allowing the table to go to break.
As the rest of the room filed out for the break, there was a huge pot in progress at the outer table.
First into the pot was Duy Le, and he came in raising to 305,000 before Jonathan Duhamel reraised to 865,000 in the small blind. Robert Pisano made the overcall from the big blind, and Le called as well to put a big-but-soon-to-be-much-larger pot in the middle of the table.
Three-handed, the flop came 
. Duhamel knocked the table, and Pisano took the betting lead with a wager of 1.65 million chips. Le ducked out of the way, but Duhamel stuck in the relatively quick call to see fourth street.
It was the and it was the action card. Duhamel led out into the pot now, sliding forward a bet of 1.875 million. Pisano tanked and moved all in over the top, and Duhamel called all in for 4.46 million to put himself at risk. But in reality, he was not at risk in any way as the cards were turned up:
Pisano:
Duhamel: 
Pisano could not believe what his opponent turned over, and Duhamel's turned wheel left his opponent shaking his head and mumbling to himself. He was already cutting out the chips he owed as the meaningless filled out the board.
When the dust settled, Pisano is left with just 320,000 chips, and we'd bet this twenty-minute break won't be a happy one for him. Duhamel was still stacking chips several minutes into the break, and the floor man offered to help him.
"No thanks," Duhamel replied. "I'm having fun."
You bet he is. He's all the way up to 21.6 million courtesy of that monsterpotten.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
25,130,000
730,000
|
730,000 |
|
||
|
21,600,000
12,200,000
|
12,200,000 |
|
||
|
18,800,000
-1,200,000
|
-1,200,000 |
|
16,800,000
-500,000
|
-500,000 |
|
|
||
|
16,655,000
1,855,000
|
1,855,000 |
|
|
||
|
14,650,000
-1,750,000
|
-1,750,000 |
|
14,225,000
-3,775,000
|
-3,775,000 |
|
|
||
|
11,510,000
510,000
|
510,000 |
|
|
11,125,000
3,325,000
|
3,325,000 |
|
10,840,000
1,390,000
|
1,390,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
8,780,000
780,000
|
780,000 |
|
|
||
|
7,380,000
580,000
|
580,000 |
|
||
|
6,625,000
225,000
|
225,000 |
|
|
||
|
5,450,000
-950,000
|
-950,000 |
|
|
||
|
5,400,000
-800,000
|
-800,000 |
|
|
||
|
5,155,000
-245,000
|
-245,000 |
|
|
||
|
4,720,000
-580,000
|
-580,000 |
|
4,295,000
195,000
|
195,000 |
|
|
||
|
3,545,000
1,145,000
|
1,145,000 |
|
|
||
|
3,360,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
|
2,950,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
1,860,000
-730,000
|
-730,000 |
|
|
||
|
320,000
-9,980,000
|
-9,980,000 |
|
|
||
Level: 31
Blinds: 80,000/160,000
Ante: 20,000
We're back with Level 31, and it's awfully exciting. The beige/almond T250,000 chips have been colored into play, so we now have four chip denominations on the tables.
The blinds are 80,000/160,000 with a running ante of 20,000, and the cards are in the air.
It's the final day of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event - until November that is. It's also your last chance to get your shot at a piece of the $2,000 in cash up for grabs in our final WSOP Live Reporting Freeroll on PokerStars.
The freeroll gets under way at 19:05 EDT and is password protected. But if you're following along with our coverage, you've got nothing to worry about. The password for today's freeroll is: PokerNews.
Good luck!
Robert Pisano was down to a puny two big blinds to begin this level thanks to that crippling put just before the break. On the first hand back, he was in the small blind, and he went ahead and put his 300,000 in there dark. Soi Nguyen made a minimum raise (after failing to notice the level increase), and Pascal LeFrancois called from the big blind to create a side pot.
Both live players checked the 
flop, and LeFrancois bet 180,000 on the 
turn. That folded Nguyen and got him heads up to a showdown with Pisano at risk. Cards up, gents:
LeFrancois: 
Pisano:
"King please" one of Pisano's railbirds asked. "Ten dollars for a king, dealer!"
There would be no king. The river 
was not enough to save Pisano from extinction, and he has been eliminated in 23rd place.
