Maxwell Troy was all in by fourth and looking in real trouble when Men Nguyen had two pair on fifth, the latter improved to a better two pair on seventh and Troy needed to pull out a five, ten or jack, managing to hit the to survive. Nguyen looked on in disbelief as his opponent raked in the chips
Sorel Mizzi brought in, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier completed, and Christopher George and Mizzi called. ElkY bet on fourth with both other players calling and bet again on fifth. George called but Mizzi raised and ElkY called as did George. On sixth, George who made queens went all in for 18,000 and the other two players called. On seventh, Mizzi checked-called ElkY’s bet only to be shown the of the Frenchman which gave ElkY a flush. Mizzi mucked as did George who was eliminated as Mizzi’s stack took a hit and Elky’s climbed.
After having just doubled, Sorel Mizzi called all-in against Alexander Kostritsyn on seventh. Kostritsyn turned over for a pair of jacks and Mizzi couldn’t produce better as he mucked and was eliminated. However the poker day wasn’t done for him as he was on his way to the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout.
Tryba had completed on third and Nguyen raised him essentially all in which Tryba called. Neither player made anything until Tryba caught a pair of sixes on sixth but then didn't improve on seventh. Nguyen justed needed a spade, seven, ten, jack, queen or ace to eliminate him but managed to miss everything and Tryba doubled up.
John Hennigan completed and called Men Nguyen’s raise. Hennigan bet on fourth and Nguyen called. On fifth, Hennigan bet again only to get raised by Nguyen. Hennigan called and bet yet again on sixth. Nguyen raised and Hennigan re-raised which Nguyen called. On seventh, Hennigan bet one last time and Nguyen called. Hennigan showed for a straight as Nguyen yelled “case ten” and showed for trip tens. The hand crippled Nguyen down to 75,000 while Henningan catapulted into the lead with close to a million.
Shortly after, the follow hand occurred to eliminate Nguyen at the hands of his familiar foe Hennigan.
Hennigan: / /
Nguyen: / /
Nguyen called all-in on sixth with an ace-high flush draw and Broadway draw against the two pair of Hennigan. Nguyen completely bricked with his last card and the defending champ was eliminated. This means that there will be a new champion in this event as Hennigan moved across the one million chip mark.
With Nguyen's elimination, the floor decided that both remaining tables would merge to form a nine-handed final table which several players voiced their complaints about. However we would have our traditionally sized eight-handed Stud final table since we turned around and saw Nick Schulman also all in and at risk against Alexander Kostritsyn.
Much like Nguyen, it appeared as though Schulman had some sort of combo draw with an ace-high flush draw as well as a Broadway draw. Kostritsyn was ahead however with a pair of aces. And just like Nguyen, Schulman completely bricked the river and only held ace high at the end. Kostritsyn’s pair was good to eliminate Schulman as the final table bubble boy and the players went on 20 minute break before they start up again in the “Thunderdome”.
Seat 1: Maxwell Troy
Seat 2: Chad Brown
Seat 3: Kevin Tang
Seat 4: Alexander Kostritsyn
Seat 5: Chris Tryba
Seat 6: John Hennigan
Seat 7: Bertrand Grospellier
Seat 8: Steve Landfish