There are only 7-tables remaining in the Bronze Section as our field shrinks like a pair of 1970s skinny jeans. In just 3-mins time the end of Level 4 will be reached and the final numbers and prize pool should be with us, so keep your eyes open for that. In the meantime let's give you a hand involving Dominykas Karmazinas and Sorel Mizzi, and a story where Toan Trinh finds himself $50 the richer.
Sorel Mizzi raised to 400 on the button, the small blind called before Dominykas Karmazinas three-bet to 1,600 from the big blind. Mizzi made the call, the small blind folded and pair were heads-up to the flop. The dealer gave them the and Mizzi called a 2,300 Karmazinas bet. The turn card was the and Karmanizas bet 6,000; this time Mizzi folded.
Karmazinas started laughing and showed Mizzi .
"You were good," said Mizzi.
One table over and Luke Schwartz was having a tete-a-tete with Toan Trinh. Now Trinh may not be a household name to you, but he is having a fabulous World Series of Poker (WSOP) with 14th and 7th place finishes respectively. The pair were staring at a board of and Trinh had check-raised Schwartz to 6,000.
"I will give you $50 if you show me worse than ," said Schwartz before folding.
Trinh turned over to show an inferior hand and Schwartz handed him $50.
Looking through the field we seem to have lost our reigning champion Jason Mercier. Joining Mercier on the sidelines include Vanessa Selbst, who was eliminated by Lee Watkinson, John Kabbaj and John Racener, who was eliminated by Vadzim Kursevich.
Two top quality players have left the competition meaning we have 306 players in the field.
World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Galfond has been eliminated by Padraig Parkinson. Galfond found himself extremely short before getting his short change in the middle on a flop of .
Parkinson
Galfond
Board:
Set over set and Galfond was out.
Then our former 2010 WSOP Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel was eliminated by Fabrice Soulier. The money went into the middle on the turn with showing on the board. Duhamel had for the set and Soulier had for the straight-draw. The arrived on the river, completing the straight for the Frenchman, and Duhamel was out.
Jack Melki just seems to be going from strength to strength in the Gold section of the room. He is now on 95,500 but there are a few players catching him slowly. One player is Don Nguyen, who has just eliminated Shawn Buchanan, to move up to 75,500 chips.
There are 240 players left and thirty-seven minutes before the players depart for a ninety-minute dinner break. In the meantime, let us give you an update of what is happening in the dwindling area of the Silver Section.
Our first piece of news concerns Daniel Negreanu. The last time we saw him (admittedly a while ago) he was down to 14BB. Since then he has had a great few levels and now has 33,000 in front of him and seems to be playing within himself.
The man needing a carthorse to carry his chips around is Steve Merrifield. Merrifield went deep in Event #26: $3,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em where he finished in 17th spot for $13,2828. Merrifield currently has 133,000 and is our chip leader.
In other Silver Section news Karen Sarkisyan has eliminated Nacho Barbero in a nut flush versus second nut flush scenario (It seems Sarkisyan had Barbero's number today), and we have just caught Joseph Cheong doubling up.
We caught the action on a flop of and Cheong was heads-up and in position. His opponent bet 1,500, Cheong made the call and we moved onto the turn card where we saw the . Cheong's opponent bet 3,000, Cheong raised pot, his opponent moved all-in and Cheong called.
Cheong
Opponent
So both players had the same straight, but Cheong was free rolling with the club flush draw, and lo and behold the dealer pulled that particular rabbit out of the hat - .
With that stroke of fortune, Cheong moved up to 43,000.
Jason Senti and Yevgeniy Timoshenko have both busted and Shaun Deeb now has 57,000 chip-a-roos.
The total player field stalled at 419 players and it created a total prize pool of $1,969,300. 42 players get paid and the minimum payout is $9,748. The first prize has a reserve of $512,029 and a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet.