We're not sure how it happened as we were preoccupied constructing the new table draw, but we can confirm that Octaviano Duran was eliminated shortly after the players combined down to three tables.
Dan Heimiller has been eliminated after having survived with a short stack for a considerable period. Just now all in with against Paul Ewen's , the board ran out . Ewen had the best low, and that river king nudged him ahead of Heimiller for the high, too.
Lee Watkinson opened for 27,000 from middle position and cleared the field all the way around to Roch Cousineau in the big blind. He thought for a good thirty second before three-betting, Watkinson four-bet all in for 67,000, and Cousineau called the little bit extra.
Showdown
Watkinson:
Cousineau:
The flop gave Cousineau a flush draw, though that wouldn't be what won him the hand. Instead, the appeared on the turn, followed by the on the river, and Cousineau's five ended up being good enough to win the pot.
Meanwhile, Matthew Wood followed Watkinson out the door in 24th place.
Michael Cooper has joined the rapid parade of players hitting the rail as Level 18 comes to a close. In Cooper's final hand, he was all in with against Jonathan Hart's . The community cards came , meaning Hart had the best high (with no low possible), and Cooper was out in 23rd.
And one more bustout to report on the last hand prior to the break. Matt Livingston had been among the chip leaders, but lost the bulk of his stack to Timothy Finne in a hand in which Finne was all in with against Livingston's . The board came , giving Finne a full house and knocking Livingston back to short-stacked status.
Livingston would survive a couple of hands thereafter, but ultimately would lose the last of his stack in another preflop all-in hand versus Finne to leave us with just 21 players heading to the last break of the night