We caught up with the action on a flop, where Jake Cody was in a heads-up pot.
Cody's opponent fired 1,900 from early position and Cody made the call from late position. Both players then proceeded to check down on the turn and river. Cody flipped over for a rivered queens-full of kings and his opponent mucked.
Cody lost a portion of his stack from the last time we checked, but he is back up to 60,000.
J.J. Liu opened fore 1,700 from middle position, and it folded to the big blind who reraise-shoved all in for 9,200 total. Liu thought for a bit, then called, tabling while her opponent showed .
The flop came and Liu's hand was still best. But the turn was the and river the , and Liu's stack takes a hit as we cross the midpoint of Level 10.
Mike Flanagan is currently one of those nursing a short stack and hoping to last long enough to make it into the money. It appears Flanagan may have already guaranteed himself a payday, however, by being the last player remaining sporting an Onnit sticker.
Per the Onnit Labs Last Sticker Standing Contest, the last of the group participating in the promotion is due a cool $1,000 — the cost of the buy-in — for making it further than anyone else.
With the board showing and about 11,000 in the middle, a player in middle position checked, then Sam Grizzle fired six yellow (1,000) chips for a bet of 6,000. His opponent tanked for about a minute before folding.
Grizzle continues to maintain an above average stack as we near the money bubble bursting.
The big board is showing 471 players remaining — just three eliminations from the cash — and so announcements are being made to dealers to stop dealing in anticipation of possibly going to hand-for-hand play.
We have kind of a large rail here as hand-for-hand play progresses. Just now Phil Ivey's table — located right along one edge of the playing area — finished up before the others, and as they waited for the next hand a fan called to Ivey asking for an autograph.
Ivey looked up and nodded, then leaned back in his seat anticipating the fan to hand him something on which to sign. "My shirt," she said, explaining she wanted him to sign that.
He stepped over, took a pen, and signed it for her near her shoulder. "I'm never going to wash this shirt," she said as he sat back down.
Now he's posing for a picture with another fan. Meanwhile, it sounds like at least two players have busted during this hand, so we're either just one elimination away or perhaps the bubble has burst.
The money bubble has burst, which means all of our remaining players are guaranteed a minimum $1,830 payday for their efforts. We were unfortunately unable to catch the bubble boy hand due to the sheer number of players left in the field.