We arrived at the table to find a sizable pot brewing between Mikiyo Aoki and Scott Palmer on a board of . Aoki checked the turn over to Palmer on the button. He came out with a bet of 375,000 and Aoki called to see the final card.
The dropped down on fifth street and Aoki came out swinging for what looked to be 400,000. Palmer replied by moving all in, prompting a quick fold from Aoki. With this hit, she's down to about 1.235 million. Palmer, on the other hand, has soared to 5.95 million in chips.
A big four-way all-in hand just took place over at Table 377 that resulted in two eliminations.
The hand began when William Pappaconstantinou moved all in under the gun for 425,000 and Darelene Lee called off for 280,000 from middle position. Nicholas Nardello then flatted from the cutoff only to have Justin Swilling move all in over the top for 775,000 from the small blind. Nardello ended up making the call and a huge crowd gathered round to see what inspired such action.
Pappaconstantinou:
Lee:
Swilling:
Nardello:
Shouts for various cards began to emerge from the respective supporters on the rail. Nardello not only had everyone covered, he also had the best hand. That changed though when the flop delivered Pappaconstantinou a set of fours.
The turn gave both Nardello and Lee an open-ended straight draw, while Swilling was still competing for the side pot with his overs. The dealer burned one last time and put out the , which changed nothing. Pappaconstantinou took down the sizable main pot while Nardello took the side, though he still lost a little on the hand.
Lee and Swilling were eliminated in 113th and 112th place, both for $52,141.
We caught up with the board showing and Kane Kalas placed out a bet worth 395,000. Dan Smith moved all in for 1,670,000 effective, and Kalas thought it over for about a minute before announcing a call. He was already drawing dead.
Smith:
Kalas:
The on the river added insult to injury, giving Kalas nines full of queens to Smith's queens full of nines. Kalas exited the ESPN stage, and Smith began stacking a mountain of chips.
We arrived in time to find David Tuthill all in and at risk before the flop against Manig Loeser. Tuthill was all in for his last 560,000 and in a dominating position heading to the community cards.
Tuthill:
Loeser:
The board ran out , ensuring Tuthill would score the double. Tuthill, who was down as low as 35,000 after the dinner break, now sits at 1.27 million in chips. Loeser, on the other hand, has dropped to 500,000.
Marius Pospiech raised from the cutoff to 70,000 and Dutchman Joas Mudde moved all in for his final 170,000 chips from the button. Both blinds folded and Pospiech made the call.
Mudde:
Pospiech:
The board ran out and Mudde hit the rail. Mudde's 119th place finish in this year's World Series of Poker Main Event marks his second ever live tournament cash, his first being a 551th place in the 2009 WSOP Main Event.
Another two hours, but more of the same story after Level 23 of the Main Event. Bruno Politano continued his dominion over the top spot in the chip counts, increasing his stack to more than 6 million.
Nobody else is within a stone’s throw of that mark, but there is a Mark surging up the counts: Mark Newhouse, who was the first to fall during last year’s November Nine for just over $733,000, rocketed up the leaderboard with an extremely productive two hours. He entered the dinner break with just over 3 million and now finds himself hovering around 5 million. His aggression got Chris Johnson off a hand where Johnson made hefty bets on the turn and river before folding to a huge river shove.
Maria Ho and Mikiyo Aoki are providing the tournament with some feminine flair. Aoki has grinded her stack to north of 2.5 million, while Ho reached a peak of about 2.7 million before faltering a bit to 2.1 million. In a recent pot, she snapped off a three-bet shove with kings to bust Michael Palo.
Vincent Maglio (138th), Alex Outhred (140th), and Huy Nguyen (142nd) were among the fallen this past level.
Scott Palmer raised to 50,000 and Samuel Wasserman three-bet to 125,000 in position. The action folded back to Palmer and he made the call.
The flop came down and both players checked.
The turn was the and Palmer lead out for 200,000. Wasserman gave it some thought before ultimately raising it up to 550,000.
Palmer sat in silence for quite a while before he announced, "All in."
Wasserman looked back down at this cards and called right away for a total of 1.38 million.
Palmer tabled and Wasserman grimaced as he turned over for top set.
The river brought the and Wasserman was knocked out while Palmer raked in another huge pot.
"This is pretty much how my day's been going," Palmer said with a big smile. "It started off pretty bad but since then it's been amazing," the former online phenom added.
Maria Ho is working on her eighth cash at the 2014 World Series of Poker, and it's already set up to be her largest. Now, with the last pot she just won to eliminate Michael Palo, Ho has a chance to go even deeper in this event and really make a charge at becoming the first female to reach the November Nine.
On the hand she busted Palo, action folded to Ho on the button, and she raised to 53,000. Palo moved all in from the small blind for right around 600,000, and Ho quickly called when action fell back on her. Her quick action was justified when she tabled the to have Palo on the ropes with his . The flop further secured the hand for Ho when it came down . The turn was the , and the river completed the board with the .
Finishing with a full house, kings full of aces, Ho busted Palo and moved to nearly 2.7 million in chips.
Ho is one of the most respected female poker players in the world, with over $1.56 million in career live tournament earnings, three six-figure scores, and one runner-up finish at the WSOP for $540,020 coming in 2011. Ho's deepest run in the Main Event came in 2007 when she took 38th for $237,865, and she also cashed in the big one in 2012 for $32,871 after taking 322nd place.
From the cutoff, David Tuthill moved all in for 296,000 and Manig Loeser pushed from the small blind for his last 475,000.
Tuthill:
Loeser:
With Tuthill all in against Loeser and trailing for the third time in roughly 30 minutes, the flop gave Loeser additional outs to a flush.
The turn of the changed nothing, but when the was delivered on the river, Tuthill managed to stay alive for the third time as he doubled to over 650,000 while Loeser was left with just 180,000 in chips.
"Are you f***ing serious right now?" stated Nick Yunis before repeating several times in reference to Tuthill's luck, "Do you realize what just happened? Do you realize what just happened?"