We've left the confines of the Casino Barriere, Cannes, and returned to the plush surroundings of the Majestic Hotel for the third faze of this exciting unique tournament format.
Day 1 played out 9-handed before that was reduced to 6-max yesterday. Today is all about heads up action. The pressure and excitement that this tournament produces has been building each day, and there is nowhere to hide today!
The plan for today is to play the round of 16 matches and the round of eight matches so we are left with four players who will advance to tomorrow's semi-finals.
Brandon Cantu is a massive favourite coming into today's play as he has more than 25% of the chips in play after an extraordinary day of play yesterday. He won't find it that easy today though as he has to play Phil Hellmuth today; a man who declared war on him yesterday.
Join us back here at 2:00 PM (CET) for the start of the first set of matches.
Kristijonas Andrulis made quick work of Mike Watson to advance to the next round.
Watson limped the button and called when Andrulis raised to 6,000. Adrulis led the flop and then check-raised all in on the turn. Watson called all in and saw what a cooler he faced.
He had but Andulis had for a full house and faded a ten on the river to advance.
Jason Mercier had the button. He raised to an unknown amount and Jonathan Aguiar three-bet all in. Mercier snap called and tabled . Aguiar rolled his eyes and showed .
It seemed to get even better for Mercier when he flopped a set on the flop. However, a shocked look quickly washed over Mercier's face as the rolled off on the turn, giving Aguiar the nut straight. Mercier would need to make a full house or quads on the river, but the bricked out for him and he was eliminated from the tournament.
"Let's play ball!" Mercier said to Vanessa Selbst, who recently showed up to the room with a basketball in hand.
Aguiar, on the other hand, will be returning to the round of 8 with a stack of 229,000.
We caught up to see Phil Hellmuth all in and at risk holding . Hellmuth was crushed by Brandon Cantu's .
The dealer pounded the table and produced the flop. The door card was the and Hellmuth heaved a sigh. However, as the dealer spread the flop, the next visible card was the , pairing Cantu's second card as well. The dealer moved the jack to reveal the third card of the flop- the . A more dramatic flop presentation could not have been possible.
The board finished with the and the and Hellmuth was able to score a key double up that gives him a little wiggle room in his tussle with Cantu's massive stack.
and Konstantin Puchkov called with 
. The board fell 
and ElkY's two pair scored a double up.
was able to defeat Jonathan Aguiar's 
and ace high wins the match for the Swede.
flop and then check-raised all in on the 
. Aguiar rolled his eyes and showed 
.
flop. However, a shocked look quickly washed over Mercier's face as the 
bricked out for him and he was eliminated from the tournament.
. Hellmuth was crushed by Brandon Cantu's 
and Hellmuth heaved a sigh. However, as the dealer spread the flop, the next visible card was the 
, pairing Cantu's second card as well. The dealer moved the jack to reveal the third card of the flop- the 
, called by the Russian holding the monster 
.
