We picked up the action a bit late, but we'll tell you what we know. Starting with the name of the player we know in the hand, Jake Cody. Cody was firing out a bet of 6,250 when we walked up to a board showing on fourth street. He was heads up, and his opponent spent a minute to consider his options before splashing in the call.
That brought them to the river, and this time Cody checked. His opponent eventually bet 15,000, and Cody eventually called, though both of those actions took an agonizingly long time. When Cody called, the news he was faced with was not good; his opponent tabled for top set, and Cody grimaced and mucked.
With a little over 3,600 in the middle, Andrew Lichtenberger bet the flop of . He made it 2,200 to go before Erik Seidel raised to 5,000. Lichtenberger thought, checked his holecards once again and then made the call.
The turn brought the and Lichtenberger checked. Seidel leaned forward in his chair and looked rather uneasy about the turn card. He then checked behind.
The river brought the and Lichtenberger checked again. Seidel fired out 8,000 and Lichtenberger folded, dropping to 21,100. Seidel increased to 41,000.
And now, in the final level of the day, Ben Roberts looks just as calm and unconcerned about his 31k stack as he was way back at midday when he was first given his allotted 30k. Just now he raised to 1,250 preflop and picked up no fewer than three callers (including Pierre Canali and Pascal Lefrancois who seem to be involved in some combination in every single hand). The flop came down all clubs: , and there were two checks to Roberts who quickly bet 3,600, receiving equally quick folds all round. He went back to making a 100 chip walk back and forth across his knuckles with the nonchalance of someone who joked they hadn't been playing much lately because they were counting all their Vegas winnings...
After I gave him such a good write up just moments prior to the break, it's only natural that Jonathan Duhamel should confirm my curse (or "bok", as certain English folk tend to call it) abilities by departing almost immediately upon return.
According to my source, he made a squeeze with , but perhaps in hindsight will regret sqeeuzing into a showdown against . No assistance and the November Nine chip leader was gone.
Second to act, Allen Cunningham opened the pot with a raise to 1,500, and he found three callers, the player to his immediate right (Player 1), Harry Kaczka (button), and Eugene Katchalov (big blind).
The four men went off to a flop of , and Katchalov checked. Cunningham continued out with a smallish bet of 2,500, Player 1 called, and the other two monkies in the middle ducked out of the way to leave he and Cunningham heads up to the turn.
It was the , and Cunningham fired another bullet worth 7,000 chips. That sent Player 1 deep into the tank, and he would sit still for a long, long time. Someone at the other end of the table eventually called the clock, and by the time the floorman got a few seconds into his countdown, Player 1 raised all in for 27,000 total. Cunningham had 28,000 chips before his bet, and he double-checked his hole cards before sliding the rest of his stack into the middle, putting Player 1 at risk.
Cunningham showed up , just the nuts, and Player 1 sunk in his chair. It was no surprise to see him turn over for the second nuts, but second-best meant he was already drawing dead. The filled out the board, and the stacks were counted down to prove that Player 1 was indeed eliminated.
Cunningham is up to 66,700 after that nice big double-up pot.
From middle position, Allen Cunningham raised to 1,500. Tyron Krost called on the button, the small blind called and then Harry Kaczka called from the big blind.
The flop came down and the small blind checked. Kaczka fired out a bet of 3,825 and one by one, each of his opponents folded.
Frenchman Arnaud Mattern has recently been confirmed as your current chip leader here on Day 1a. He's got more chips than the Walkers and Lay's factories combined with a monstrous 135,000.
Leo Margets is a big stack, and a hand she was made to show-one-show-all at the end of reveals that some of those chips might have come her way without the benefit of the best hand... There was a raise to 1,100 in front of her, and a flat call. She upped it preflop to 3,600 and received just one caller. On the (one diamond) flop she bet 5,200 when it was checked to her and got a call. The turn brought the . Now her opponent bet out 12k out of a stack of 27k total - and Margets put him in. He passed quickly and she tried to sneak Filippo Candio a glance at her hand, but the whole table has to see if it's shown and they all did - .