The short-stacked Shaneel Chand is the next casualty from the final table.
With a stack of 185,000, and the blinds up to 25,000/50,000, Chand looked down at and moved all in. Play passed around to Zhi Hong Ma in the big blind who didn’t appear to want to commit half of his own stack to call, but was too big to pass up as he eventually slid his cards into the middle.
The board ran out to smack Ma and leave Chand to collect $23,000 for eighth place.
Emanuel Seal has slipped back into the back after clashing in a big pot with chip leader Jim Psaros.
Arriving to a board of , Seal bet 250,000 before Psaros moved all in to put Seal to the test.
“I have a real hand,” chirped Seal as the two exchanged some friendly banter. Shaneel Chand joined in and said something inaudible to us but Psaros didn’t like it as he waved his finger and told him not to talk about the hand.
In the end, Seal flashed the and folded, leaving himself 850,000 behind. Psaros is back up to 2.8 million.
Jim Psaros opened with a raise to 90,000 and picked up a couple of callers in Li-ta Hsu and Denis Sekuloski before the short-stacked Chung Liew moved all in for his last 115,000 in the big blind to attempt to quadruple up.
All three players made the call and they saw a flop of .
Action checked around to Hsu who bet 100,000 into the dry side pot. Sekuloski made the call and Psaros got out of the way as the turn was checked through.
The river was another brick and again it was checked down.
Liew opened for top pair and was hopeful it was good when Sekuloski showed . However it was Hsu’s which was good to take it down.
Liew was left to head to the rail in ninth place for a score of $17,000.
Emanuel Seal has landed a massive double up early on this final table to jump right into contention.
The hand started with a mid-position raise to 100,000 from Seal and action folded Denis Sekuloski in the big blind who declared himself all in to send Seal into the tank.
It took several long minutes before Seal finally decided to stick in his chips.
Sekuloski:
Seal:
A great call by Seal paid off when the board ran out . Seal doubled to 1.5 million with Sekuloski dropping to 1.1 million.
Not long after doubling up and Tom Rafferty has lost a big chunk of his chips back.
The hand started with Rafferty opening to 80,000 from the cut off. Murray Roach, from the small blind, was the lone caller and with that, the dealer flipped over a flop. Both players checked here and an hit the turn. This time Roach led for 110,000 and Rafferty called. The river was a and Roach led for 300,000 - more than half Rafferty's stack.
Rafferty squirmed in his seat, looking quite uncomfortable. He stared at his opponent, stared at the board and eventually made the call. Roach, meanwhile, comfortable turned over for a full house which was enough to scoop the pot.
Just moments into the final table and we have seen the first double up.
The action folded around to Shaneel Chand on the button and he raised to 480,000 - leaving himself with around 150,000 behind. Tom Rafferty, on Chand's direct left, called off his stack of 350,000 and the blinds got out of the way.
"Three outs," Chand said as he turned over his and saw that Rafferty had .
The board was good for Rafferty and so the double went to him.
![[user162117]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and moved all in. Play passed around to Zhi Hong Ma in the big blind who didn’t appear to want to commit half of his own stack to call, but 
was too big to pass up as he eventually slid his cards into the middle.
to smack Ma and leave Chand to collect $23,000 for eighth place.
, Seal bet 250,000 before Psaros moved all in to put Seal to the test.
and folded, leaving himself 850,000 behind. Psaros is back up to 2.8 million.
.
was another brick and again it was checked down.
for top pair and was hopeful it was good when Sekuloski showed 
. However it was Hsu’s 
. Seal doubled to 1.5 million with Sekuloski dropping to 1.1 million.
hit the turn. This time Roach led for 110,000 and Rafferty called. The river was a 
and Roach led for 300,000 - more than half Rafferty's stack.
and saw that Rafferty had 
.
board was good for Rafferty and so the double went to him.