As a fellow World Champion was on the ropes on a nearby table, Chris Moneymaker and his opponent found all of their chips in the middle on a flop of . Moneymaker tabled for an overpair but was in trouble as his opponent held !
However the turn was a miraculous to give Moneymaker a set. The river was a blank with the and Moneymaker survived...just! He doubles to 45,000 chips.
Michael Chang, not the famous tennis player but the man who finished fourth at the 2008 APPT Manila event, is down to his last 6,000 after calling the all-in bet of a short-stacked opponent.
Chang looked in great shape to knock him out, with Chang's pocket nines well in front of his opponent's pocket fours; however a four fell on the flop to leave Chang in trouble.
Carter Gill has been uncharacteristically quiet today, perhaps because he hasn't been able to get much going at his table. Down to less than 10,000 chips, Gill took a heads-up flop of with one opponent. They both checked to the turn, where Gill's opponent again checked. Gill moved in for 6,025 total. His opponent made a brave call with , but it was the wrong call. Gill turned over and doubled up when the hit the river. He's now on about 16,000 chips.
On a flop of , Michael Vissadi checked to Phil Lau, who bet 1,500. After considering briefly how to play his hand, Vissadi raised to 3,500. Lau called.
The turn came and brought a bet of 3,000 from Vissadi. Again Lau called. That must have worried Vissadi, because when the river came to put four clubs on board, he checked. Lau was unwilling to take a stab at the pot, opting to check behind instead. He mucked when Vissadi turned over for trip sixes and the winner.
With a very short stack, Panayotis Flourentzoo had to take a chance. He pushed his stack in holding on a board of . Unfortunately for Flourentzoo, Frank Bianco had flopped a set of sixes and called in a shot. The turn and river were both aces to make a full house for Bianco and eliminate Flourentzoo.
Wang Che Jung was in the right place at the right time. Holding , he flopped a full house, . His opponent in the hand held , and turned his own full house with the turn. All of the money went in after the river came down . Jung dragged a massive pot, knocking out his opponent and increasing his chip count to roughly 97,000. That makes him one of the chip leaders of the day.
Joe Hachem, brother of Tony, has been recently eliminated. Hachem was short-stacked and pushed all in with pocket nines against the of Marcus Bechara.
An ace on the flop and another on the turn were enough to end the day for the 2005 World Champion as he departed the Star City Casino floor to a nice round of applause.
PokerNews' newest presenter, Annette Melton recently caught up with 2003 WSOP Champion Chris Moneymaker to discuss his career highlights and share some tips for young players starting out in poker.