Michael Guzzardi reclaimed some of the chips he just lost to Tom Rafferty. Guzzardi declined his option in the big blind after Ray Lapitan limped in from the small blind. Both players checked another small flop, . On the turn , Lapitan passed to Guzzardi, who took a stab at the pot with a bet of 22,000. Lapitan check-raised to 77,000 but was unable to shake Guzzardi, who called to see a river of . Lapitan lost heart at that point. He checked to Guzzardi, who took down the pot with a bet of 80,000.
Daniel Kowalski raised to 45,000 before George Kassis bumped it up to 100,000 from the small blind. The action was then with Jason Gray in the big blind, who moved all in for 460,000.
Kowalski quickly folded, as Kassis thought for a moment or two before also releasing. Gray adds a nice pot to his stack to be up to around 650,000 chips.
Michael Guzzardi took the lead preflop with a raise to 42,000 and on the flop with a bet of 62,000. Tom Rafferty called him in position each time. With the board reading on the turn, Guzzardi decided discretion was the better part of valor and checked. Rafferty fired out a bet of 110,000. That was too much for Guzzardi to call; he folded.
Rafferty is at 1.2 million in chips now. Guzzardi still has a healthy stack, sitting at about 530,000.
Scott Smith - 15th Place
Scott Smith raised to 45,000 from the button before Brendan Edmonds popped it up to 120,000 in the small blind. The big blind folded and Smith moved all in. Edmonds made the call.
Edmonds:
Smith:
Needing an eight to stay alive, the board bricked out to leave Smith as our 15th-place finisher, much to the disappointment of his loyal groupies, as Edmonds assumes a massive chip lead with over 1.5 million chips for over 15 percent of the chips in play!
The AU$15,300 High Rollers event is scheduled to kick off in about 30 minutes time, and we'll attempt to provide some regular updates of the progress from this event.
So far there are 22 registered entrants, with the hope that four tables will be filled. Some of the notable registrations at this stage include Joe Hachem, Sam Youssef, Josh Pang Ang, Masa Kagawa, Grant Levy, Peter Eastgate, Tony Dunst, Vanessa Rousso, Chad Brown, Julius Colman, Wooka Kim, James Obst and Julian Powell.
With players close enough to taste the final table, play has predictably slowed down. This is what passes for action at this stage of the tournament:
Antonio Fazzolari and Ray Lapitan limped into the pot in front of Michael Guzzardi, who declined his option from the big blind. On a flop of , action checked to Fazzolari, who made it 30,000 to go. Guzzardi passed to Lapitan, who check-raised to 130,000. Fazzolari called.
Both players checked down the rest of the way, with the turn falling and the river falling . Fazzolari showed for trip aces; Lapitan mucked.
Brendan Edmonds raised to 32,000 and Frank Saffioti called in the big blind. The flop came down and both players checked.
The turn was the and Saffioti led out for 20,000 and Edmonds made the call. The river was the and Saffioti fired out again for 30,000. Edmonds raised it up to 95,000 and Saffioti folded, flashing for top pair!
Edmonds is up to 810,000 with Saffioti back to 650,000.
. On the turn 
, Lapitan passed to Guzzardi, who took a stab at the pot with a bet of 22,000. Lapitan check-raised to 77,000 but was unable to shake Guzzardi, who called to see a river of 
. Lapitan lost heart at that point. He checked to Guzzardi, who took down the pot with a bet of 80,000.
on the turn, Guzzardi decided discretion was the better part of valor and checked. Rafferty fired out a bet of 110,000. That was too much for Guzzardi to call; he folded.
to leave Smith as our 15th-place finisher, much to the disappointment of his loyal groupies, as Edmonds assumes a massive chip lead with over 1.5 million chips for over 15 percent of the chips in play!
and Edmonds led out for 108,000. Gray gave it up and Edmonds collects another pot.
, action checked to Fazzolari, who made it 30,000 to go. Guzzardi passed to Lapitan, who check-raised to 130,000. Fazzolari called.
and the river falling 
for trip aces; Lapitan mucked.
and the action checked to Scott Smith who fired 40,000. Frank Saffioti made the call and the other players stepped aside.
and both checked. The river landed the 
and again both players checked it down.
for two pair with the ace kicker, which was good enough to take it down. He's now up to 750,000.
and both players checked.
for top pair!
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