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Here are some of the chip leaders as we head into level nine.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
78,000 | -2,000 |
|
|
77,500 | 67,500 |
|
59,500 | 1,500 |
|
|
55,000 | 3,000 |
|
51,800 | -200 |
|
|
46,500 | -12,500 |
|
43,500 | 21,500 |
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With Emad Tahtouh walking around the poker room chatting to a few friends, and his recently acquired seat on table twenty-six not occupying any chips, only one can assume that he had been felted.
Approaching Tahtouh, he detailed to us that he opened the button to 2,200 only to have Manny Stavropoulos three-bet the small blind to 5,000. Tahtouh pushed his remaining 23,000 and Stavropoulos made the call.
Tahtouh was in a race holding 
against Stavropoulos' 
, but when the final board was spread, Tahtouh failed to improve and was forced to the rail.
Catching the action with the board reading 
and the pot brewing at around 12,000, Michael Greco was all in.
His lone opponent in the hand - Billy "The Croc" Argyros - stood up, removed his crocodile-inspired hat and went deep into the tank analyzing the hand.
"Do you want me to call?" asked Argyros.
Greco took a sip of water, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Up to you!"
"Either flopped a set and slow-played it, or you have 
or 
!" continued Argyros.
A few more moments went by, before Argyros grabbed his cards in one hand and stated, "I'm probably laying the best hand down" as he tossed his cards into the muck.
"Do you want me to show you a bluff?" asked Greco in his strong English accent.
"I'd rather you not . . ." followed Argyros before Greco tabled his 
.
Argyros nodded in appreciation of Greco's play as he returned to his seat and his 40,000-chip stack while Greco collected the pot to move to 27,000.
"You had the best hand!" stated one of Argyros' tablemates.
"Of course I bloody did! He had seven-high!"
"The hand just didn't make any sense!" was Argyros' last comment as the next hand got underway.
As we tick into the new level, the tournament has been reduced down to just 130-players.
The average stack is currently sitting at just over 22,600 with five levels remaining in the night.
Level: 8
Blinds: 400/800
Ante: 75
Michael Egan has dispatched of an opponent to see himself creep up the leaderboard to be placed inside the top ten.
Opening with a button raise, Egan was priced in after the big blind moved all in for an additional few thousand.
Egan: 
Opponent: 
The board ran out 
to see Egan eliminate his opponent and move to 39,000 in chips.
Facing a raise to 1,800 from his opponent in the small blind, Trung Tran bumped it up to 5,100 from the big blind.
His opponent went deep into the tank for over two minutes before cutting out a four-bet amounting to 17,800.
Tran followed by instantly moving all in for 31,575 to put his opponent back into the tank for a further three minutes before sliding in the additional 13,775.
Tran: 
Opponent: 
Having his opponent dominated, the 
flop changed little as the dealer dropped the 
on the turn.
Unfortunately for Tran, the 
landed on the river to see his opponent spike a three-outer to send the local tournament regular to the rail in a pot amounting to triple the average stack.
As the title suggests, Tony "Bond18" Dunst, Michael Pedley and Vincent Wan have all been sent to the rail.
Aussie Millions title holders Pedley and Wan both made hasty exits, but it would be Dunst's bust out hand of losing a race holding 
against 
that our PokerNews reporter would manage to catch.
With those three eliminations - and several others - we now see less than the starting field remain with 137 players remaining in today's flight.
Nobbi Tanaka has just eliminated Luke Edwards to soar up the leaderboard.
With Tanaka holding 
against Luke Edwards , a king on the flop would be all that Tanaka needed - albeit a diamond sweat on the turn - to end Edwards' tournament as Tanaka climbed to 59,000 in chips.
