The action has begun to pick up again and we've just witnessed the eliminations of Ali Aksoy and Tim Marsters.
Aksoy was busted at the hands of Antoine Bechara after moving all in for the last of his money with against Bechara's , but despite hitting two pair on the flop of , Aksoy was sent to the rail when the turn and river came running spades to give Bechara the flush.
A short time later over on table 29, Tim Marsters found himself all-in with , but was crushed by Harry Demetriou's which improved to a full house on the board of .
Jason Bandouvakis raised under the gun and the action folded around to Mag Algassim who potted it from the cutoff before the others got out of the way.
Algassim:
Bandouvakis:
Neither hand improved on the flop of , but Bandouvakis hit the on the turn to take the lead, only to reel after Algassim hit his one-outer when the spiked on the river to give him the set.
Bandouvakis had hung in there for a long time, but to no avail - and with his elimination, we are now in the money and six bust-outs away from the final table!
The action has been very, very slow down here in the Crown Poker Room, but the rail is building up to almost two-deep, which is a good sign that poker fans are looking for a little more action these days apart from the Cadillac of poker that is No Limit Hold'em.
However, not even PLO is immune from the dreaded "raise-pre-flop-fold-all-round " routine and that's what's been happening so far, save a flop here and there.
We did however witness the double-up of Aarno Kivelio, who managed to score his much-needed chips off Antoine Bechara after his held up on a board against Bechara's . Kivelio is back up to more than 40,000 in chips.
As an added "incentive" to get things moving (hopefully) a little quicker, the decision has been made to play through until the bubble bursts before the players take their next 10-minute break of the night.
We're now playing hand-for-hand after the confirmation of Ciaran Begley-Carter in 18th place, courtesy of Sean Dunwoodie.
The action folded around to Dunwoodie who raised to 7,000 from the button before the flop before Begley-Carter reraised to 19,700 all-in. Dunwoodie snap-called, tabling against Begley-Carter's (two diamonds).
As Dunwoodie recalled to us, "I hit three clubs on the flop ... that was it. All over." Well, not quite - we're still one away from the money.
The rate of attrition is starting to pick up again and we're now down to just 18 players after the eliminations of Samuel Ngai and Dave Heskin.
Heskin was eliminated at the hands of Aarno Kiveliou before Ngai called an all-in preflop with against Vince Moro's , only to be crippled down to 26,000 after the board of was spread, giving Moro the flush. Ngai was sent to the rail only moments later.
Meanwhile, Joel Gaffney has caught a timely double-up through Peter Karam when they got their money in on a flop of ; though Karam was ahead with , Gaffney completed his straight with after the turn and river ran out , . Anton Wigg delivered the finishing blow, but the dealer had already mucked the hands before we got a chance to see what they were. No matter - you could clearly tell that Karam wasn't happy with what had transpired.
Haibo Chu is now the clear chip leader, moving up to more than 230,000 in chips after a massive double-KO hand played out on the feature table.
Trask raised to 4,000 from early position and the action folded around to Chu who potted it from the small blind. Daniel Ospina called from the big blind, as did Trask before Chu led out for 40,000 on a flop of .
Ospina moved all-in for just 1,400 and Trask called all-in for around 20,000. Chu wasn't going anywhere.
Trask:
Chu:
Ospina:
"Put an ace out there," Chu said. Bling blang blow! Down came the on the turn. It was enough to take down the pot, as the river completed the board and that signalled the simultaneous end of Trask and Ospina. You gotta love this game!
![[user135779]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
against Bechara's 
, but despite hitting two pair on the flop of 
, Aksoy was sent to the rail when the turn and river came running spades to give Bechara the flush.
, but was crushed by Harry Demetriou's 
which improved to a full house on the board of 
, but Bandouvakis hit the 
on the turn to take the lead, only to reel after Algassim hit his one-outer when the 
held up on a 
board against Bechara's 
. Kivelio is back up to more than 40,000 in chips.
against Begley-Carter's 
(two diamonds).
was spread, giving Moro the flush. Ngai was sent to the rail only moments later.
; though Karam was ahead with 
after the turn and river ran out 
.
