Action folded to Andrew Robl in the small blind, and he raised to 7,000. Tobias Reinkemeier made the call from the big blind, and the flop produced the 
. Both players checked.
The turn was the 
, and Robl checked. Reinkemeier fired 7,500 and won the pot right there.
Andrew Robl was the first player to bust from the tournament today, but he opted to fire a second bullet. Apparently he's come back with a vengeance as he's now the chip leader after eliminating Mike Watson.
It happened when Igor Kurganov opened for 6,500 from the hijack and Robl three-bet to 17,000 from the button. Watson then four-bet to 37,000 from the big blind, Kurganov folded, and Robl five-bet the pot. Watson announced that he was all in for 177,000 and Robl, who barely had him covered, made the call.
Robl: 
Watson: 
Robl was a huge favorite and looking to dodge an ace. According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Watson had just a 29.74% chance of winning the hand, though that jumped a bit to 30.30% as he picked up a gutshot straight draw. The 
turn was no help, and Watson watched his chances of survival be cut in half to 15.91%. Unfortunately for him, that hit zero when the 
blanked on the river. The stack were verified, and then Watson made a hasty exit from the tournament floor.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
365,000
192,000
|
192,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Niklas Heinecker has joined the mix and is the 22nd entrant of the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
100,000 |
Level: 7
Blinds: 2,000/4,000
Ante: 400
Dan Shak opened for 11,000 from middle position and was met by a three-bet to 24,000 by Philipp Gruissem on the button. The blinds folded, Shak called, and then both players checked the 
flop. After the dealer had burned and turned the , Shak checked and Gruissem grabbed his stack of approximately 54,000 and slid it into the middle.
Shak grabbed some chips as if he was going to call, but then he released them and sent his cards to the muck.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
164,000
31,000
|
31,000 |
|
104,000
28,000
|
28,000 |
|
|
||
Tony Bloom raised to 9,200 from the cutoff seat, and Jason Mercier moved all in for 28,800 on the button. In the big blind, Martin Finger reraised the pot, then Bloom folded.
"Do you have a pair?" asked Mercier, to which Finger shook his head no.
Finger tabled the 
, and Mercier showed the 
.
"That's about as good as I could've hoped for when you shook your head no," commented Mercier.
The flop came down 
and paired both players. The turn was the to put Mericer in front, but the 
landed on the river and put Finger back in front. He won the pot, and Mercier was sent to the rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
125,000
41,000
|
41,000 |
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
||
We caught the action with around 30,000 in the pot and a board reading 
. Philipp Gruissem had bet 12,000 from the small blind, Masa Kagawa raised to 46,000 from the big, and Tony Bloom three-bet all in for roughly 152,000 from middle position. Gruissem got out of the way and Masa quickly called with 
, which was out in front of Bloom's 
.
Even though Kagawa held two pair, Bloom had counterfeit outs. The 
turn added to those outs, but the river missed him. With that, the two-time $100,000 Challenge runner-up was eliminated from the tournament.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
430,000
176,000
|
176,000 |
|
Busted |
While we were writing Tony Bloom's bust, Eric Liu was eliminated at Table 10. We didn't catch the hand, but we were able to piece together a few details. We know that Liu held 
and was up against the 
of Chris "Genius28" Lee. It seemed as if the money went in preflop, but whatever the case, the 
board gave Lee quads and the knockout.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Things have been going right for Masa Kagawa ever since he doubled through Dan Shak earlier today. Now Kagawa is the big stack in the room thanks to a monster pot against Martin Finger.
It happened when there was around 60,000 in the pot and a flop of 
. Kagawa had checked from under the gun, Finger bet 16,000 from the button, and Kagawa made the call before checking the turn. Martin then moved all in for 80,000 and Kagawa snap-called. Finger sheepishly turned over and he was in big trouble against Kagawa's ; in fact, Kagawa needed either a non-heart ten or king on the river to keep his tournament hopes alive. The dealer burned one more time and put out the 
. Kagawa improved to a flush to send Finger to the rail, which also vaulted him up to 600,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
600,000
170,000
|
170,000 |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
Players are now on another 15-minute break.
