The short-stacked Peter Everett was just eliminated from the tournament, bringing the field down to 36 players across four full tables. Another round of chip counts has been posted below as just five eliminations are needed to reach the money.
Hand #1: Steve Rule raised to 13,000 in the cutoff and Jason Vanstrom three-bet to 33,000 in the small blind. Rule called and the two went to a flop of . Vanstrom continuation-bet 23,000 and Rule called.
Vanstrom fired a second barrel of 64,000 on the turn and Rule called once more, bringing the river where both players checked to take the hand to showdown.
Rule turned over after checking behind and Vanstrom topped it with to earn him the pot with kings up.
Hand #2: On the very next hand, Steve Wilkie open-limped under the gun and Rule raised to 11,000 in middle position. Jason Johnson called in the big blind and Wilkie came along as well.
Johnson led out for 16,000 on and Wilkie raised to 55,000. Rule folded and Johnson jammed for around 15,000 more. Wilkie made the call and Johnson was in bad shape.
Jason Johnson:
Steve Wilkie:
Johnson's top pair was up against Wilkie's two pair. He failed to improve further as the turn and the river completed the runout and was eliminated by Wilkie, who now has about 840,000 with 37 players remaining.
Rocco Palumbo opened in middle position and action folded around to Ben Keeline, who re-jammed for 65,000 in the big blind. Palumbo called.
Ben Keeline:
Rocco Palumbo:
Palumbo hit top pair on but Keeline picked up additional outs on the turn . His backdoor gutter completed on the river and he stayed alive, scoring the double as a result.
"Crazy turn," said Palumbo with a smile as he sent the requisite amount Keeline's way.
Moments earlier, Ryan Dodson was eliminated by Jason Dennis on the same table after Dodson open-jammed on the button and Dennis called in the big blind.
Ryan Dodson:
Jason Dennis:
Dennis flopped a set and improved to a full house on the turn, leaving Dodson drawing dead to the river to end his afternoon.
Sammy Aweida was also eliminated at the same time on an adjacent table, and 38 players now remain. Seven more eliminations are needed for the tournament to make it into the money.
Ian Pelz was just eliminated from the tournament, confirming the details with PokerNews on his way out. Pelz was down to 45,000 after starting the day as one of the shortest stacks in the tournament and got his stack in preflop against Matt Livingston, one seat to his right.
Pelz had ace-king suited and found himself up against the pocket deuces of Livingston. Pelz found no help on the runout.