The tournament staff has just provided us with the following information about the dinner break: The clock will either be stopped midway through the level, or when the field reaches 16 players - whichever comes first.
Valeriy Ilikyan open-shoved his short stack of 100,000 into the middle and found a customer in Walid Bou Habib.
Habib:
Ilikyan:
The flop looked good for Ilikyan to double up when it came , but amazingly the turn and river came and both players play the straight on the board and split the pot!
A few hands later Eric Liu opened with a raise to 30,000 and Ilikyan came over the top once again for just over 100,000 in chips. Liu made the call and flipped which held the lead over Ilikyan's .
However that all changed on the flop of . The turn of the ended it all, and to rub salt into the wound the river landed to give Ilikyan a full house and a double-up to around 225,000 chips.
All of the players have returned to their seats since the last break, except one Thomas Boekhoff of Germany, whose seat remains vacant.
Joe Hachem called the floor over to the table to bring the matter to their attention and since then, several announcements have been made over the loudspeaker letting Boekhoff know that play has recommenced. One theory is that Boekhoff assumed that the last break was the dinner break.
So far he's lost an orbit of antes and blinds (25,000 chips); we'll let you know if / when he turns up.
Denes Kalo opened the pot from early position, Glen Chorny flat-called, Amit Makhija re-raised to 100,000, Kalo folded, Chorny moved all in and Makhija called.
Chorny
Makhija
The flop was , the turn was the , the river was the , and Chorny's queens held, eliminating Makhija, who also happens to be a close friend of his.
After the hand, Johnny Lodden was spotted muttering to some friends on the rail that he had folded 4-4 and would have flopped a full house.
Stig Top Rasmussen and Antonio Esfandiari have been battling with each other on the felt for several days and today's action between the two has been frantic.
In a recent hand, Rasmussen completed from the small blind and Esfandiari raised it up to 40,000 from the big blind. Rasmussen then re-popped it from the small blind, making it 110,000 to go.
Esfandiari went into the tank, "You are tough, my friend," he sighs. After several minutes of thought Esfandiari says "What the hell..." before putting in a fourth bet making it an additional 230,000.
Rasmussen goes into deep deliberation, looking at Esfandiari's remaining 580,000 chip stack. "I have the best hand," quips Rasmussen before eventually folding his cards, flashing an ace in the process.
In a fascinating hand and duel between these two, this round goes to Esfandiari.
Thomas Boekhoff has finally returned to the tables, a full 40 minutes into the level. Boekhoff was indeed confused and thought it was the dinner break.
Antonio Esfandiari raised it from the small blind to 40,000 and Eric Liu decided this was a good spot to go all in with his short stack. Esfandiari decided to make a somewhat loose call with as Liu was happy to be in the lead with his Q-J.
The board bricked out and Liu doubles to around 370,000 chips.
Apparently Joe Hachem knew what he was doing when he asked the floor to go and find Thomas Boekhoff, who accidentally took an early dinner break. Just a few minutes after Boekhoff returned to the table, Hachem was able to get young Thomas to pay off an 85,000 river bet on an board. When Thomas called, Joe tabled for a full boat and Thomas instantly mucked his cards, leaving himself with just 210,000. Hachem now sits with just over 900,000 in chips and with the way he's been accumulating chips, expect him to join the millionaires club sooner than later.