Joep van den Bijgaart, dwindling but seemingly indestructable, moved in when it passed to him on the small blind for 1,035,000. Big blind Max Heinzelmann found an with an and duly called. Van den Bijgaart showed too and after the formality of the board they chopped it up.
There was a raise and a call preflop with Vadzim Kursevich in the small blind and Darren Kramer in the big. Both players backed off and merely checked the flop and turn but come the river Kursevich bet out 450,000. Kramer made a series of apparently complex mental calculations for some time, while Kursevich stared fixedly at Kramer's chips as though he might acquire them simply by willing it with his mind.
Eventually Kramer made the call - and they chopped it up, Kramer's as good as Kursevich's by the river.
Ben Wilinofsky raised to 165,000 preflop and Armin Mette moved all-in for a total of 1,865,000. Wilinofsky didn't like the size of the bet and eventually folded to Mette's shove.
The next hand saw Wilinofsky limp in the small blind and Max Heinzelmann check his option, the Canadian fired out 105,000 on the flop to take down the pot.
One hand of note preflop recently - Vadzim Kursevich raised under the gun to 170,000, but passed with no hesitation when Max Heinzelmann repopped him from the small blind.
Armin Mette min-raised and both Martin Jacobson and Vadzim Kursevich called in the blinds to see a flop. They all checked.
The turn was the and this time Jacobson bet out 225,000. Kursevich folded but Mette called, and they proceeded heads up to the river.
The river came down the and this time Jacobson thought about it for a long time before betting out 425,000. A shorter pause followed from Mette before he announced a call. He didn't sound particularly enthusiastic about the call, but it was good anyway - Mette's Broadway straight beat Jacobson's two pair, and he took the pot, leaving Jacobson rather short on around 1.5 million.
Martin Jacobson raised to 160,000 from the button and Darren Kramer moved all-in from the blinds. Snap-call.
Kramer:
Jacobson:
The board came an eight-less to double to Jacobson's stack up to 3 million while Kramer dropped to just 1 million. Jacobson's third final table this season, could he do it?
Max Heinzelmann and Armin Mette both had the second-tier stacks (~2.5 million) at the start of this hand, but it's Armin Mette who knocked the one-time big stack down at the end.
Mette called an under the gun raise of 165,000 in position, and proved impossible to dislodge, flatting in position when Heinzelmann bet 240,000 on the flop and 485,000 on the turn.
The river saw Heinzelmann check when the fell, and after ascertaining that he had ever so slightly more (and around a pot-size bet left) Mette went all-in. Heinzelmann folded quickly.