James Akenhead open-shoved in early position for roughly 7,000. "Now I don't get to squeeze," complained Roland de Wolfe in the big blind. He of course had the option of calling, but in the end he didn't - before the action got around to de Wolfe, Raul Mestre called on the button. Everyone else folded and they turned their cards over.
Akenhead:
Mestre:
Board:
Akenhead flopped pretty much the whole world, made a Broadway straight on the turn, and held on the river. He doubled up to around 15,000 and looks as though he might make it to the dinner break now.
Luca Pagano had about 9,000 left but surprisingly the Italian wasn't at his table and instead was sitting an empty table behind seemingly trying to keep himself calm. He then wandered off for a walk and we were left wondering if he would come back before the dinner break.
Heading across to the table, McLean Karr volunteered that it was because of him, "I rivered him a pot worth almost 60,000..."
Pagano has however, since returned to the table and has begun to grind his short stack.
Flopping the nuts with might have seemed like a good double up opportunity for short stack David Baker, especially as he was up against a King-high flush draw only in the hands of Anthony Maranca (according to our original seat plan which is becoming obsolete as the 300 remaining players move about). But the flop which enticed the stacks in received a on the turn and the stayed good (even though the all-in was still not strictly drawing dead). The river was the and as the minutes tick down to the dinner break, the field finally slips under the 300-person mark.
We haven't seen much in the way of hands from these two, but seeing as it's Mother's Day over in the States and we know their folks are watching, here are Michael Martin and Carter Phillips in photographic glory.
Ivan Demidov, the Russian WSOP Main Event runner-up and Team PokerStars Pro is up to 85,000 after he bet 15,000 on the river of a board against Thorsten Schafer. The latter made the call for about half his stack, but could only nod his head when Demidov turned over for the nut full house.
A full board of was out on the felt when we arrived and EPT Barcelona finalist Jesus Cortes Lizano was betting out 6,200 from the cutoff. On the button Niccolo Caramatti squirmed for a little while and eventually announced a call - and before the dealer could demand a showdown, Lizano had tapped the table and mucked his hand. Caramatti handed his cards back to the dealer without having to show, and is back up to 30,000. Lizano is still in good shape on around 50,000.
Our 686 runners have generated a €6,680,000 prize pool - note that now that we're in Spain and not in Monaco, no money has been taken out of the prize pool for taxes and the like. 104 places pay out with a lowly min-cash worth €15,000. Whoever takes the top spot, however, will walk away with a potentially life-changing €1.5 million. Please head over to the Payouts tab for the full breakdown.