donpeters
Phil Hellmuth was down to about 11 big blinds and limped from early position with . Yevgeniy Timoshenko picked up two suited broadway cards in the and limped behind him. Daniel Negreanu called from the small blind with the and Giovanni Safina checked in the big blind with the .
The flop came down and action checked to Hellmuth. He fired a very small bet for 15,000 -- the minimum he could make it. Timoshenko raised to 60,000 and Negreanu and Safina folded. Hellmuth folded as well, staying alive for the time being.
After the hand, Hellmuth went on a little tirade about how he feels Timoshenko just wants to play back at him all the time. "I'm happy with the way I am playing," he finished.
"We're happy with the way you're playing also," needled Timoshenko. Negreanu got a great laugh from that one.
donpeters
Giovanni Safina raised with the to 60,000 and David Benyamine reraised all in for 319,000 holding the . Safina folded and Benyamine picked up some chips.
donpeters
While Phil Hellmuth continued to rant on about the tournament, Yevgeniy Timoshenko raised with the to 36,000 from the first spot in. Daniel Negreanu called behind with the and then action moved over to David Benyamine. He picked up the and reraised to 106,000. Ian Frazer looked down at pocket eights, but folded them rather easily. Timoshenko then reraised all in and Negreanu folded. Benyamine quickly folded as well, leaving himself with only 200,000 after making the three-bet.
Luke Schwartz is commentating and felt that Benyamine really left himself open to be exploited there, which Timoshenko took advantage of.
donpeters
Giovanni Safina raised to 35,000 with the . Yevgeniy Timoshenko was in the big blind holding the and called the raise.
The flop came down and Timoshenko checked. Safina held the nut flush draw and continuation bet for the amount of 55,000. Timoshenko let his hand go and Safina picked up the pot.
donpeters
Daniel Negreanu looked down at the after David Benyamine raised to 36,000 with the . Negreanu reraised Benyamine and picked up the pot preflop.
donpeters
Here's how the overall standings look after the first two eliminations.
1. Phil Laak – 32 points
2. JC Tran – 17 points
3. Roland De Wolfe – 14 points
T-4. David Benyamine - 8 points
T-4. Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 8 points
T-4. Vanessa Rousso – 8 points
T-7. Luke Schwartz – 4 points
T-7. Giovanni Safina - 4 points
9. Phil Hellmuth - 3 points
T-10. Ian Frazer – 2 points
T-10. Tony G - 2 points
12. Daniel Negreanu – 0 points
The only change was Rousso moving up to a tie in fourth place with Benyamine and Timoshenko. Both will be moving ahead of her though as they still remain in this heat. De Wolfe's status is the same as he earned no points today.
donpeters
Daniel Negreanu has ratcheted it up a notch and raised to 36,000 with the . Phil Hellmuth moved all in with the for 99,000 and Negreanu quickly called.
The flop came down and Negreanu took the lead. The turn was the and the river the to send Hellmuth to the rail. He shook everyone's hand and exited the room. Hellmuth earned three points for his finish here and now has six points overall. Negreanu now has 664,000 chips and in second place on the leaderboard.
donpeters
There's still five players remaining and the average stack is 480,000 chips. The average stack in now only 24 big blinds with the new level. Things should really pick up now.
donpeters
Ian Frazer raised to 55,000 with the from the button to take down the blinds. He hasn't been too active in today's heat, but when he has entered a pot, Frazer's done the best to make the most of it.